90s inspired – Get In Her Ears

INTERVIEW: House Of Women

Fresh from performing alongside Coach Party and Bedroom High Club at London’s Omeara, Hackney-based alt-rock trio House Of Women are reflecting on a productive year. From playing knockout sets at All Points East and 2000trees festivals in the summer, to self-releasing their debut EP, People Printing, in November; together, Elsa Malazogu (guitar), Poppy Miller (guitar) and Kyla Lanai (vocals, piano) have created a compelling sound and statement that hints at a band with truly exciting potential.

We caught up with the trio to talk about their roots, their inspirations, and the pros and cons that come with independently releasing your own music…

Hello Poppy, Kyla and Elsa! For anyone who doesn’t already know, can you tell us how you first met and formed House Of Women?

Poppy: Me and Kyla met at a music collage in East London, we started writing some songs together and came up with the name. We saw Elsa at a college rehearsal and I remember seeing this tiny girl on stage, but she stood out so well. We asked her if she was in a band already, she said she was, however never mentioned this mystery band ever again. Here we are…

Kyla: Poppy and I were in the same year in college and became friends because of it. I remember us talking about how we both had always wanted to start a band and decided to start writing some music together over the summer. Elsa was the year below us and we met her while we were watching one of her project rehearsals in college. We saw her playing and thought we’d ask her to come and try a rehearsal with us.

Elsa: From the first industry lesson I took joining music college, I picked House of Women as one of the artists on the list to listen to in class – having no idea ‘what’ it was. After having a listen and instantly loving the demo, I then surprisingly saw the two piece (Kyla and Poppy) live which sparked a memory for me back to that industry lesson. Couple days later, whilst rehearsing for my first project at school, I was approached by Kyla and Poppy after hearing some good reviews about my playing, where they asked the special question “do you want to jam sometime?” The rest was history… although they may say I was ‘playing hard to get’, I was definitely in a casual band before!

Sometimes playing hard to get (even if you actually aren’t) is the way to go! Congratulations on releasing your debut EP, People Printing, back in November. What are you most proud of about this record?

Poppy: Thank you! I’m most proud of the sound we have curated so far and the songwriting. I also love the seamlessness from ‘Elsa’s Lullaby’ going into ‘The Arc’.

Kyla: Personally, I’m proud of the songwriter that I have become by writing with House of Women. I think that we have started to really develop our own sound and that’s something that you can hear on the EP.

Elsa: This EP release has been our biggest project yet! The thing I’m most proud about is the structure of the EP. I strongly feel that it has a good flow from start to end, and thought deeply about the journey we wanted [people to have] whilst listening to 27 minutes of House of Women. Like our songs, we jump from soft verses/instrumentals to belting vocals and heavy distorted guitars; you get a strong sense of what House of Women is from People Printing.

Your sound is informed by lots of seminal 90s bands: Alice in Chains, Mazzy Star, PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, Nick Cave and Jeff Buckley. Can you tell us what it is about these artists that inspired you to write your own music?

Poppy: I love the chords Jeff Buckley uses. They can be so bright and beautiful, matching his voice, but also heavy and dark at times. I love the rotations and progressions he writes; it all feels very cyclical.

Kyla: I always focus on vocalists and how different people add their vocals to instrumentals. I think that Alice in Chains, Mazzy Star and Jeff Buckley are my biggest inspirations because they all have vocals that really compliment the songs and add something relevant to them rather than take over.

Elsa: From my perspective of writing, I am a hard Alice in Chains’= fan, in all elements. Jerry Cantrell’s melodies and original grunge sound is very inspiring to me. We fit in with them as they have an equal share of rhythm and lead guitars as well as a large vocal range that Lane Stayley has. Or, I just love them to be honest…

You self-released your EP, People Printing. What are the pros and cons of this independent process? What advice would you give to bands or artists who are contemplating doing the same?

Poppy: It’s scary just putting stuff into the world hoping it gets noticed, but also very freeing. We just went into the studio and did what we wanted. Highly recommend.

Kyla: I think that it’s definitely scary to put yourself out there alone and release music for everyone to hear, but I would say take all of the opportunities that you can get and start as soon as you can.

Elsa: We went through EMU bands for our distribution process which was quite straightforward and a quick process. Originally we tried CD Baby, however there was difficulty with the American tax system therefore we had to switch to avoid complications and potentially paying more – that’s up to you to decide of course. Personally, I think it gets difficult when connecting your PRS account (which I should complete actually…) and knowing when the best time is to apply for playlists.

