We pride ourselves on supporting “the little guy”. Well, here we have three “little gals” who are making quite the impression on us at the moment. Opening for Bowling For Soup on their upcoming tour, we flung our questions at the mightily impressive Not Ur Girlfrenz. Liv took on the lion’s share of answering, but Gigi and Maren threw their respective oars in as well. Enjoy a couple of the band’s videos, too, as you scroll through…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are all from Dallas, Texas. Yee haw!
How did you meet?
We met when we were really young. I, Liv Haynes (vocals, guitar), of course met Gigi Haynes (bass) at birth… because we are sisters! And we met Maren Alford (drums) at an acting school when we were 6 and 7 years old.
How long have you been playing as a band?
We have been playing for two years as a band which seems so crazy! It’s all going so fast!
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
We wanted a band name that was very honest and true!
What are your influences?
Liv: I like to listen to all different kinds of music, because it’s fun for me to get to know other bands and not get comfortable listening to the same three artists every day. But my main influences are probably Paramore, Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, My Chemical Romance – honestly there are too many to name.
Gigi: Paramore is a big one, My Chemical Romance (my favourite band), Waterparks, and 5 Seconds Of Summer!
Maren: I’m influenced a lot by some of my favorite drummers – Zac Farro (Paramore), Shannon Leto (Thirty Seconds to Mars), Matty Best (Tonight Alive), and Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters). They each have such a unique and interesting style that really inspires me.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I think that what makes us unique is that we aren’t afraid to change it up a bit. We don’t want to be classified as a certain genre, because that would get boring after a while. If you want to put a label on it, I guess you could say we’re a little bit punk, a little bit pop, and a little bit rock.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
I think it would be really cool to write a concept album, but for now I just write whatever is going on in my personal life. So, I don’t think there really is a theme because new things happen in my life every day.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
It is full-on non-stop energy. It’s electric. We have played over 60 shows or so, each one is like magic. Our favourite thing is to be on stage. The fact that we have the honour of sharing our stories with people is so amazing to me. I feel like at every show everyone relates to each other in a certain way. We are all just one big happy family!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Liv: Maren almost broke her hand once! But the craziest thing that I’ve ever done at a live show was probably that I called people up to sing a Taylor Swift song with me. Oh, and also members of Waterparks, AS IT IS, and Simple Plan watched our set at Warped Tour. Soooo yeah, that was pretty wild!
Gigi: Well, we crashed Simple Plan’s stage on Warped Tour… it’s gonna be hard to beat that for a wild moment. It was so much fun! Jaret Reddick was singing and Liv, Maren and I were dancing and there was a huge crowd! It was amazing!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Liv: I play PRS guitars because they are beautiful and I’m addicted to them. I love everything from the headstock to the birds on the neck.
Gigi: I play an Ernie Ball Sterling by Music Man Bass in Fiesta Red! It rocks, I also have a cream Ernie Ball bass, but my go-to is the red one!
Maren: I play a Gretsch Catalina Maple kit with a Gretsch Brooklyn steel snare drum. I also use Zildjian A custom cymbals, a DW 9000 bass drum pedal, and Vic Firth sticks.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We will be on a UK tour with Bowling for Soup and Patent Pending from 26th November until 3rd December which will be SO. MUCH. FUN. We’ve never toured outside of the US before or even been outside the US before ever! So we can’t wait to meet all of our UK fans and have some almost-Christmas fun! Everyone should get tickets!
What are your plans for the rest of 2018 and into next year?
Well, we have just released our 5-song debut EP New Kids in America which was so much fun to make and release! After tour I honestly can’t wait to get back into the studio again and start working on new NUGF stuff. We may have already started… you never know…
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
A dream come true would be to open for Paramore! That’s the first concert we went to together to for my 13th birthday. A band we would love to have open for us (that are super cool) are probably Offended by Everything – they are a super cool band that’s hometown is also Dallas and they are all super nice and supportive of Not Ur Girlfrenz.
From previous Band of the Day Fyke: Who is your celebrity crush?
Liv: OMG Jared Leto. Like the young 90s My So Called Life era… I love how he is an amazing musician and actor, he’s very artistic and an amazing songwriter. Plus, I mean, have you seen him?!
Gigi: Ryan Reynolds at the moment. He is just so funny and is great in everything I see him in, plus he is about to play Pikachu, so there’s that! Ha!
Maren: My celebrity crush would have to be Shannon Leto from Thirty Seconds to Mars. Not only is he an amazing drummer, let’s be honest, the man doesn’t age.
From another BotD, JJ Friends: What feeling goes through you the moment before you walk out on stage?
Liv: I get really excited and start saying things that I never say! I seem pretty much crazy until I go onstage and then I can channel all of that energy into the show. Or I might just sit in a chair in the corner on my phone eating Skittles to get a chill moment.
Gigi: The feeling that goes through me the moment before I walk on stage is a mix between excitement, nervousness, and power! It is thrilling!
Maren: The feeling right before going out on stage is so indescribable for me, it’s different than anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s a mix of excitement and nervousness, it feels like my whole body is electrified.
And from Chasing Dragons: If you could have one artist feature on a song of yours, who would you have?
Liv: Hmmmmmm… if I had to pick one artist I would probably pick Gerard Way or maybe even Tyler Joseph [of Twenty One Pilots] rapping on one of our songs. That would be dope!
Gigi: If I could feature one artist on a song of ours, it would be 5 Seconds of Summer. All of them. Does that count?
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