A brand new band who’ve popped into our inbox for the first time recently, New York based Heart Rot deliver their ethereal yet gritty creations with a fierce allure, inspired by the quiet-loud dynamics of the ‘90s grunge scene. A completely DIY project, the band draw influence from their experience as girls and connection to the natural world in their songwriting, and pride themselves as artists honing their craft; not just in creating their music, but in their merch too. With just two songs out so far, they’re a new favourite for sure, and we can’t wait to hear more of their raw, bewitching soundscapes.
We caught up with Lily, Maya and Ceci from the band to find out more – have a read, and make sure you check out Heart Rot‘s double A-side singles ‘Anchors To Elsa‘ and ‘Sunday Night‘ now!
Hi Heart Rot! Welcome to Get In Her Ears! How are you doing today?
Thank you so much for having us! We’re doing amazing thanks!
Are you able to tell us a bit about how you all met and started creating music together?
We met through moving to college in New York City. We all knew that we wanted to be in a band, but got so lucky to meet each other early on, thanks to social media. The first time we played together, we felt such a natural musical connection between us and by our second practice we were writing songs.
I love your gritty grunge-tinged sounds, but who would you consider to be your main musical influences?
Our main source of inspiration definitely comes from the sounds of ’90s alternative and grunge music-acts like The Breeders, Hole, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Mazzy Star, Veruca Salt, and Belly.
You recently released your awesome double A-side single ‘Anchors To Elsa’ / ‘Sunday Night’ – can you tell us a bit about these tracks? Are there any particular themes running throughout them?
Thank you so much! A little over a year ago, I (Lily) brought in both of these songs in the forms of rough demos, having written the lyrics and chords on her acoustic guitar. ‘Anchors to Elsa’ was written in the summer of 2021, when Hurricane Elsa was soaking the East Coast of the US. I have always been fascinated that we name storms, humanising these archetypally terrifying natural disasters. The effects of climate change are actively intensifying the prevalence and tenacity of such storms, which is the cause of so much grief and anxiety among young people today. Young[er] at the time, I was experiencing emotional turmoil and angst, stir-crazy from the pandemic and stressed about the future. Elsa was such a fitting metaphor for how I was feeling; I just wanted to run across the whole world and release all of my fears and doubts like water and wind. The fact that Elsa is already ingrained in mainstream culture as the storm of Arendelle was not intentional, but as my little sister pointed out, quite apt. Lyrically, we think it is beautiful to relate emotions to aspects of the natural world, seen in ‘Sunday Night’ through lines like “the rain washes away all I ever said” and “you need my gnarled roots, a perpetual tree”. We are really glad that we did not rush into recording right after writing, and think that the time we spent with them rehearsing and playing live really helped them to evolve.
You seem to really pride yourselves on being DIY and honing your craft; not just musically, but by making all your own merch too. Are you able to tell us a bit more about this and what inspires you to do this?
The driving force for our merch production and process is sustainability. The garment industry in particular is extremely problematic – although filling out an online order form is much easier, we really believe every act and decision is valuable. We are committed to hand printing our merch on thrifted shirts and sweaters, and being physically present throughout the process instead of outsourcing. The first part of our merch-making process is going to a pay-by-pound thrift store where it is easy to find hundreds of blank tees, tanks, and sweaters with so much life left in them. Our guitarist Maya draws incredible digital sketches and I’m able to use the printmaking studio at our school to screen-print those designs. The innate uniqueness of each shirt is something we are very proud of; no two Heart Rot merch pieces look alike.
Being based in New York must be pretty exciting. What’s the live scene like there at the moment?
There are so many incredible rock bands in New York right now who draw influence from many different sub genres of the last fifty years of rock and indie music. It’s super awesome to go to shows because every act has such a creative and unique sound. We also know a lot of bands, including ourselves, that are in some form of art school. In addition to making music, a lot of us are photographers, painters, fashion designers, and printmakers, which speaks to the whole DIY energy here. It’s also super exciting and inviting to see and play with more women and queer-led groups. It’s great that the music scene is becoming more inclusive.
And what can fans expect from your live shows?
We like to stack shows that we organise with as many female/non-binary bands as possible, so you should expect to see some other incredible acts (and dance in the crowd with us). We like to do this only semi-defined ritual called ‘girl mosh’ (not just for girls): our version of a safe and inclusive way to contrast the typical exclusive, almost jarring body-slam that dominates traditional punk/rock scenes. We hope to foster a safe and fun energy in the crowd.
As we’re an organisation keen to support new artists, we 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?
I think many of us have seen a definite shift on what it means to be a popular and successful artist because the internet and social media have become such a determining factor in connecting with other artists and audiences. The musical landscape that female and queer musicians are entering now celebrates us a lot more and there has been an enormous amount of progress within the last fifty years. We’ve been so appreciative of how we have been received as a band, but know that our experience is certainly not universal. Misogynistic biases continue to find ways to put down female artists – the current version on social media seems to be the assumption that breakout female artists are “industry plants”. This completely disregards their artistry, chocking it up to unjust inflation or some behind-the-scenes corporate manipulation.
And are there any other new bands or artists that you’d recommend that we check out?
There are so many incredible bands active in NYC releasing music and playing shows. Le Bang, The Dutch Kills, OMAT, and Lucky Number are some of our favourites!
Finally, what does 2024 have in store for Heart Rot?
Definitely more music and a relentless amount of live shows! We hope to release our full length album, keep producing homemade merch and related artwork, and release more music videos. We have a handful of shows coming up in February, but we’re most excited for the show on February 10th at Stone Circle Theatre in Queens, NYC.
Massive thanks to Heart Rot for answering our questions, we can’t wait to hear more from them soon!
Photo Credit: @ellamenop3
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