INTERVIEWING YOU SAY PARTY! WE SAY DIE! (By Ben Shafran)

This time we speak to Becky Ninkovic, singer with You Say Party! We Say Die!, one of the best and most hyped bands to come out of Canada in recent years and surely owners of the best name in the history of music.

Can you tell us a little about the background of the band, and about how you formed?

Stephen [O'Shea, bassist], Krista [Loewen, keyboardist] and some of our old mates plus myself started jamming in the basement of my parents’ house in winter 2004. Soon, we moved our jam space out to a shed on a farm where Stephen was living at the time. We used to drink and play until we couldn't play no more. It was fun times for the sake of fun times. Then, we started playing shows and things kept going up. We got Derek [Adam] to play guitar for us and started playing Vancouver. Then, SoundDocument adopted us. We started touring and the party just seems to keep on. Devon [Clifford, drummer] has just joined us with his delectable beats and we have been writing like crazy.

Would any of your influences surprise people who’ve listened to the album?

I've always been a fan of The Chipettes. They were a band of female chipmunks on the cartoon Alvin And The Chipmunks... They didn't really write original material though, all covers. We have never done a cover song.

But honestly, we all listen to such a large variety of different music that we have never been able to pin down our influences... ever. Reviewers love to compare us to every other female-fronted band they know of. They seem to think that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Controller.Controller, Le Tigre and ourselves are just machine legs walking around in a big circle tripping on each other’s heels. It's just not like that.

South By Southwest is when it all kicked off for you, what was it like being the focus of so much hype?

Kind of strange I guess. We had been touring for a month by SXSW and I don't think any of us realized that there was this hype you speak of. We had buckets of fun. Buckets!

How does the reaction of both fans and the music media in the UK compare to North America?

The music media in the UK is Tabloid City compared to the music media in Canada. It was pretty entertaining to experience that. We think it's funny that the UK now thinks I sing about taking a dump in [debut single] “The Gap (Between The Rich And The Poor)”.

What is your “plan of attack” for the UK in terms of touring and releasing singles?

Well, Sink And Stove Records is releasing our next single, which will be coming out soon. We are flying out to Europe in August and will be ripping it up all over Europe and the UK till we go home. (You can find our show dates on our MySpace profile or band website).

Have you written any new songs since the sessions for Hit The Floor!?

Yes! Lots! We are very excited to play some of these new songs on our next tour too!

Reading and Leeds will be your first experience of British festivals. What are you expecting or hoping for?

I'm so excited... it's gonna be a crazy. I mean it's gonna be a tremendous crowd, and I'm looking forward to diving in there!

How much do you know about the festivals and their history?

Not much, but they sound like mega delux fun package.

Finally, for those who haven't seen you live, can you describe what your shows are like and what we can expect for Reading and Leeds?

We walk onstage and as soon as Krista's fingers touch the keys... we all turn into fire... and Derek grows bionic shoulders.

Thanks to Becky for taking the time to answer our questions.
You Say Party! We Say Die! will be playing the Carling Tent at Reading on the Sunday.
The picture is taken from the SoundDocument site.