INTERVIEW: Scrunchies

With their latest album, Colossal, being one of the last albums that the legendary Steve Albini recorded and mixed, and having supported the likes of Built To Spill and Otoboke Beaver on tour, Minneapolis based riot grrrl-inspired band Scrunchies are cemented themselves as definite ones to watch and are new favourites for sure. I can’t get enough of their raw punk energy and grunge-tinged empowering allure, and highly recommend you treat your ears to the album as soon as possible.

We caught up with Scrunchies to find out more and chat about the experience of recording with Steve Albini, their enjoyment of performing live, their thoughts on the inclusivity and accessibility of the music scene right now, and more. Have a read, and then make sure you watch their fantastically fun music video, created in collaboration with Los Angeles-based “dance aerobics celebration Pony Sweat!

Hi Scrunchies! Welcome to Get In Her Ears! How are you doing today?
We’re good! We are driving home from tour, somewhere between Kansas City, Missouri and Minneapolis, Minnesota. We’re excited to get home to our pets, partners, and beds.

Are you able to tell us a bit about how you initially all got together to start creating music? 
Laura and Danielle were both in bands that had played together over the years (Kitten Forever and Bruise Violet) and ended up playing in a Buzzcocks cover band together called Buzzcunts. We loved playing music together and it had been a while since Laura had fronted/played guitar in a band, so we formed Scrunchies around 2017. We had a few bassists over the years and we met Jeremy through his band Double Grave and had him fill in on some shows on bass, including going on a tour with Built To Spill in 2022. We had such a fun time we asked Jeremy to be permanently in the band and wrote the majority of Colossal with him. 

I love your empowering riot grrrl energy and scuzzy punk sounds, but who would you consider to be your main musical influences?
We all grew up listening to Nirvana, so basically any bands connected to them were hugely influential to us as we were growing up: Sleater-Kinney, the Raincoats, The Wipers, The Breeders, Sonic Youth, the Jesus Lizard, Babes in Toyland, Bratmobile, Hole. We’ve been getting a lot of Fugazi as a reference to our music lately which we didn’t really seek out, but we can appreciate. We have also been listening to a lot of pop music in the car (Charli XCX and Olivia Rodrigo)!

You’ve just released your new album Colossal, which is super exciting! Are you able to tell us about the inspirations behind it? Are there any particular themes running through it?
Feminist themes run throughout the album with an exploration of the insidiousness of modern gender expectations, power, and bodies. I (Laura) keep saying that this album is about “sex, death, and rollercoasters”, but that’s not really catching on outside of my own head… I write lyrics that veer more towards surrealistic and poetic imagery with the hope that they can resonate with people in different ways that are impactful to them. This is also the first full album we’ve written since my former band broke up; it is as significant as a long term relationship ending, and exploring that shift is a big part of the content of this record.

The album was recorded and mixed by the late, great Steve Albini. What was the experience of working with him like? And how did the process differ from your previous releases?
We all have different feelings about the recording process in general, but this specific experience was amazing for all three of us. We love Steve’s music and admire his influences on music culture (including his ability to self-critique and embrace growth). Not only has his work had a huge impact on us and our musical careers, but from the minute we walked into the studio it was immediately a comfortable, honest experience. We were kinda nervous but it quickly became easily collaborative and he had our best interests in mind and wanted to help us get what we wanted. Laura started doing vocal takes and he was like “wait, i have this microphone specifically made for women’s voices”. It immediately made a huge difference in our sound. It was so clear he cared about the outcome and didn’t phone it in at all. He was extremely professional and understood everything and the vision immediately. It honestly probably spoiled us for future recording sessions.

Following the album, you’ve just been out on a big US tour. How’s that been for you? And what can fans expect from a Scrunchies show?
Tour was good, despite the fact that the U.S touring landscape has changed a lot over the past few years and is really difficult right now. But that’s a whole other interview! As far as what people can expect, we like to put a lot of energy into our shows. One of our pet peeves is when a loud and exciting band doesn’t seem excited to be playing their own songs. I (Laura)  really love performing; a big reason I’m in a band is because I like playing shows, so I make sure the shows feel fun and exciting because I think playing shows is fun and I’m excited to be playing them. We like to be as loud as we can be at every show, and we have a lot of good energy together – people have commented “you guys really enjoy playing together and look like you’re having fun” and we are!

