Half Demon Doll

Half Demon Doll formed at a St. Paul Rock & Roll camp where the four teenage members met in 2007. After camp let out (is that what camp does when it ends? let out? It’s been so long) the band decided to keep at it.

On Sunday in New York City, their hard work paid off when they won Rock Meets Runway, a battle of the band's competition sponsored by Little Steven's Underground Garage. After making it into the final three, they played NYC Hard Rock Café to clinch the title and earned themselves a record deal with Wicked Cool Records, a bunch of Gibson gear, and a photo shoot with Teen Vogue Magazine. (The other two finalists were Pike, and Snake Pliskin.)

The band posted their joy and surprise on their MySpace page, “Alright guys... WE WON!!!! We were the youngest, and only all girl band today and we fricken won! we rocked it, we really did.”

The fact that they are a sincere-sounding punk band who pull off strikingly melodic ballads about teenage relationship issues without sounding self-absorbed is a definite plus.

They’re quite listenable and pretty darn easy to root for. HowWasTheShow congratulates them and encourages you to visit their MySpace page. We recommend in particular, their song "Jenny Craig on a Stick.” - David DeYoung

http://www.teenvogue.com/industry/blogs/music/2008/11/teen-vogues-rock-meets-runway.html - Leigh Belz

Half Demon Doll might just be the next big thing. This all-girl, teen band from the Twin Cities recently won a battle of the bands in New York City. The girls played to a sold-out crowd in Times Square. "We'd never played in front of that many people before," said Hailey Jacobsen, 15, of Burnsville, lead vocalist and guitarist. "From the stage, we could see people dancing to our music. Their adrenaline gave us adrenaline and it carried us a step above anything we've ever done before. They wanted rock, so we gave them rock."

The Rock Meets Runway contest was sponsored by a host of recognizable names, including Teen Vogue, Hard Rock Café, Gibson Guitars and more. As the winner, Half Demon Doll earned a photo spread in a future issue of Teen Vogue and a record deal with Wicked Cool Records. "When we won, I cried on stage. I think it will really hit me, though, when we start recording. Getting a CD out there, and having it for sale at Best Buy, that will be a like a dream," Jacobsen said.

The contest required that participating bands have a female lead; it also required band members be over 13 years of age. Ten bands from across the country were chosen as semifinalists. Three were later selected as finalists and given the chance to play in Times Square. Half Demon Doll was the only all-girl band in the competition. It was also the youngest band. In addition to Jacobsen, the band consists of Allie Pikala, 15, Sam Stahlmann, 16, and Alyse Emanuel, 15. "I love being part of a girl band," Jacobsen said. "When we are songwriting, we learn a lot about where each other is coming from and our different styles.

"Being in the band has also taught me a lot about friendship," she added. "I've never had as close of friends as I do now. We hang out. We have sleepovers. We can't get sick of each other, that's impossible. I think we'll stay together for a long time," Jacobsen said.

Beginnings at GRRR
Jacobsen has a camp to thank for her friends, her band and her promising career future. Two years ago, she attended the week-long Girls' Rock and Roll Retreat (GRRR) at Perpich Center for the Arts in Golden Valley. The day camp is organized and sponsored by Women in Music Minnesota (WIMMN), a nonprofit organization that supports and promotes female musicians throughout the state.

Jenny Case is a musician, a WIMMN member, and a bass and guitar teacher. After spending a summer teaching at a rock camp in St. Paul, she pitched the idea of creating something similar just for girls. Half Demon Doll formed in 2006 during GRRR's first summer.

"The girls in Half Demon Doll are so young, so talented. They're just fantastic kids. And they have the greatest attitudes," said Case, who heads GRRR each year. This summer will mark the camp's third year. Since that first summer, it has grown from one week to two and from 35 campers to 70. Currently the camp is girls-only, a format Case intends to keep. "The girls can really let their hair down when there aren't any boys around. There's no pressure to look or act a certain way," Case said. "These girls come to rock camp because they want to form a band, play the guitar and drums. They want to scream and rock out."

Every girl who attends GRRR is assigned to a band on day one. By week's end, the bands have taken a stab at song writing, plus they've created names, logos and marketing plans. They've also attended seminars about self-defense and eating disorders. Camp ends, of course, with a concert where each band performs. "We want to educate the girls about the realities of being a musician," Case said, "but overall, our goal is to give the girls a sense of identity as musicians and as creative people."

For Allie Pikala, bassist and backup vocalist of Half Demon Doll, the camp's goals are well on their way to becoming her reality. "Camp was awesome. Our band wouldn't be alive without it," she said. "The other three girls are now my really good friends. It's great because we can be so open with each other and express our ideas. Nobody shoots anybody down. I'm not very good at writing songs on my own, but my ideas always come faster when we all share input." "I'm only in high school, but I'd like to be a musician as a job," Pikala said. "Normally I'm very shy, quiet. I'm not very noticeable. But then I get on stage and I just go crazy. It's exhilarating. I can't stop smiling. I'm wired. I can't even explain the feeling that comes over me. I'm just super happy. I'm with my friends and I'm free to do whatever I want."

- Minnesota Women's Press

Once upon a time in St. Paul, four teenage girls decided to go to summer camp.

The girls did not go together but they sure did come back as one force to be reckoned with.

Meet Minnesota's all girl rock band, Half Demon Doll.

Alyse Emanuel on drums.

Sam Stahlmann on guitar.

Allie Pikala on bass.

Hailey Jacobsen with lead vocals.

I know what you want to do. You want to call this band cute right? It's cute that girls want to be rock stars, some may say. A word of advice, they do not want to be known as cute.

"We're cute, we're all so young, and it's all really annoying," Allie Pikala admits.

