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“I was crying when I found out,” Glixen vocalist Aislinn Ritchie says over Zoom, recounting the morning when she found that they might be sharing a invoice with lovesliescrushing, the band who impressed their title, at Slide Away Festival in Philly. Hosted by Nothing, who’ve been kicking round for therefore lengthy that they’ve now turn into standard-bearers that bands like Glixen search for to, it’ll be a full-circle second for the Phoenix crew — and a larger encapsulation of their nonstop grind. Since their formation in 2020, it’s been a collection of 1 jaw-dropping actuality after one other, together with being tapped to open for Ned Russin’s band Glitterer, impressing Sonny DiPerri, and dealing with famed grunge producer Jack Endino on their latest single, “foreversoon.”
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With that tune, the band — rounded out by guitarist Esteban Santana, drummer Keire Johnson, and bassist Sonia Garcia — are pushing their sound into new terrain. Pounding drums and riffs that swell into the nice beyond assist Ritchie’s sensual lyrics about love and intimacy. Live, that sound is completely crushing, buoyed by her spectral, delicate vocals. It’s a slippery contradiction, the syrupiness dancing with the heaviness as she performs with bows in her braids, however it works tremendously. They aren’t a lot for stage banter, fortunately — they’d somewhat swallow you in sound. At one level, they rip by means of a tune that Ritchie says they solely practiced as soon as earlier than becoming a member of Softcult for every week on the street, which guarantees nice issues from a band who haven’t even mapped out their full-length debut. Before they left for tour, Ritchie opened up about her most formative music recollections, operating round Phoenix’s DIY scene, and what’s subsequent.
Who was the first band you beloved that you found by yourself and not using a good friend or a dad or mum turning you on?
I’ve been listening to music for therefore lengthy, however in highschool, I might say Beach House. That was my favourite, and that was by means of Tumblr. But earlier than that, I really feel prefer it was these two Russian ladies [called t.A.T.u.], and I had their CDs. I used to be like 10 years outdated listening to that and, at the identical time, listening to Jonas Brothers. My vary was so humorous.
What did you like about them?
[t.A.T.u.] simply felt so grunge-y. It’s so bizarre to say — it’s attractive. I used to be a bit lady, however I used to be into the pop stars and Britney Spears and all of that. I favored rock and grunge-y ladies — simply how that vitality was. I wished that, and I actually favored the Veronicas. This was me as a 10-year-old lady, simply dreaming huge. So, I favored that pop-essence sizzling lady, but additionally simply grunge-y. There’s a bit little bit of edge that I favored, and I simply gravitated in the direction of it.
What was the Phoenix music scene like when you have been rising up?
I lived in the suburbs, which was 45 minutes away. I moved to Phoenix after I was 18. I’m 25 [now]. I simply knew I wished to begin a band. It took virtually a yr to actually solidify my first band as a result of I had two earlier than Glixen. It was actually small. It was actually supportive, however it went by means of occasions the place it may possibly get fairly… I really feel prefer it’s like this in all places, however individuals would attempt to carry us down if we tried too laborious. I actually had this objective since I used to be 18, and plenty of the different bands didn’t actually approve of it at some factors, so typically I felt like I wasn’t part of it.
But then different occasions, it simply relies on the scene. There weren’t that many shoegaze bands, however all of the shoegaze bands that I did come throughout [accepted us], like Citrus Clouds. They’re so candy and wonderful, they usually’re older, too. So it was largely the punk, indie, hardcore [people]. It was simply extra DIY, and I wished to get out of the DIY, however I knew I had to begin someplace, so I simply inserted myself into that. But it helped me discover what I wished to do.
What’s it like now?
After the pandemic, I really feel like lots of people’s views modified about every thing. More individuals are open and supportive of music and need extra of it, and it looks like everybody’s simply actually joyful and proud. [Phoenix] had that competition, Zona Fest, two years in the past. It was an enormous deal for Psyko Steve, considered one of the first promoters right here, they usually have been in a position to pull off an enormous competition with Beach House, Japanese Breakfast, Chicano Batman, all of those artists. I by no means thought that we might ever have a competition like that right here, they usually obtained plenty of the native bands to be on that invoice. So, that was actually additionally full circle. [I’m] simply proud, [having been] working with them for some time and simply the progress that they’re doing, too, and that the bands are doing, and we’re all simply serving to one another.
I like that. When you fashioned Glixen, what sort of issues did you bond over with the remainder of the band when you have been first getting to know one another and play collectively?
