Interview: Haley Blais
Interview and photos by Sophie Minello
We met up with Haley Blais on the tail end of her tour with Peach Pit. Recently releasing a rocking single called Coolest Fucking Bitch in Town, she’s ready to make her mark as a musician/vlogger extraordinaire. We were able to chat about some epic tour fails, her upcoming moody album, and more.
Give me the rundown of the tour so far. It’s been much anticipated, how is it going?
It’s been highly anticipated and therefore everything has to go wrong, obviously. I’ll just give you the lowdown. The van broke down. We had to sell the van and rent a rental van. We had some covid stuff happen. Then I lost my voice. And then I got food poisoning. The Winnipeg show is getting canceled [due to a storm]. But… It's been fun in between those moments.
I mean, would it be a tour if you didn’t come out with some wild stories?
There always has to be something happening, but you think after three it’ll wrap up…
Yes, so a fair share of bad has happened, but what about the good things?
The good thing is that the crowds are crazy. When you’re on stage you can’t really see what’s going on, I just go through the motions and almost like black out a little bit. I’m not very present for shows. It’s only when I’m watching the Peach Pit show in the crowd when I can look and think: “Oh my god, there’s so many people here. There’s too many people here!” It’s really really cool. Every show has been sold out, it’s insane. It’s awesome for [Peach Pit] and every once in a while I have to remind myself I’m also on this tour. I feel like I’m just in the car, like I’m a groupie of something. Which I also am.
So you’ve enjoyed being with Peach Pit?
Totally, my guitarist Lindsay, her fiancé is Chris [guitarist of Peach Pit] so we’re all just kind of a big family. I’m getting married to them too.
Before the tour you released Coolest Fucking Bitch in Town. What can you tell us about it?
It sounds like an anthem, but it’s actually anti-anthemic. It’s a pretty sad song, but I’m happy people are relating to it. We end the set on that song and it’s really fun to end it with that because everyone is chanting at the end with me.
Everyone’s the coolest bitch in town.
Yes, I hope they feel that way.
And is this song in anticipation for your upcoming album?
Yeah, that’s the first single we released. We haven’t recorded all of it yet, only chunks, but once I get back from tour we’re going right into the studio. It’s going to be busy!
Have you been playing any new songs on tour?
We’ve been playing Coolest Fucking Bitch in Town then we’re testing out another unreleased song. It’s hard to tell on stage how it goes over cause in my mix I’m just hearing myself. But I think it’s going well, I get to slap a vibraslap a million times, so that’s probably one of my favorite parts of the night. Slapping that vibraslap.
Is there anything else you can reveal about the new album yet?
I don’t really know because it’s so early. It’s a lot darker and a lot more mature, and maybe different from anything we’ve all heard from me before.
For Below the Salt you had a reading list of pieces that inspired the album. Do you have anything similar for the new album?
This album is a lot more autobiographical whereas a lot of the songs I’ve released in the past have been kind of fictional so I can get ideas and themes from books. But this album is a lot more personal so there’s nothing there that I haven’t already thought of.
You’re also a vlogger. Did you do vlogging before music or do they go hand in hand?
They go hand in hand. I’m a musician foremost and songwriter foremost. I don’t really take myself seriously with Youtube stuff and I take myself seriously as a musician… to some extent. They’ve always both coexisted.
Do you feel like Youtube has helped you along with your music career?
I feel like it’s helped people discover me and get exposure to my music. I think if I didn’t have a Youtube channel I wouldn’t be on this tour, or I wouldn’t have the exposure or the fanbase that I have now where people have been with me since 2014. Especially on this tour I’ve been meeting people saying things like “I’ve watched you since I was in the 6th grade and now I’ve graduated high school.” That’s disgusting, that’s horrific, that’s heinous, that’s absurd, and that’s terrifying. Thank you! So nice to meet you!
What an honor though! Any words you’d like to leave readers with?
Thanks for listening to my song. Keep listening to Coolest Fucking Bitch in Town, I hope you feel that in your heart <3