Article: IN*TANDEM

L.A. based electro-pop duo, Uh Huh Her, quickly made a name for themselves after the release of their 2007 EP I See Red. With only two rehearsals under their belt, musician/actress Leisha Hailey and singer/multi-instrumentalist Camila Grey were thrust in front of sold out crowds. A year later the duo released their debut LP Common Reaction, produced by Al Clay (Pixies, Blur), and received an equal amount of media frenzy. A testament of how a fantastical synth heavy pop record with ethereal vocals could help sky-rocket a band named after PJ Harvey’s 2004 album. Yet they still remain humble about it all. IN*TANDEM Magazine caught up with Grey and Hailey before their sold out show at the Fill more (formerly Irving Plaza) in Manhattan. They shared aspects of their creative process and let us in on their future plans.

IN*TANDEM: How did you find a home on Nettwerk?

CAMILA GREY: I have been. I was just signed as a solo kind of a management thing with them before I met Leisha and was about to kind of embark of doing my own thing with them and met her kinda in the process and trying to bring that to the table to them. They got really excited about it. ‘Yay! Let’s do something.’ This side project turned out into this obviously.

IN*TANDEM: Initially, how did you envision Uh Huh Her to sound?

GREY: Kinda like this. I was always like, from the beginning, I was like let’s make a cool synth record. We were a three-piece girl band. I was like ‘Alicia, [Warrington former band member of Uh Huh Her] you play’ – she was really good at electronic drums – and we played with Kelly Osbourne and she was good with an electronic kit. It looked really cool. So I had that idea in mind. Then we wrote our first song, all together which was, ‘Say So’ which had a little pop rock [sound]. That sort of started out the sound, for sure.

IN*TANDEM: How do you both come together in regards to the writing process? Does one write a song or is it more of a collaborative endeavour?

GREY: We both collaborate. I’m kind of [a] more touchy production person. I like putting it all together. We both write. We both play synth. Or she’ll get on the bass or I’ll be on the synth. That’s how we wrote the record. We will get together in her studio and geek out for hours.

LEISHA HAILEY: Yeah, little pieces is really how it always starts. Cam likes to take and idea and stay up until like six in the morning.

GREY: I like to add on to it. And then I’ll make this thing and she’ll be like ‘What’s that?’ I’ll turn from that into that.

HAILEY: And I’ll be like go back to the other thing. I think what’s so great about our time constraints is that; I think we try to find every which way to write. I hope that continues because it doesn’t limit us to one common sound. Because I think you can fall in a rut when it comes to that. So you know, we definitely stretch each other. I’m so untechnically savvy, that whole world kind of intimidates me. I’m into writing in the rawest form possible. Cam doesn’t like that so we kind of push each other in these new directions.

GREY: She tried to get me to write something on acoustic guitar and I had the hardest time.

HAILEY: We had to tape it on a four track.

GREY: We challenge each other.

IN*TANDEM: Where do you find the time to write, record, tour, and act within a small window of time?

HAILEY: It’s been hard. I’m not gonna lie. I think my schedule will definitely loosen up now and hopefully give this band a lot more time. It was challenging but you know it is what it is. I’m gonna have to work extra hard. I think I probably got some extra bags under my eyes.

GREY: You’re a beauty.

IN*TANDEM: For Common Reaction, how were the songs crafted? Were you back at Camila’s bathroom to try to do this?

GREY: It’s a funny story actually. We did it the same way we produced the EP. We kinda went to either of our houses – we both have little studios there. We came up with a bunch of ideas in both places and even in Vancouver [Leisha tapes The L Word in Vancouver, British Columbia]. Leisha had this brilliant idea – it was time to cut vocals and pre-production I guess what you’d call it. So she built – we didn’t have an iso booth and we didn’t want to be in the bathroom anymore. So she built a tepee.

HAILEY: Uh huh. This thing is amazing!

GREY: And padded it. We tried to make it isolated. Our lovely producer Al came in and gave us a good mic.

HAILEY: We got all our track vocals done in the tepee.

GREY: We got all our track vocals done. We did everything in the tepee [laughs]. It’s funny because to get in and out was so difficult. So I had to stay in there and shout out to her ‘Press record!’ It must have looked so funny.

HAILEY: It was really funny. I think I have it on video.

GREY: It was done all pre-production in our house, and then we took it to Al’s studio and really polished it and re-recorded a lot of stuff – made it more hi-fi.

IN*TANDEM: The album seems to be about relationships more than love songs, thematically was this the direction you wanted to approach?

GREY: Not so much. I think a lot of it happened that way. A lot of it is not necessarily about relationships. A lot of it could be metaphorical. But you’re right, a lot of it could stem from that.

HAILEY: But conceptually, I mean, sometimes we would take a song and it wasn’t about real life it just was about unrequited love that everybody in the world could relate to.

