UCLA student Merilou Salazar and bandmate Jessie Meehan are an alternative-dance duo from Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif. called We Are / She Is. They’re currently working on their second EP.
In a moment of spontaneity, fourth-year gender studies student Merilou Salazar volunteered her band to perform at an event during her junior year of high school. But there was a slight problem. She had no band.
In fact, she didn’t even know how to play any instruments, and the show was in two weeks. Salazar managed to find a bass player and frantically learned as much guitar as possible for the show.
Bassist Jessie Meehan said she performed with Salazar at that first show and the duo have stuck together ever since, forming the band We Are / She Is.
Six years later, the love for making music and the determination to never give up has garnered We Are / She Is a long list of accomplishments.
Together, the two have opened for the Naked and Famous, had their songs featured on the “The Real L Word” and are finishing up their second EP, which they hope to release before the end of 2012. They’ll be performing at the Boardner’s Club Moscow on Nov. 7.
Meehan said that the band is really excited for its upcoming EP because this will be the first album where We Are / She Is truly feels that it has found its sound. The duo decided to play what they feel instead of focusing on subscribing to any type of particular genre or sound.
“We spent so much time in the past trying to draw influences from friends and other things that made us fit into a genre. Then we finally (decided to) do our own thing,” she said.
Salazar said We Are / She Is incorporates synths as well as simple, high-energy dance beats with a goal of creating catchy melodies that people can clap and sing along with.
Francesca Parreñas, Salazar’s cousin and the duo’s roommate, defined the band’s sound as exciting electro-pop-punk. She compared it to the Ting Tings, Blink 182 and Matt and Kim and said that in addition to its distinct sound, We Are / She Is has a relatable quality to its lyrics.
“They aren’t just talking about fluffy stuff; they’re talking about real hardships that they’ve gone through,” she said.
Meehan said that Salazar is the sole writer of the lyrics. Even though Meehan helps with the songwriting process, she said that Salazar has a natural ability to express herself that brings the songs to a whole new level.
“I envy her lyrics style ““ They are so simple but at the same time you listen and you (realize) that it is such a deep statement,” she said. The lyrics are based off simple, catchy melodies but don’t fail to touch upon complex issues.
Meehan said that it is easy to see lyrics running through Salazar’s mind at any given moment. Salazar sporadically hums melodies and types lyrics into her phone randomly throughout the day.
This devotion is not the only way that Salazar shows her passion for her music. Parreñas said that watching her perform live really shows how much Salazar believes in what she is doing.
“I feel like once she’s on stage she lets out any frustration she has,” Parreñas said. “She seems to connect well with people. It’s kind of hard to not get excited when you see her ““ it’s hard for it not to be contagious.”
Parreñas also said that Meehan has the same high-energy performance by completely letting loose on stage.
“If I don’t have whiplash at the end of the night, I didn’t do my job right,” Meehan said.
However, Meehan said that it hasn’t always been easy for the duo to succeed. She said that they’ve tried working with several other band members and had as many as a six-piece at one point. Aside from that, there are the struggles that come with trying to fund recordings and make a living off of CD sales.
“There are a lot of times when we have these moments of everything just falling into place and all of a sudden it just crashes and burns. It’s like, “˜How do we get back from that really low point?’ It’s just that we have to do it and it’s that mind frame of, “˜Let’s just do it,'” Salazar said.
Parreñas said that the commitment Salazar and Meehan have is her favorite thing about We Are / She Is. She said that no matter what the duo is faced with, they work hard to get past it, and they incorporate the band into everything that they do.
“I’m just proud of them and I can’t wait to see where else they go,” Parreñas said.