By: Josh Kitchen / May 17, 2024
Photo by James Caswell
It is absolutely crucial that when Girl and Girl begin their show with front-man Kai James' "Call A Doctor" monologue, you listen. The title track from their upcoming Sub Pop Records debut, Call A Doctor, the track begins with a three minute treatise on the album's young hero who wakes up after a coma in the hospital. Over refrains of "You should call a doctor now," James leads the listener through his inner monologue about what it means to be unwell, hilariously advising, "If you're gonna watch ten war films in the space of two days, that's probably not gonna do great things for your head." Out on May 24 on Sub Pop, Call A Doctor deals with James' experiences with mental health and anxiety, but instead of playing those feelings inward, Girl and Girl shout from the rooftops - using their songs that truly flourish in their live versions.
Consisting of James, guitarist and high school mate Jayden Williams, bassist Fraser Bell, and James' own Aunt Liss (Melissa James) on drums, Girl and Girl are the latest indie-rock quartet to come out of the Brisbane music scene, and were signed to Sub Pop in 2023. Last night at the Fonda in Hollywood, Girl and Girl made their Los Angeles debut opening for fellow Sub Pop Aussies, Royal Otis. "This is our first time here in "La La Land", James proudly declared clearly basking in their victorious debut. The audience fully embraced the band's frenzied display, James leading the band furiously with a bravado that reminded of the Cowardly Lion declaring he's the king of the forest, vocal chords billowing and strutting with his regained medal of bravery. I talked to James before they hit North America with Royal Otis, and he told me about needing to get these songs out, how Call A Doctor was a way to deal with his mental health, being blown away by The Oh Sees, and how his Aunt Liss became an integral part of the band.
Can you talk a little about what Girl and Girl is all about?
We're a four piece, and I kind of describe it is "desperate rock." At the moment, we are really busy. We were in in Texas two weeks ago, doing South By Southwest, and we’re back on an Australian tour now. We’re about to head back to North America with Royal Otis. It’s all kind of cooking along in a very positive way.
You mentioned the term “desperate music.” It sounds like you need people to hear what you're trying to say, and when I listen to the new album, it feels like not as much a plea, but a declaration of what’s going on in your head. It deals a lot with mental health.
I would say it's more desperate to get it out, then to have it heard, if that makes sense. Similar to what it would be for a lot of people, it's just a way to process things in a kind of sideways fashion. A lot of the time I don't even realize what I am processing or writing about until months later, and this record is sort of hyper focused on that idea of mental health, which I've struggled with quite a bit. It's just really kind of honing in on those thoughts and feelings and trying to process them. I tend to, in a musical sense, make it as dramatic and theatrical as possible. That kind of helped me approach the subject - if I'm more poking fun at it. I feel like maybe that makes it a little bit easier to listen to and less confrontational as well. It's a bit more palatable, talking about depression and anxiety and all that sort of stuff. I put it on in my big musical theater vampire voice whilst doing it.
Your music is so full of energy. Something that I absolutely love about your band is that your literal Aunt plays drums – Aunt Liss. Can you talk about how that came to be?
Jayden and I started the band. We were in high school together and we would jam in my mom's garage. My mom lives on this big farm property and Liss would walk her dogs there. One afternoon, she just stopped in and jumped on this old rusty jam kit in the garage. It kind of glued our song together, and it was our first experience of having like a fully structured thing. We sort of begged her to stay, and she was kind of in the mind of well, I’ll stay until you find someone else. But we were in the mind of you know, you're doing it…just keep doing it!
What does it mean to you to be on Sub Pop?
it was, and sort of continues to be mind-blowing. Obviously, you start a band and you’re like, it'd be great to tour the world and all that sort of stuff. But I kind of feel like no one says - that will actually happen. It’s been a slow adjustment to the reality of it all. We've never really had a big label before. They’re just the most beautiful, caring, and interested group of human beings I think I've ever had the pleasure of working with and it's been such an amazing experience.
Would you consider Call A Doctor a concept album?
That was kind of the idea. It's not like I sat down and said, okay, let's, let's make a concept album, but the doctor theme kind of infested my brain. When I was writing lyrics, “doctor” came up quite a lot. My original idea was it was like a musical theater soundtrack, but there's obviously not that many elements of musical theater production in it, except for a little bit of a dramatics in the first half. I wasn't holding myself to the concept album. A lot of the time, I can't really do what I want to do - I have to do what has to be done.
Album art by Jerri Leslie
Something that I like to talk about is how live music can bring people together. Can you talk about a live show that really impacted you?
It’s kind of been critical for me. I didn’t find my people, or my group, until coming to Brisbane and really sort of integrating into the live music scene here. Everyone is so supportive. Everyone's in a freaking band! You're all just going to each other's shows, you're sharing ideas and songs and, and all that sort of stuff. It’s kind of an indescribable feeling. We're on tour at the moment and Fraser, our bassist is one of the support bands in another band called Love Banana. You're in the crowd and you can't keep still and you feel it in your entire body. You don't have that feeling anywhere else. In terms of sort of the most impactful gigs, it probably is when I saw Thee Oh Sees. I saw them twice maybe a year ago, and that band just does something to me. I love them so much.
The last single before the album comes out is “Oh Boy!” It’s fantastic.
It’s my favorite track – I got it tattooed on my arm.
Girl and Girl finishes their run of supporting dates with Royal Otis next week in the Pacific Northwest, and Call A Doctor is out from Sub Pop on May 24. You do not want to miss them.
Follow Girl and Girl here: https://www.subpop.com/artists/girl_and_girl
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