Arin Garcia McCormack (L.O.T.C.S)
Photos by Haley Smith (@smaleyhaley) and Seth Rodriguez (@innerdisortion)
Armed with striking red jackets, bolo-ties, and leather, Wilmington-based rock band The Girls brings the dazzling and dramatic feel of 70’s glam rock visuals into the N.C. music scene with a punk-rock twist. Offering an energetic sound that features the fizzy, galvanic, and echoing feel of formative old-school punk bands like The Ramones and The Clash, The Girls debuted in 2020 with the release of their first album, The New Rock N’ Roll. The band has since then released two more albums, Armed To The Teeth and Tea Party, and were even featured in the soundtrack for the 2022 Netflix Film, Along For The Ride, with their song School For Fools.
The Girls’ current incarnation consists of frontman and lead guitarist JP Verardi, drummer Noah Wicker, bassist Kait McLaurin, rhythm guitarist Cap Nunn, and keyboardist Skylar Pruitt.
The band has been together for around 5 years, with a brief break during the COVID pandemic which vocalist Verardi feels gave the band “a sort of restart…it was almost like a different genre of music, more ‘straightforward punk’.
After the release of their first album, The New Rock N’ Roll, The Girls would recruit bassist Kait McLaurin and drummer Noah Wicker into their lineup. Wicker would meet Verardi while playing shows in the Wilmington rock scene when playing in an opening act at one of The Girls’ shows. Similarly, after The Girls’ original bassist left the band, Kait McLaurin, a novice to bass, would pick up the instrument and learn how to play it within 3 months to become the band’s current bassist. As for Cap Nunn, the group’s rhythm guitarist, JP recounts meeting him at a show in West Virginia, where the two bonded over their love of deer meat:
“Me and [Cap] were the only ones eating the venison at a show where it was free, we were just eating it like pigs, no one was actually eating it at all,” JP laughs.
Along with bassist McLaurin, Skylar would also learn to play his instrument specifically for the band. “We met Skylar at a party, or at a skatepark. We were talking about motorcycles one day, and he goes: ‘Oh yeah, motorcycles’, and I said, ‘You don’t have a motorcycle’, and he goes, ‘Yes I do.’ And now we’re best friends”, recalls Verardi. “We didn’t have a keyboard player [at the time], but I was trying to get someone to do all the stuff we do on the record, so Skylar just got a keyboard and learned how to play it.”
Deer meat, motorcycles, Rock N’ Roll High School, and secret song meanings: I sat with JP, Noah, Kait, Cap, and Skylar to discuss the band’s inspirations, show experiences, and hopes for the future.
LOTCS: What was the inspiration behind the band name, ‘The Girls’?
JP: At the time, I was listening to a lot of, all-girl rock bands, and I was like, ‘Oh man, I really wanna be in an all-girl rock band’, but I couldn’t be, so I guess this was the next best thing.
LOTCS: What are some of your favorite all-girl rock bands?
JP: I like The Runaways, and Joan Jett, a lot.
Kait: Bikini Kill.
Skylar: The Donnas.
JP: The Donnas are great. Girl School is another great one.
Noah: Riff Randals. They’re named after P.J. Sole’s character in Rock n’ Roll High School.
LOTCS: How would you describe The Girls’ sound to someone who’s never heard your music?
JP: I usually say Glam Rock
Skylar: I usually say Glam Rock with modern influences and stuff.
Noah: Every time I say ‘Glam Rock’, people are like, ‘Oh, you mean like Poison and stuff?’
JP: Absolutely not.
Skylar: That’s hair!
JP: We mean like, New York Dolls, David Bowie, T. Rex…but like, if they were playing punk-rock songs at the same time.
LOTCS: Your Bandcamp description describes you as a band “with androgynous undertones”. What role does androgyny play in The Girls?
JP: I mean, we all wear makeup- I’m sure all of us are wearing girls clothes right now. It’s kind of like the David Bowie-ish kind of thing, we just kind of put on stuff that’s more-so vintage, something that’s kind of already been done to remind you of that sort of [vibe].
