It’s not every day that we get to sit down and talk shop with young ladies more than half of most of our ages. But, when it comes to our evening with Doll Skin in Portland, Oregon, we got to do just that. They may look like unassuming nice teenage girls you’d see walking your local mall, but these four young ladies are as professional and polished as artists come. They rock hard, they live loud, and there’s something so bitchin’ about saying that they are graduates of THE School of Rock. Their live performances are not to be missed! Read on as we give you a little glimpse of the world according to Doll Skin. We promise, you will not be disappointed. They are the real deal.
Good evening, ladies. Do you guys want to introduce yourselves?
I’m Sydney; I’m 16, and I sing and play rhythm guitar.
I’m Alex; I’m also 16, and I play guitar.
I’m Nicole; I’m 17, and I play bass.
I’m Meagan; I’m 19, and I play drums.
Let’s talk about your band name. I don’t have any information about where Doll Skin came from?
DS: We don’t really have a good story. Literally, we were like just sitting in a room and we’re like, “That sounds cool.” Basically, we wanted something cute and creepy. Like, “The Dolls”… nah, that’s a band. And then someone said, “Doll Skin”, and we were like that’s actually really sick. I’m pretty sad cause we don’t have a cool story.
It’s pretty cool because it lends itself to some great album names, like Under the Skin, right?
DS: That’s good! Yeah, thank you! And here’s our next album… (laughs)
You guys each are alumni of the School of Rock, right?
DS: Yeah, all were there for at least three years each. Meagan and Alex were there for more. Meagan and Alex were there when the school originated.
Do you think that the school of rock gave you a good foundation for…
DS: OH yes! Absolutely! For sure. Those people at the School of Rock changed our lives…specifically because ever since day one when it opened, those people have been such a positive atmosphere, and they just taught me so much. And they made me (Meagan) the drummer I am today, and I miss them. They teach you how to play music, and they teach you life skills, honestly. Like, how to play with other musicians, and, like, how to form bands, and stage performance, and equipment on stage. They teach you so much. There are a lot of places where you can take just music lessons, but they teach you so much more. Like, the lifestyle of music. What’s really cool is that all of us except for Nicole were in a house band, which we had to audition to get into. That took us around the Phoenix/Scottsdale/Mesa area. And we played a few shows, and it taught us how to be on time, how to load in and load out…be professional. Yeah, the ins and outs of everything about playing music.
Did you learn much about the business as well from that?
DS: Yeah, a little. Even watching people, ya know the music director, manager, owner of the School of Rock, just watching him deal with people. It kinda gave us not “hands on”, but the next level below “hands on”… ya know, to observe that whole atmosphere. And then when we started playing our own shows, we honestly went back to him for advice, like how do we book shows and stuff. And he… all the teachers, they mentored us on like how we’re supposed to do stuff and like… kind of as training wheels I guess. And we started doing it on our own, and it was because of them. They gave us the right tools, too. Shane and Megan Baskerville, that’s their names. They’re wonderful!
Are you all familiar with the theory of the six degrees of separation?
DS: Yes…
Well you guys are only one degree from Megadeth.
DS: We know, that’s crazy! Yeah. Definitely when we had our first gig at the Battle of the Bands, and he was a celebrity guest judge. They were announcing the judges, and they said, “Dave Ellefson of Megadeth”, and we were just like… (grabs table) The who, of who, from what?! It was crazy. Uhm, so we got to be backstage at one of their shows and stuff, so it’s definitely a bit of a shock that we get to be that close to them. Yeah, for sure!
So, Dave’s kinda taken you guys under his wing. What kind of advice does Dave give you?
DS: The biggest piece of advice that we do listen to is, “At least give everything a chance. Say yes to everything because you never really know where it’ll take you.” Which is kinda what we go by.
Is there anything that Dave has said to you where you’ve said, “That’s shit, I’m not listening to that”?
