Interview: Damsel and Distress Share the Story Behind Upcoming Release

Front women of Nashville -based Rock/Pop band Damsel and Distress, Alisha Lynn, shares the message behind upcoming release "Not Your Type", the formation of the band Damsel and Distress, and much more in our exclusive interview!

What's the inspiration behind upcoming release "Not Your Type? There was a time—and there have been several times like it—where a guy was so very sure that I was going to come crawling after him just because of who he was. He had this mentality that every girl seemed to fall right into his hand if he wanted them and he figured that, surely, I would do the same. But oh, no. I don’t quite work that way. I wanted to write a song about how I wasn’t his type—the type to just follow him home or go along with his weird ego mind-game. When I brought the idea to the band, we wrote it as an anthemic “no.” So I guess now he’ll get the point.

How did Damsel and Distress come to be? All of us moved to Nashville to pursue our own careers in the industry, and Chris (Guitarist) and I met within our first week of arriving. We didn’t write until about a year later. I’m kicking myself now for not doing so sooner, but since that first write, we found a sound that we were really excited about. He had a background in alternative rock, and me in pop. We realized that this is what we had come to this city to do and started Damsel and Distress!

When did you know that you wanted to pursue a musical career? Oh, my poor family. On every holiday that my extended family would gather for, I had a show for them all. I’d rope in a few cousins to play a pots-and-pans style drum set and I’d sing for them my newly written songs about the hardships of the 1st grade. My younger self lived for those moments. Pretty soon I realized that I didn’t stop. I quit doing the house shows for my family, sure, but I started seeking outlets to play my music for anyone who would listen—area talent shows, showcases, pageants, and open mic nights. It was soon that I realized I didn’t ever want to stop. Writing and performing my own music has been the dream for as long as I can remember.

What can fans expect in 2019? Shows, shows, shows. As a rock band, we love to get out and play the songs live. We feel that that’s where it all comes to life. Getting to meet the people that are into what we are doing in all the cities they are listening in is the best part of doing what we do. In addition to touring, though, we already have more releases set for new music. It’s not going to be a slow year—that’s for sure.

When you wanted to pursue a music career, did you have any setbacks? Absolutely. A friend in the industry once told us early on that you’ll be told “no” a hundred times for every “yes.” We can personally attest to that, but all it has meant to us is that we work longer and harder to get those numbers in our favor. If we work to get 1000 “no’s” that means 10 “yes’s”, right? Booking tours has been the biggest hurdle, especially without having any music out up until this point. But looking back now on all the shows and places we have played already, we feel really excited to get this song out to the people we’ve been meeting and connecting with all this time. Another problem we’ve been having that we can’t quite look positively on yet though is that every time we get ready to leave for a run of dates our vehicle just dies. It’s almost like our band curse.

Where can our readers follow you? On Instagram we are @damselanddistressmusic, our twitter is run by me, (Alisha), as @AlishatheDamsel, and our website has an email sign-up if you want to get informed that way (www.damselanddistress.com). We love connecting with people who are into our music so please reach out and say hey!