Die-hard lovers of gritty, sexy, heavy rock and roll need look no further than Calgary’s Miesha and the Spanks to fuel their desires.
Miesha Louie and drummer Sean Hamilton are blazing their way through eastern Canada to promote their latest album Girls Girls Girls. The album was released earlier this month and was produced in collaboration with Danny Farrant of the U.K punk band the Buzzcocks.
“It feels like the best record I’ve ever made,” says Louie. “We worked a lot more hands-on with the producers and they helped us find the special diamond in the rough part of every song.”
The 10-track release is Louie’s first record with Hamilton and is a follow-up to her 2013 album Girls, Like Wolves. Simply put, the band describes the album as “a fast, nasty, sexy slab of riff-fuelled runaways rock clad in spit-polished black leather and bursting with sass and singalong swagger.”
Over the past decade, Louie has recorded three other full-length albums, several EPs and singles, and she has toured coast to coast playing with big names like Queens of the Stone Age, Bison BC, Death from Above 1979, The Pack A.D. and Hot Hot Heat.
“I think it’s still very largely a boys’ club, but the more women playing music are brought to the front, that helps change things.”
The Girls Girls Girls tour has taken the band cross-country from Calgary to Halifax, and it will wrap up in Golden, BC at the end of April. Over the past two years of playing together, Louie and Hamilton have forged a strong chemistry and halfway through their tour, they are as close as ever.
“We have a really similar temperament where we’ll both be chatting our heads off at the same time or we’ll zone out in a podcast or call our significant others at the same time,” says Louie. “We have this really nice cycle worked out where I don’t think either of us is really getting on each other’s nerves,” she laughs.
When she’s not jamming out in some of her favourite Canadian venues (note: the Cavern in Winnipeg and House of Targ in Ottawa), Louie is devoted to teaching and inspiring young girls in Calgary to pursue a career in music. She has sat on the board of Girls Rock Camp Calgary since its inception in 2013 and helps run summer camps to encourage more girls to get into rock and roll.
“What’s really nice about camp is cheering every girl’s experience and what they’re going through in the day to day,” says Louie, who, at 33, says she sees a major improvement in musical opportunities for girls today. “They’ve also had more access to females playing music that they can look up to nowadays. I think it’s still very largely a boys’ club, but the more women playing music are brought to the front, that helps change things.”
Campers range from 12 to 17 years old and come from all backgrounds and musical abilities. Louie says building the girls’ confidence is key.
“We do workshops with sound technicians and sometimes girls want to learn how to do a sound board… you don’t see very many female sound engineers and that’s really cool. Having the confidence to discover whatever it is they want to do that’s typically a man’s job is the most amazing thing.”
Miesha and the Spanks play in Ottawa on March 23 at Bar Robo with friends and label mates The Expanda Fuzz. Looking ahead, the band plans on breaking into international ground and hopefully earning a Juno award or nomination back home in Canada.
Follow the band on Instagram @mandthespanks and visit their website to check out upcoming shows, announcements and new releases.