DS: No, honestly. He’s open about working with us as a partnership. The whole thing is a two-way street. He’ll suggest something, and we’ve never actually said no. He works with us. He’s always brought up, “I’m never going to make you girls do something I haven’t done before, or that I wouldn’t do.” Yes, we’re on the road for a really long time, and we’re like, “Geez, this is a lot.” He’s done it; everyone’s done it. And we also joke about how he’s made all the mistakes for us. He got really screwed over by people in the music industry, so he knows exactly what not to do so it doesn’t happen to us. We’re really fortunate that we have someone with so much experience that has helped us not have to deal with all the crazy things that happen.
Now, he’s kinda endorsed you guys as the torchbearer for an entire generation of punk. That’s a lot of pressure, right?
DS: Yeah! I mean, it’s kinda really cool, though, because it’s like our goal as musicians and females in the music industry to kinda open up a pathway for more women because it’s really male-dominated. And, I think David understands that and really agrees and wants us to be this pathway. He has a lot of faith in us; he really does. He really sees our goals as things he really sees happening. He always says he’s a fan first. He’s truly our number one fan. He only is doing this for us because he really believes in us and our music and wants the world to see it, too, which is cool.
You’ve been touring for a couple years now. You’re a pretty young band, relatively speaking, but shared stages with some big names. Do you have any favorites?
DS: Social Distorion, Metal Allegiance, John 5, Hellyeah who we’ll be touring with in the beginning of June. They’re wonderful. We haven’t done anything as extensive as this until now…a national tour. We’ve done stuff around Arizona, we’ve gone to California, we’ve even gone down to Mexico, but this is our first national run. We did a Midwest run last month; it was a headlining tour, but this one’s the first time we’re going everywhere.
Are you enjoying it so far?
DS: This is so cool. Seeing all these different places is our favorite part. I’d say the only bad part about touring is we go to like a really cool place and we can’t stay there long, but then we go to another cool place that’s cool. We don’t get to be a tourist.
Who would you like to share the stage with in the future?
DS: Avenged Sevenfold! Refused, My Chemical Romance, if they ever came back. (Meagan shouts: Reuniting! They are going to reunite. Mark my words). Paramore… We’ve talked about Twenty-One Pilots would be really cool. The Used or Taking Back Sunday would be a pretty good fit. Paris. We’ve got a huge list of bands. The cool thing about our sound is if we speed up our music a little more, we can go with a punk band. If we slow down our music a little, we can go with a more mainstream band. We’re very versatile, I think… cause we call ourselves hard rock with punk and metal influences. We can cater the show to the audience. Very small adjustments can make a big difference. Like with Hellyeah, we chose our more “heavy” songs.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
Meagan: Should I start? Mine’s the longest!! Mike M. cause they got me into music, Paramore, Tool, Led Zeppelin, bands like The Who, drumming-wise. Like, they really trained me. NoFX, Underoath, Radiohead…
Sydney: You’re going to get her like entire iTunes playlist.
Meagan: (Laughing) I’ll stop, go ahead.
Nicole: For me, Dead Sara, Bikini Kills, cause the female fronted thing is kinda cool. Lyrics-wise, like, I don’t write lyrics, but Bikini Kills lyrics are real inspiring to me. The the emotion she puts into everything is inspiring.
Alex: I’m a huge, HUGE Avenged Sevenfold fan. Uh, Tool, Orianthi as a guitar inspiration. I listen to a lot of jazz stuff. I kind of listen to everything. I don’t like country! But, pretty much everything else. Rock and jazz, rock and jazz.
Sydney: I hate going last cuz they all stole my answers. Avenged Sevenfold, Tool, Refused, kind of the top three that I listen to all the time. We all listen to kind of the same music.
How long is your tour?
DS: (laughs) 10 years! No, it’s forty-eight days and goes until the end of May. Then we’re back, and we go out again.
Are you going to hit the studio in between?
DS: Not in between, but over summer. Summer and fall are our recording times.
Are you coming up with new stuff on the road?
