>>PREVIEW
YOU SAY PARTY! WE SAY DIE!
Friday, February 17
Broken City
"I was always somebody who was extremely shy and insecure about my voice growing up," says Becky Ninkovic, singer for Vancouver’s tremendously catchy rockers You Say Party! We Say Die! While her timidity didn’t prevent her from joining the choir, her love of singing wasn’t enough to make her resonate with exclamation marks.
"If I was ever standing next to anybody I considered cool or somebody that I wanted to like me, I would usually mouth the words and stop singing," she says. "So this experience of being in a band and being heard really gives me the confidence that I think I always wanted to have as a teenager."
Well, now she’s the cool kid and it’s hard to imagine Ninkovic, or any of her bandmates, being intimidated by anybody. Ever. Their punk ideologies and remarkable ability to make people dance where they stand is unparalleled. Singing about economic disparity, Stockholm Syndrome and contemporary emotions is not new to rock, but is something that the band strives for in their music and, more specifically, that Ninkovic strives for in writing lyrics.
"I never really like for things to be super blatant and demanding," she says. "I like it to be easy to listen to and enjoy on a purely musical level as well. It’s fun to have a little bit of a challenge."
"It’s what I’m feeling inside… and sometimes it’s about an issue going on in the world or within my life or it’s just a different type of expression."
The songwriting process is not quite old hat to this young rock star – the band has only been performing live for 18 months – but the experience of working with a group of people has its rewards, particularly in an open and supportive environment such as this one. The group recently reduced its ranks to five members and, as a result, their music is constantly changing, and so are the nuances of their live show. There is more precision in the mix, and while the band isn’t as loud, iy’s just as intense.
"There’s a lot more space for each of the instruments, including my voice, to come through clearer," says Ninkovic. "And I like that. When I can hear the keys — all the harmonies come through."
Less time focusing on the details of their sound allows the singer some more time to focus on another important aspect of performance - her moves.
"I’m inspired a lot by Olivia Newton John in the ‘Let’s Get Physical’ video and Jane Fonda," she says, with an audible smile. "I love aerobics. I’m still integrating that into my stage performance but usually I go off at house parties with the old Roger Rabbit."
While her dance revolution began in heels, she quickly realized that comfort wins over fashion when you are on tour, and usually winds up strutting in her socks.
"I’m still looking for the perfect shoe," she says. "I’d actually like to get some ballet slippers. I think they’d be pretty awesome."
The need to express oneself politically can truly take so many forms, but dancing is not often associated with that specific notion. After taking a moment, Ninkovic finds a connection.
"It’s definitely liberating and I think freedom or liberation is definitely a big issue in politics," she says. "It’s what a lot of people are after. So yeah, in that way, dancing is political." |
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