Redefining “Girl Bands” – Play the Ace talks debut EP
“We play what we play – being a girl should not dictate that.”
Play the Ace is a Dallas based all female pop punk band that is making waves in the Texas scene. After quickly gaining popularity when they covered popular rock songs on social media, the band released their debut EP All My Friends Are Ghosts in May of 2017.
Iris Chang (vocals/guitar), Molly Lammes (bass), and Dena Asaad (drums) draw inspiration from bands such as All Time Low, My Chemical Romance and Neck Deep.
All My Friends Are Ghosts brings a young vibe to the pop punk sound. The songs on the EP reflect the ups and downs of the girl’s lives in high school. But, this is no Disney soundtrack. The girls present an overarching emotion that we can all identify with.
Play the Ace took the time to have quick chat with Editor-In-Chief Kailey Howell regarding what they’re made of, and what it’s like to be an up and coming all female group in the music industry.
Kailey Howell: What brought the three of you together to start making music?
Dena: Me and Iris were friends with the same people in middle school, and Molly and I were in the same gym class in 6th grade and bonded over our pure hatred of physical fitness and the Wizard of Oz.
Iris: We all liked the same kind of music, so from there, we just started jamming out because we had nothing better to do with our time haha.
KH: As a band consisting of three young females in a male dominated industry, tell me about what it’s like; are there any difficulties?
Iris: That quote that’s like “you have to work twice as hard to get half the recognition” is so real. A lot of people we run into don’t show us the same respect that they show male bands, but we just use it as an opportunity to prove ourselves even harder. However, we also get a lot of messages from female fans saying that we inspired them to take on music or start a band. We’ve always aimed to help out others, so hearing that is always the best.
KH: Lately, the term “female fronted” or those alike is getting coined as “not a genre”. How do you feel about this?
Dena: I don’t think that my gender should be a contributing factor on the type of music I make or how it sounds. I personally don’t like the fact that some think “female fronted” is a genre because it’s kind of demeaning. We play what we play – being a girl should not dictate that.
Iris: We’re always compared to other female fronted bands like Paramore even though we sound nothing like them, and it just shows that we’re still not respected for our music like other male bands.
KH: What song was your favorite to write on All My Friends Are Ghosts?
Iris: “All Is Well” for sure. It was one of those songs that I put down for a long time because nothing was coming to me, so finishing it after months of not even looking at it was the best feeling. It’s also got a lot of things that we’ve never tried before in our songs, so it was fun to just play around with it.
Molly: So I only wrote one; “Note to Self (Peaches)” and honestly, it was the most stressful thing but at the same time I was so so proud that I created something someone someday might sing along to or identify with.
Dena: My personal favorite song to write for our EP was “Cant Find Moral Support In The Back Seat Of A Car.” I wrote this song about an issue I faced, and it was nice to vocalize it and share it with others.
KH: What do you want listeners to get from listening to the EP?
Molly: I hope they just feel like we’ve all been in those situations and of course it’s absolutely terrible, but it’s ok to not be ok so long as you pull yourself out of it a little stronger.
KH: What are the band’s plans for 2018?
Iris: We’ve got a Women In Rock show coming up in May at Killer’s Tacos. There’s no better way to spend your Saturday night than crowd surfing with tacos! We’re also working on some mini tours and writing our next EP!
–
All My Friends Are Ghosts is available for purchase on Bandcamp and iTunes, as well as streaming on Spotify. Follow the band on Instagram and Facebook for more updates!
*Photo by Brelyn Bashrum
Categories