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Happy Birthday, Nobody Hates You: A Q&A with The Doubleclicks

The Doubleclicks are a folk-pop music group comprised of sibling duo, Laser Malena-Webber and Aubrey Turner. Powered up by their love of cats, they write & produce songs that anyone can sing-along to. 

Their music is heartwarming and a great deal of fun, a pleasant breakaway from the worries of life⁠. It can also be remarkably cathartic, simply reminding us that it’s okay to have a bad day. Anxiety is very real—but we’re also not alone. They sing about queer identity and belonging, cats and everyday superheroes. It’s music that we can all relate to, truly, and even I was caught off guard by how much I empathize with their lyrics. 

In anticipation of their shows at GeekGirlCon this November, The Doubleclicks did a Q&A with me about their influences growing up, some of their favorite performances, and what they’re currently geeking out about!

A photo of Aubrey & Laser standing side-by-side in a tabletop shop. They are surrounded by a treasure trove of boardgames and other geeky merchandise! Photography by Adam Isaak.

How did you get into music and when did you start making it together?

We were very lucky to grow up in a musical family! As kids, as siblings, we both played music together from a very, very young age. But we were kids—and siblings—and didn’t always get along. We started our first band together (Charisma) in high school, and the Doubleclicks started as a loose, fun project in 2009. 

Is there anything specifically that influenced your music early on?

We loved the Beatles, Little Feat, the Monkees, and lots of stuff our parents played for us. But we are VERY into lyrical, clever stuff – which ranged from the Smothers Brothers to Riders in the Sky, to They Might be Giants and everything played on the kids radio show the Playground in Boston. We just love that weird music, and I think it shows very much in everything we do. 

What is one thing that you hope to achieve sharing your craft with the world?

When we write songs, we take our anger and turn it into a song that makes us happy. We hope to do the same for other people, as well. For example, our song “Unstoppable Force” is about getting mad about receiving unsolicited advice, and we took that anger and reminded ourselves how great we are. 

What is the most challenging part of sharing your work in a social media-centric environment? 

Being on social media is depressing. I think being on the computer can make it hard to get the “good parts” of friendship, the re-charging, pleasant feelings of hanging out with pals. It’s hard to get away and experience the world, but when we do, it’s great, and the web can definitely enhance the “real world!”

What was your most memorable performance to date? 

Hah! We’ve played a lot of amazing places – an aquarium, a circus in Australia, a birthday at a Natural History Museum, a Halloween wedding and lots of game stores and parties…probably my favorite recent show was a show in Bristol in the UK (the accents—the tea!) where we got to play with an all-queer lineup including Nervous Rex (an all-non-binary dinosaur-themed punk band) and Royale E. Blue (a vampire drag king). There were two kids, a bunch of drag performers, dinosaurs, it had everything. 

Who are some of your favorite musicians? 

So hard to choose but this is what we’ve been blasting in the tour van this year: They Might Be Giants, The Library Bards, Lizzo, all the music from Steven Universe, Taylor Swift, The Zach and the Jess, Todrick Hall, Carly Rae Jepsen, the Shrek soundtrack.

What advice would you give to an aspiring musician (or any creator) who might be nervous about sharing their work online?

Make the things that you like, don’t make them because you think other people will like them. That way, if you get haters, you will still be proud of what you make. We’ve made the mistake, in the past, of making stuff “for views” or “for exposure”—stuff we don’t even like. And hate for those things hurts. But if we make stuff for ourselves, no matter how specific or silly, it’s still ours, no matter what anybody says. 

Is there one song (or album) that you would recommend to someone to introduce them to your music? 

We have a playlist on YouTube called the “Doubleclicks Select Mix”—so that’s a great place to start! Pick something that appeals to you! 

Besides music, what are you currently passionate about? 

Consuming: The new Steven Universe movie, the Wayfarers series of books by Becky Chambers, the Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells.

Creating: Laser just wrote a book for artists and musicians called Crowdfunding for Musicians, about how to work with your audience to fund your art! It’s out very soon!

Cats or dogs? You know, for science!

Cats. Always. 


Come see The Doubleclicks perform LIVE at GeekGirlCon on Saturday @ 4PM and Sunday at 2PM!

Passes for #GGC19 available online today; stay tuned for more information about our Featured Contributors and other programming in the coming weeks. We’ll see you November 16 & 17!

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Indigo Boock
“Rock On!”

Indigo Boock

Indigo is a freelance writer & narrative designer in the games industry. She is grossly obsessed with her cat, classic tropes in horror, and loves recreating food from Studio Ghibli films.

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