Skylar: I always tell my brother, ‘cause he’s like: “Why do you guys put makeup on and wear [girls] clothes?” I’m like, ‘Don’t you know how you put a uniform on every time you go to work?’ It’s like that, but we look pretty.
LOTCS: I know you said when The Girls first started, the band had more of a ‘straight-up punk’ sound. How did your sound come to evolve to what it is currently?
JP: We were a punk band originally, because we literally didn’t know how to do what we wanted to yet. We were just like, ‘Power chords, and then bass is gonna play the same thing as guitar, and the drums are gonna be the same beat the entire time’. But the whole time, I was just like, ‘Aw man, I wish we could sound like this’. I kind of learned that we needed more people to sound the way we wanted to.
Kait: It was a lot of trial and error, finding what kind of sound we wanted and trying different stuff out to find what fit best.
LOTCS: What were some bands you guys were inspired by initially?
JP: When we first started, it was like The Ramones and The Runaways, and that was it. As it went on, it kind of evolved into wanting to do a bigger sound, almost like Queen– but heavier and not as good [LAUGHS].
LOTCS: Where does your visual inspiration come from?
JP: We decided to do black, white, and red [for the logo and visuals]- I’m a big fan of Jack White and The Hives and stuff like that, and they all have uniforms. So, I was like, we got to do something that stands out, instead of just like, ‘I’m wearing my denim jacket tonight, with Converse’.
LOTCS: How did you guys all get your start in music?
JP: I started when I was pretty young, I always really, really liked music. My parents were real big hippies. They sort of got me into [music], School of Rock was a pretty big movie. That was what started it all.
Skylar: Growing up, my mom was in a band, and then my uncle. He’d always tell me stories, one time he had opened up for The Orange Bowl, this Football Championship. I guess he always told me stories of him on the road, and I was always fascinated by that.
Kait: There wasn’t really any sort of scene where I grew up, but my whole family, when they were younger, they toured around in a Gospel group. So I was always around music, my dad played bass my whole childhood. When I moved to Wilmington, I started going to shows for the first time and seeing live music, which got into it. I’ve always wanted to perform in a band.
Noah: For me weirdly enough, music didn’t really start ‘till later. I was in a band in high school because my friend was like ‘Hey, I’m in a band, wanna join?’ and I was like, ‘Sure, what’s left?’ and it was drums, so I was like alright, I guess I play drums now. It wasn’t really a thing, I just kind of fucked around through high school, and then I joined a band after I moved to Wilmington…eventually, I joined [The Girls] and I was like ‘Oh, wow, something’s actually happening, I need to actually do something with this’.
LOTCS: You knew it was going to be something special?
Noah: Yeah, I could tell that everyone in the band was into it, and wanted to make bigger things happen.
LOTCS: Was there a specific moment that made you want to start the band?
JP: I was probably like, 16, or so. I dropped out of high school and was working with my dad. All of his friends were super fuckin’ annoying, and I was like, ‘I cannot work with them forever’. So, I started really taking it [music] seriously then. I didn’t start [The Girls] ‘till I was probably like 19.
LOTCS: Is The Girls your first band?
JP: This is the only band I’ve ever been in.
LOTCS: Did that make learning how to perform in front of people difficult [at first]?
JP: Oh, it was just so awkward. I saw videos from the first performance not long ago, and I was like, ‘Holy shit, I look stupid’. It was just me like stiff as a board, performing for our band, which was originally like, two people- [Originally] it was just me and a drummer.
LOTCS: What motivated you to keep pursuing The Girls as a musical project?
JP: It was honestly just really fun. I never really did anything else growing up, there was no scene at the time. I was skateboarding for a while– there was never really anything to do, it was just something to hang out with your friends. But this [playing in a band] is like a big family thing.
JP: Like, I’m sure at some point, we have all yelled at each other. But within like 15 minutes, we’re like, ‘Alright, we’re good, we’re good’. We eat some cheeseburgers.
