DILLY DALLY with ARMY GIRLS and NEW FRIES as part of GIRLS’ ART LEAGUE fundraiser at the Garrison (1197 Dundas West), Friday (July 4), 9 pm. $10 at the door. garrisontoronto.com. See listing.
Best friends Katie Monks and Liz Ball formed their grunge-pop band Dilly Dally about five years ago, and have played at least one show a month for the past few years. This week: a fundraiser for Girls’ Art League, a non-profit that holds visual arts workshops for young girls and women.
In the last six months, they’ve recruited a new bassist and drummer and self-released two singles – one of which, Next Gold, received praise from Pitchfork. Since then, everything’s changed. A new single will be released in September, and a full-length is expected next year.
“It feels like we’re in a new band. People are looking at us differently,” says Monks over the phone in Toronto. “Suddenly, everyone gets us now.”
Their rise fits with Toronto’s current music climate – noisier, heavier, less indie rock – but Dilly Dally’s sound has been consistent since 2010.
“If you peel everything away” – like Monks’s androgynous drawl and the guitars’ heavy reverb – “there’s always a pop song there.”
But the band has cranked up the aggression.
“At a recent show, someone who hadn’t seen us play in a few years came up and said, ‘You guys are a lot angrier now,'” Monks recalls. “And I looked at him with complete sincerity and said ‘We are angrier now.’
“We’ve been playing this city for four years and working at restaurants and, yeah, we’re getting a little pissed off. It’s like, ‘Fucking listen to us! Look at us!'”
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