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Avalon Stone is not interested in playing small. In this conversation with The Indie Distributor, the Toronto-area hard rock artist opens up about finding herself through music, learning to trust instinct over empty promises, building a career with intention, and navigating the realities of being a woman in a male-dominated genre. What follows is an honest, sharp, and at times vulnerable discussion about songwriting, stage presence, streaming strategy, mental health, and the long road toward building something real in the music industry.

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The Indie Distributor: Thank you for joining the Indie Distributor podcast. I’m here with Avalon Stone, who’s an exceptional female artist based in the Toronto area. Is that right?

Avalon Stone: Yeah, like around Toronto. Same thing.

The Indie Distributor: Cool. The first thing I usually ask is origin story. How did things get started? I’ve seen a little bit of press about you as a 10-year-old singing a Chris Cornell song. Obviously, a lot happens between a flashpoint like that and the progression of your career. How did things kind of come to be, and how did you make your way in the industry up to now?

Avalon Stone: Yeah. Well, basically I found my love for music when I was around 10, singing Chris Cornell. I’d been listening to music my whole life, but never really fell in love with it because it just wasn’t my thing. I’m not into pop. I also maybe was a little bit of a pick me, because I was like, “Oh, I don’t listen to Justin Bieber. I don’t just listen to the things that everybody else does,” which I now realize is really stupid because Justin Bieber’s really good.

But I always felt like I wanted to separate myself from the other kids in my school, and I was picked on. Then when I started singing rock music with other kids who liked rock, I felt like myself. It felt like something finally clicked, where it was like, “Oh, this is where I belong.”

So then I basically tried to chase that feeling, and I still am, basically. That’s, I mean, people do music because they feel like outcasts, right? And so they find a place where they can belong a lot of the time anyway, and that was what it was for me, and I fell in love with it.

Then basically went to School of Rock, did that, and then started my own band through the people that I met there. We found out about this blues camp that was in town, and I got it recommended to me because a few people I knew were going, and I was like, “Oh, that’s fun.” Met a lot of people there.

Then when I performed at the blues festival, because that’s part of the blues camp, there was somebody there who was like, “You should be on the main stage next year, and I’m going to try and make that happen.” And then I was like, “Oh no, I need a band for that.” So I had to come up with a band, and then entered this competition for blues. I did blues for a while, went to Memphis, did a blues festival down there, did a few things like that. But basically it was just kind of like scrambling.

Like, it’s kind of what it is, right? It’s like, “Oh, there’s this opportunity,” or a suggestion like, “You should be on the main stage next year. I’m going to try and make that happen.” And then I’m like, “Okay.” And then it turns out the guy ended up being pretty flaky and he didn’t try to make it happen, but I made it happen because I won the competition to get there.

So that’s what happens. People will promise you stuff, and they’re probably not going to follow through on things, but you always should. So that’s kind of the message of that, because now I’m here and I’ve been through it. I had that band until I was 17, and then we ended up going into rock.

The Indie Distributor: With the same lineup?

Avalon Stone: I mean, a couple of changeovers because people would go to college or move or things like that. But same band name, almost. Band name, it’s complicated. But yeah, I was doing that for a while, and I made a lot of connections, real connections, not just networking connections, but real connections and really good experiences.

Then when I finally decided to go solo, I had a good base. I had to figure out what I wanted to do, and I did, and here we are.

The Indie Distributor: That’s great. So, when you’re assessing opportunities, do you have more of a framework that you go through now to say, “Yeah, I’m going to go for this,” or “This is something I’ll probably pass on”? Because I’ve heard both sides. Say yes to everything because you have to take every opportunity you get, but then there’s also what you just said about someone turning out to be flaky. So what’s your approach?

Avalon Stone: I think whatever feels right. I heard, I think it was Larnell Lewis, who said that there’s three criteria. One of them is, is it fun? Are you going to genuinely have a really good time doing this? Two, does it make money? Are you just going to get your bag? And then three, is it going to be a good opportunity? Is it going to advance your career in some way, some obvious attainable way? Or maybe there’s a super great promoter there.

And it basically has to be two of three to say yes. I really like that message, and I’ve basically applied that going forward subconsciously. But I think that’s a great thing to get in your brain, where it has to have multiple kinds of value, because it’s a lot of effort and a lot of energy to be going out and doing a show or maybe doing a session or maybe doing whatever, right?

And you have to know that your energy is going to go into something valuable, because you could be at home writing a song. You could be going to a show and making connections. You could be practicing a lot. You could be creating something. So you have to know what your time and energy feels good being poured into. I feel like that’s also just gut.

The Indie Distributor: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So you mentioned that there were a couple of lineup changes as you progressed and you sort of merged into knowing that it was going to be a solo project. In that regard, how has your writing evolved working with different folks over the course of that time and up to now?

Avalon Stone: Honestly, I would say when I was in a band, it was more that we would all sit in a room together and they would figure out music parts and I would try to find melodies or lyrics that would fit into it, and then that’s how we would build songs. Usually we’d just sit there for however long it took.