And has there been a specific show you’ve played over the years that stands out as a favourite, or particularly memorable?
We’ve opened for Otoboke Beaver from Japan twice and they are SO fun to play with – they go out of their way to meet and interact with their opening bands, take photos with them, etc. Touring with Built to Spill and Prism Bitch in 2022 was such a good experience and they were all the kindest, coolest people. We played Treefort in Boise, Idaho outside during a snowstorm, which was like playing in a snow-globe. 

And when you’re out on tour, or playing gigs, are there any particular essentials that you like to have with you to keep you going?
In no particular order:
Inhaler; Almond butter and bread; Lots of coffee; Red Bull; Eyemask and earplugs for bed; Breakfast sandwich; Swimsuit in case of pool; Quiet time/introvert time; Athletic shorts; A good pillow.

As we’re an organisation with a focus on supporting new and marginalised artists, I just wondered how you feel the industry is for them at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the years in its treatment of female and queer artists?
Yes and no. The music scene (at least from our vantage point) is definitely more diverse than it was a number of years ago. It is less common to see an all white-cis-male lineup every day of the week than it was a few years ago. There are many venues that have developed Codes of Conduct for their shows that adapt a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. Many places have done away with gendered bathrooms. Many organisers ensure there is an accessibility note for spaces. There are more women/non-men, queer, and BIPOC folks who have made their own spaces to create and share their art. This influx of diversity in the music scene has pulled in different genres (theatre, art, etc) that showcase a huge variety of weird/queer/unique creativity in a bunch of different mediums. Despite all of this, there is still racism, sexism, ableism, fatphobia, homophobia, and transphobia that continues to permeate the music and art scenes. Much of it has become slightly more covert than overt in the past few years, but it’s still there. We see it happening to us, we see it happening to others. This continues to remind us that we need to stand up for and take care of each other – we hope that we are doing what we can to compassionately hold each other to accountability.

And are there any other new bands or artists that you’d recommend we check out at the moment? 
We played with an awesome band called Violet Approach in Kansas City, amazing queer feminist punk band! The two bands that opened our Colossal release show- In Lieu and Mary Jam – are two of our favourites in Minneapolis right now. Heet Deth out of Chicago are a two piece who sound HUGE. Amazing live show, fantastic people. Skorts out of NYC blew us away at our Brooklyn show at Baby’s All Right, we’re so excited to see what comes next for them! There are so many amazing young queer kids starting pump bands in the Midwest- we had the opportunity to talk about them and the bands in Minneapolis that THEY love in this article – lots to check out in there!

Is there anything else you’d like to add about upcoming plans or particular thoughts you’d like to mention? 
Right now we’re focusing on promoting Colossal, getting back on the road (along with some at-home shows) and hopefully getting over to Europe! 

Massive thanks to Scrunchies for answering our questions! Make sure you watch the fantastically fun video for ‘Generator‘ now:


Colossal, the new album from Scrunchies, is out now via Learning Curve Records. Order here.

Photo Credit: Darin Kamnetz

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Video Premiere: Piney Gir – ‘Show Me The Lightning’

Having toured the UK, Europe, Australia and America extensively over the years – singing and playing keys/percussion with Gaz Coombes, performing and arranging backing vocals for Noel Gallagher, and supporting the likes of Ride, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Magic Numbers (to name a few!) -, Piney Gir has recently released her new EP, Cosmic Upside Down. Completing a magical trilogy of releases, following Alchemy Hand in 2022 and its predecessor Astral Spectra in 2021, the EP marks twenty years since Piney Gir released her first album, Peakahokahoo. Touching on themes ranging from climate change to feminism, it maintains the spiritual roots and majestic immersive splendour that we’ve come to know and love from the self-proclaimed ‘witch’ of indie-pop.

