Nick: With all of that said, probably the biggest reason people will flock to this interview is the band you were the vocalist for I Hate Sex, which was one of the more well-known screamo outfits out of Canada. Before we jump into that, what band inspired you to pursue being a screamo vocalist at a more serious level?

Nicole: Honestly, it wasn’t that serious at first. None of us had any grand expectations. I just wanted to play shows and engage more fruitfully in the scene that had already given me so much, most notably, seeing Mahria and La Luna at Ghost Throats DIY Music Festival (now defunct) in 2013. When IHS began, the post-hardcore scene was really blossoming…Here is a facebook post from Andrew, of Ghost Throats, published following our 2015 set at Ghost Throats. 

"I hold Ghost Throats dear to my heart, because it was at Ghost Throats that I first saw a non-dude playing in a band and I realized I could do it too" - Nicole, I Hate Sex

“When I heard those words spoken last night from a band that would quickly become one of my new favorites within minutes of playing their first song of their set, I was pretty overcome with emotion. All too often, Ghost Throats is source of stress, frustration and anxiety, and it's easy to forget that it's not really about how I experience this scrappy little underdog fest. It’s what Ghost Throats means to everyone who continues to support this endeavor. While it’s amazing to watch the bands play, I think my favorite part of Ghost Throats is watching the crowd. Seeing members of Mahria watch I Hate Sex with a huge grin on their faces, realizing someone has picked up right where they left off; or seeing all the girls in the room push their way to front and all the guys respectfully making room for them; or seeing a whole room of kids stare, mouths open, as La Luna tears into jam after jam; or watching a bar full of musicians realize that Weird Year is the coolest fucking band in the city: or even better, watching a room full of veteran musicians watch Teeth, a band that has been playing their instruments for a fraction of the time most have, put on terrifying and emotionally devastating show that rivals any band in the city. Those are the parts of Ghost Throats that stick with me. I’m so proud and honored to know that a festival that grew out of late night conversations about how to showcase our nerdy emo bands 7 years ago has had an impact on this community. While I continue to regrettably drift further away from that community as I get older, nights like last night pull me back in and reaffirm how I’ve felt about DIY communities for the past 16 years of my life. It’s rewarding and valuable and worth fighting for. Thank you to everyone who helps out year after year. Thanks to all the bands who graciously play for little to no money just to be part of something they feel is important. I don’t know if there will be an eight year of Ghost Throats, but yesterday definitely makes it easier to imagine there will be.”

I also took a lot of inspiration from Henry Bemis is a Superhero…, and a lot of the bands on Too Far Gone at the time.

Nick: Did you have any previous experience with that type of vocal style before IHS?

Nicole: Nope, I Hate Sex was my first dive into that vocal style. That’s part of why “Circle Thinking” sounds the way it does—raw and unfiltered.

Nick: With that, what was the story behind the formation of I Hate Sex? How did you guys come up with that utterly unforgettable name? I’m pretty sure the only other name for a screamo outfit that haulted me in my tracks was City of Caterpillar.

Nicole: It’s not the most thrilling origin story. Ashton (guitar) and I met on our first day of university. I remember he flipped me off, and I thought, "Hell yeah, this person is going to be my friend." I was learning bass at the time and wanted to start a band and since he played guitar, it felt like a good fit. We bonded over shared musical interests, like American Football. I had met our eventual bass player at a Descendents show a year earlier through a mutual friend and we found our drummer through a post on Facebook. As for the name, it came from a joke. Ashton, two friends and I had a group chat in university where we’d just shoot the shit during class. One day, I said, "I hate sex," about something we were talking about and added, "name of my emo band I don’t have yet." When it came time to actually name the band, I threw it out there, and everyone was like, "Yeah, sure, that works." It sounded silly, edgy and punk, so we ran with it. 

Nick: The first release was, coincidentally, me and many people’s introduction to IHS, “Circle Thinking.” I know that the first tracks ever written for IHS are on this thing, being “One By Metallica” and “January 24.” Since you were the sole writer for IHS, what types of themes were present on these initial tracks? 

Nicole: When I write, I like to imagine an inner world, sort of like where you go when you dream, where emotions, feelings and ideas can shape reality. I think of this as "the space between us." When I was writing the first two tracks for “Circle Thinking,” I revisited some old poetry I had written a year or so earlier, but I let those ideas evolve into something new, which then became lyrics.

Nick: Did those same themes remain the same for the rest of the EP or were slight tweaks made? If so, why?

Nicole: Yes, I think so! I definitely wrote the lyrics for someone specifically to read and hear, so there are a lot of personal references that only that person would have understood. There is a comment on the song, “San Francisco,” on Genius which I think perfectly explains what the album is about, lyrically… 

“I’d say this song is about watching someone you love self-destruct and knowing you can’t stop them. The narrator is bitter towards the subject, angry at them for continually hurting themself even when they know it hurts everyone else around them. But in the end, we see the narrator show love for this person and wish they knew what they were worth.”