Cute is "the" 4-letter word to this band. They would rather the 4-letter "c" word be cool.

"I just hate when people say things because we are all girl, I don't want to get where ever we are going just because we are all girl," Pikala said emphatically.

The band formed at St. Paul's School of Rock a little over a year ago and they really are on the rise.

Last month Half Demon Doll performed as finalists at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City in Teen Vogue's Rock Meets the Runway battle of the bands contest.

"It was just amazing, I don't know how else to describe it," Sam Stahlmann said of the experience.

The girls decided to enter the contest on the very last day of registration, and then won in an online poll of 96 other bands, the right to play the finals in New York on November 16th.

"As soon as we played for real it was awesome," Hailey Jacobsen said of the moments before their set began that day.

The girls played two songs for a celebrity judging panel led by the contest's promoter, Little Stevie of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band fame.

And they weren't cute. They were wicked cool.

In true wicked cool fashion Half Demon Doll, the youngest of all the performers won.

"We were backstage and they say go up, go up there and when they said we won I just started bawling," Stahlmann said.

Their prize is a one-year record contract, with aptly named, Wicked Cool records, a photo shoot in the next edition of Teen Vogue and a few guitars and amps as prizes.

Even in all of that recognition, winning did not strip the band of who they are.

"We went right back to school, it hasn't really set in that we have a cd to record," Alyse Emanuel said.

The girls now have validation from the music industry that their jams jam.

But long term, their only guarantee to one another is very teenage-esqe.

Friends forever, a band for now.

In a band where ages range from 14 to 16-years-old you are probably wondering what their parents think? Well, they were a little camera shy with us but it should be known that all the girls' folks are Half Demon Doll's biggest fans and supporters.

Each band member also offered up to me their favorite songs, in terms of lyrics.

Allie Pikala: I'd Do Anything/A Simple Plan Alyse Emanuel: Heart of the Sunrise/Yes Sam Stahlmann: Wish You Were Here/Pink Floyd Hailey Jacobsen: Time to Say Goodbye/A Simple Plan - Kare 11- Jana Shortal

The four members of Half Demon Doll were in school the day news was due on their shot at a showcase gig in New York.

The lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Hailey Jacobsen of Burnsville, frantically texted lead guitar player Sam Stahlmann.

“We all go to different schools, so we couldn’t be nervous together, which was terrible,” said Jacobsen, 15, who attends the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, specializing in guitar. “Basically for us, it was the equivalent of hearing if a relative was OK.”

Finally she got a call from Stahlmann, 16, who attends Orono High School. Yes, their all-teen, all-girl band was one of three finalists nationwide chosen to play “Rock Meets the Runway,” a battle of the bands whose winner would land a record contract and a photo spread in Teen Vogue magazine.

Taking the call in the bathroom, Jacobsen stifled a school-curdling scream and returned to study hall, where she was content just “freaking out with my friends.”

Less than two weeks later, Half Demon Doll took the stage Nov. 16 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square before a panel of judges that included Bruce Springsteen guitarist Little Steven.

half-demon-doll.jpgThe band dusted its older competitors — Pike and Snake Pliskin — earning a contract with Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records and the photo spread.

“I think it was the best show we’ve ever put on,” Jacobsen said.

PHOTO: Members of Half Demon Doll are, from left, Allie Pikala, Sam Stahlmann, Hailey Jacobsen and Alyse Emanuel. Submitted photo

The band — which includes bassist Allie Pikala, 14, and drummer Alyse Emanuel, 15, both of whom attend the Main Street School of Performing Arts in Hopkins — is awaiting word on its next steps. The magazine wants to run photos this winter, Jacobsen said.

“We love New York,” she said, looking forward to return visits. “We all agreed that it’d be fun to live there. We all love the chaos.”

The success couldn’t have come to a nicer bunch of girls, said Jenny Case, an adult mentor to the band.

“They write really great songs,” said Case, who runs the Girls Rock N Roll Retreat, a summer camp at the Perpich Center for the Performing Arts. “They’re all just so cute. I love ’em.”

Case, who plays bass and guitar, got the girls together at the 2007 summer camp. Three had been students of hers at the School of Rock in St. Paul. Stahlmann took private lessons from her.

Within a week, the band had written three songs. The members stayed together after camp was over, and have been performing steadily since.

“I like hanging out with them,” said Case, who runs sound at the band’s shows. “They’re some of my good friends, and they’re all half my age.”

Jacobsen, who switched from Eagan High School to the St. Paul Conservatory last year, has been playing guitar for three years and singing for as long as she can remember.

“I grew up with my mom and dad loving the ’80s music,” said the daughter of Davin and Linda Jacobsen. “Instead of listening to ‘Sesame Street’ stuff, it was Skid Row and Poison I was listening to, and AC/DC.”

Half Demon Doll calls its sound punk, metal and alternative with a “chick twist.” Alongside covers by the likes of Green Day, Jimmy Eat World and Blink 182, the band has penned a dozen songs.

Numbers such as “Sincerely Zach Psycho” and “Jenny Craig on a Stick” show the band’s sly humor. “Jenny Craig” is a dual ode to food and nonconformity.

“Long story short, we wanted our name to be either ‘Half Demon Doll’ or ‘Jenny Craig on a Stick,’ ” Jacobsen said. “We tried combining them as ‘Jenny Craig on a Stick and the Half Demon Dolls,’ but it seemed a little too long and not catchy.”

The band beat about 100 competitors in the “Rock Meets the Runway” contest. Teen Vogue judges narrowed the field to 10, based on submitted songs and videos. Online voters narrowed the field to three.

Case doesn’t expect success to spoil the band.

“They’re all real level-headed girls,” she said. “None of them is the diva type. They’re just serious about the music, and determined and motivated.” - This Week Live- John Gessner