Do you have a favourite track on the EP? If so, why?

Poppy: I love ‘Elsa’s Lullaby’, It’s just so cool. ‘Hypocrite’ is a tune though.

Kyla: I think that ‘Few Too Many Times’ will always hold a special place in my heart, but ‘Hypocrite’ is one that I am proudest of both lyrically and vocally.

Elsa: I could easily say ‘Elsa’s Lullaby’ but I’m going to think further away than just my name. Even though it presents a dark, atmospheric feel with a dissonant melody that will keep you on edge, I have to say that I love ‘Hypocrite’. Our longest song YET. Especially our 2 minute long bridge that returns back to the headbanging riff that everyone loves! Mmmmhh It’s a good end to the EP.

You’ve played some great gigs this year, including a headline show at Notting Hill Arts Club and festival slots at All Points East and 2000trees. Tell us some of the highlights from these performances?

Poppy: I loved our Notting Hill Arts Club EP release. The room had so much energy and sweat it was beautiful. I left my guitar feeding back on the stage floor before coming back for an encore, It definitely felt pretty rockstar.

Kyla: I think that 2000 Trees was a big highlight of the year for me, because of how beautiful the stage was and the festival overall had an amazing atmosphere. I loved Notting Hill Arts club because it was one of the best crowds we’ve ever had with so much interaction from the audience.

Elsa: I’m very grateful for opportunities such as All Points East and 2000 Trees. The feeling of being backstage with other artists and playing your own songs on a massive stage is a great accomplishment. Oh, Also having my brother sent to the hospital at the end of 2000 Trees was a highlight! Maybe crowd surfing isn’t for everyone…

That sounds intense. He’s clearly your most dedicated fan.

We know you’ve been busy releasing your own music, but is there an EP or album that you have loved listening to from another band/artist this year?

Poppy: I’m gonna have to say LoggerHead by Wu-Lu. I’m late to it though, it was released in 2022. But definitely been one of my faves I’ve been listening to this year.

Kyla: I’ve really been enjoying Volcano by Jungle and although it was actually release in 2018 I have just discovered and have really been enjoying Errorzone by Vein.fm.

Elsa: Apart from the one and only EP People Printing, next in line has to be GLOW ON by Turnstile in 2021. I absolutely love their nasty breakdowns with a touch of percussion and catchy melodies. You will catch me headbanging at a Turnstile concert for sure with our manager Danny. I’m forcing you

Finally, can you tell us any plans House Of Women might have for new music in 2024?

Poppy: We’ve been writing loads and loads and we’re hoping to get back in the studio ASAP.

Kyla: We have some new songs that I would love for us to record…

Elsa: New music New music New music! Definitely coming your way. Although, nothing ready to release just yet, we have plans set, might even surprise you…

Follow House Of Women on YouTube, Spotify, (X), Instagram and via their Official Website

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

December 15, 2023

Kate Crudgington1 Comment

Track Of The Day: VERO – ‘Cupid’

An intoxicating blur of urgent vocals and buzzing riffs, Stockholm-based trio VERO have shared their latest single ‘Cupid’. Taken from the band’s upcoming debut album Unsoothing Interior, which is set for release on 6th May via PNK SLM, the track is a raw exploration of lust and control, punctuated by discordant guitar noises and brooding lyrics.

Formed of teenage friends Julia Boman & Amanda Eddestål and Clara Gyökeres who they befriended whilst DJ’ing on the Stockholm nightclub circuit, VERO create music inspired by an eclectic range of influences. Their main purpose, aside from creating anthems with shades of 90s alternative icons Sonic Youth, is to challenge the idea of what a modern guitar band is supposed to be. That challenge started with previous singles ‘Beg!’ and a cover of Shame’s ‘Concrete’, but now the trio have further proved their ability to antagonise and intrigue listeners with their new single ‘Cupid’.

“‘Cupid’ was the first song we wrote that made the album” the band explain. “We had made a couple of demos before, but we weren’t loving them. They all sounded a bit too pretty and safe, so when the drums for Cupid were done, we took a guitar and started making these wheeling, chaotic noises, and that was it. That was the sound that set the tone for our album. The lyrics are a bit dream-like, it’s about lust and control.”

