Article: From Screen To Dancefloor

Love it or loathe it, HBO’s hit series The L-Word made waves in terms of queer representation on television. Of course there are justified criticisms — the lipstick lesbians of Los Angeles are a far cry from butch. But it’s not the characters, steamy sex scenes, or plot that really held viewers’ attention, it’s the show’s soundtrack. Over the course of The L-Word’s five seasons, the show has featured Canada’s finest, including Tegan and Sara, Kinnie Starr, Be Good Tanyas, Jason Collett, Rufus Wainwright, The Organ and Feist.

US actress Leisha Hailey, who portrayed Alice Pieszecki, will step out from the screen and onto the stage with her musical project Uh Huh Her, her new LA-based band with Camila Grey. Decked out in their rock ‘n’ roll finest — gowns, glitter and heels — the girls of Uh Huh Her are sure to dazzle folks at the Mod Club in Toronto on Fri, May 23 (the band returns Sat, Jun 28 for Pride).

Why the switch from acting to rock? “I’m just kind of going with it,” says Hailey, on the phone from LA. “I’m not making any giant decisions that my life will lean one way or another. It gives me a lot of relief to think that way.
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Article: Brightest Young Things

Uh Huh Her is a musical duo comprised of Camilla Grey and Leisha Hailey.
Camilla is formerly of the low-fi indie band Mellowdrone, and has previously worked with Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Kelly Osbourne.
Leisha Hailey began her musical career in the alt-pop band the Murmurs, and is currently one of the main characters in the hit lesbian drama, the L Word, which appears on Showtime and has a huge cult following (of which I am a proud member!) UHH’s vocals range from power infused to dreamy, layered with analogue and synthesized instrumental tracks fueled by lyrics dealing with love, life and longing. The beats and hooks are catchy and danceable with just enough grit and static to balance out the sweet.

I got to interview UHH and shoot their concert at the 9:30 club Wednesday night. Even thought it was a school night. And yes, I can still refer to myself has having “school nights” because I work at a high school, and I even had to show up early the next day to proctor an AP exam. (Remember those? They still suck. Even when you just have to proctor them.) Also speaking of the school where I work, H-B Woodlawn Program, one of my star seniors came with to help with the interview and shoot. Claire asked some probing questions, and will be writing a review of the concert so look out for that!
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Article: Uh Huh Her dish about aliens, Eminem, and early influences

Picture this: tiny room, two chairs and an unstoppable Texas connection. Our interview with Leisha Haley and Camila Grey of the electro-indie group Uh Huh Her felt like talking with two old college friends.

BoT: Uh Huh Her is named after a PJ Harvey album…is PJ Harvey your most significant influence?

LH: We love her to death, but it wasn’t because of that. We had a list of I think almost a hundred names and we were a three-piece at the time, a girl three-piece, so it fit.

BoT: So if that’s not your biggest influence, what is?

LH: For me it comes from lots of different places…music….I don’t know, you mean like who do we love music-wise?

BoT: Yes…you know, didn’t you have that one album when you were a kid that you were blaring out…
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Article: ‘Beauty with pop, and beats’

“I’m a little vanned out,” said Leisha Hailey. Known for her role as bisexual reporter Alice Pieszecki on Showtime’s The L Word, she has been moonlighting as an indie-pop star of late.

Talking on a cell phone from a tour van somewhere in North Carolina, Hailey was far from discouraged about Uh Huh Her, her dreamy electro-pop project (named after a PJ Harvey album) with singer-multi-instrumentalist Camila Grey. The duo’s full-length debut Common Reaction is due Aug. 19, but the show is already on the road.

“Ohmigod, we’ve had amazing crowds,” she said. “They’ve just been the highlight of the whole tour. They’re beyond supportive, with all their energy, the T-shirts they’ve been making, screaming and singing along at our shows. They’re crazy. It’s wild, you make something one day, and a year later it turns into this whole other thing.”

Much of the excitement is due to Hailey’s cult stardom within the lesbian community – for whom she was already a household name prior to The L Word, because of her former relationship with Canadian country-music icon K.D. lang – surely a large part of the reason many stops on the current tour (including Wednesday’s show at Club Soda) are sold out.
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Review: Washington, DC

While this is just a rough estimate, I’d say 99% of the attendees at last night’s Uh Huh Her show were fans of The L Word. Alice Pieszecki is a role Leisha Hailey’s going to have a difficult time shaking, but such a separation will be necessary for Uh Huh Her to continue to gain fans after The L Word finishes its sixth and final season next year. I sincerely hope the band is able to transcend Hailey’s television persona, as their first full US tour is proving promising.

Uh Huh Her is a young band. Formed barely over a year ago by Hailey and Camila Grey, Uh Huh Her is already signed to Nettwerk and preparing for the August release of the full-length Common Reaction. The short history of the band was reflected in its equally short set, which spanned approximately 60 minutes, including encore. Despite their limited discography and the shortness of the set, Grey and Hailey were still able to express both musicianship and showmanship, presumably due to past experience in other musical projects (Mellowdrone and The Murmurs, respectively). While Uh Huh Her is not the most musically complex group, the preparedness of the band was impressive for its first complete tour. The only real problem came from Grey’s inability to properly follow the setlist, but that was only a momentary setback and the band proceeded smoothly through an 11-song main set and a 1-song encore that was preceded by Grey’s abbreviated rendition of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.”
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