Words + Photos By Emma Hintz
I had the absolute pleasure of being able to catch Southern California Locals The Aquadolls on their Spring Fling tour, we sat down ton discuss touring, van tunes and whats next for the band.
First off, can you guys introduce yourselves to the readers at home?
Kayla: Hi, i’m Kayla, and I play bass
Melissa: I’m Melissa and I sing and play guitar
Jackie: Hi, i’m Jackie and I play drums
How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never listened to your music before?
Melissa: Fun mermaid rock
Kayla: I would say to listen first and form your own opinion, I would say put on a song while you’re reading this interview and tell us what you think.
Jackie: Yeah do that
you’ve been on your “spring fling” tour for about a month now, how’s it been going? any crazy stories to share with the audience?
Melissa: Salt Lake city was a really fun show, it was snowing sideways in Denver like a week ago which was very unexpected and now it’s really warm so the weather has just been really fun. I love the warm weather so I'm thriving in Tampa.
Kayla: I’m going to be so honest I don’t even remember leaving home. I just remember being in Portland and having the really nice concierge at the hotel help us bring 17 boxes of merch to our little hotel room. That's the last memory I have and now we’re in Florida so I don’t know how we got here.
You guys have about a month left so…
Kayla: Maybe I’ll remember today and the next interview I’ll be like okay so we were in Tampa
This is a really long tour but I love that for you guys, you’re really hitting every city
Kayla: We’re touching Everyone and everything
Do you have a city you’re most excited to hit on the last half of the tour?
Kayla: I like El Paso, El Paso is fun to play, so maybe I’m excited for that show I guess we’ll see. I genuinely can’t gauge how much time is passing or how much time has passed so I don’t know if that’s towards the end of the tour. That city always shows up and out for us and we have some really cool openers so I like El Paso. Shoutout to El Paso.
I’ve always heard really good things about Texas shows
Kayla: Their music scene is pretty fire
What can fans expect who are coming to a show coming up?
Melissa: Simply, go off, lose yourself, it’s a safe space to go crazy, shake your hair a little bit, push someone in the mosh pit. let loose.
Kayla: You can expect me to be testing out all of my standup comedy jokes for my eventual stand up comedy career. I’ll be testing out all of my greatest snl skits in between songs and just give me your most honest opinion so I have time to get them polished before my snl residency.
Jackie: Rock out and buy merch and rock out.
What have you guys had on repeat in the van?
Melissa: A lot of No Doubt, Britney, Gwen, a lot of the early 2000’s stuff as well as 80’s
Jackie: Honestly we’ve been playing everything but a lot of Wolf Alice, we’ve been on a little kick there
Melissa: A lot of times when I wake up in the van Across the Universe is playing
Kayla: I always have my headphones in and I have a “Van Jams” playlist which is a lot of Coco and Clair Clair, Kreyshawn, Flo Milli, Rico Nasty and Frank Ocean. I have a two hour long playlist but I’m gate keeping it from everybody in the world.
Jackie: You’ve got to start sharing it with us.
What is your favorite and least favorite part of tour?
Jackie: Playing is the favorite, least favorite is the load out and load ins because they can be a little strenuous, but they also serve as a good workout too. Also don’t love stalkery people like old men BOOOOOOO
Melissa: Tomato Tomato I’m throwing Tomatoes
Kayla: My favorite is getting to meet new people and friends because I have a lot of online friends that I never thought I would be able to meet. Tonight I have my friends hope and Devin here and we met them last year and they surprised us with a bunch of gifts. We’ve formed a sense of community online so that feels really good. My least favorite part is sitting inside of the van. I hate it so much and my ankles get swollen because I don’t stretch and then my ankles look like I am 9 months pregnant.
Melissa: I love playing the shows and getting to see people in the crowd lose their minds and have fun. Load ins are hard as well as not sleeping a lot, but off days are good because we get to catch up on our rest and then re-energize for the next show.
Who is your dream artist to tour with?
Lizzo, Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett, Fidlar, Keanu Reeves.
Kayla: We should just open for celebrities on their book tours
Jackie: Reba Mackentire!
What's next for Aquadolls?
Melissa: Our album comes out two days before tour ends so I would imagine we’ll be working on promoting it, we’ll have some more music videos coming out, we have some more shows towards the end of the year that we have yet to announce.
Kayla: Find a job
Melissa: Make steady income
Kayla: Make some money before we hit the road again!
Any last words you would like to say to the audience?
Melissa: Be yourself, rock out, and go listen to our music!
Kayla: You’re cool
Jackie: Be your own mother, find your inner mother, rock out with your inner mother.
Kayla: Jamie Lee Curtis style.
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