So that was a very different kind of scenario, because we were all equal. We were all going to be playing the songs live, recording them, and there was equal amounts of energy and future for these songs for all of us, right? In terms of, do we want to play these songs every weekend for five years?

But as a solo artist, being able to write with so many different people who do this for a living, who are internationally acclaimed songwriters, or just people that I really admire, or people whose songs I listen to and go, “Wow, that’s incredible. I want to go into a writing session with them,” or just friends of mine that write in different genres that I’m like, “How do you work?” Then I basically take those approaches, and it’s kind of just an exploration of what could happen, because every songwriting session is different, right?

Sometimes somebody’s going to be more forceful. Sometimes somebody’s going to be really picky.

The Indie Distributor: As a collaborator?

Avalon Stone: Yeah. This happens, right? Maybe I won’t write with them again, or maybe I’ll make sure that I’m in a better headspace next time I do write with them, or more prepared.

So you need to basically be prepared for any kind of session that you might walk into as a solo artist. Hopefully the people that you’re going to work with are enthusiastic and flexible and happy to work with you and happy to know what you want, and also give you a bunch of ideas. No ego anywhere. That’s the best songwriting session. When they have ideas and they’re great, and then you have ideas, and it’s just like that. But it’s not always like that.

So learning how to be prepared for any kind of situation and how to make it work, and what you like, is super important. Honestly, for the EP that I have coming out next, I’m basically done. I have an EP coming out this month, obviously, and then I have one coming out later, and I’m already done that. It’s already recorded and everything, and I wrote it with amazing people and the process could not have been better. So it’s just kind of like, you’ve got to figure out who you vibe with, and writing with a bunch of different people helped me figure that out.

The Indie Distributor: Nice. That sort of leads into a question I had. You’ve got one EP coming out, I think on February 27th, right? Is the intent to do physical copies? Are those talks that you’ve had?

Avalon Stone: Yeah, I’ve thought about it, and it doesn’t make sense yet. It’s something that I definitely want to do and I’ve always wanted to do. I think if I was to make an album soon, then I would have physical of that. It’s just difficult. It’s also about demand.

Physical copies are wonderful and everybody wants them, obviously. Everybody wants to have their own vinyl, but you also have to understand that if there’s no demand for it, it’s expensive and it also kind of looks bad. Like, I have this vinyl that I’ve made of a collection of songs, and there’s nowhere for it to go unless you’re using it as a marketing strategy, where you’re giving it away to people at shows or mailing it to random people and saying, “I hope you like this.”

Unless you’re using it like that, then to sell it, it wouldn’t make sense. If you were to make limited quantities, maybe, but to sell it, it wouldn’t make sense.

The Indie Distributor: That’s why the question always comes up, because it’s something we talk about a lot too, whether it makes sense. Some of it is kind of a self-fulfilling thing, where it’s like, I want to have it because I’m very familiar with the LP format, and I miss having the tactile experience, looking through LPs. There’s an argument to just going through with it as a crystallization of the concept and the direction you were in at the time, even if it’s not a very sound financial decision. But I think you have an interesting take on it, to say that without that intentionality, it’s hard to make that decision.

Avalon Stone: Yeah, that’s the thing. I also would love to have an album or vinyl. I think this is my perspective on a lot of things. The first time you do something, it has to be very intentional.

So the first time you release a song when you’re just starting out has to be very intentional. You have to have a lot of pre-prep. You have to really find a good producer, really find a good mixer, reach out to a bunch of media places, submit all the things that you can all over Groover and all of those things, and see what you can get, and really promote it a lot as your first single, because that’s how people are going to know you straight out the gate.

The way that your first song performs does matter. If you’re getting a lot of media placement, awesome. If you’re getting a lot of streams, awesome. If you’re getting whatever, awesome. You don’t even have to have all of them. You just have to have something that builds hype.

So the first time you release a vinyl and you’re like, “Yay, first time I release a vinyl,” and there are three people lining up to get it, that’s not hype. People are going to see that, and they’re going to see the lack of demand, and they’re going to lose interest, unfortunately. That’s just how it is. But if you have thousands of people on your email list who are constantly asking you for vinyl, that’s a different story.

The Indie Distributor: You mentioned Groover. That’s not an ultimately well-known tool for indie artists in some cases. Is that part of your strategy regardless of release at this point?

Avalon Stone: Yeah. I mean, I always put it out a little bit. I used to do it way more when I was independent, but I do do it a little bit now, just not at the same volume. When I first started out, it was every playlist, every playlist I could possibly submit it to.

They obviously listen to it and then judge, and see. It’s not like you’re paying to get placed. You’re paying for them to listen to it to see if it’s worthy, right? So I wouldn’t think of it as pay to get your music out there.

The Indie Distributor: Pay to be placed.

Avalon Stone: Exactly.

The Indie Distributor: It’s also cost-prohibitive, though, right? They’re running a business. I don’t usually hear Groover get brought up, but I know it can have a profoundly positive effect, though only if, to use your word, there’s intentionality behind it. To say, I’m going to listen to what these people say about my work and take it to heart and then use it for my follow-up releases.