With their refreshingly candid approach to making music, VERO’s debut album is set to be a cathartic listen. “We don’t want to be super musicians,” bassist & vocalist Julia Boman explains further. “We want to write the best fucking songs and just have the best energy and show people that we’re having fun.” With ‘Cupid’, the band have certainly achieved that.

Listen to ‘Cupid’ below.

Follow VERO on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Pre-order VERO’s debut album Unsoothing Interior here

Photo Credit: Dan Kendall

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

February 15, 2022February 15, 2022

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Track Of The Day: Zilched – ‘The Knife’

A murky grunge-pop tune exploring the unexpected emotions that continue to interrupt us after a breakup, Detroit-based musician Zilched has shared her latest single ‘The Knife’. Taken from her debut album DOOMPOP, released in 2020 via Young Heavy Souls, the track smoulders with a feeling of unrest, ushered along by reverb-heavy guitars and Zilched’s sweet yet sullen vocals.

“‘The Knife’ is about love/hate,” Zilched aka Chloë Drallos explains. Working through the simultaneous disbelief and genuine upset that follows heartbreak, Drallos’ new single fizzes was palatable yearning, reflected in the track’s accompanying self-directed video. “I wanted the video, with dancing improvised by Morgan McCaul, to visualize an inner monologue where those different emotional powers start to take over and ultimately lead to release of that power,” Drallos explains.

Inspired by 90s guitar icons like Nirvana and The Jesus and Mary Chain, Drallos channelled her influences into a collection of compelling noise-pop tracks on debut record DOOMPOP. “It’s an honest reflection of my attempts to grow up and make sense of absurdity,” she explains about the album. “I wrote the first song in my last month of high school at 18, and finished recording & producing just a month after my 20th birthday. With these songs, I wanted to go as deep into my insecurities and confusion, however immature I felt. Just write what I felt when I felt it in order to move on.”

Fuelled by her desire to move on from a difficult time, ‘The Knife’ is a cathartic slice of grunge-pop that gracefully faces up to the gritted teeth and flowing tears at the end of an intimate relationship.

Watch the self-directed video for ‘The Knife’ below.

Follow Zilched on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram & Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCult

March 11, 2021

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INTERVIEW: Softcult

Inspired by their love of 90s alternative music icons Bikini Kill and Smashing Pumpkins, Ontario-based duo Softcult blend atmospheric guitars, energetic percussion and bittersweet vocals to create their hazy, antagonistic sounds. Formed of twin sisters Phoenix and Mercedes Arn Horn, Softcult cut their teeth playing live shows in their local town of Kitchener, before moving on to bigger audiences on the North American tour circuit.

Their experiences of playing and working within a male-dominated music industry formed the foundation for their current sound, which is born from the desire to resist and relieve the pressures of existing in a patriarchal world. We caught up with Mercedes (guitars, vocals) and Phoenix (drums, production) to talk about their debut single ‘Another Bish’, their last gig before covid-19 hit, and what their dream festival line-up might be…

Hello girls, how are you both doing? Are you in lockdown in Canada at the moment?

Mercedes: We’re doing alright, we’re locked down like you guys are in the UK. It’s a lot of time to focus on music and writing and recording, so we’re very lucky that we have a home studio right now. I feel very blessed right now, because for some people I know, being in lockdown has meant they’ve been very unmotivated and unable to write, whereas that hasn’t been our experience at all. We’ve been writing and recoding loads and it’s been a God send to us, it’s kept us sane and active and motivated.

That’s good news! Let’s start at the beginning, who or what originally inspired you to start making your own music?

Mercedes: We’re twin sisters and we’ve been making music together forever. We’ve been in different bands over the years playing and getting some experience, but for this project we felt motivated by everything that’s going on right now. Having been in the music industry already for some time, we’ve experienced misogyny and sexism. At this point, I feel like this band has been put on this planet as a voice against abuse, or for people who don’t feel seen or feel like they don’t have a voice. A lot of our songs are about that.

We speak to lots of women who have unfortunately experienced misogyny in the music industry. Do you think your experience of it is somewhat heightened because you’re twin sisters? I only ask because I have younger sisters who are twins, and when we’ve been on nights out together before people have made inappropriate or creepy comments towards them without any hesitation…

Phoenix: Only another person who really knows twins would ask that, and it is so true. There’s a weird fetish around twins and it’s very creepy.

Mercedes: We find a lot of the time there’s insinuations about incest and weird stuff like that. I know a lot of women in bands who aren’t even related who have experienced that. Heart are a good example actually. The sisters in that band are constantly being pitted against each other and I think that happens a lot with women and siblings in the industry and it’s just so weird. It’s a definite downside to being a twin, but there’s also an up side too.

