Stitched Up Heart released their first album in three years titled “Darkness” I got to sit down and chat with lead vocalist Mixi about the new album, the crazy that is society currently, tours and kittens! You can find their new album on all streaming platforms and stores.
SIDE STAGE MAGAZINE: Hey Mixi, Thanks for taking the time to chat! You guys have an incredible album that just came out this month on the 13th. Congratulations! Tell me about “Darkness” and the plans following it!
MIXI : Yeah literally the day it came out the tour was postponed, Friday the 13th of all days. Yeah it’s actually doing real well, I don’t know if people are just at home streaming at home listening to spotify. It’s gotten a half a million streams in the last week on just spotify.
Wow that’s incredible! Congratulations! So tell me about the waterfall release method you guys chose to use for this album. Where did that concept come from?
The idea actually sparked from the label, and they brought to us and asked what we thought. It’s not the most traditional way for a rock band to release an album, but a lot of pop and hip hop artist do it this way. The good thing about the rock fan base is they are very loyal and a majority of them still buy albums and try to support the band. There’s still a ton of people who want to stream, so the idea was to, give people a song a month and build our momentum. It had been a few years since we had released anything and give people something new every month rather than a whole album all at once. Where ya know you listen to it for a week and move on, then you don’t have new music for another couple years. We are very happy with the way its rolled out, just before the album released we had over 2 million streams on Spotify and now its 2.5 million streams and it’s been growing, and we plan to try to do the same with the next record. Somewhat similar, maybe not exactly the same but give people something every month and keep things moving.
It is a very unique an innovative way to release an album and as you mentioned it’s not something you have really seen done in the rock community. It’s almost like releasing new episodes and it definitely left people wanting more and looking forward to what was coming next! It is a great way to build that anticipation!
Yeah everyone has something to look forward to each month and because the album deals with so much mental health, introspective kind of stuff. I think that they hold on for that month for that song to come out and then it makes each song more powerful because it’s not release as one giant album. Where one song may or may not get enough listens. When you get the whole album it’s usually 11 to 12 songs and you listen to it and you skip over one here and there and then later after you’ve heard it 100 times you realize that one you skipped over becomes your favorite. This way the songs get their own spotlight.
I like that you guys took the time to think of how impactful it could be and give everyone a chance, to appreciate each song, verses skipping over tracks. I really look forward to seeing what you guys do with the next album release. Do you think that once the COVID-19 scare has calmed down there will be a huge wave of musicians and fan getting out and doing more?
Yeah maybe there was just too much going on at once and by making people stay home it will get people outdoors more and to more shows. Maybe even motivate the industry, because when something is taken away from you, you want it more and you appreciate it more. I also think there will be a huge boom in the fall because of all the artists who have to wait for the tour that were being put together and now put on hold because of this.
What are you do in your free time?
I got some kittens, I’m fostering in the meantime. I usually foster with kittenrescue.org but it’s been so busy. Kitten season doesn’t usually start until right now. I was obviously going to be on tour and now that I am not, I have some time to take care of the kittens and get them old enough to be adopted. I am trying to do whatever I can to do something positive and to be honest its helping me because it’s keeping my attention on something cute and adorable rather than not being on tour to promote the album. I have also been working on my guitar playing and we have all gotten back into playing video games since we have some free time. I have also been playing world of ware craft with some of the fans which has been keeping us more connected with them.
Out on the road you guys travel town to town and in one night alone there are hundreds of people who want to get a photo with you, a hug, do a meet and greet. How do you think things will be touring after all of this calms down?
I do think that this will change how artist interact with the fans as well, I think there will be a lot less bands going out and mingling because we see how easy it is to spread anything now just keeping track of this. I got sick three times on our last tour, because I would go out and mingle with people and you’re in so many different environments, with so many different people it’s so easy to catch something. As a singer you have to be very careful, it’s your voice. I had strep throat I made it through and didn’t cancel anything but it was really difficult and challenging on a few shows. I think that the artist are going to be a little more reserved when it comes to going out and shaking every single hand with people after this.
How are you dealing with the COVID-19 virus?