Avalon Stone: Yeah. And to piggyback on what you said, the intentionality when you submit to anything, whether that’s media outlets, playlists, podcasts, interviews, whatever kind of media placement is out there, it has to go along with your message, right?

I’m a hard rock artist. If I were to submit to a playlist on Groover saying, “Oh, beach days,” that doesn’t work.

The Indie Distributor: Or no offence to Bieber, but Bieberesque tracks, right?

Avalon Stone: Exactly. It just wouldn’t work. Not because my music is worse than that or better than that. It’s because it’s just not that.

So what ended up happening for my first release, and my first release is still number one on my streaming platforms, it’s toggled a little bit, but it’s going strong. Yeah, “Forget You.”

For that one, what ended up happening is it ended up going on a lot of workout playlists, and I was like, this is interesting. I wouldn’t have thought workout. Then even without Groover, it would end up on more workout playlists, and I’d be like, “Oh, this is interesting.” So it’s like, you never know what niche things are going to put you into the right category of people. That’s pretty cool.

And then obviously, as people listen to your music more, I’m most familiar with Spotify, but the Spotify algorithm will pick up on that and then push your music out to its listeners.

The Indie Distributor: Do you ever find yourself leveraging Spotify’s pay feature directly?

Avalon Stone: Yeah. We do campaigns, so it’s different. They don’t make people listen to it. It’s just a thing that pops up, and if people click on it and listen to it, then it costs money. So it’s still people having to click on the thing. They have to have enough interest to do that. It’s just like advertisements are everywhere. That’s what the labels do. That’s what the big labels do. That’s what everyone does.

The Indie Distributor: Do you find that that’s more effective than the sort of cross-platform pollination strategy of taking people from Meta to Spotify?

Avalon Stone: Yes. I find that most people that listen to me on Spotify, some of them follow me on Instagram, or a lot of them do, but it’s more of a… people rarely want to cross platforms. There are so many bands and artists that I’m obsessed with that I don’t even know what they look like until I see them live. You know what I mean?

So I feel like people don’t really, unless they become a super, super, super fan, want to follow you on Instagram until they’ve seen you live. Then I feel like a lot of people follow you on Instagram.

My email list is pretty long, so a lot of the people that follow me on Spotify are on my email list. It’s really interesting because you never know what social media platform is going to be relevant, right? So you’ve got to build the email list, because email is never going to go out of style. Everybody uses that.

The Indie Distributor: Well, it’s also the whole marketing side of things, being the owned media. You have control over your email list and ultimately your domain and your website, whereas social media, who knows what happens to some of these platforms when the tectonic plates start to shift around, right?

Avalon Stone: Yeah. I will say Meta is influential to Spotify’s algorithm. The more engagement that you get on Instagram, the more times you post and the more times you’re active, the better. Spotify will literally push your music out because Meta will say, “Oh, look, all these people are interested in Avalon Stone,” and Spotify will be like, “Oh, okay,” and then it will just go and throw your music out there.

So if I take a break from posting for a while, then I notice it. I don’t think it’s specifically people from Instagram all the time going to those streaming platforms. I think it’s algorithmic. I think it’s different, though, when you release something. When you first release something, then people who follow you, if you post a lot, will go and listen to it. But in between releases, I don’t really think it correlates too much on a first-hand basis.

The Indie Distributor: Let’s face it, these platforms are intended to keep people glued to them. There’s not a lot of priority given to people who are expected to leave one platform and go to another one to consume your content. So again, I guess the theme of the talk here is intentionality, knowing that if you’re going to be referencing things on Instagram, make sure that you know what that’s going to look like and don’t expect people to follow you over to these other platforms, right?

So what do you think, over the course of your career, has been some of the best advice you’ve received from either another artist or someone in the industry?

Avalon Stone: The best piece of advice? That’s tough. I’ve had a lot of advice. Honestly, all of the advice that I’ve received that has really stuck with me has been hard to hear. I think that’s kind of interesting. It’s never been encouraging, like, “Oh, you got this,” or “You’re so good,” or anything like that. That has never stuck with me the way tough advice has.

When I went to blues camp when I was like 13, there was this woman, she’s an incredible singer, incredible. She taught there, I think she still might. She came up to me and she was like, “Avalon, I don’t say this to anybody. I’ve only said it to one other person before you. I think you have it, but people are never, ever, ever going to take you seriously if you don’t pick up an instrument.”

I know. It is interesting, and I think it’s true. I don’t think it’s always true, but I think it’s true in the rock genre or the blues genre or stuff that’s very guitar or instrument based. I think it doesn’t happen as much in pop or hip-hop or stuff like that. I don’t think it’s as relevant. But she was so right, because being a woman in the rock and blues industry, people didn’t take me seriously until I picked up an instrument. They didn’t.

The Indie Distributor: I wondered if that was something that, not to call too much attention to that side of it, but I can see that, unfortunately. It sort of lends into the type of challenges that you have as a female artist, maybe especially in this genre, because a lot of the influences that I’ve seen in your bio, it’s very male-dominated. So what are some of the ways that you’ve approached that, and are there things you can impart onto other female indie artists?

