By Alyssa Earnest

Love, Grief and Understanding. This is the vibe that Dog Party brings with their music.

Now, the rocker duo is holding a release show at Harlow’s on Friday for their seventh studio album.

The Sacramento-based team consists of sisters Gwendolyn and Lucy Giles, with the former on guitar and vocals and the latter on drums and vocals. The two have been playing music together since their childhood.

“I wanted to be like my big sister because I thought she was cool,” said Lucy. “So (my dad) happened to just be driving around in the neighborhood and there was a garage sale. And so, for my sixth or seventh birthday, I got a drum set.”

They recall having a sonic connection since those days when they were “always hip to hip.”

Taking inspiration from groups like The White Stripes, Ramones, Green Day and early Beatles, Dog Party has a range from heartbreak rock to 60s love songs.

“They have a really diverse and versatile sound that sort of sticks around the whole like rock and roll,” said drummer for the Snares – and friend of the duo – Lukas Brodie. “It makes you think about your past and makes you think about where you’re going. So good feelings, good vibes.”

One of their newest singles, “Bullet in Disguise,” can be described as a heartbreak song you can headbang or rage to. Meanwhile, their very latest release, “Last Nite,” taps into a 1960s vibe.

“It’s pretty different than most of our other recorded music on our albums,” Lucy reflected. “It’s kind of like a shock factor in a way and shows a span of what the record has.”

Additionally, Dog Party’s most-streamed song on Spotify, “Lost Control,” has an old-school rocker sensibility that is made for dancing to.

“I feel like this new album is them at their most confident and complete,” said friend of the band Lizzie Killian.  “It’s very subtle, but you could just hear an increased production and a stronger vocal delivery in this album. They’ve been doing this for a long time, but I feel like this album is more defined.”

Much like their music, Dog Party’s experience in the scene isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

“It’s a male-dominated industry,” Gwendolyn observed. “Someone looking at us from the outside, they’re like, ‘Oh, those two young looking gals must not know, let me mansplain everything.”

The duo also talks about how social media has made it difficult to get into the music industry because it seems more like a popularity contest than being about music.

“Numbers are super valuable if they’re organic because I use them as tools,” Gwendolyn acknowledged. “But the truth of the matter is, most people’s numbers on social media aren’t organic these days.”

After Friday’s show Dog Party is going on tour in select cities across the country, traveling as far as Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Outside of shows, traveling on tour and recording, the sisters insist they’re just like anybody else.

“We like to go on walks together at the American River and we like going to Target,” said Lucy. “When you’re on tour for a long time there’s no normalcy or any kind of consistency, one thing that’s fun is going to Target because there’s only a handful of different layouts of the store.”

Dog Party will be playing with The Snares and DEFEM on May 17th at Harlow’s. To learn more and purchase tickets, click here.