Formed in early 2018, Les Shirley rapidly made their way into Montreal’s Rock scene. Their self-titled debut EP, released in 2019, even received a nod from the GAMIQ awards for best Rock EP of the year. The trio didn’t waste time and served us their debut LP in March, the aptly titled Forever Is Now, a danceable, singable, fun-loving Pop Rock record that’s sure to make some noise.
A “Shirley” is their slang for a ride or die girl and the self-described spiritual sisters apply this attitude to the fullest, both on and off stage. Whether it’s hearing Sarah (bass) and Raphaëlle (vocals/guitar) finishing each other’s sentences, sharing stories and laughing, or watching the band play live, the chemistry is undeniable. Along with drummer Lisandre, they’ve played together in a bunch of different projects, past and present, sometimes exchanging instruments, including the rockin’ machine Nobro, who coincidentally claimed the 2020 GAMIQ Rock EP of the year with Sick Hustle. With these Shirleys, forever is indeed now!
Forever Is Now is available on Bandcamp and on all streaming platforms now. You can also pre-order the vinyl version from Return To Analog.
What have you been listening to the most lately?
Sarah: We’ve been listening to a lot of HAIM lately, the last album, released in 2020, Women In Music Pt. III. It’s been a big influence for the songwriting, even though it’s not the same style at all. It’s just good songs, amazing melodies.
Raphaëlle : Those are old spirits. I guess it’s kind of similar to what we have, relationship wise. They’re three sisters and we always say that we feel like three old sisters.
Sarah: Which is absolutely not true!
Raphaëlle : No. *Haha* But you can feel there’s synergy on stage and I think that’s what we have as well. So yeah, we really connected to them. What else? On my side, I listen to a lot of Pop actually, to be honest. I’ve always loved Pop music in my life so it’s always a go-to for me, like THE JAPANESE HOUSE, I’ve been listening to that a lot lately. THE 1975, BILLY EILISH and IMPRESS OF. ARIANA GRANDE, I love her latest album.
Sarah: I feel like people are afraid of it, but Pop is not a dirty word. (Raphaëlle: Yeah!) I mean, if you listen to our songs, you can tell that we listen to a lot of Pop music. This is maybe 80% of what we listen to. I don’t know, it’s just good and fun.
Raphaëlle : It’s been associated with mainstream. (Sarah: You sell your soul and stuff) There’s good Pop, there’s bad Pop, don’t get me wrong. Just like everything else. It’s not because it’s produced and commercial that it’s bad. Anyway, we love it. Rain On Me from LADY GAGA (Sarah: Oh my God!) was our hit song of the summer.
What’s the first thing that strikes you when you listen to new music? Is there anything that makes or breaks it for you?
Sarah: I don’t know, I don’t think so because we like so many different things, there is not really something like, “Oh, we don’t like that. This sucks. This is amazing.” (Raphaëlle: It’s just a curiosity that we have.) I think it just depends on…I don’t even know what…there’s this Electro Pop song, it’s called Ecstasy and we were partying one night and put this song on -It’s like this EDM 1992, TIËSTO kind of song. We also like Tiësto, it doesn’t make any sense.- and for some reason, I stopped everything I was doing and I was like, “What is that?” It has nothing to do with what we do or who I am *Haha* but I was just drawn to it. We just wanted to put it again and again. So there’s no recipe for anything I like or we like I think.
Raphaëlle : No. Once in a while, I mean, you stumble upon something, and it makes you feel something, and that doesn’t happen to me often. More when I was a teenager I feel but lately, artists that made me feel that way again, was the album by HAIM for sure and The Japanese House. It was really something that I loved every song on the album and I really connect it to that. There’s some genres I don’t like too. I don’t really like Country music, but then again, there’s some good Country music.
Sarah: Two weeks ago, Lisandre, our drummer, and I started to blast some SHERYL CROW in the kitchen and we were like, “Oh-my-God. This is so amazing.” And I mean, SHANIA TWAIN! I have Shania Twain shirts everywhere in my room. I mean, anything can be good when it’s done properly.