Avalon Stone: Of course. I think basically the message behind that piece of advice was, it’s about what you convey on stage, how much presence you have, right?

I’ll have people come up to me and be like, “Yeah, I’m starting out and I’m playing shows and I just don’t know what to do with my hands. I don’t know what to do on stage.” I went through that when I started. I still feel like that sometimes when I take my guitar off. I’m like, I have these now.

So what I kind of try to say is just be insane. Do crazy things that people wouldn’t expect you to do. Do things that create moments and stand out, and use your hands in interesting ways. You don’t have to just stand there and sing pretty. You can flail them around if you want to. Practice doing that. Practice looking insane literally, in front of people.

My performance coach, Luther Mallory, taught me how to do a whole bunch of stuff, and our sessions were great. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him, but he’s absolutely incredible. He basically told me that you have to do so many different warm-ups. There’s vocal warm-ups, and then there’s energy warm-ups, and then there are crazy warm-ups where you just act insane and do the weirdest things you can think of, like crab walk in the green room before you go on stage, because then nothing you do on there is going to be weirder than what you just did, so it all feels safer.

The Indie Distributor: What happens if you throw out your back or something while doing said crab walk?

Avalon Stone: Well, you know, no pain, no gain.

The Indie Distributor: I suppose that’s true. That’s a really interesting take on it, because that’s the first time I’ve heard somebody doing or recommending the three sort of disparate warm-ups. Also, with the genre, in some cases there’s criticism around taking care of your voice. Like, “All I need is Jack Daniels and a pack of menthols.” But clearly, as a professional artist, you have to take that aspect seriously.

Avalon Stone: You do. Otherwise, you won’t be able to do it forever. You won’t be able to have a sustainable career if you don’t take care of your voice.

I try to warm up every time. Unfortunately, some shows that I do, there’s no space for it. It’s harder in the winter because in the summer I could walk a couple of streets over and start warming up vocally, but in the winter there’s no point. There’s no point warming up your vocal cords in minus 30 degrees. It’s not going to work.

A lot of the time, I have a lot of songs where I hit high notes, so for me it’s very important to warm up. But again, I don’t always get that. I don’t always get the space or the time or the energy to do that. Things happen. But for the most part, I think it’s more of a philosophy where it’s like, take care of yourself, take care of your voice, because you are the instrument, right?

On show days, I watch what I eat. I watch what I do. I only have like one drink before I go on stage, if that, if I’m just feeling like, yeah, why not. It all makes a difference.

That piece of advice was really game-changing for me, too, because I was able to do a lot more interesting things on stage once I started acting like a weirdo offstage. It just works. It really does.

That’s kind of what I try to tell people who are like, “I don’t know what to do on stage. I don’t know how to perform.” I’m like, be as weird as you can before you go on stage, and then you’re kind of going to be in that energy, and nothing you do on stage is going to feel as weird, because micro-movements on stage that might feel weird as the performer, the crowd is not even going to notice.

So if you go weird crazy before stage, and then you get on there and you do pretty out-there weird moves, people are going to be like, “Hell yeah, that’s cool.” It’s not about trying to be as weird as possible on stage. It’s about feeling comfortable in your movements that fit the vibe.

I feel like a lot of the time, people do know what to do. They’re just afraid of doing it. So I’m just like, if you’re not having a guitar, also try not having a guitar, because I play with a guitar, but then when you take it off, it’s like, oh no. So it really is just being comfortable on stage and stuff like that.

I do talk to women about experiences in the music industry and what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated field and what that’s like. But the conversations never really have to be that long, because it’s like, we both know. But if anyone ever would like to talk to me about that, anyone who’s watching this podcast, please shoot me a message. I’ve been through a lot, and I can hopefully impart some of that wisdom that I’ve learned.

The Indie Distributor: Nice. That also lends into the fact that I know you have a passion for mental health and some other initiatives that you’ve had over the years. How can fans best support that initiative, but also you in general?

Avalon Stone: Honestly, it’s not about what the fans can do for me or that cause. It’s what I can do for that cause and for them.

It’s essentially like, show up to the shows, send me a message, say, “Hey, this resonated with me. This made me feel this way.” I’ve had a few people message me saying, your song “Harder” is what I listen to when I need a good cry or I just need to let it out, or this really made me feel a certain way, and I’ve been waiting for somebody to say this like this.

That in turn fills me with so much fulfillment. Like, wow, these songs don’t just matter to me, but they matter to other people as well. They could matter to so many people and make people feel like they’re less alone in their struggles or make people feel heard and validated.

It makes me feel validated when somebody else is like, “Oh, I go through the same…” I’m like, okay, I’m not the only one. Thank God. It’s not just me.

So honestly, that’s what I ask. If you want to engage with those things, obviously also donate to mental health awareness or mental health programs. I try to as much as I can. I think it is really about supporting and being in the same space as people who understand you, as a sort of catharsis.

When I’m on stage, and over time since I started this project and released “Harder,” that one is definitely the most emotional and cathartic, sad ballad song that I have. It was my second song, which everyone called me crazy for, because they were like, “You just came out with this banger and now you’re just going to go do a ballad.” And I was like, watch. Just watch.