Kait: It’s like fighting with your siblings.
Cap: It’s usually when they’re hungry.
The Girls: [LAUGH]JP: At some point, you just go ‘God fucking damn it- Look, there’s a Hardee’s right there, just pull over’.
LOTCS: What’s the band’s songwriting process like?
Kait: A lot of the time in the past, JP had written everything. Recently, it’s been more of an idea trade-off. The last song we wrote, we all sort of strung out ideas and did it more as a group approach instead of it being one sole person.
JP: Usually it’s kind of like, I’ll come with it already done, I’ll try it out, and everyone puts their own spin on it. I’ll come up with stuff on bass or drums, and they’ll be like “I have a better idea”, and I’ll be like, cool, that is a better idea, let’s go with that.
JP: Dan Dickson, the guy we record with in Atlanta- I’ll usually go to him with a song, and he’ll be like “Nice try buddy, but here’s how you could do it better”, and I’ll be like “You’re right’. He’s the only person I want to work with for now. Armed to the Teeth, Tea Party, Drama Queen– we recorded all of those with him.
Skylar: Actually, when that song [Tea Party] came out-I joined right afterward.
JP: We actually shot the album cover [for Tea Party] on his lawn. I was like, ‘Man, we should shoot an album cover’, and he was like, ‘You can use my sideyard!’. I was like awesome, do you know how to play the keyboard? Skylar was like, ‘Hold on’, and he went to his garage and was like ‘I GOT ONE!’. He just had it. We’re like, ‘Can you play that thing?’. He was like ‘…No’. We were like, ‘Well, you’re gonna learn!’.
LOTCS: Where did the visual inspiration for that album cover come from?
JP: I kind of thought it would be cool to do an album cover in dresses, and everyone sort of added their own ideas. Kait was like, ‘Let’s put beer cans on the table’.
Skylar: ‘Ain’t just tea we’re drinking.
JP: Haha.
Skylar: Yeah, why do you this High Life’s yellow, dude?
LOTCS: Where does your lyrical inspiration come from?
JP: Most of the time it doesn’t really come from anything. I’m like, alright, ‘What rhymes with party?’.
Skylar: Hardy.
JP: Now we got something.
JP: There are very few songs that actually have meaning behind them– Drama Queen and Suicide are some. Drama Queen’s about me being a fucking idiot and fucking up everything I’ve done. And Suicide’s about me being depressed and wanting to kill myself.
Skylar: …Pretty good song.
Kait and Noah: [LAUGH]
JP: Yeah, just wait until ‘Kill’ comes out.
Noah: … The Shakes.
JP: [LAUGHING] The Shakes! I forgot about that!
LOTCS: What’s the story behind that one?
JP, KAIT, NOAH, SKYLAR: [LAUGHING]
JP: Trust me, you don’t want to know.
LOTCS: What’s everyone’s favorite song to play live?
Skylar: I’m liking Drama Queen a lot, and Kill.
Noah: Yeah, I’m the same way, Drama Queen and Kill.
Cap: I like Drama Queen and Out of My Way.
Kait: I like Kill and Running From The Law. I like the little breakdown.
JP: I think my favorites are Circles and Drama Queen.
JP: Our favorite venues to play in Charlotte are definitely The Milestone and Snug Harbor. Wilmington, our favorite is Reggies- it’s like the only one that’s there. We did play Greenfield Lake one time, and that shit was really fun. But most venues in Wilmington are closed down. There were some other ones, but everything’s like closed down now.
LOTCS: Was that because of COVID?
Noah: It was actually before COVID that most of them [the venues] closed, they were buying up all the stuff in the downtown area. I guess that’s usually what happens.
LOTCS: Bouncing off of that, what’s the importance of the D.I.Y and live music scene to you guys, and wanting to keep that alive?
Skylar: If people don’t create stuff, nothing new will happen. And we [local musicians] wouldn’t have places to play.