Taken from the EP, ‘Show Me The Lightning‘ sees Piney embracing the storm of her emotions. Dripping in psychedelic synths and glistening reverb, it offers a powerful slice of retro garage-rock, complete with ’60s-inspired organs and cyclical guitar, as Piney declares she “wants to feel it all”. Impossible not to get caught up in its jaunty, lilting energy and the sparkling allure of Piney’s lush honey-sweet vocals, it offers an uplifting and captivating ode to the power of the natural elements; recognising how weathering a storm can help us to grow. She explains:

“In the song I kind of dare the elements to pull out all the stops! Like, give it to me, I want to feel it all!  And that’s true, I want to feel everything, the good and the bad, the highs and the lows. I think it’s important to be in touch with the whole spectrum of emotion & not numb the stormy weather, but to go with it.”

‘Show Me The Lightning’ is accompanied by a brand new new video, created and directed by Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot. Depicting Piney Gir as a quirky, witchy weather girl, and featuring appearances from an ominichord, dog puppets and even an ‘omin-dog’, it offers a wonderfully off-kilter visualisation of the track; a fun-filled tale of supernatural forces which is not to be missed! Talking about the inspirations behind the making of the video, the director explains:

“The original idea came from one of Nick Cave’s documentaries about when he moved to the UK, and began obsessively writing about the weather in an altered state. So much so that he started to believe that he was in control of the weather. It then spiralled out of control and became something bigger, a sort of weird Tim Burton-esque B-movie thing involving special effects and puppets!“

Piney adds:

“I love how deranged and happy he coaxed me to be as the weather girl filling the world with storms… I really enjoyed the bit where I bring the Omni-dog to life. I can’t believe Parenthesis made that dog puppet overnight, its teeth were made of rubber bands, and it fit perfectly around my Omnichord! Was ridiculously fun shooting this!“

Watch the “ridiculously fun” new video for ‘Show Me The Lightning’, for the first time, here:


Cosmic Upside Down, the new EP from Piney Gir, is out now on No Distance Records. Download / listen on bandcamp now. And don’t miss a special night celebrating 20 years since Piney Gir’s first album on 13th October at The Lexington – she’ll be joined by a superstar line-up including Anat Ben-David (Chicks On Speed) and  Psycho Delia (Robots in Disguise) and DJ Chewy She – nab tickets here!

Mari Lane
@marimindles



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WATCH: The Baby Seals – ‘Yawn Porn’

Following the release of their debut album, Chaos, earlier this year, and ahead of their headline gig with us at The Cavendish Arms on 12th September, Cambridgeshire feminist punks The Baby Seals have shared a homemade video for album track ‘Yawn Porn‘. Showcasing the band’s ability to bring a cathartic sense of fun to poignant subject matter, the track races with a driving energy and gritty raw emotion, offering a fierce take down of the continuing sexism and derogatory imagery that consumes the world’s porn industry. Of the track, front woman Kerry explains:

“Porn has been something I’ve been concerned about for a few years now, especially as I have friends with young children who could have access to it soon. And it always seems to end in the same way, with the same theme of women being minimalised, and always in a submissive role. ‘Yawn Porn’ is about the fact that I’d like the industry to shake it up a bit, and to celebrate women enjoying sex. I think we are failing our young people by allowing the industry to continue in a way that is derogatory towards women, and feel that we should be guiding young people to have healthy sexual relationships.”

The video for ‘Yawn Porn’ was filmed by the band in Brighton, and features some punk friends that they made on the beach that day, dancing and singing along to the track. Kerry adds, “I like that all our videos are very DIY, because I want people who might not necessarily be confident enough to pick up a guitar or be in a band to watch them and to know that anyone can do it as long as you’re having a good time!”

Watch the brand new video for ‘Yawn Porn’ here:


Don’t miss the chance to catch The Baby Seals live at The Cavendish Arms, next Thursday 12th September. Support comes from indie legend Charley Stone and exciting new band Skutterfly. Tickets are cheaper in advance, and it really helps us and the bands if you’re able to nab yours sooner rather than later – so, pick one up on Dice now!