For the first year it was bottom, bottom of everything. Then one year I started posting it a lot, and then it picked up and now it’s number two. It actually passed “Forget You” at one point for five months, and I was like, I told you. Trust your gut.

So when I’m on stage and I’m singing “Harder,” I always get emotional because that song always feels relevant to me, whether it’s because it’s so broad that it could mean so many different things. I get emotional on stage, and then I look out into the audience and I see people singing it with me, and it’s like, that’s what it’s all about.

It’s not that I feel happy. I just feel shared and heard and held in a really interesting way. It’s like, okay. It’s this really good catharsis kind of feeling. It’s bittersweet, but it’s also so real. It’s such a raw feeling to feel that, because I’m like, damn, all these other people are going through this. I’m so glad that I’m creating a space where they feel like they can share that.

So that’s what I love to do.

The Indie Distributor: I love that. That’s excellent. So what does success look like? Everybody says “make it” in the music industry, but what does that actually look like?

Avalon Stone: There’s no such definition for making it. I will say that I think making it is… you can make it and still have to work a day job. I think success for me is to be able to do this for my life, and to always improve, and to always feel fulfilled, and to feel nourished by music, and to feel like I’m always improving. I think I already said that. And also be able to see every part of the world imaginable and play to lots of people.

The Indie Distributor: That’s certainly an obtainable goal given your current trajectory. So then, what’s next? You’ve got the EPs releasing this month, and then what else is coming up?

Avalon Stone: Yes. I’m playing February 28 at Sonic Hall with Kasador and Deer Fang, which are great, great bands. Super stoked for that. Then March 28, I’m playing in Toronto. It’s called Bitch Fest. It’s a bunch of female-fronted bands in a festival. I’ve played that a few times and just love being around other women. I love my guys, but it’s nice.

Then I’m going to Brazil in May, which is very exciting. I have a bunch of shows that are going to be announced. But yeah, really mostly working on music and putting out something really great and building worlds around it, building visuals and strengthening my presence visually, whether that’s on social media or whatever.

But really trying to find my people, I think, is my main thing, because I feel like the first step is your music has to be incredible and really, really good and undeniable, and the second one is you need to find the people that want to hear this. So I feel like I’m obviously always going to be working on that first one, but I feel confident now enough to focus on getting my stuff out there, because so many people already listen to my music, which I feel incredibly grateful for. I’m floored all the time about how many people listen to my music.

So I’m just like, okay, well, how do we expand? So that’s what I’m focusing on right now.

The Indie Distributor: I think that’s wonderful. For indie artists that are just getting started, there’s no such thing as overnight success. It’s the 10 years that get you to overnight. There’s no easy, cutting-corners way. But I think what you’ve shed light on is cultivating your people, and then also ensuring that you have a way to get hold of them that you essentially own. The fact that you’ve cultivated your email list is a very important aspect to your marketing mix as an artist.

Avalon Stone: It is, yeah. And I also have a community platform on my website called Stone Circle. So I have a bunch of people who have that community vibe as well. That’s what I love doing, really, is connecting with people.

The Indie Distributor: Cool. All right. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to jump on the podcast today, Avalon Stone. You’ve obviously got a lot of stuff going on, and we’re going to be rooting for you and watching as things progress. Can’t thank you enough for jumping on.

Avalon Stone: Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.

Some bands arrive fully formed. Others become themselves in the chaos of shared houses, basement demos, late-night rewrites, and the kind of chemistry you cannot fake. In Your Walls sound like a band built from exactly that kind of momentum. 

In this conversation with The Indie Distributor, the Toronto-area group talk about their Western University roots, their unexpectedly fast songwriting burst, recording at Beach Road Studios, the unique and compelling worlds inside Bridget’s lyrics, and the balance between meaning, instinct, collaboration, and not overthinking the art. It is a candid look at a band finding its shape in real time, while keeping enough looseness in the process for the songs to surprise them too.

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The Indie Distributor: Thank you so much, all of you, for joining me. I’m joined by In Your Walls, an incredible band. Are you based in Toronto, or where do you hail from?

Bridget Puhacz: Toronto. Scarborough for some of us.

Ryan Clark: Toronto.

Drew Glazier: Yeah, GTA pretty much.

The Indie Distributor: Nice. Awesome. Happy that you were able to join the Indie Distributor podcast. I work with The Indie Distributor, and I’m also in a band myself called Shoemaker Levee. We’ve seen each other at Gussapolooza, and it’s been fabulous being able to catch your set. I was hoping to get a little more information from all of you about how things came to be.

The first question I normally ask is: how did it get started? Any music documentary I watch, I’m always most enthralled by the coming-up story, how things sort of came together. Music documentaries usually gloss over that really fast. So maybe we could start there. How did things get started with you folks?

Bridget Puhacz: We were all going to Western University, and actually Carter and Ryan have been in bands together their whole lives basically. They’re like soulmate bandmates. So I had this band going and needed to find some new people. Thankfully Ryan was interested, and it’s a blessing to have him in the band. Then we got Drew like a year ago, and it’s just awesome. He’s a great drummer. We all went to Western, so it’s sick that we have that connection.

