After being a band for five years, releasing four albums, and playing over 200 shows in the past two years alone, Vancouver duo the Pack A.D. is hoping to finally be known for something other than the fact that they’re both women.
“I’ve never been told so much in my life about how I am a woman, which is fine because I know that,” says drummer Maya Miller (singer/guitarist Becky Black is the other half of the team). “It’s interesting, though – if you review a band like the Japandroids you would never start off by saying ‘this all-guys duo.’”
Unpersons, the title of the band’s most recent album, is a reference to one of the most referenced works of literature ever – George Orwell’s 1984. An unperson is someone that has been erased from existence by the government for breaking the law.
“We never set out a theme to this album but when it was done it just became an album about breakups and monsters,” says Miller. “Almost every song is about a monster one way or another, and those are kind of unpersons if you take it literally. Also, it relates to how we feel sometimes, being women in music.”
The band’s sound has often been compared to the White Stripes and Black Keys, but Miller believes – and hopes – that this is a thing of the past.
“When we first started out we were doing more of a blues-rock thing, but now I don’t really think it’s comparable,” she says. “I don’t really hear it anymore, and we’ve gone with a more garage-rock punk-pop sound. If it helps people who like those bands discover us, and they like us, then I guess that’s fine. I would hate for it to be confused as something we sought out to do.”
Miller and Black had initially started playing together in that blues-rock style simply because they felt it was easier to jam with. But playing a style of music just because it’s easy has caused some regret for Miller.
“I would erase the first two albums,” she says, “just because they’re not us now and I don’t even know if they were us at the time. Maybe that sounds harsh, but I just think they are of a different time.”
The Pack A.D.
Thursday, February 2
Club 9one9, $15
thepackad.com