LOTCS: What’s your favorite show that you’ve played so far?
Noah: We’ve had some really good shows [here] at The Milestone. Like, people crowd surfing and stuff, that was one of our first shows where we were like, ‘Holy shit’.
JP: Our show with Star Crawler at Snug Harbor.
Noah: That show [with Star Crawler] was really cool. Like, we got to meet some people that we actually listened to and were like, ‘This band’s cool’. They were like, big– it was cool to meet a band that was doing what we ultimately hoped to do.
JP: Our Wicked Lady in Brooklyn.
Noah: Oh yeah, Our Wicked Lady in Brooklyn, that was cool–the first time we played there.
JP: No, the first time we played there was ass.
Kait: It was the second show [there].
JP: The first time we played there, we were like, ‘All right, y’all ready?!’ and it was like this [now], just dead silence. Like no one there. We were like, ‘All right, here’s some songs’, and this one singular guy was clapping alone in the venue like ‘YEAH!’.
JP: This last time we played, it was- I don’t know if it was sold out, but it was very close to sold out. And everyone was like: “YEAH!”
LOTCS: What is the best part of playing live?
JP: It’s kind of like a huge payoff, like, we work and practice so much to perform for people, and share the same energy of what we want the music to be portrayed as. When we finally started getting people to come to shows, it was a huge payoff. Now it’s like, chasing that high that you want all the time.
Kait: I like when we’re playing and you can notice people are enjoying themselves, just like dancing and moving in a way where you know they’re actually having fun. You give the crowd energy, and then when they give it back, it just makes the whole show so much better. That’s such a huge deal.
LOTCS: What do you want people to take away from your shows and music?
JP: Honestly, I just want people to come and have a good time, and for everyone to just get along for the 30 minutes that we’re playing. If I can get a whole lot of people in the same room, to listen to the music and really like it, then that’s all [I can ask for].
Noah: Pretty much what JP said, I want people to come out and have a good time, and to feel safe while they’re doing it. It also just feels good, personally, to say ‘I got up there, and I did it’. Like, I put myself out there in front of people. It’s nice to show ‘you’ and see people enjoy it- just dance around and have a good time. That’s all it comes back to, that positive feedback, I guess. It’s like, ‘I’m doing something right!’
Kait: [I’d want] someone coming away to be inspired to follow their dreams, to get on the stage and play their music. I don’t know. I feel like it would be really cool for somebody to come to a show and feel like that afterward.
LOTCS: What has been the band’s greatest achievement so far?
JP: Honestly, for me, it was the fact that we played that Brooklyn show [at Our Wicked Lady] for nobody- and then we came back that next year and it was sold out. That felt good.
KAIT: We also had a song [Schools for Fools] featured in a movie.
JP: Oh shit! Yeah, we had one of our songs featured in a Netflix movie, I think it’s called Along For The Ride.
KAIT: That was the most like- it didn’t even feel real to me. Like the movie came out, and we were like ‘Oh shit, it really is in there’. It was so surreal seeing that.
Skylar: Yeah, it was like a teen romance—-thriller movie, it was actually filmed in Wilmington, at one of their beaches.
JP: It was the one time when we got paid.
LOTCS: What are the band’s plans for the future?
[BOTH AT ONCE]
Noah: Take over the world.
JP: Play more shows.
Skylar: To be able to do this full-time.
JP: That would be nice. We really just want to play big shows and do that full-time.
Noah: And get to see new places.
LOTCS: What would be the band’s dream destination to tour?
JP: Europe.
Noah: Ooh, Europe, yeah.
Kait: Japan.
Noah: I just want to play Hot Topic and Denny’s, man.
Skylar: I just want to get my redneck dad to wear one of my shirts.
*************
You can catch The Girls, along with True Lilith, Sweet Spine, and Aurora’s Hope, playing live at the Milestone this coming September 29th. Check out The Girls’ newest single, Kill, along with the rest of their discography, streaming now on all platforms.
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