The Indie Distributor: Yeah, absolutely. Was this something you all kind of had going on in the background? Had you always been working in bands? Is this something you’ve always thought you wanted to do, or did it just start to take shape in the last few years?

Ryan Clark: I feel like I can speak for everyone here and say this is something we’ve always wanted to do. Even though In Your Walls really only took form as you see it now a year ago, like Bridget said, when Drew joined the band, we’ve all been in bands growing up. Bridget was always a musician and always playing music. You’ve always wanted to write music and be in a band.

Carter and I played in bands. I met him in Grade 9 basically, so we’ve been playing in bands since Grade 9. Then I met Drew in university and kind of introduced him. Bridget, Carter and I were living together, and we hosted a party. Drew came over, and we found Drew and Carter in the basement jamming while the party was going on upstairs.

The Indie Distributor: You’d rather be down here. That’s funny. I love origin stories like that. It’s great to see how things kicked off.

So I have to ask about the name. What’s the significance, and where did that originate?

Bridget Puhacz: Picture this. You’re standing on stage and you say, “We are In Your Walls.” That is the meaning.

Ryan Clark: And then people look around and they’re like, “Oh shit, I’ve got to go check my home.”

Drew Glazier: It’s memorable.

Carter Wega: None of us were even the ones who came up with that. I remember when Bridget started this band, Ryan wasn’t in it, I wasn’t in it, Drew wasn’t in it, and it was just little jam sessions in this church. One of the guys playing keys came up with that name, and Bridget kind of went with it. Now it just stuck.

The Indie Distributor: Really. No, I like that. It’s quirky.

I also meant to ask about the lyrics, because there seems to be, in some cases, this sort of ethereal space theme underlying some of the material. Is that a conscious choice, or do things just move that way when you’re writing?

Bridget Puhacz: For “Space Craze,” the first really space song, no, it wasn’t a conscious choice. I create these stories in my head and get really into them. I’m imagining what’s happening, and then, I don’t know, we’re in space, so that’s why. And for our new space song called “Men from Mars,” I was like, what if this was a sequel? What if Martians invaded the Earth? So that’s me making the story about what it is.

The Indie Distributor: I got it. And then does that tie into other themes, like with your new single “Blue”? Is that tied into the same type of ideas, or is it taking things in a different direction? I’m a lyric person, so I’m always interested in that.

Bridget Puhacz: For me, that’s a different universe. I guess it could be the same, because I just write. I’m not in control of how it’s perceived, in my opinion. But to me, everything’s related to things I experience, just abstracted. So “Blue” is related to living life and just working a job, but in this fictional universe, the government entity has put out a news broadcast that they’ve changed the colour blue. And you’re like, “What the fuck? Why’d they change blue? This is going to affect everything in my day-to-day life. What am I going to do?” But you have no control over it, and then the government’s like, “Yeah, it’s fine and the economy is great.” So that is the story of “Blue.”

The Indie Distributor: That helps things. I know what you mean about not necessarily having control over how lyrics are perceived, because someone else’s interpretation might be completely different from how you envisioned it when it first came to life, which is part of the beauty of music, I think.

Ryan Clark: Yeah, that’s why whenever someone asks what the meaning of the song is, I feel like the answer is always, well, what do you think? Instead of us trying to say what it is. That’s too complex because it’s different for me than it is for Carter, and even for Bridget or Drew.

The Indie Distributor: Yeah, that makes sense. I love that.

Was that one of the songs you cut at Beach Road, or were there different songs? What was that experience like?

Ryan Clark: It was sick. It was insane. You walk in and it’s your dream since you’re a kid to record an album in such an amazing studio when you have your own band with a band house. It was so cool. He’s got the wall of guitars. It’s all like that. It’s like this huge cathedral building. It was awesome. The experience was great.

We had gone in to record this upcoming album that’s coming out in April with like 30 songs, and narrowing it down to 10 was hard, but also kind of a fun way to figure out what we should do and what we were going to do in the studio. So there wasn’t much songwriting experimentation because we had written the songs, but it was more of a sonic experiment, figuring out different sounds and stuff.

The Indie Distributor: So you had 30 songs going into the studio and mentioned having to whittle that down to 10. Does that mean you’re intending to make that into an actual long play, an actual album?

Ryan Clark: Yeah. The 10 songs, yeah.

Bridget Puhacz: Yeah.

The Indie Distributor: And then “Blue” is the second single from that set?

Ryan Clark: “Men from Mars” was the first, and then “Blue” is the second. Then we’ve got one called “Jaded” coming out soon. But the album, we’re planning to release in April, the full 10-song record.

The Indie Distributor: Excellent. What was the process like to determine which songs made it and which songs did not?

Carter Wega: We started writing so far in advance that by the time it got to the studio, we were like, we’re going to have everything figured out. All 10 songs are going to be locked down. We’ll know every single detail of it. But going into it, I think we only had maybe seven songs nailed down for sure. So we had to choose the last 25 percent of the album while we were there, which was interesting, but it was fun.

