DOWN THE LEES

DARK, GRITTY, AND ENDLESS BEAUTY.

They've lent their voices to encapsulate the feeling of living in a valley where the effects of climate crisis have scarred the landscape and its people through their EP Dirt, on which their song Douse received the Best Song award from OSIF (Okanagan Society of Independent Filmmaking).

On February 8th, they continued their journey of expression through a live performance at The Rotary Centre for the Arts. When asked about it, they said “It was great because it took a very long time to put together since it was a live album [...] but it was also videos and visuals which was everything that we’ve been envisioning this band to be. It took a long time to get there, so to finally put it on stage and to put it out there, I think it went well.”

The band started with Laura Lee Schultz, writing and playing everything independently, with help from recording, mixing, and mastering engineers like Mathew Barnhart and the iconic Steve Albini. Chris Carlson later joined on bass, with Andy Ashley on drums to display their incredible talents on Dirt. Laura, being the lead as a woman, we thought it would be important to ask about the challenges of being in a female-fronted band, but she responded with an incredibly powerful point:

“I wouldn’t actually ask that question. I would ask what it's like being in a post-noise rock band in Kelowna. Because, of course I’m female but I’m also queer and I also want to steer away from any kind of stereotypes of why anyone is watching us [being] because there is a queer woman in the band. With that said: it’s hard! [...] I’ve been doing this since the 90’s and I’m still getting asked to get off stage or being talked down to because [men think] I don’t know what I’m doing [...] you wouldn’t ask men what it’s like to be in a male-fronted band.” So freaking true; pedestalizing identities perpetuates the same issues in a world based on hierarchies, going against the goal of achieving an egalitarian society concerning social/political change.

The members of Down the Lees are incredibly experienced; Andy Ashley has been in hardcore since the 2000’s, and is currently the drummer in the metalcore band “Storm The Empire”; Chris Carlson was on bass with pop-duo Tegan & Sara; Laura experienced and took part in the Belgian punk and hardcore scene, and started her own record label “Off White House Records” to which she says, “started as a label for me to release stuff for Down the Lees [...] and then the pandemic happened and that’s when I was meeting people who were recording in their room while they were isolated for years.”

With their experience, they have a message for youth in the scene of Kelowna and the world: “[The industry] is always changing. Believe in yourself, don’t let other people talk you out of things, and don’t let yourself talk you out of things. Don’t be afraid. Make fuckups. Make mistakes [...] and that includes playing to an empty room, or playing to rooms of people telling you to get off stage”.

This article was based on a recorded interview that you can watch on our YouTube, braze magazine. For more Down The Lees, follow them on instagram @downthelees if you’re interested in Laura’s record label Off White House Records, you can visit the website offwhitehouserecords.com

BY RANNAN CHERNOFF

Full Circle Photography