I grew up…in Hamilton Ontario, which is a steel town commonly referred to as, “the armpit of Ontario”, by people who don’t live there. I get pretty defensive of Hamilton because like every city, there are good and bad parts. It certainly doesn’t have as much going on as in Toronto, but at least you can find open green space if you want to sit under a tree that isn’t five feet from a major roadway.

It all started when…my dad bought me a copy of the eponymously titled Janet Jackson album, which had this really emotional song on it called, “Again”. That was one of the first songs I learned to sing.

If I’m not playing music you’ll find me…probably hanging out with my friends and listening to music, or trying to read a book. Boring stuff.

I can’t perform unless I have…my mom there, to give me an honest opinion about how it sounded.

My three dream festival headliners would be…hmmm. I guess it depends on whether I can be theoretical about it and pick people who are dead. If that were the case I’d go with Townes Van Zandt as my first pick, and from the land of the living I’d go with Neko Case and Cass McCombs.

You’ll always see me wearing…this sounds silly but I really need to have my backpack with me whenever I leave the house. You can just put so much useful stuff in it.

I wish I hadn’t…thought streaking my hair was a cool thing to do when I was in high school. Also, contrary to what my 18-year-old brain thought, lower back tattoos lose their charm pretty quickly.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s…be who you want to be and don’t compromise yourself based on the judgements of others.

Give me 10 minutes and I’ll cook a great…Quinoa tabouli salad with hummus

Buy me a drink and I’ll…drink it and then buy us both another couple of beers.

I’m not really into anything that stems from the American Idol franchise, but I do like that Kelly Clarkson song, “Since You’ve Been Gone”.

My favourite food is…I couldn’t say one in particular. It all depends on my mood or how hungry I am. If I think about it, I must really like cauliflower because it’s the food I eat the most. I like it done any which way. Raw, fried, boiled, mashed. You name it.

My favourite smell is…sun-tan lotion, but more specifically that Hawaiian Tropic stuff. I think that’s what it’s called. It smells like artificial coconut, which sounds kind of gross, but I can’t help but love the sickeningly sweet smell of the stuff.

My most recent release is…called Little Sister, but I’m going to be going back into the studio in September to do another EP. I don’t know what that one is going to be called yet.

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Jessica Lanza – Time Is Such A Cruel Device – download

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