Girl and Girl chats Laneway and their recent single ‘The Cow’

Girl and Girl. Image credit: James Caswell (@jamescaswell)

Jordan Royal recently caught up with Kai James from Girl and Girl ahead of their Laneway Festival tour to chat about their recent single ‘The Cow’, 2024 gigs and touring.

Interview aired on Sonic Alien 4ZZZ 5 Feb 2025.

Jordan: 2024 was a massive year for you guys. Huge congratulations on everything you've accomplished from releasing Call a Doctor, your debut album in May, and then touring sort of everywhere. Do you have a favourite or particular memory tied to Call a Doctor that really stands out to you, whether it's a moment from recording or a moment from touring?

Kai: Wow. Yeah, I think there's a few. We sort of finished the tour, our sort of first big American tour with Royel Otis on kind of the day that the record came out. So we went and played, we were in our label's home city, which is really cool. So we went and played this record store, which is kind of like a staple in Seattle, Easy Street Records.

And we did a little in-store there and it was our last show of the whole tour. And it was kind of like a sort of casual vibe and a really, really nice crowd shuffled in. And yeah, that was a lot of fun. And then we came home and did our own kind of home celebration at the Junk Bar in Ashgrove, before they moved to New Farm, which was also really, really fun.

Jordan: Oh, that's awesome. Was that the gig with like the huge rainbow cut out and the Call a Doctor sign? That looked like an awesome gig.

Kai: Yeah! It was really fun. Really kind of just DIY and sort of free tickets, first in, first serve kind of vibe.

Girl and Girl. Image credit: Luke Johnson (@luke.shots)

Jordan: And I feel like songs, when you're performing them live especially, can sort of take on their own life and sort of their own identity. Is there a particular track that you've held near and dear to you while performing or is particularly fun to perform live? 

Kai: I think Strangers is always a sort of crowd favourite. I don't know, I guess usually like a crowd favourite translates to an us favourite, you know, when we're getting energy back, it energises us in a way and it's kind of like a bit of a positive feedback loop. So that's always a really fun one to do. And then Call a Doctor I really enjoy as well because of that big sort of silly spoken word intro. 

It's funny where you play it and who you're sort of playing with. Like with Royel Otis I think it confused a lot of people, but then you come in with the actual music and it's somewhat redeemable. So I always find that kind of early transition a little bit funny. 

Jordan: Oh, that's great. Seeing you guys live - you guys are so energetic. I feel like it definitely the crowd bounces back and energy bounces back. It's so awesome. Sort of feeds into like my next question, but you guys performed across Australia, a little bit of US, Europe and UK, which is insane. How was like the European, UK music scene and crowds compared to Australian crowds?

Kai: Yeah, it's very interesting. It's kind of, it's a much like older crowd and it's more people coming out to discover new music - like that's the intent of a lot of people going to music festivals in the UK, at least the ones that we're playing. And I guess we're playing festivals specific to up and coming bands. But those festivals like sell out and people fill up rooms at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, you know, on a Sunday, on a Monday and the vibe is I'm here to discover a new band, which I think is really, really cool. But then the kind of difference here is that it's - I don't know, like we've got our own sort of home audience fan base with people that know the music. So it can tend to be a little bit more of a raucous live show here in Australia, compared to the UK. UK and Europe is more about discovery, whereas here is more about, I don't know, going a little bit crazy. 

Jordan: And in these lineups of more up and coming bands across like Europe and UK, did you discover any new bands yourself that really left an impression and inspired you a little bit?

Kai:Yeah, definitely. A band called Water From Your Eyes, which we played with last year - I think we only ended up doing two shows because I got a flu or something like that - but literally like a week ago, I discovered one of their old albums, maybe 2016 or something like that and I've just been like listening to it on repeat. It's so good. Which is always the case. Like you'll see a band and then a week later they become your favourite band and you're like, oh my god, you know, I wish they were my favourite band at the time. Like I really want to see them again now that I know every song. Like the context of them live sort of changes your whole perspective of them. That one's a definite one. 

