The Pack A.D. is a garage rock duo out of Vancouver, Canada whose sound is steeped in a healthy portion of the blues. The drumming of Maya Miller meets with the singing and guitar work of Becky Black to create an appealingly raw and visceral sound that calls to mind Son House, Janis Joplin, and The Black Keys. The band has released two records: Tinytype was self-released by the band in 2007 (re-released by Mint Records in2008) and Mint Records released Funeral Mixtape in 2008.
It seems that the blues-rock "power duo" aesthetic, as powered by The While Stripes and The Black Keys (amongst others) has risen to prominence in the last few years. What do you feel is behind this resurgence, if anything at all?
Maya Miller (MM): Ha! Convenience? Cost? Less people to conspire against or with? I think it could definitely be a combination of those things. I know for myself and Becky, after spending this much time together and working as hard as we do, we probably couldn't deal with another person. There's also the advantage to finding someone that you just instinctively know how to play with - the old "if it ain't broke" saying.
Not to say that the hip, contemporary indie-rock version of the blues is dominated exclusively by men (Meg White does back up Jack and Erika Wennerstrom fronts Heartless Bastards), but what kind of reception do you receive as two women trying to forge a place in being blues/rock musicians?
MM: Well, it's interesting because most genres of music are male-dominated, so we would probably have a similar experience even if we were playing a different one. We usually find that people are honestly surprised that two women can rock it out. This has been the weirdest thing for us, because we've never thought that we were doing anything that unusual. As for the blues aspect, well, we don't really fit into that scene anyway - we're more garage rock.
Your most recent record, entitled "Funeral Mixtape," is a blistering record filled with snarling, angry guitars, big drums, and gritty, Joplin-esque vocals. How do you feel the project has been received? What are your favorite tracks from the record?
MM: The overall reception has been really great for this album - people have been really into it. In terms of us liking it, it's a yes and a no. If you're ever completely satisfied with the music you make, you should probably just stop playing. It's frustrating, but ultimately more satisfying to constantly work on being better. Favorite tracks - I was really happy with "Worried" as it's one of those quiet songs that we'll never play live, but I love the fact that we recorded it.
How do the two of you go about writing music?
MM: I write lyrics before we get into practice. Then we'll just start messing around and either build a song on a drum riff or a guitar riff, and then ,when it starts to feel like a song that we like, Becky will go through the lyrics to find something that fits and then we work together till it works out - or not. Being a duo, we have the luxury of scrapping a lot of songs.
What kind of music did the two of you listen to growing up? Who introduced you to the blues and/or inspired you to pursue a life playing music?
MM: Becky was the one who grew up on a lot of blues, courtesy of her family. We actually started playing music together on a whim. It was like - "Hey, let's be a band!" "Okay!" - and then we just kept going with it because it was so much fun.
Though you're currently touring, are you actively working on any new material? Are you playing any of it in your shows? When might we expect a new record?
MM: We spent a week in the studio before we left on tour. We recorded 14 songs that we'll be mixing in June. But, we're going back into the studio this fall to do some more recording. We decided to really take our time with this next album. We're not releasing it until Spring 2010, and we're not playing a single new song on this tour. Mainly, because the songs we've been working on are starting to move even further away from the blues, they're practically verging on garage rock-pop. So for that reason, we're keeping it to ourselves right now. :)
The Pack A.D. will be performing Thursday night on May, 21st, 2009 at Super Happy Fun Land.
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Photo: The Pack A.D. website
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