Female-led Punk Rock band Messy Hera chats with us about how they balance redefining the punk genre and doing homework
Punk Rock outfit Messy Hera had a chat with Happy recently to discuss their new single ‘Put It To An End’ and to tell us how they work through being in a punk band by night and high school by day.
The San Diego-based punk rock band has been lighting up the Punk scene recently, with a brand new fired-up single.
Messy Hera has seen a growing fanbase on Spotify and is starting to garner the attention of Punk Rocks’ most elite, and are expecting further growth after the release of their new single.
One of the most captivating and exciting acts coming out of SoCal, Messy Hera is set for stardom.
Want to know more? Check out our interview with the band below, as we discuss school, music and punk rock women.
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
MADDIE: I’m currently at school as a Senior at Poway High School. After school, I go to work at an Elementary school as a high school Aide for an after-school program!
After that, I head home and do whatever homework I have and devote about an hour of band business every day like responding to emails, booking shows, practicing, etc.
TALIA: I got up and headed to school after I went home and rested for a bit until I went to work for the same program as Maddie. After, I go back home and eat dinner, then do some homework.
RONIN: I go to school after I go to my water polo practice.
HAPPY: What is the music scene like in your neck of the woods?
MESSY HERA: We are based out of San Diego, Southern California. The scene here has a deep-rooted history that is carried on to this day when looking back to bands like “Drive Like Jehu”, “Rocket from the Crypt”, and “Hot Snakes”.
Today, there are so many different genre bands that we have played and bonded with that make the shows we play so diverse and exciting!
We have indie, hardcore punk, Psychedelic rock, thrash metal, and so much more that I can’t even pinpoint a single genre.
We like to connect with as many people in the crowd as we can and every person we have met has been amazing. It’s such a big scene that we are grateful to be a part of.
HAPPY: For the uninitiated, how would you give a brief crash course on what your understanding of RiotGrrrll is?
MESSY HERA: To me, Riot Grrrl is the genre where punk rock women can come together and express any anger and oppression they face. The punk genre is generally a male-dominated one that despite the culture being a political statement written about real-world problems, there is rarely any written by men that contributes to women’s oppression and struggle. That is where Riot Grrrl comes in. We understand and relate to the struggles that women face and will speak out on it because it needs to be. Riot Grrrl brings a whole new perspective on what the punk genre is about.
HAPPY: The punk scene is detonated by male bands. Was wondering whether there are any female or queer punk bands you’d like to give a shoutout to?
MESSY HERA: We would love to shout out to the bands Doll Riot, Bleacher Creatures (broken up), 12 Gauge Trixie, “Pink Noise” and “The Microblades. All wonderful bands tearing up the San Diego scene with us!
HAPPY: Congratulations on ‘Put it To an End’! Can you give us a little overview of how this song was born?
MESSY HERA: We are very happy with the good results we have on ‘Put it To an End’!! This song started with the musicianship.
I (Maddie) wrote the opening riff on my own time and fell in love with it. Whenever we practiced all together we wrote the rest of the song as a band and it sounded perfect!
It took me a while to write up the lyrics. I was unsure what to write about… Until one day I was walking out of my local Target and got harassed by a man who tried following me to my car.
I got so angry because it disgusted me how he thought he could try to do something so horrible in a place that I go to frequently.
I didn’t feel safe there anymore. That experience inspired the lyrics and made me think about how this happens to everyone!
No matter what gender, race, sexuality, or anything. So I made the song from both my experiences and the consideration of others’ experiences as well.
HAPPY: Given how amazingly noisy it is, I have to imagine your recording sessions are a blast. Do you ever find yourself going a little too hard when recording tracks like this?
MESSY HERA: Recording is such a fun process for us. We do a live recording session for the instrumental part and do the vocals separately.
We record our songs at our local studio called “Studio West” and for our newest single, “Put it To an End” we did a separate recording session at Eric Wilson’s studio to tweak it a little and improve it.
We do sometimes get too much in the moment and it causes us to mess up at times. Whenever we record, especially in a live session, we have to focus on our parts and make sure they are right.
HAPPY: Beyond its sound, ‘Put it To an End’ delivers a poignant message. How important is it to you that your music makes a statement in this way?
MESSY HERA: We think it’s very important to make statements through our music. After releasing our last single “In the Ruins”, written about the war happening in Syria, we wanted to shift our focus on the topics of our songs from silly teenage struggles, to important real-world problems.
Which is rooted in the punk side of our music. Despite Messy Hera not being a straight-up punk band, we still admire and want to carry on the ethics of the genre which is writing and speaking out about real-world problems.
HAPPY: Anything else exciting on the horizon that you can tease for us?
MESSY HERA: We have two more songs recorded and in the works to release next! We also have some more content coming related to the release on our YouTube which we will be starting soon!
Until then we have many more shows coming up in our local area, if you are reading this and are in the San Diego area, check out our Instagram for details and come on out!
HAPPY: What makes you happy?
MESSY HERA: Being around people makes me happy, which is why I love playing shows so much! Meeting people, seeing them in the crowd, and interacting with the crowd, it’s probably my favourite thing about our shows.