DS: OH yeah! Especially Meagan. She comes up with lyrics off the back of her head in like 5 minutes. Literally, one time we were driving to band practice, and we were talking about the I-10 killer back in Arizona. I don’t know if it was like a nation-wide thing, but there was this guy that was shooting people on the freeway, and all of a sudden, by the time we got to band practice in 10 “Meagan minutes”, she’s like, “I wrote a song about it. It’s called “Rough Night”.”
So are you the primary writer, Meagan?
Meagan: Yeah, lyric-wise. And Sydney does a lot of the writing, too, which is nice. But basically I’m the one.
Nicole: Meagan is like a poetry goddess. She’s amazing.
Sydney: After this interview, she’d probably write a song about it. I don’t know. You can give her anything, and she can write a song about it. She’s so good…dead puppies, GO!
Meagan: {laughing) Okay, I’ll write…
What does the public need to know about Doll Skin? How can they prepare to see you live?
DS: Don’t underestimate us. Definitely don’t underestimate us. Meagan: Let’s elaborate a bit on that. Basically, what people do before our shows, and we hear it when they come up to us at the merch table and when we listen to the people around us. People are just like speaking down to us or negative, but as soon as we start playing it totally changes and they’re like, “What the F*8K”. It’s really nice, honestly. And we love proving people wrong.
Nicole: So many people come up to us after shows, and they’re like, “Wow, you guys really surprised me, I didn’t know you guys were gonna be good!” And that’s a compliment, but not. It’s, like, kinda backhanded. The other day, this girl literally came up to our table and she was like, “Wow, you guys really shocked me. You guys are ACTUALLY good!” I was like, “Thaaaaaanks”… trying to be nice like, “I know you’re not trying to backhand us.” But a lot of people see us get on stage, and they’re like, “Girls can’t play; that’s just a gimmick act. Wait, they can actually pick up instruments. That’s crazy.” Girls have hands. So, basically what we’re saying is… when you come to a show, do not sit in the audience and think we’re not going to be good. Not to toot our own horn like we’re so amazing. But don’t discount us because we look the way we do…because we have crazy hair, and we’re not men. We’re also very young. A lot of people don’t realize that. That’s why, on the set, we always say our ages. You can hear in the audience people like, “oh, shit!”, and I always just want to turn around and laugh to myself. Sometimes we get these creepy guys that’ll be like that encourages them somehow like, “oh, she’s telling me her age so that’s like a bigger challenge for me, ha ha!” If you come to our shows, don’t be creepy, number one thing. We all have knives and mace, so that should be a big deterrent. We want to meet you guys, but don’t be weird. One time, this guy offered us shots, and Alex was like, “I’ll have to ask my mom”, and he’s like, “okay, OKAY!” My Mom, as like, I’m not an adult. NO!
Now, Portland, Oregon, has a reputation for being weird. Did you get a chance to experience that at all?
DS: YEAH! But it’s a good weird. What’s really weird about it is we’re normal here. Back in Phoenix, with the colored hair and clothes we wear, we’re different from the majority of the people in Arizona. But here, we’re the same as everyone. Everyone is different. So, if you want to be weird and quirky and different, you have to have a desk job and normal hair…like be normal to be different. We’re not like that at all. We’re worse. (laughing) Portland so far is really cool. Really nice. We’ve gone to VooDoo Doughnuts twice. We slept in their parking lot, and then we got kicked out at 3:00 in the morning and had to drive somewhere else.
What are your favorite, or least favorite, parts about press interviews?
DS: Least favorite is when it’s someone that’s not having a good time. We can tell; they’re very stoic, and we make a joke with them, and they’re very straight-faced. We’re like, “I’m sorry; I know I’m not funny. Oh my god.” Most interviews are really fun. There haven’t been many that are like really weird. It’s mostly just like the interviewer is just having a bad day, and they’re like, “What’s your thing?” and they’re not vibing with us. We’re like, “Are you even like enjoying this? What’s going on?” The best part, though, is when we get a really interesting question. We all look at each other like, “OH…we haven’t been asked that before.” We all sit up straight and think. This question, this was a good question. Never been asked that before.
Thanks for inviting me into your world.
