They discuss the creation of their first full-length album, All In A Name, working with powerhouse producer Sylvia Massy, and creating a safe space in their shows being a female-fronted rock band in a male-dominated scene.

"We get on stage, we want to be just a powerful force." - Nickole Regala of Daisychain

Dillon Woodward: Hello, CHIRP listeners. My name is Dillon and I am here with Nickole, Sophie, and Frankie of Daisychain. Thank you guys so much for being here.

Nickole Regala: Thanks for having us.

Sophie Williams: Thank you so much for having us.

Frankie Sripada: Thank you.

DW: So let's start with All In A Name. This is your band's first full-length album. What did crossing that threshold feel like for you as a band?

NR: Well, it was a really exciting threshold that I think all bands think about dream and aspire to do, and it takes a lot more prep work than I ever imagined, even having a foot in the industry. Being a musician, it's a lot of work that you don't see, but it was really exciting. It definitely felt like a huge milestone was reached, and professionally, I feel like we all had to level up with this experience and I feel like I got a degree or something.

FS: A certain threshold for bands or artists is like two albums or five years, and/or, and if you do more than that, then you are the extreme exception to the norm. We've been a band for pushing eight years now and we had two EPs before this. And so it really feels like we’re in it for the long haul.

DW: How did this process differ from the first two EPs that you released?

NR: You know, I was still super green in the world of recording personally, a very new, unsure experience with more of a learning curve. And we were on our own time as far as the writing process. So this time around with the album, it was much more of a timeline and it's much more structured.

SW: Yeah, and having an external perspective and working with a producer so closely on this project in particular made it a big leap for us.

DW: So you worked with Sylvia Massy on this album. You know, she's worked with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prince, and Johnny Cash. How did that partnership come to be?

SW: We sent out a bunch of emails to all of our dream producers and people that we really wanted to work with. And she was obviously top of our list and we didn't expect to hear anything back, but got our response and really clicked with her right off the bat. It felt natural and it was a great experience to work with her.

DW: Beyond her technical skills, what did she draw out of you artistically that you didn't expect?

SW: She pushed us a lot. She asked us to write 100 songs for the project, and we took the challenge and kind of ran with it. And going into it, it seemed like an impossible task. But we did it. We wrote 100 ideas or songs, and we whittled them down to 10.

DW: What was the process of whittling 100 tracks down to 10?

FS: Once we sent in all the demos, she basically narrowed it down to, like, 22 or 25 and gave us some homework on those. You know, write some vocals on the bridge here, or can you rewrite the lyrics on this chorus, that type of thing. And then we sent edits to her. She narrowed it down to another few tunes. And then when we got to the actual session, we recorded the drums and bass and scratch guitars and vocals for about 17 songs. And then at that point, she was like, these are the 10 that I think are the strongest. Let's make sure to get to these. And if we get to any of the others in this session, that’s icing on the cake.

DW: What were some of the inspirations for this new album? And how did that influence the production style?

NR: If we're talking about the production, when we went in, we were definitely talking about how inspired we were in influence. We were influenced by Pink Floyd and psych rock in general. So we wanted that kind of Pink Floyd, vibey, lots of braver, big sound.

SW: Definitely an homage.

FS: I think there was loosely an idea of, Pink Floyd came out in the grunge era, what would they sound like? Something like that. As far as non-musical influences or inspirations for the record, for me personally, it's what men and women can do working together. Going on today, there's crazy manosphere people and men's rights [bleep]. When people actually take time to listen to each other and work together and make an effort to seek out other perspectives, it yields really awesome things.

DW: Psych rock is a relatively male-dominated field. Being a female-fronted band, have you faced moments on stage or off where creating a safe and open space for women was tested or underscored in a powerful way?

NR: We get on stage, we want to be just a powerful force. Sure, sometimes it is met with, I would say, one out of every thousand people might say something kind of misogynist or be challenged by female-fronted rock in some way and make it very clear at a merch booth. But for the most part, people are honestly ready and down for it. People get excited when they see us on stage. I think they're interested. I hope when we get up there, we do psych rock justice, and we are just true to ourselves and enjoy being the badasses that we are, male or female.

FS: It’s funny, I mean not funny–thinking about how dominated psych rock, or rock, or the music industry in general is, by men. I remember in our first tour we played a show in New Orleans, and after the set, the venue owner came up to me and said, hey, it’s nice to see a band where it’s not just four white dudes on stage.

SW: But it is important.

NR: It’s very important. Yeah, absolutely, and I hope that psych rock and all genres of music and art and creative fields in general are able to represent all types of people. It’s just so important to get different opinions, different viewpoints across, and it’s so necessary especially in these times. Yes, it's enriching to see through other people's lenses, you know, and the more diversity and inclusion in those spaces, the better [chance] I think we have against the Christian-fascist regime. You know, it's all about community. And at the end of the day, just trying to make sure that the community we're curating is inclusive.

SW: And that people feel comfortable and safe going out to any social situation and just wanting to be themselves.

NR: Amen.

FS: Amen.

DW: Do you take this energy with you when you perform on stage and does it influence the style of writing you bring into the studio as well?

SW: I think so, yeah. I think we all have sort of not only musically evolved but evolved into our, for lack of better words, stage personas, our Sasha Fierces where it’s so much fun to be able to explore creatively with that too. And not only sonically, but also how I want to represent myself and represent our band. It’s really cool, it’s cool to get up there and to be a hype person for the night and everybody just wants to have a good time and party.

NR: It's been really cool watching each other grow with this album and watching each other honestly [bleep] crush it. Everybody really brought their A-game for this album and it's really affected how we play live together now. Everybody’s really leaning into themselves, and in the album, there's definitely different vibes and they're all really authentic to each of our expressions and every song has a dash of each of us in it. It’s super cool to see it come to life and see it so well received.

DW: Lastly, what do you hope listeners experience or carry with them after diving into All In A Name?

SW: I hope people connect to the songs, whether it's all of them or one in particular and are able to experience something with them and get something from them.

FS: I hope that people feel something fresh and something that captures a lot of the chaos in the extreme overload of different vibes that really feels like the world now. I hope it's something that people look back on, and are like, this is not something that's just a product of its time. This is something that stands on its own.

DW: Sophie, Nickole, and Frankie, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today. My name is Dillon and this has been a CHIRP radio artist interview. Daisychain's first album All In A Name is out now. Thank you.

SW: Thanks for having us.

Produced by Jessi D.

Photo Credit: Vicki Holda

Listen to an audio version of the interview here.

Listen to Daisychain's first full length album, All In A Name, and their past EPs on Bandcamp.