So Esteban, he’s the one I actually write music with. We have been actually open about the music that we favored, and we each are simply in love with this music — not simply shoegaze however digital, trip-hop, every thing. We have very comparable tastes, however I favored how my dynamic with him is straightforward and open, whereas my earlier dynamic with my final guitar participant, he was at all times shut off, and he wouldn’t even ship me music. It began to turn into tense. With Esteban, that is what it’s supposed to really feel like.
We performed one present, after which COVID occurred, and I disbanded my final band. Me and Esteban, we have been mates, however he was simply my bass participant. I used to be sort of going by means of it with the band, and we simply related, and I used to be like, “Do you want to write with me? Let’s do this.” And he’s like, “I would love to.” I used to be shy to ask. I don’t know why I’m so shy, however I simply wished him to be part of it for the long term. That’s primarily what the rule is: We’re going to do all of it. Are you down to do that?
With Keire, he was greatest mates with my final guitar participant for 15 years. I used to be residing with Keire, and me and Esteban have been simply practising, and I’m like, “Are you down to drum still?” And he’s so down. With Sonia, we’ve been greatest mates since I used to be 16. We labored at American Apparel collectively, and we simply had the identical jobs. She purchased a bass in all probability a yr earlier than Glixen — she’s by no means finished music. She doesn’t actually write her personal music, however she beloved bass, and she or he wished to learn the way to play it. And I might suppose in the again of my head, “OK, that would be so sick if Sonia played bass.” We taught her all the bass elements, and she or he’s simply rising with us. We’ve all bonded over our music, friendship, style. We’re simply rising up collectively.
Your newest single, “foreversoon,” is elegant as you method a brand new heaviness that hasn’t been current in different songs that you’ve launched in the previous. What motivated you to transfer in that path?
I’ve at all times wished to be heavy. It simply took some work to determine it out. My chords have been actually vivid and extra melodic. Our objective is simply to have it sound extra heavy and grittier, but additionally have that sweetness to it. During the recording of She Only Said, my final producer Tony [Brant] helped us determine our tones a lot. He gave us a lot information about EQ and the way to dial in your sound, which I didn’t actually take into consideration till we have been in the studio. Now, we’ve mastered our fuzz pedals, our EQ, our amps, know what we wish, and there’s completely different tones that each amp has. Esteban makes use of a Fender, like a tube. I used to be utilizing a JCM Marshall, and that broke, so I’m utilizing a Jazz Chorus proper now, which sort of sucks, however it nonetheless sounds wonderful. It nonetheless sounds good stay. Also recording “foreversoon,” we recorded with Jack Endino. He did Bleach for Nirvana, and so we used the Twin Reverb that Nirvana used on “foreversoon” and Jack Endino’s JCM800. It sounds unimaginable, in order that’s in all probability one more reason why it sounds actually heavy. Jack is simply the king of grunge. He is aware of precisely how we wish it to sound.
Is Jack producing the new EP that you have popping out later this yr?
No, Sonny DiPerri is. I’m so excited. He reached out to us final yr, a number of months after [we worked with] Jack. Sonny’s labored with My Bloody Valentine, and he did Moments of Clarity by Narrow Head. He’s labored with Nine Inch, and he’s so candy, and he is aware of his shit. I’ve by no means been so shut to my idols, and he’s proper there. He’s even listened to the new MBV album that he’s like, “It’s never coming out. It’s never coming out.” But simply the proven fact that his ears have listened to that? That’s wonderful. I’m only a lady from Gilbert, Arizona. It’s loopy to me.
With a complete new era of artists making shoegaze proper now, making ’90s-indebted music, I’m curious what you make of it and why you suppose individuals are connecting with this style that’s historically lacked huge hooks.
I find it irresistible a lot. There’s little moments of time that I simply was like, “OK, people want real music. People want rock music again.” I can really feel that. I believe individuals simply need to really feel one thing, and this style could make you really feel all types of feelings. You may be joyful to it, unhappy to it. You can romanticize your self to it or no matter’s occurring in your life. It’s simply very stunning.
It’s an escape.
Yeah, it’s an escape. That’s how I gravitated towards it. I used to be so bored right here, so I’ve at all times simply gravitated towards dreamy, melancholy, heavy music. In center college, I used to be listening to Dance Gavin Dance and Pierce the Veil, and I simply love the melodic heaviness that they made. Then in highschool, it was Beach House, after which Cocteau Twins and Slowdive — we’re simply incorporating every thing I’ve beloved. I believe it’s so sick. All these youngsters, they’re going to love this ceaselessly. This is what their nostalgia goes to be.
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