Chaos, the debut album from The Baby Seals, is out now via Trapped Animal / Green Island / Big Romantic.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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INTERVIEW: Happy Accidents

I’ve been a mega fan of Happy Accidents since first falling in love with the South London based duo at the late, great Indietracks Festival in 2018, and have been an avid follower of the active roles that both Rich and Phoebe have continued to play in the DIY music scene over the years, including their other musical projects including ME REX and Cheerbleederz. So, I was super excited to hear that they’ve now announced that they’ll be releasing a new album at the end of this month, and playing their first live show in five years tomorrow!

Ahead of the imminent gig and album release, I had a little chat with Phoebe from the band about what inspires them, how their recording process has evolved, the ‘secret world’ around the new album, the struggles of being a new artist in the industry at the moment, and more… Have a read, and make sure you pre-order Edit Undo now!

Hi Happy Accidents, welcome to Get In Her Ears! How are you both doing today?
Really good thanks! Getting ready for our first show in ages (tomorrow 3rd September at Paper Dress Vintage) which is super exciting. 

You’ve been making music together for about ten years now – are you able to tell us a little bit about how you initially met and decided to start creating together? 
We were connected through our mutual pal Connor who I was playing in a band with at the time in Southampton. We all started playing gigs together pretty soon after that, along with Rich’s brother Neil. There was a pretty good DIY scene at the time there and we got to play and meet bands like Muncie Girls and Great Cynics, got inspired by so many lovely people and the rest is history! 

I’m such a fan of your lush jangly sounds and the heartfelt emotion that flows throughout your songs. So, I just wondered if there’s anything or anyone that you’re particularly inspired by when writing your gorgeous music?
Thank you so much! We listen to so many artists between us and we were talking the other day about what links them, and we think it’s that raw expressiveness and clear love of their craft – you can tell they’d be making their music no matter what. That really inspires us when we’re writing – channelling our faves and figuring out what we want to make that day. Some songs never make it out, but the process of writing and recording them still gets us to good places; questioning what we want things to sound like and how we want them to evolve. And just what we think sounds cool! 

Your brand new album Edit Undo is set for release at the end of the month, which is super exciting – I can’t wait! Can you tell us about the inspirations behind the album, and if there are any themes running through it? 
We wrote and recorded as we went, over a period of nearly a year and – as a result – themes sort of developed on their own, rather than us having any preconceived ideas. But, if we had to narrow it down maybe we could include things like:

  • Finding the important things that make your life worth living, especially amongst all the awful things we hear about in the news on a daily basis.
  • Realising everyone sees things differently, and all the contrasting ways events can be interpreted.
  • Choice paralysis and deciding what your values are, especially as you get a little older and feel like you’re at a cross-road; realising you can’t plan anything, so don’t worry about it.

And how would you say the process of recording it has differed from your previous releases? 
It’s probably the most experimental and laid back we’ve been! We didn’t rehearse or plan anything really – everything was just exploring in the studio, which we’re lucky to be able to do because Rich can record it and so the costs are a lot lower. When we were making our first few records, we were recording in different cities and doing something like ten days in a row, and so naturally we’d need to be really prepared for that; there would be a lot of planning, rehearsing, tweaking, demoing etc. This album couldn’t have been more different! It just sort of formed itself because we gave it the time and space to do so. It feels more like our lives, rather than something we made, which is a good feeling.

In the run up to the album’s release, you’ve introduced a ‘secret world’ around it with special releases and features only accessible to fans who’ve pre-ordered the record or searched for the hidden artist page. Can you tell us more about this and the reasons for doing it? 
With the last few releases we’ve done, we’ve just put it out online within two weeks, but this time it felt right to let it breathe a bit. We are always interested in finding ways that we can do things a bit differently. Also, streaming is a bit of a bin fire, and often nowadays it feels like you make art to put up an Instagram post, and then it disappears within a week. To us, it felt like a good way to incentivise getting a bit more involved, and have layers for those who want it. If you pre-order the album you get added to a mailing list where we’ve set up a sort of alternate timeline for the album that all takes place in the 1800s. There are more singles, alternate versions, and you also get the whole album on a secret streaming page a month early. We could have just sent the files out, but it felt like a more engaging way of releasing music that also incorporates how most people listen nowadays. Thanks to everyone who’s got involved with it! It felt like an opportunity to make releasing music fun, and building a world around things has always felt important to us.