Jordan: Yeah, true. I hate when it always happens that way is that you see a band live and you go, oh, I should really like get into them. And then you really get into them. But if you have that knowledge, then it would have been like the best.

Jordan: I wanted to talk about The Cow for a second, because we've loved playing it on set, it's been one of my favourite songs to play, and it feels very Girl and Girl, especially with sort of the theatrical style of how you sing, and you've mentioned that friends sometimes call you The Cow, and the sort of like brain - cow brain versus cow heart analogy. Can you dive a little bit deeper into what it means and what inspired the song?

Kai: Totally. It's kind of like, my kind of concept was that you're too in your head, and you're kind of ruining particular relationships by thinking too much and you need to act out of love and from your heart and all that sort of stuff, rather than responding to this sort of, in the moment, crazy thoughts in your head that are spiralling about, that's kind of the idea.

It's a little bit about being a coward in love and not committing or loving deeply and all that sort of stuff, which is pretty serious moral, I've never really talked about it. After listening to the song, you're like, what? Just sounds like you're singing a goofy song about being a cow. But yeah, I think that's what it's about.

Jordan: Yeah, awesome. I love how you guys sort of do that. Because I know that when you're talking about Call A Doctor, you said there are some darker themes, but you sing about it in a really comedic way. And I love how you guys sort of do that, that like, contrast, it's great. Is that sort of a nod? Because the cover is like a cow that has different cow, well not cow parts, pictures on it, and it makes up sort of the cow head and everything. Is that a nod to sort of the meaning behind the song? Or was it just something that was really cool and fun?

Girl and Girl at Laneway Brisbane. Image credit: Kelsey Doyle (@kjdoyle)

Kai: Kind of just something really cool and fun. It was like, it's me and Jenna's body cuts, body parts cut up, which Jenna was, who was in the film clip. I didn't even think about that. You've connected. 

Jordan: The cowboy boots and that video were great.

Kai: It's so good.

Jordan: But you guys, I feel like 2025 is going to be shaping up to be just as huge for you guys. You guys are playing Laneway, which is awesome. I know like speaking from me and a lot of people when we saw Girl on Girl on the lineup, everyone was like, hell yes, Girl on Girl. Absolutely. But I feel like, you know, as an Aus band, you know how big and iconic Laneway is. So how was it getting that call that you're going to be on the festival lineup?

Kai: Yeah, it was it was really, really exciting. Um, I don't know, it's nice, because, you know, last year, we definitely worked really hard. And we played a lot of shows. And we were kind of doing the whole hustle thing. So it's nice to get a result out of that kind of stuff, because it can at times be a little bit draining. So yeah, it's really exciting. I think we're going to have a lot of fun. And we're going to play a lot of new music as well, which is cool. 

Girl and Girl at Laneway Brisbane. Image credit: Kelsey Doyle (@kjdoyle)

Jordan: Awesome. I'm very, very excited. And if there's any Laneway lineup to be a part of, I feel like it's this one. It's a pretty awesome lineup. Are there any bands that you're excited to see or maybe meet and chat with?

Kai: Yeah, I really want to see Djo. I've been a big fan of him for ages since he released that album. Yeah, his album rocks and the wrong song blew up on TikTok but anyway. And then, you know, obviously, Charli XCX. Her album confuses me a bit, if I'm going to be completely honest, but you know, I'll say hi. 

Jordan: Go up and say hi. I love Brat!

Kai: Exactly. I know what to say.

Jordan: Well, thank you so much for jumping on the call. And you guys also headed off to the US later after Laneway to support Naked Giants, which is again, huge, just huge congratulations. I'm very excited to keep watching you guys grow and just get bigger and bigger. You guys are awesome.

Kai: Thanks so much! Thanks for talking.

Interview by Jordan Royal / Sonic Alien on 4ZZZ.