Interview with I Hate Sally

I Hate Sally – by Mel in Toronto

"Music shouldn't have a gender," lead singer Dee Prescott of punk/metal band I Hate Sally says. With unshakable vocal cords and untameable energy, Dee is the front woman of this internationally successful Canadian band.

Hailing from Kingston, Ontario, I Hate Sally comprises of Dee Prescott (lead vocals), Marc Garniss (vocals, lead guitar), Dan Vokey (vocals, bass), and Nick Steckiewicz (drums). While the band has been together for five years, Dee joined the band three years ago.

Before joining I Hate Sally, Dee sang and played guitar in indie punk bands. "I started singing the way I sing in I Hate Sally the day I joined I Hate Sally," Dee says and laughs while on the phone from Kingston. "We've always been really good friends," Dee says about her band mates.

The band was named by a member who is not in the band anymore and also before Dee joined the band. "The band is named after Sally Jessy Rafael. She used to be a talk show host with those big horrible red glasses," Dee says. "It started as a joke and it's been five years now. It sticks, it's funny, it's corky."

While "everyone gets their own say in their own part," Dee explains their music writing process, "for the most part Mark, our guitarist, and Dan, our bass player, have an idea. Dan comes up with a lot of interesting corky little riffs that you hear on our record. Mark and Dan are awesome at doing that. Once a song is structured the way they want it, then I come in and touch lyrics on top of it."

About her lyrics, Dee says: "it means one thing to me and it could mean an entirely different thing to you or to somebody else who is reading this. If you knew what everything was about, life would be kind of boring. I just hope that people take out what they want. People can make it their own."

In this profile, you can see I Hate Sally's video for MARTHA SAVED. "I am really not sure what to say about the video," Dee says and laughs. "I personally don't understand it; maybe other people do. I'm just waiting for someone to tell me what they think of it."

For more insights into the world of I Hates Sally, and details on their second internationally acclaimed album ‘Don't Worry Lady' please read below.

"In your own words" – ONE on ONE with Mel and Dee

Mel: Who are your influences?

Dee: Personal influences would totally vary for anybody in the band. I don't really listen to heavy music. I was never really into metal or hardcore. I'm a punk rock kid at heart. (...) Everything is an influence. Not just music influences people. (…) As a band, we are just taking influences from everywhere; it's not only a music thing. We look outside of the box and take influences from whatever we can.

Mel: How did you come up with the name for your album ‘Don't Worry Lady'?

Dee: There is a sound clip in between the third and fourth song of an officer saying "Don't Worry Lady, everything is going to be ok". This clip is actually from a really old after school special movie of this cop delivering a baby in the back seat of a taxi cab. And right after the baby is born, he says: "Don't worry lady, everything will be ok now." We had always used that as a sample live. Once we just put it in the record, it was a neat way to tie up "Don't worry lady, we are I Hate Sally." Plus we've used all female biblical names from the bible. To tie it all up in this ultra fem way, but at the same time not be an ultra fem band. Just because I am a girl, doesn't mean there is anything overly feminine about our band. Music shouldn't have a gender.

Mel: What would you like to achieve with your music?

Dee: I think we've already achieved everything we've really ever wanted to do. Just to be able to play shows for people all the time. This past year, 2007, we got to do that. We went to Europe; we went to the States, all over in Canada. If we could do it further a little bit, that makes it all even better.

Mel: Where did you tour in Europe and did you like it?

Dee: We toured all of Western Europe, but mostly Germany. It was an 18-day tour and out of the 18 days we spent seven of the dates in Germany. (…) I had my nails dug into the ground when they were dragging me to get me back into the plane. You are so well taken care of and appreciated, it doesn't matter who you are. I'd move there in a heart beat.

Mel: Which artist would you like to record a song with and why?

Dee: Again we are a band here - you know, screw the band, it's all for me (laughs). If I could pick anyone, I would pick Beth Ditto from The Gossip to do a song with I Hate Sally. I think that would blow my mind. Or we should remix an I Hate Sally song with a Gossip song that would be also amazing.

Mel: What do you like best, when you perform live?

Dee: I guess just the whole energy thing. We are all really super happy people with lame senses of humour. Sometimes people who see us play are like "oh man, you look so mean up there, but when I talk to you, you are really nice." But I think for me, we need to go up there and we do that on tour, yell our faces off, run around and throw things and basically we have this huge 30 minute temper tantrum. How can you be upset after that, after you get it all out? It's just like a whole sanity thing. You blow out all your energy on stage or all your angriness or anything like that and when we are done, it's ok, I'm a happy person.

Mel: If you could choose one venue in the world, where would you like to play and why?

Dee: I would probably say Japan. We have never been there and we have friends in bands who have been there and we've seen pictures. Everything looks so neon and so bright. It's the way I see Japan in my mind.

Mel: For how long have you been with Underground Operations?

Dee: It was about a year in October, just a little over a year. ‘Don't Worry Lady' was the first record we've put out with them. We released three songs just before Christmas with them as well, with three I Hate Sally songs and three GFK songs. GFK is a band from Quebec City. We hadn't put anything out in about a year. We didn't have enough material for a full length album, because we were on the road all summer, so we had three songs sticking around and our friends had three songs sticking around, so we pulled them together and released them together. We pitched the idea to Underground Operations and they were stoked on it.

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