The Indie Distributor: I can see that. Ultimately, what was behind the decision to select the songs? Was it because they were more connected with each other? Did you have input from Sigfried, or how did that come to be?

Ryan Clark: Sig was good with this. He was like, I’m going to let you guys figure it out, because he saw that if he really gave his opinion it would create a bias, because we kind of see him as the great, you know? So it was us trying to figure it out.

Carter Wega: It was similar to that. Even songs like “Blue” weren’t going to be on the album until the last little bit of the studio process. We had a few songs left and were like, okay, what do we want to do? “Blue” wasn’t supposed to be on the album, but then we kind of rewrote it and rearranged it the day we were recording it, or the day before.

So I don’t know. It felt not random, but we were just feeling it out and deciding what we wanted to do. I feel like there wasn’t any logic or structure behind it. We kind of just went with the feeling of it.

The Indie Distributor: I love that. And that ends up being the second single release. That’s fascinating. It wasn’t even a song you intended to have on the record, and then all of a sudden it takes second spot.

Obviously there’s also the video for “Men from Mars,” which looked like it was a hell of a lot of fun. A lot of indie bands struggle with determining not just whether to do a video, but where the idea is going to come from, where the money is going to come from, all those types of things. Tell us about how that process happened and how you planned that out.

Ryan Clark: I have a dog named Libby who makes a star appearance. We were kind of like, “Oh shit, what are we going to do for this video?” But we wanted to do one, especially for the first single, and we knew “Men from Mars” was a song that was hopefully going to grab people’s attention, so it only made sense to do a video that went along with it.

We were stuck on certain ideas, but then I don’t even know who came up with it. It was probably Bridget, I feel like, who was like, “Should we get Libby to come into the video?” Then it became, these men from Mars are coming to steal Libby and we’ve got to take her back.

The song itself, like we said before, you can find your own meaning in it, but if you look at it at face value, it can also be kind of a fun song, even though you can find deeper meaning in it. I don’t want to say it’s just a silly song, because it’s not, but we wanted to take that route with the video and make it kind of a silly video that went along with the theme.

Then we were like, okay, we kind of like the ’90s film style, like E.T. kind of thing. So we wanted the camera work to look like that, and the laser guns, all of it. We were fortunate enough that Bridget had the connection of her cousin, also named Ryan, who was the producer of that video and the main videographer. He helped us a lot with the narrative and the different scenes and everything.

The Indie Distributor: I wondered about that, because it looked like there was a lot of thought that went into the different sequences. You didn’t just throw it together.

Did you find it difficult to commit to the video aspect of the song, given that you wanted to keep the deeper meaning, but then there’s this layer of humour? Did you find it was a challenge to have a video interpretation and a song interpretation at the same time?

Carter Wega: I feel like it was because, like Ryan said, if you take the song at face value, you don’t want to say it’s silly, but it can be interpreted that way. And in that sense, keeping the spirit of that meant trying not to take everything too seriously. Once we decided what the video was going to be, it was like, yep, that’s what it is. That’s what it’s going to be. We’re going to have fun with it. We’re going to try to make it as best as we can.

Not putting so much pressure on it, even in the same way as people interpreting the song differently, different people will interpret the video differently. I feel like trying to take the pressure off yourself to deliver meaning and just kind of let the audience do that for themselves is a big part of it.

The Indie Distributor: I like the way you put that. It seems similar to what happened with “Blue,” where you took the pressure off and just let the song do what it needed to do, and then it took on a life of its own.

Ryan Clark: Definitely. And we were fortunate to have Ryan’s Bro help us with that video.

The Indie Distributor: Nice. It looked like a lot of fun and came together well. Of course, having a dog as the protagonist is always an advantage for everyone. Glad that no animals were harmed during the making of it.

Ryan Clark: None. She was good. She got many treats. We can promise you that.

The Indie Distributor: She looked quite content at the end of it.

You mentioned bringing 30 songs into the studio. Presumably, a lot of those songs were written over the course of quite a few years.

Ryan Clark: No. We really got into it in January when Carter and I were living together, with Bridget as well. Carter and I had separate rooms, and I put my bed into his room with all of my clothes, and we turned my room into a studio. Me, Carter and Bridget shared a room for four months so that we could write this album in the separate room. It was literally in our basement in London.

Every day, I skipped so many classes that last semester of school because I’d be in there with Bridget or Carter or something and be like, we’re so in the zone with this song, and I’ve got class in 10 minutes, but I’m not going. Fuck it. We’ll write this song. So really, four months was the big chunk of when all the songs were written.

The Indie Distributor: Wow. And then as far as polishing them, was “Blue” kind of the exception, not the rule? Did most of them come together and then you brought them into the studio thinking, yep, this is the way we’re laying it down?

Ryan Clark: Yeah, I feel like “Blue” was the exception. Most of them were written heavily in that basement on Logic, just on my laptop. I had an electric drum kit that I brought from home, so all the demos were made in there. From that, we got some outside opinion on what people liked and what we thought we liked.

