The Beaches Backstage at Parkjam [Interview + 5 Quick Questions]

Toronto’s The Beaches have been on a bit of a whirlwind of late.

I caught up with Jordan Miller, Kylie Miller, Eliza Enman McDaniel, and Leandra Earl before their set at Parkjam in the Forest City, London, ON.

We talked about their freshly released EP The Professional, opening for and meeting The Rolling Stones, touring, new music, and more.

The period of 2018 to 2019 has been huge for The Beaches, building on an already successful journey. They won a Juno Award for Breakthrough Group in 2018. The band received a SOCAN Songwriting Prize nomination for their song Money. They made their CFL TV debut playing the halftime show. And, they were chosen as the opening act for the only Canadian stop on the Rolling Stones’ 2019 No Filter Tour.

They’ve also played Osheaga, Riverfest Elora, Download Festival in the UK, WTFest, The KEE to Bala, and of course, Parkjam. They’ve also been playing in the US with Passion Pit, and they’re hoping, as Canadian bands do, that they’ll get that US bump.

They’ll be hitting Riot Fest next, and then heading out on the road with Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes.

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First, let me start with, if you follow the band on Twitter, you’ll know that after the Shawn Mendes Tim Horton‘s coffee cups were announced, The Beaches, reached out to local coffee chain, Coffee Time, asking if they’d be in for a collaboration. I had to ask, but sadly there is no deal in the works to put The Beaches on Coffee Time coffee cups. I think Coffee Time is missing the boat on this one.

Switching things over to music I asked about The Professional. Jordan responded with “It’s a bit of music that we’ve released since Late Show. And It was really cool, because we wrote it, and then released it. I mean, with the exception of Lame, all of the music that’s on The Professional was written in the last 10 months. So that was a really unique and awesome experience. To just write music, and then immediately put it out there.”

When I asked the band about highlights in the last year, I could have guessed their answers. Across the board, it was getting to meet and play with The Rolling Stones at Burl’s Creek this summer. AEG Presents (who work with The Stones) got to know the band while they were touring with The Glorious Sons, and they were instrumental in making this show happen. Although, Facetiming with Sir Elton John, was also mentioned.

“I’ve never been more nervous for a show before. Obviously. That was, it was just, it was insane. To be able to meet them, and to learn that they actually watched part of our set was incredible. So yeah, that was probably the one thing I can really think of as the big highlight of the year.” – The Beaches

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With a brand new EP out, I wouldn’t have expected that there would be talk about new music yet. I was wrong! New songs are written, and everything for the next release is already recorded. We couldn’t get a release date but it’s coming.

The Beaches were gracious, friendly, kind, and funny during my time with them. I hope to do this again, soon, and to be honest, I would love to just hang with them, They were so easy to talk to!

5 Quick Questions with The Beaches

Q1: If you’re on a road trip, what’s the one album you can listen to on repeat?

TB: Rumours, by Fleetwood Mac.

Q2: What can fans expect from a live performance?

TB: Lots of the best music you’ve ever heard!

Q3: Is there a band or artist you think people should be paying more attention to?

TB: Goodbye Honolulu, and Fade Awaays.

Q4: Tell us something about you, that even your fans wouldn’t know.

TB: Jordan pretends to be allergic to fruit, but she’s actually not. She just hates it.
TB: Jordan’s the funniest member.
TB: Honestly, we’re kind of like nerds when it comes to like we have fun doing like nerdy, nerdy things.

Q5: Is there anything else you want to share with our readers?

TB: Stay updated! Join the mailing list.

Thanks to Jordan, Kylie, Eliza, and Leandra, for taking the time to meet with me. It was truly a pleasure.

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Trish Cassling

Writer/Photographer/Editor

Toronto Music Blogger