Raphaëlle : When there’s soul in it! When you can feel the soul, it’s always good. You can respect the artist for it.
What’s your favorite way of discovering new music? Is it live, on records, friends’ recommendation, browsing, etc?
Sarah: For me, I think it’s a blend of everything. A lot of what my friends recommend, but I like to go see what the artists I like listen to. Usually, it makes a lot of sense.
Raphaëlle : There was this site back then called The Hype Machine, it was really nice. It was kind of the first website that brought this kind of idea of “You like this artist? Well, here are five other artists you might like.” That was a good way back then, but it definitely changed. I used to listen to Musique Plus (note: Quebec’s MTV) all the time in the basement of my mom’s house in Quebec. That’s how I would discover back then. Today, I guess that for me, it’s mostly on YouTube and Spotify. Or live! Once in a while, you go to a show, and it’s not even the act that you want to see. It’s the opening act, and you’re blown away. That’s a good way to discover. But sometimes you see someone live and you really connect and then you listen to the recording and you’re like, “Oh, not so much” or vice versa.
When’s the last time that you remember discovering a band live and being blown away?
Sarah: I was in Toronto and I was playing with my other band (note: Nobro). We were opening for this band SKEGGS that I had no idea about. They’re from Australia. You know, I was at the Horseshoe in Toronto, just usual business. We play, it’s awesome. Then these guys go on stage, and I felt so dumb not knowing who they were, but they started and I was like, “Oh. My. GOD.” I just ran into the mosh pit. It was the last band that I was really, really impressed to discover. So amazing. I got this hoodie I’m wearing and the shipping cost from Australia was so high, like 120 bucks. I was like, “Ahhh…alright, this is cool. It’s fine.” I had played with them already, but I didn’t know back then that it was my dream! *Hahaha*
Raphaëlle : For me, I feel like it was probably at Osheaga five years ago or so, SYLVAN ESSO, with one of the girls from MOUNTAIN MAN. Me and Lisandre, our drummer, we illegally got into Osheaga and I kind of knew about them because I had come across their single Coffee at Urban Outfitters, or something like that. I was like, “This song is cool”, but I didn’t know any other song by this band. So we get into Osheaga, it’s one of those days where it’s burning hot, and you didn’t bring water because you’re 21-22 and you’re like, “Nah, I’m gonna buy the expensive bottle for $8.” *Haha* Anyway, we’re there and I think we were on mdma if I recall *Haha*, and it was one those scenes that, at 3pm, the sun was fully raging. There was a tiny piece of shade right by the stage and it was already jam-packed so we were like, “Okay, whatever, let’s do this.” My friend knew this band, she was like, “No, no, we really have to watch it. I really love this band.” It started and they’re only two on stage and the guy is with his computer, tweaking some stuff but I don’t know, I was blown away. You know when you feel the bass pumping through your system? Maybe it was the mdma part of it, but I connected!
Sarah: I know Lisandre also had the same feeling. Since that day, every time we get into the car, the three of us, this song is going to come up at full volume.
What are some of the most memorable shows that you’ve seen in your life?
Raphaëlle : Last night, we were watching some live shows on YouTube…
Sarah: We stumbled upon PARAMORE’s The Final Riot! tour. I was a huge fan and I saw the show, I think in 2008 or 09. I cried, and I was sore for a week after that. I think it was one of the best shows I’ve seen. I mean, it’s been more than 10 years so I’ve probably seen something good too since then.
Raphaëlle : I have two. Completely different setup and two completely different genre. One of them was LINKIN’ PARK, after Minutes To Midnight was released. I didn’t really like this album, but the two albums before I was a fan. Like, I would die, you know! *Haha* So we went to see it at Festival d’Été de Québec. I was working at Burger King back then, I was 15 or 16, and we went me and my friend, a week night -it’s summertime but still, you know, when you’re 16!- and taking the bus downtown, “I’m going to this show with my friend” and then it started raining but like, pouring rain, the whole set. Everybody had their umbrellas up, but at some point, I feel like everybody said, fuck it, let’s just enjoy the show in the rain, because anyway, we’re getting soaked. Everybody shut their umbrellas at the same time. I don’t know how to explain it but every single person that was in that crowd knew all the lyrics to the songs, including myself, it was incredible. Under the rain. I would not stay under the rain for any band but for Linkin Park in 2008, I was there.