In general, Sig, when we had recorded “White Lightning,” had said to us that he wanted to do an album with us, and we wanted to do that. He said, come to me with 30 songs and then you pick 10. So we really made an effort to do that. It was a lot of work, but we’re very happy with how it turned out. It was definitely worth it.

Carter Wega: Because the first 10 songs that we wrote, if that was just the album on its own, then it definitely wouldn’t have been as good.

Bridget Puhacz: One other thing is we also played so many shows in the summer, and then we recorded the album. So we were practising a lot, and songs kind of change just from playing them a lot. They become better because little parts change to make more sense.

The Indie Distributor: And the advantage of getting audience reaction too. If you’re unveiling those to a live audience, in some cases that can be a real advantage.

Ryan Clark: Definitely. Even now we’re noticing little differences in how we play them. We’re getting mixes back from the album and thinking, damn, we played it like that, but now it’s changed ever so slightly in how we play it live, even though it’s already been recorded. But that’s cool. I think that’s fun.

The Indie Distributor: It is. I think it’s good to have that diversity. Even though the audience will expect to hear the song the way they’re familiar with it from the studio version, as a band, sometimes you want to move things around a bit. There have definitely been situations where the guys and I have been like, I wish we had done that in the studio.

Ryan Clark: Yeah, definitely. But you have to appreciate it for what it is. The differences, I think, are cool in themselves.

The Indie Distributor: Absolutely.

So obviously the record is the big next thing. The plan is to release that in April, right?

Ryan Clark: Yeah.

Carter Wega: Mhm.

Drew Glazier: Mhm.

The Indie Distributor: And what do you have to support the record? Are you doing a tour? What’s on tap for the spring and summer?

Bridget Puhacz: We haven’t announced it yet, but we’re going to do our version of a tour, because it’s DIY. We’re going to play Ontario and then go out east all the way to Nova Scotia, PEI. We have a band that we know from there, so they are giving us advice, and hopefully we’re going to play with them a little bit on the tour. We’re really just reaching out to a lot of bands that we’ve met and trying to play with friends again, you know, have it be super fun.

The Indie Distributor: Love that. So that’s taking shape then. Tour dates haven’t necessarily all been nailed down yet. It’s something you’re still building.

Bridget Puhacz: Yeah, but there’s some dates.

The Indie Distributor: Cool. As they come together, obviously let the Indie Distributor folks know and we’ll be getting the word out about that.

Tying things together with wanting to encourage indie musicians of all types, what’s some of the stuff that you’ve learned through the writing process, the playing process, all of it? Any advice you’d want to give indie musicians as they’re just getting started?

Drew Glazier: Play as much as possible and play with as many people as possible. Create shows with people that you enjoy playing with, because you will play better if you’re hanging out with people you really like. Really enjoy it. If you’re not enjoying it, switch something up. Figure it out.

The Indie Distributor: Nice. I like that. Anyone else have advice to impart?

Bridget Puhacz: Can I give advice specifically to women?

The Indie Distributor: Yes.

Bridget Puhacz: Honestly, right now there are still so many men in music and in indie bands. Just know you might think that you’re not good enough, but you definitely are. I was very intimidated, and I still get intimidated because that’s just the kind of person I am. I’m shy and I have social anxiety sometimes, but I love playing music. So you can be exactly who you are. You don’t have to be like, “I’m a strong woman,” and have this girl boss attitude. If it really feels intimidating, you can just go in and be a girl that plays guitar, and that’s enough.

The Indie Distributor: I love that, and that’s great advice. We’ve all seen evidence of that for sure, and I think the more encouragement we can put into the industry, the better.

Anybody else?

Carter Wega: Maybe just keep doing stuff. It’s kind of like Drew said, don’t give up. As corny as that is, I feel like it is very true. My version of that is just always stay active. Try not to let even a month go by where you don’t do anything. Just keep going.

Ryan Clark: And I want to say that collaboration can be hard. It really can. Having four people on board with the same ideas and wanting the same thing, trying to figure it out with four people in something everyone cares so much about, it can be really challenging. But it’s important to remind yourself that you’re all working toward the same common goal.

Don’t get all worked up because you disagree on something. That’s normal and that’s part of the process. We’re all working toward something we really care about, so we’re all going to be passionate about it. A big tip is to accept those little differences in opinion and work on collaborating together because you’re all going toward the same goal.

The Indie Distributor: I love that. And that goal is what?

Ryan Clark: That goal is to make a living doing this shit, honestly. We love it so much. Being able to support yourself doing this and playing music full time and not having to worry about… we all love it.

Drew Glazier: I mean, I want to make enough money to fund my fingerboard addiction so I can keep doing kickflips with my fingers. And, like, be able to buy a bunch of frozen pizzas. Stuff like that.

Ryan Clark: And drumsticks.

Drew Glazier: Drumsticks too. Posters. Glasses.

The Indie Distributor: Those are very commendable aspirations right there.

So we’ll be watching for the record, of course, and then tour announcements. It’s been excellent having you all on and talking about what’s next and how things progressed. We’ll be watching for announcements, and I must thank you all very much for taking part.

Ryan Clark: Thanks. We appreciate it.