To celebrate the album, you’re playing a release show on tomorrow, 3rd September, at Paper Dress Vintage (already got my ticket – I can’t wait!) – this’ll be your first live gig as a band in about five years, so it must feel extra special! How are you feeling about this? And what can fans expect from the show? 
Honestly just so excited! We’ve got our friend Kris who also plays in Lazy Day’s band on bass, and we’re relieved people are coming. We’ll be doing a mix of songs, some oldies and obviously a bunch of new ones. There are some songs that we put out years ago but never got the chance to play live before the pandemic, so that’ll be fun. Paper Dress Vintage is quite a homely venue to do it in too, and Myles is opening with a ME REX solo set – we’re genuinely looking forward to seeing a ME REX set from the crowd! 

You’ve played loads of amazing gigs over the years, touring with the likes of Muncie Girls and Fresh, and playing festivals such as 2000 Trees and Truck Festival (and I remember a particularly lovely set at Indietracks in 2018 – RIP to the best festival!). But is there a particular show you’ve played that stands out as a highlight, or as particularly memorable?
That Indietracks one is definitely up there for sure – it was where we got everyone to boo us, which is a core memory. Such a shame it’s not going anymore but we’re so grateful we got to do it! Our first album release show at Urban Bar with Colour Me Wednesday, Fresh and ME REX was great; both our Mums came and it was funny seeing them outside afterwards, all sweaty and hanging with our friends. We’ve played some weird ones too… In converted Frankfurt prisons, all sorts of German squats, been caught in snow storms – all sorts of stuff!

And when you’re out on tour, or playing gigs, are there any particular essentials that you like to have with you to keep you going?
Aside from all the obvious (earplugs, sharpies), maybe water? Portable coffee cups! Maybe Berocca?

As we’re an organisation with a focus on supporting new artists, I just wondered how you feel the industry is for new artists at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the years in its treatment of female and queer artists?
It’s probably harder than ever to be a new artist; so much of the infrastructure that existed for us when we started no longer exists. Press and radio aren’t what they were, there’s so many less promoters, everything’s about five times the cost that it used to be. It’s really grim out there! But I mean those who are putting on shows, playing new bands and supporting new music are more important than ever – so that’s very much appreciated. When we were starting, it felt like Phoebe playing drums was a real rarity, and that’s not the case any more at all – so representation is definitely getting better, partly thanks to grassroots organisations like Girls Rock London, Come Play with Me, and loads more. Change is possible, but then there’s still a lot of work to do. What good is getting through the door, if there is no real structure to facilitate a career in music after that point? At this point, we very much know that playing music isn’t going to pay our bills, but it would be nice if future generations didn’t have it getting increasingly worse year on year.

And are there any other new bands or artists that you’d recommend we check out?
You probably know them! We love the band adults. We’re also looking forward to the Trust Fund album. Lazy Day is great and they have a new album coming out. cheerbleederz are good eggs, and ME REX also good… !

And, finally, following the album release next month, what do Happy Accidents have in store for the rest of the year?
We don’t really know! We’re recording more music at the moment! Our other band ME REX is going on tour with Los Campesinos which will be fun. Maybe there’ll be more HapAx shows…? It feels like we’ve done way too much practising to just play the one!
Thanks for talking to us, we really appreciate the work you do!!

And we really appreciate all that Happy Accidents do, and the gorgeous music they continue to create. Massive thanks to Phoebe for answering our questions!

Edit Undo, the upcoming new album from Happy Accidents, is set for release on 27th September via Alcopop! Records – pre-order here. Catch Happy Accidents live at Paper Dress Vintage tomorrow, 3rd September – tickets here.

Photo Credit: Benjamin Whitley

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