MIESHA & the SPANKS Dig Me Out, benefitting IRSSS
Miesha & The Spanks Dig Me Out benefits the Indian Residential School Survivor Society.
by Walter Price
The fist-pumping, post-riot grrrl single, “Dig Me Out”, from Calgary rockers Miesha & The Spanks carries a lot of devastating weight on its shoulders.
With all the proceeds earned from this powderkeg track benefiting the Indian Residential School Survivor’s Society, the story behind the song was new to me. But heartbreaking just the same. Beneath the music video, the band has posted about its origins…
“Last year the remains of 215 children were found at the site of the old T’kemlups Residential School. When the news came out it was everywhere fast. A lot of people in Canada didn’t know about Residential Schools because it wasn’t taught in our schools, or at least, not the truth. I remember sitting in class when they briefly came up in social studies, saying that they taught kids how to speak English, read, and write, basically helped them adjust to modern society. Like most Indigenous kids I already knew the history of abuse that came with the assimilation these schools offered, designed to “kill the Indian,” where it often succeeded. I saw it firsthand reflected in the generational suffering of my family. My Grandmother survived T’kemlups Residential School, sent there after her two older sisters died at St. Eugenes, the one closer to our home. Unlike her sisters, she made it back home, shamed and pregnant.
“T’kemlups was only the beginning, as more and more school sites began searching the grounds for more undocumented and unmarked graves. The numbers piled in from all across Canada, gaining more press and social media attention, until everywhere I looked, this is what I saw. Survivors and their relatives shared their stories, again, because they’ve been doing this for years while no one listened, and I read them all. I found myself in a very dark place, absorbed in my Grandmother’s story and so many like her, and it was very difficult to dig myself out.
“I wrote this song to process everything I was feeling: the grief, the horror, the anger, and the helplessness.”
Whew. It’s one thing to be one of the most intriguing rock n roll duos going these days, but to put your dedication and money where your lyrics are, is pure heart. Kudos to Miesha Louie and Sean Hamilton for introducing this tragedy to a wider audience. This sort of devastation should not/will not be lost to time.
You can stream the heavy-hitting “Dig Me Out” as well as see its more than meets the eye music video, filmed by Sebastian Buzzalino, at the GTC.
MIESHA & the SPANKS Dig Me Out
Band photo by Unfolding Creative Photography // Quote via YouTube
Miesha and The Spanks are Miesha Louie and Sean Hamilton
Recorded/Mixed/Produced by Daniel Farrant, Paul Rawson at Brighton Electric Studios, Brighton UK
Additional Mixing by Eds John at Apple Acre Studios, Brighton UK
Mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel Mastering, Toronto ON
VIDEO: Filmed/Edited by Sebastian Buzzalino, Unfolding Creative Photography Supported by Indi City (Earrings) and Cheekbone Beauty (Orange ‘Close The Gap’ Lipstick + Earth Palette)
“Miesha Louie is a mixed-Secwépemc artist living in Treaty 7 Territory, and The Spanks are the many drummers who’ve stood beside her on stage. Sean Hamilton is her latest and longest partner, and together they’ve spent the last 5 years building and embellishing their garage-rock sound into something almost too big for two people to contain.” – band bio