GREY: [We] try to relate to everyone.

HAILEY: Sometimes when we say the word love or things like that. We’re not even talking about what people actually think it’s about.

GREY: Was that obtuse enough for you?

IN*TANDEM: I watched your video [Not A Love Song] recently. I thought it was great. Whose idea was it to have the unicorn?

HAILEY: I don’t really remember why I wanted one.

GREY: I think you just said it one day. ‘I want a unicorn.’ It was the best.

HAILEY: It was all about not getting the not full-size unicorn.

GREY: You wanted a mini.

HAILEY: Yeah I wanted a mini unicorn. It was like let’s see if we can pull that off. Somebody knew somebody who knew of a mini pony somewhere in Canada.

GREY: Let’s find a mini pony in California.

HAILEY: And then we found one. Everybody became obsessed with the mini unicorn idea. So it became a game of lets see if we can make it happen.

GREY: We’ve been doing these day in the life of videos for YouTube. I guess for me, conceptually, it was like a fantasy day in the life of. That was the concept of the video – a really weird view and tweaked out of Day in the Life of the band.

IN*TANDEM: You had instant fame after your first EP came out. How did you find the fans reaction when playing live?

GREY: They’re so supportive. I feel like they’re so forgiving. When we first started out we were playing with an iPod. No drummer. No band really. We were silly people up on stage frolicking around like complete idiots. We really, I think at that point, shouldn’t have been playing in all those places. [We] really [should have been] getting more experiences before being put in front of audiences like that. They were sold out shows. That was difficult for me and I’m sure for you too [to Leisha]. I sort of jumped in with ‘I’m going to be a lead singer.’

HAILEY: I haven’t done it in years. Like it was re-entering that whole world – that whole side of myself that I let go long ago. So that was terrifying for me as well.

GREY: The fans, to answer your questions, have been amazing and very supportive.

IN*TANDEM: Do you have and pre-show jitters now?

HAILEY: Yes you do.

GREY: You know what. I feel weirdly calm today about all of this. I feel like we’ve been so busy that today to think ‘Oh my god, we have a show in New York.’

HAILEY: Well not tonight but something in general.

GREY: Yeah.

HAILEY: I think when you hit a point where you weren’t nervous before you walk on stage that would be a bad thing. You want to feel off guard; you want to feel [Camila finishes off her sentence]

GREY: A little vulnerable.

HAILEY: Yeah. That’s part of it.

IN*TANDEM: Are you writing any new songs?

GREY: I’m always writing just as a person. We haven’t really had time as a band to write.

HAILEY: We’ve written a little bit.

GREY: Oh, right in Vancouver. That was our acoustic sessions that I’m so scared to hear. But yeah, I’m always writing. We definitely plan on getting together.

HAILEY: I can’t wait for that.

GREY: Either making an EP or just doing something creative again, you know. She’s been so busy and we’ve been on the road and we’re going to take a little bit of a break. Hopefully we could write some more for the next record, for sure.

IN*TANDEM: What’s next for Uh Huh Her in 2009?

GREY: Touring. New EP.

HAILEY: I mean I really like to go away for a while and write. Lock myself somewhere where we can’t get out and write together.

GREY: We’ve really never had that opportunity. We’ve always been really rushed to do everything. Yeah, just to feel like we have time to really conceptualise something; to really have an idea of what we want to do would be awesome.

IN*TANDEM: How will you do that with Leisha’s new spin-off?

GREY: Overachiever. [Laughs]

HAILEY: Well it’s only a pilot at this point. I mean, the chances of it being picked up are pretty slim. I’m going to shoot that in December. It would shoot in Los Angeles, which would be a big help for us. I don’t know it’s all up in the air.

(@IN*TANDEM magazine: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

4 Responses to “ Article: IN*TANDEM ”

1. Heather says:

   January 9, 2009 at 19:19

   It makes me sad that she says the chances of the spinoff being picked up are really slim. :( Great article, though.

   Reply
2. green says:

   January 10, 2009 at 10:10

   Yeah, I know :( They really need to change the title though. The prison thing was enough to grasp in the first place, but the title is just… I don’t really want people thinking I’m watching a show about cows or anything.

   Reply
3. Heather says:

   January 10, 2009 at 10:12

   Yeah, I’m not big on the title either. I also don’t know how a show in prison is really going to work out but I will gladly watch any show having to do with the L Word, especially this one since it is centered around my fav character.

   Reply
4. Amanda says:

   January 10, 2009 at 14:54

   Agreed. I’m sad as well that she says the chances are slim, but I will watch anything that has to do with the L word and Alice. I’m not sure how the prison thing will work out but we’ll see. And the title, yeah i hope they change it.
   Otherwise, awesome article! I was at that show that tonight and I didn’t know it was sold out, so I’m glad to hear that!

   Reply