Then, I saw AQUA when they came to Metropolis in Montreal in 2017 or ’18. They had never been to Canada ever. You know who they were, Barbie Girl, right? It was the first time in my life that I asked my mom to buy me a cassette, both cassettes, and I beat those cassettes on my Walkman. I’m a fan, but it’s 20 years later. We’re there in Metropolis, it’s jam packed, the crowd is queer AF, some random people, but all late 20’s, early 30’s, and it was magical! They were so blown away, ’cause they never came to Canada and we’re giving them so much love, 20 years after their big hits. The guy came into the crowd, right next to me, like, “Ohhhh”. We’re just passing a joint around with queer, random people, drag queens and the crowd was magical.
Sarah: It makes me think of a show I saw in maybe 2018 or ’19. I was in Brooklyn with a couple of friends and we saw CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS. I have to say, I was not a fan back then. “Whatever, the girls want to see the show, we’ll just go.” I had to pay like 36 bucks for my gin and soda and I was pretty bummed out. Then the show starts and I’m like, “Ho-ly-fuck. What is this?” I never stopped dancing from the first song to the last song. I was hooked. She’s a great dancer, great entertainer. That was one of my big, big, big highlights. You’re in Brooklyn, you’re having fun, it was special.
Raphaëlle might have answered already with Aqua, but do you remember the first time that music really made an impact on you? The moment that you’ve realized, “This is for me.”
Sarah : Yeah. The first album that I felt that I had to buy with my own money -I was maybe nine or ten- was BRITNEY SPEARS’ first album. I kept seeing the music video on Musique Plus and I was like, “I have to listen to this all the time.” I asked my parents to bring me to the store. I think my brother bought a S CLUB 7 album and I got the Britney Spears one and we were so stoked. I would listen to it over and over again. It was obsessive.
Raphaëlle : Same for Aqua. At some point, I feel like my mom yelled at me because I was listening to it too much. I mean, it’s super high pitched vocals and hyperactive crazy ass music, I would probably kill my children if they were listening to that! *Hahaha* But it was the same thing because I didn’t speak a word of English back then and I was always asking my mom for translation of the lyrics. At some point, I remember her telling me “Okay, enough for today!” I was maybe eight at that time but a few years later, it did that again with EVANESCENSE, the first album, Fallen. Oh my God. I bought this album and I think every day for a year, I had the same routine. I came back home from school, got in front of my computer, put the CD into the computer and listen to it until I went to bed. The whole night, for a year. How obsessive is that? I would not do that today.
Sarah: I did that with GUNS ‘N’ ROSES. The Appetite for Destruction show in Japan. I would get in my room after school, put the DVD on and just watch the whole show, for a good year. I think the DVD broke at some point because of that.
Raphaëlle : I dropped the Evanescence CD in water or melting snow. It wouldn’t play anymore and I cried so much, my mom went to buy it for me again the same night! *Haha* I was destroyed because my Evanescence CD was destroyed! It was the end of the world.
Is that a listening habit that you’ve kept up through the years? Maybe not as obsessive but to listen to stuff over and over again, as opposed to always seeking new stuff?
Sarah: I kind of do. I have my go-to’s. I love discovering stuff but when I love something, I’m just gonna abuse it. I never get tired of it.
Raphaëlle : We always listen to the same songs together.
Sarah: …and commenting on the same parts! Like, On Ne Change Pas, CÉLINE DION, oh my God!
Raphaëlle : Every time, we know what comment is going to come up, “Oh, the bass line!” *Humming it*
Sarah: Every time, it gets us.
Raphaëlle : Same with Rain On Me *both singing it* *Hahaha* We really enjoy Karaoke nights as well.
Sarah: Yeah, we actually do it by ourselves at the jam space. We’re just the three of us and we put songs on and we sing. It’s stupid but we love it.
