The Beaches on their 'breakthrough' journey from Family Channel to rockstars

The maturity of The Beaches can easily be traced through their trajectory from Family Channel stars to up-and-coming stadium rockstars.

Jordan and Kylie Miller's first crack at widespread exposure came courtesy of the Canadian teen TV channel.

They co-wrote songs about what mattered to them then — high school, feelings and boys. Now, they write songs as The Beaches about topics that matter to them now.

"It's been quite a journey for us, so this year has been exceptional," Kylie Miller told CBC's Radio Active Wednesday, ahead of their show Wednesday night at the Starlite Room.

It's not even May and it's been a banner year for The Beaches. They already have a JUNO Award for "Breakthrough Group of the Year" under their belt and are currently on their first headlining tour.

"It's been really great. We've had an incredible response so far," Miller said.

She and her sister Jordan have been playing instruments since they were seven. Their parents didn't want to pay for two separate music lessons, so they lumped the two sisters in the same lesson.

"Eventually, we decided we didn't want to learn songs, we wanted to write songs," Kylie Miller said.

That blossomed first into Done With Dolls, the Family Channel sensations who worked with Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk to write the theme song for the TV show "Really Me."

Three quarters of The Beaches were in Done With Dolls — Eliza Enman-McDaniel played drums for them. They met their fourth member Leandra Earl in high school, who was a fan of Done With Dolls.

A band that was once inspired by the likes of Avril Lavigne and Miley Cyrus turned into The Beaches, who look to the Rolling Stones and St. Vincent as two inspirations.

'Real experiences'

The Beaches' soaring vocals overtop their garage rock sound caught the ears of many high-profile stars — including Emily Haines and James Shaw from Metric, who produced their 2017 record Late Show.

Their lyrics are lived experiences. On Money, Jordan Miller sings her desire for cash — but not for the sake of being rich.

"We just tried to write about real experiences and things we were going through," she said. "One of the things I was going through was being very broke and needing money to experience life in the city."

T-Shirt, another hit single from their album, uses a one-night stand as a metaphor for embracing the life as a 20-something — like keeping the T-shirt a man left in Jordan's apartment (and keeping the $60 found in the pocket).

"We used it to buy a lot of toilet paper in the studio," Jordan Miller said.

All-female band's challenges

The Beaches have always been about embracing who they are both in their songs and on stage. Who they are used to be a bit of a barrier — being an all-female band used to come with its own set of challenges.

"We'd hear, 'Oh, I was so shocked to hear you guys, you actually were really good. When I saw that you were all girls I thought you guys were going to be terrible,'" Jordan Miller said.

"[Or] going to shows and not being let in because bouncers would immediately assume that we're fans or groupies — that was something that we constantly dealt with," Kylie Miller added.

"It's quite strange to assume that based on someone's gender that they're not going to be able to play guitar or play drums."

But Jordan Miller said it's been getting better — especially having three other women in the band to experience it with.

"It really hasn't been as bad as it used to be," she said. "Luckily, there are a lot more female voices being featured in the industry now," Kylie Miller added.

The band has each other — and as long as they have that, they feel they're ready to take on whatever comes next, with nothing holding them back.

The Beaches play the Starlite Room Wednesday night. Doors open at 8 p.m., with opener Taylor Knox on at 9 p.m. and The Beaches up at 10 p.m. It's an 18+ show and tickets are $20.