The Cliks: A Year Later
June 25th, 2008 - Written by judith
CONFRONT: Hi ladies.
JEN AND NINA: Hi, nice seeing you again.
CONFRONT: I know, nice seeing you again too! It’s been a year since we last spoke; we’ll do our best here to make this interview as conversational as possible right?
JEN: Yeah that’d be great.
CONFRONT: Perfect. So today, since we’ve done an interview before, I want to focus on the past year. Last time, you played at Le Savoy a couple of streets away from here, now you’re at the Olympia opening for The Cult…how have things changed in the past year?
JEN: Well we changed our hair…my hair was pink. (laughs)
CONFRONT: (laughs) well my hair was brown back then.
NINA: We matured a lot.
JEN: We’re getting better in our live performances.
CONFRONT: Has your relationship changed, is it the same as it was before or has it changed?
NINA: I think we’ve learned a lot about each other. We now know when to stay away from each other and stuff you know…
JEN: we have become closer, we’re tighter.
NINA: Playing with bands like The Cult, and playing in front of their audiences, made us kick our asses and make sure we were all there as a band and play the best we can, so that they can become fan of us too, you know…
CONFRONT: How is your relationship with The Cult? Is it very friendly or is it still a bit distant?
JEN: They are a very grounded band and they are totally aware of who we are.
CONFRONT: That’s wonderful.
JEN: Yeah. And they are the ones who came and asked us to open for them on a part of their tour, you know, so it’s great.
CONFRONT: Yeah and it’s very valuable when a band like them wants you to play with them, to get their audience ready for them.
NINA: Yeah for sure! it’s a kind of confidence boost you know.
CONFRONT: Exactly.
JEN: It was a good opportunity for us.
CONFRONT: I know. How have things changed since you guys started. What is the difference between when you guys started and now? Has people’s perspective on who you are as a band changed? For example your sexual orientations, which some people can be taken at back about other people can have embraced or have been open minded about it…do you notice a difference?
NINA: I think we are a band who plays music and in the past year people have been able to pass on that fact and listen to our music.
JEN: Our sexual orientation isn’t and has never been an issue for us. We are not defined by our sexual orientation but by the music we play. It doesn’t matter.
CONFRONT: Exactly.
JEN AND NINA: It doesn’t matter who you sleep with right?
CONFRONT: Right and this is one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you girls about it today. Did you guys have to deal with any issues regarding this when you started?
JEN: Well you know we had a lot of misquotations about the way we define ourselves…
NINA: Well of course but we live in a society now that is more and more open minded and it doesn’t matter if you are gay or straight or even bi anymore. People in younger generations see beyond that; and that’s what we’re trying to portray. Play good music and the rest doesn’t matter, you know.
JEN: We want our fans, and also listeners, to go beyond our sexuality. This is not the interesting part, you know; the interesting part is how we play and how we party you know…
CONFRONT: I agree and this is once again a reason why I wanted to talk to you guys about it. Last time we spoke I explained to you that our magazine’s motto is DARE to listen, DEFY stereotypes and PROVOKE change and we hope that this interview and your music can help us and our readers do so…
JEN AND NINA: And we thank you for that.
CONFRONT: Have you guys had any fans come up to you and say: “you know what? you helped me understand who I am?” Or have any of them said to you: “you’ve helped me demystify sexual orientation?”
JEN: No. We have fans come up to us and say: “your music is great, you make me want to rock…”
CONFRONT: For sure.
JEN: You know I’m not going change the fact that our sexuality is part of who we are you know, but we want to be recognize for our music.
NINA: I consider my orientation to be personal; and if I like someone, whether it’s a guy or a girl, I like that person. And as long as he or she makes me happy, then that’s what counts, right?
CONFRONT: Right, you guys are for happiness.
JEN AND NINA: Yes, as long as someone is happy with who they are that’s perfect. We want our influence on people to be our music.
CONFRONT: You want people to be confident in who they are and to listen to your music and see the rock and roll side of you and see the determination it took you guys and it still takes you guys to be where you are.
JEN AND NINA: Exactly, confidence in one’s self is the most important thing.
CONFRONT: Also beyond stereotypes.
NINA: Exactly.
CONFRONT: Ok last thing, we’re running out of time here unfortunately.
JEN: I know.
CONFRONT: What would you say would be the biggest thing you’ve accomplished since we last spoke? That one moment when you said… wow this just made my year?
JEN: You know what? Surviving the drive from Thunder Bay…
NINA: (laughs)
CONFRONT: ok
NINA: we didn’t die last week… We drove from Thunder Bay to Toronto last week and there was a bad storm so… (laughs) No for real, I think surviving as a band; just to say we’ve done it for a year and we’re getting better and better at it!
JEN: Yeah! Learning about each other everyday also and staying together and grounded.
CONFRONT: That’s great. Thank you so much ladies, hope we get to do this again…
JEN AND NINA: Yeah for sure. Thank you.
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Click here to read last year’s interview.
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