In an EXCLUSIVE interview with amazing lead vocalist/songwriter Mixi from Stitched Up Heart, She talks about writing for their latest release "Darkness" and some of the things that inspired her. The full length interview can be found in the July Issue of Total Order Magazine, on your newsstand July 1, 2020
99WNRR - In the 3 years since Never Alone, did the writing for Darkness happen mostly while you were on tour? Or organically while you were in the studio?
Mixi- A lot of bands do it differently. We usually write by going into writing mode when we are ready to start writing for an album. When we are on tour we are in tour mode. I write the best when I am 100% focused and that's our main goal- to focus on writing some good songs. We started that album writing process, not last January but the January before that, and wrote 70 songs for the record so it was a lot of throwing paint. We really wanted to try something new and develop a new sound for this album. Something a little unique and it took a while to really find the sound that we wanted. In probably about a 9 month period, we wrote the 70 songs.
I found that there were certain elements of the Never Alone album and certain vocal delivery parts that I liked sonically better, and certain things in my voice that I wanted to kind of make shine a little brighter like the verses are a little more whispery and a little more like I'm whispering in your ear. I find that lower register has a really cool, dirty tone sonically. I found that not going so high up on the scale which I did on Never Alone, going in on more of a comfortable place for my voice sounds better. I'm not tensing up on those notes really high. I’m not doing all that stuff so it feels better when you're listening to it. I found my range where it's more comfortable for me rather than just trying to hit a note because that's the melody that you’re trying to do. I actually think that it was just finding myself a little more than it was trying any harder. It's actually easier to sing some of this stuff because it’s more in my range.
99WNRR - Being on tours and having relationships with Alexa (Formerly Letters from the Fire) and Lacey and others you have toured with, what kind of feelings do you get and what happens when you see that those bands discontinue?
Mixi- I think that the industry takes a lot of tenacity and a lot of work. I think sometimes people decide that they don’t want to put the energy into it anymore. I have been there when I felt like am I doing the right thing? Is this the right path for me? And I have had some band members decide that they wanted a normal job, or a relationship. So there are a lot of sacrifices that it takes to keep a band going on the road. It is kind of shocking when a band announces that they are not going to be a band anymore. But I don’t understand. You can still put out music. It might be a year from now or something. You don’t have to give up on the whole band. Everybody has their feelings about it, and maybe they just felt like it was time.
99WNRR - When you want a break, what is your guilty pleasures listening when no one is around?
Mixi- I have actually been listening to Billie Eilish. She is totally different from anything we are surrounded by musically and I think that's why I like the change. Listening to something easy on the ears. I really don’t listen to much music right now while I am also focused again on writing. I do listen to a lot of motivational speakers like Tony Robbins or Les Brown. I get inspired by that kind of stuff.
LOOK FOR THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW IN THE JULY ISSUE OF TOTAL ORDER MAGAZINE with
GREY DAZE, WITHIN TEMPTATION and MORE! On your newsstands JULY 1st!
Follow 99WNRR on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Comments