Raphaëlle : We play over the songs actually. We have a jam space with the drums and all the instruments, so we to crank it up super loud and play on top of that.
Sarah: Especially this year, with COVID and everything, we couldn’t go to our usual monday nights at karaoke. We’d go every monday, but we had to do it ourselves instead.
Can you name two songs each that you would say you consider to be perfect? What makes them special?
Sarah: There’s so many that comes to mind. I have two that have nothing to do together. Basket Case by GREEN DAY. It has this incisive intro with just guitar and vocals with such a strong melody, then harmonies come in and then crazy drum fills and then back to just guitar *humming the riff*. When there’s a solo, it’s just rhythm, but you don’t miss anything. It’s so good.
Then, On Ne Change Pas by CÉLINE DION. This song is just perfect. There’s no guilty pleasure. There’s just pleasure. This is what I always say. You don’t have to feel guilty about anything. For me, this is one of the best songs ever written. Just that bass line *Humming it* I mean, you just have to listen to it, I can’t comment on it. Anyway, that’s my two very weird choices.
Raphaëlle : *Talking to Sarah* I’m gonna say something and you’re not gonna like it. I know that there’s a lot of parts that annoys you a lot about this song, especially the drums…
Sarah: Oh noooo! Hotel California?
Raphaëlle : No! Fuck no. *Hahaha* It’s actually VANESSA CARLTON A Thousand Miles.
Sarah: I actually enjoy it.
Raphaëlle : You know that song? *Singing: Making my way downtown walking fast…” That piano line is such a hook. How do you come up with that? Wow, I wish I would have wrote it. That’s so good. The drumming is over the top though.
Sarah: Well, you hear the drums and you know it’s late 90’s, early 2000’s. There was a lot of really small cymbals and very high pitched snares.
Raphaëlle : But it’s a little too much, there’s just fill after fill after fill. Just do a straight beat. But there’s something about this song that gets me singing every time. The melody is crazy. That’s one for sure. Another one might be The Con by TEGAN AND SARA. There’s something about it, especially the second verse. Every time, it gets me. I don’t know how to explain. So brilliant. But there’s always a love/hate kind of relationship with their stuff. Well, Lisandre doesn’t hate Tegan and Sara but every time we play it, she’s like, “Agh.”
Sarah: We’ll be in the front of the car singing every part, harmonizing and I think the part that she hates is because we’re annoying.
Raphaëlle : But she doesn’t like the vocals and I understand why some people wouldn’t like it. But The Con is a brilliant song. It’s a brilliant album actually.
Sarah: There’s something dissonant about this song. It’s very well written.
Raphaëlle : The guitar is in a weird tuning. It’s kind of false, even a little bit out of tune, but it works. I love it. There’s so many more songs. I would talk about KATE BUSH and STEVIE NICKS and…so much stuff.
Is there any unpopular music opinion that you’d like to defend? Something that you truly love but can hardly find anyone to agree with you?
Sarah: Well, not that it’s super good, but I really think that NICKELBACK is overhated. For some reason, people were like, “We’re gonna shit on this band, and that’s gonna be it forever.” I mean, it’s okay. It’s not super good but listen to other stuff, there’s so much stuff way worse than that. (Raphaëlle: I agree.) They don’t deserve the hate they get. To get on stage in a festival and be thrown rocks and bottles, that’s brutal. It’s not that bad.
Raphaëlle : They had some good songs. I mean, I kinda liked How You Remind Me.
Sarah: This is a very sensitive subject, you know! *Hahaha* But I actually thought about that. I went to listen to the songs and I was like, “Why is this hated so much?”
Raphaëlle : There’s a lot of bands that sound exactly like that, and nobody got as much hate.
For sure, it needs to reach a threshold, it can’t be too bad, because then it’s just mean to hate on them. To get to that level, you have to be kind of good, you know?
Sarah: I mean, they have a career that a lot of people never had. Give them something.
Raphaëlle : They made it somehow because there’s a lot of people that like them.
Is there any universally acclaimed artists that you missed out on when they first came out, and discovered way later? Or even something that you hated at first, and grew on you to become some of your favorites?
