Dizzy
Photo Credit: Poonch Ghana
Oshawa, Ontario’s Dizzy is becoming a household name in the world of indie pop. The band, made up of front-woman Katie Munshaw, as well as siblings Charlie (drums), Alex (guitar), and Mack Spencer (bass), started making music together following 12th grade. Since their 2017 Spotify debut with “Stars and Moon”, the band has been consistently met by streaming successes. Songs like 2018’s “Bleachers” and “Joshua” are fan favorites that have helped define Dizzy’s unique sound. Writing songs on coming of age and post-adolescence as they experience it, their message resonates well with a quickly-growing audience. The group’s most recent project, an album (The Sun and Her Scorch), was released three days ago and is already a hit, grossing almost 1.8 million streams on Spotify thus far. We recently spoke with Katie about how the band came together, the details of their new album, and more!
How did you start making music?
When it was time for Charlie and I to graduate Grade 12, it seemed like all of our friends were applying for university when Charlie randomly asked if I’d want to take the year off and give music a shot. Thinking back, that decision seems completely insane since we had never tried writing songs together before. We got really lucky. Mack and Alex joined the group about a year later.
Your music is incredibly personal, typically centering around your adolescence. But, have you ever tried to write in someone else’s shoes?
99% of the time I’m writing from my own experience, though a song called “Beatrice” on our new record isn’t. For “Beatrice”, I drew from my best friend’s break up and my parent’s separation to tap into romantic heartbreak. Luckily, I wasn’t experiencing anything like that at the time.
It’s your day off: How are you spending it?
I live relatively close to a body of water. I love going to the lake and having lunch. Then come home, put my pajamas on before 8PM and watch reality tv with my sister.
What’s it like being the female band member working amongst a trio of brothers?
I love it. I truly wouldn’t change a thing. They’re all sensitive, gentle humans that make being with them 24/7 on tour a total joy. Sappy, but they are my main pals.
Who would be your partner in a dream collab?
I’d love to congregate all my favorite songwriters and make one gut wrenching, life destroying song. Christian Lee Hutson, Molly Rankin of Alvvays, Mitski, and then like…Taylor Swift.
You’ve got a new album, The Sun and Her Scorch, coming out July 31st. Can you tell us a little about it
We started writing it in early 2019. We went away to a cottage up in northern Ontario and wrote half of it there and then started recording in Montreal in the fall. We decided early on that we wanted the record to be self produced. I honestly don’t think we were prepared for how much work self-producing an entire record entails. When we finally finished it we were exhausted and felt live: “Holy shit, let’s never do that again”. Now that feeling has faded and a nostalgia for that work ethic is creeping back and it’s like: “Damn, wouldn’t it be fun to do it again?” It’s like child labour. Your brain represses the hard shit and then you do it all over again. Some new mom is gonna kick my ass for saying that.
Does the band have any other future projects in the works?
We were taking it easy for the first part of quarantine. We had just finished the record at the top of March and were keen to get on tour, so the pandemic has definitely derailed those plans. I think we needed a breather from writing for a few months. We’ve just finally started again and it’s been fun. Hopefully our silver-lining in this pandemic will be that we get to album three sooner. Who knows?