Phoenix and I have such a close connection and that helps a lot with our music. She’s always a step ahead of me, or finishing my sentences creatively for me. She handles all of the production side – everything we make is recorded and produced from our home studio. Then I handle all the stuff on the video/visual side of things and it just makes for a good team. There’s a closeness and and understanding and an empathy that we have from being twins, it’s not all just creepy dudes!

That’s true! Talk to me about your debut single ‘Another Bish’. What’s it about? How did you put the video for it together etc.?

Mercedes: The song is about misogyny. Phoenix and I hate the word “bitch” so we couldn’t even put it in the title, we literally felt skeeved out writing it down! The lyric “I’m just another bish that you’ll never tame” was supposed to be aimed at that typical misogynist dude who thinks all women are the same, and they’re there to be controlled and conquered. The song is from the perspective of the woman who’s sick of it and feels like the dog who’s finally going to bite its owner. It’s about fighting against that but also owning it. We noticed the type of guys who often say “she’s such a bitch” are just saying that about women who they think are outspoken. They just label them as “aggressive.”

For the video, we used paper cut-out clips of different women’s facial features – eyes, lips, nose – which we replaced with dog mouths. The dog mouths reflect the feelings of those guys who think that when you speak out about sexism you’re just some yappy dog who never shuts up. They’re also supposed to be a comment on how there’s so many double standards for women, not just in music but in the beauty industry as well. Women are having to basically try and be something that’s unattainable and if you’re not that thing, then they make out like you’re not trying hard enough. So we took those themes and put them into the video.

Are there any women in music at the moment who you admire who are standing up for themselves and not taking any sexist bullshit?

Phoenix: Laura Jane Grace from Against Me! – big time. We were just little teeny boppers when we first found out about Against Me! and we were obsessed. She’s a huge icon for a lot of reasons, but something I’ve always admired about her is that she is really outspoken about who she is. It’s so brave to go through the transgender transformation when you’re in a very male dominated space in a very male dominated music genre, and just rebelling against all expectations and being yourself. That’s a huge inspiration.

Do you remember the last gig you went to before Covid-19 hit?

M & P: Yes!

Mercedes: It was another music project that we in at the time and it was at this dive bar. It was in March (2020), right after the stay-at-home orders happened and we were trying to play our way home, but we realised we had to cancel everything because it was just not responsible to have shows. So it was our very last gig and the vibe was very depressing.

Phoenix: People obviously didn’t show up, quite rightly, and we just wanted to go home.

Mercedes: We actually ended up staying over at a girls house. Up until then we were just crashing on floors on the tour, we didn’t have hotels booked or anything like that. So this girl kindly let us stay at her place and made us pizzas.

Phoenix: We were like “are you sure you still want us to stay? It’s totally cool if you don’t, we can sleep in the van!” but she still let us crash.

Mercedes: Her Dad had all these cool guitars so we just had a jam session with her. So after a kind of depressing show, we had this jam session in her living room and it was probably the most uplifting thing ever. That was probably the last real hang time we had with anyone outside of our house since lockdown started.

When we can all hang out properly at a festival again, who would be on your dream line-up?

Mercedes: I keep watching all these old videos from Reading & Leeds festival and wishing we could play that somehow…one day!

Phoenix: We’ve watched the Reading & Leeds Veruca Salt set a million times!

Mercedes: We love the UK. Every time we’ve been there we’ve had such an amazing time. I think the scene for music in the UK is sort of unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been. The fans are so in to the music. They know the lyrics, they know about the meaning behind the little pieces of art on your albums covers – I feel like they’re really into it and that’s really cool. Our dream line-up would be a dope festival somewhere in the UK and we’d have Bikini Kill, Veruca Salt, Against Me! playing…

Phoenix: …and Radiohead, they’re one of my all time favourite bands.

Mercedes: We’ll play the opening slot at 11am so that we can watch all the other bands.

Good decision! Finally, if you had to describe your music in three words, what would they be?

Mercedes: Rebellious would be one, empathetic might be another. It’s not all just angry stuff though, sometimes it gets pretty feelsy and sad.

Phoenix: Fuzzy? (laughs). On the production side, people always think that distortion and fuzz are for loud music, which typically they are, but you can also make super dreamy, fuzzy distorted music and we try to do that as best as we can.