Raphaëlle : I was born in the 90’s, so there’s so much good music that was made before that. We were young, even in the 90’s when NIRVANA was big. When Kurt Cobain died, I was three and I didn’t know who he was at all. Nirvana, I got into that after high school and I was blown away. Mind opening for sure but I think it was 50% the music, and 50% his persona. But there’s a lot of stuff in the 80’s too. I’m a big fan of the 80’s.
I’m old enough that I was around to enjoy Nirvana back then but I’m curious, for someone who discovers them way later, what’s the album that caught your attention? Is it still Nevermind or perhaps In Utero, or the early work?
Sarah: For me, it was Nevermind for sure. I mean, you’re 12-13 and it’s not like today, where you go on Spotify and you see the whole thing. I would go to HMV and the only one they had was Nevermind.
Raphaëlle : …Or Limewire. But then you had to know the songs so it was kind of hard. But yeah, Nevermind, there’s something about the energy of this album and the fact that they recorded it at that time. They didn’t have any click because they didn’t like it, so it’s kind of okay that it goes fast and then comes back down again. There’s this rawness that is really awesome. And his vocals! I mean, he’s not a great guitarist. Neither a great singer.
Sarah: But he’s an amazing songwriter. He has something to say. (Raphaëlle: There’s a soul there.) But I mean, BOB DYLAN sings awfully and we love him. His harmonica solos, they suck, but they’re amazing. You don’t have to know music to write good music. That’s what I learned. Even though I have degrees in music! *Haha* Then I started to play with people like Raph that never studied music and I’m like, “I’ve been studying this for 20 years, but still I can’t write a good song.” That’s amazing. (Raphaëlle: That’s not true, but yes.) I know, it’s just for the example. Some people don’t know anything, and they just feel it and it’s right, and that’s all you need to write good music.
Raphaëlle : Yes, I agree. To finish with the question, it’s weird because I really loved Nirvana but then one of the songs that really got me was years later, very randomly in Mexico, when this guy showed me this song, You Know You’re Right. I knew it was him instantly but I was like, “What? Why didn’t I know the song before?” There’s some song like that, like Stand Back by STEVIE NICKS. When I first heard it, I called my mom, “Did you know that song?” She was like, “Of course!” and I’m like, “Why did you never showed that song then? It’s mind blowing!” I’m a big fan of the 80’s.
Sarah: Oh, yeah. Every era has something to bring and it’s amazing. 70’s are awesome. When you look at the right angle, everything is great. Even NICKELBACK! *Haha*
Is there any up and coming bands that you’d like to recommend?
Sarah: It’s kind of hard now because it’s been a year that we didn’t see anything new. The guy that we did the album with, his name is SIMON KEARNEY, what he does is great. It’s Pop and Rock and kind of a bit of Disco in this and it’s really well done.
Raphaëlle : CALAMINE
Sarah: Calamine, yes! She’s a French Québecoise Rap artist, a good friend of ours. What she does is breaking barriers. She’s great.
Raphaëlle : She’s this queer, feminist, Hip Hop artist. In her lyrics, it’s crazy how she dares to rap about subjects that nobody else ever spoke about really. Because it was mainly dudes, talking about bitches and so much money. The Rap Queb was that for a long time. She’s bringing this freshness and everybody’s like, “Whoa!”
Sarah: Everybody who understand French should listen to Calamine.
Raphaëlle : Yeah. Listen to the album. She’s gonna blow everything. They will be like, “Oh yeah, they talked about her. I remember that.” *Looking over at Sarah* We can give you a scoop maybe? (Sarah: Yeah.) I mean, it’s not done at all, but we just deposited a grant application to co-produce an album with her. Shirley’s and Calamine together.
Sarah: We’re kinda of trying to do some sort of Rap Rock. Not like Linkin’ Park, but maybe more like Beastie Boys and stuff like that.
Raphaëlle : Who knows? We’ll see. We’re trying stuff. Nobody did that in Quebec.
Sarah: As long as we’re not as hated as Nickelback, we’re good! *Haha*
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