For me I am just staying away from as many people as possible, I’m pretty much just locking myself up in my apartment. We have band practice, writing sessions and then the kittens and it’s not because I am worried about me getting sick and how I would feel, I don’t want to be part of the cause keeping the virus moving. A lot of people are walking around still “no big deal, I’m young I won’t get sick” but it’s not about us it’s about the people who are higher risk. I could easily have it for two weeks and then transfer it to someone else so I am staying indoors to try and not spread the virus.
You mentioned band practice, does the band all live in one area?
Yeah Merritt our guitar player lives with me in Santa Monica, Randy our bass player lives in Hollywood which is twenty minutes away and then our drummer is actually flying to Pennsylvania because his parents could use some help, so for the time he is just going to go stay with his parents and take care of them. We are going to continue to have band practice and I just told him that he needs to play through the songs with us on practice days even though he is in a different state and we will practice at our rehearsal space. We’re still keeping in contact and doing our writing sessions and practicing.
I am sure that staying well-rehearsed on your music will only set you up for success because you guys have some big tours coming up and had got on several big festivals before this whole pandemic happened like Rock USA.
Yeah we were on 8 or 9 festivals for this year but now all the April and May ones are trying to figure out what’s going on, I think they are going to be postponed. Basically spring is going to become the fall. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Given everything going on, how are you guys staying connected with fans?
On St. Patrick’s Day we did an acoustic Facebook live, to try and keep some normality, we are in the works of setting up a Netflix party account so we can watch movies with the fans. We are trying to stay as connected as possible with Facebook lives. We definitely have some things in the works!
How does your experience differ from now to when you guys first started touring, are you still able to walk around in the crowd at shows and watch the other artists or is that more difficult now?
Yeah we use to sit out at the merch table all night, we used to be so active when it came shows. Watching every bands set, out front. As a band grows, and there is more of a fan base its harder to do that. Not just because of the high risk of getting sick , but here have been safety precautions there has been some scary situations, where we wouldn’t really know how to protect ourselves or be able to stop anything. So for safety, we have kind of stopped doing that because you never know what someone has. They could bring a knife to show, you just never know if anyone is going to do something and it’s better to be safe than sorry. The most important thing besides the moment you meet people who listen to your music is being safe. Which I really truly love and I love connecting with people, I wish it hadn’t changed. Unfortunately we have had to be more reserved when it comes to going out and mingling so it’s better to be safe.
So Now that the new album “Darkness” is released how do you guys feel?
I think we are all really really happy that it’s out there and maybe it’s something people will be able to listen to, to have some sort of something ya know during this craziness. I’m happy that it’s out, we just can’t really do anything for a moment (Mixi laughs)
Is there a song on the new album that has more streams than most?
The most recent is “My Demon” it kind of came as a surprise, you can kind of see the responses with the way that singles are these days. You can tell if people really like a song based off of what they are playing on spotify. So the days of the industry deciding what people want to listen to are kind of over because right now it’s based off the actual numbers you can see of what people are listening to. “My Demon” and “Straight jacket” have gotten a lot of attention and spins. So I am wondering if that will be our next single, I have no idea because people have seem to respond so well to it.
Who did you guys go with to make this record and how long did it take you guys to find him?
Matt Good! Who is out of Arizona, he did Asking Alexandria, Hollywood Undead, and Sleeping with Sirens last record. He did so much in this album, he really brought something new to our band. We really searched far and wide to find the perfect producer that would do what we had envisioned and take the music to another level. He was just really able to give it some extra uniqueness and modern sound.
We wrote about fifty something songs with a whole bunch of different people before we finally met up with him, I think we started writing in February and I visited him August and that’s when we immediately started writing “Warrior” together and we could tell instantly that this was right. You can tell about an hour into the writing session I can tell if this is going to work out.
That’s really incredible that you know yourself and your goal so well, so that you can get your vision done the best way possible.
We really didn’t know what we were doing in the beginning of the record, we just knew that we wanted to expand and try to create something that we have not done. So we were really out of our comfort zone. So we just threw paint all over the place, we wrote 70 songs for the record. So at the beginning it was a lot of experimentation and towards the end we really dialed in what we wanted to do and ended up pretty much using all the songs we wrote in the end minus “My Demon” and Straight Jacket”
Who are some artist you and the guys personally like to listen to?
I lately have been so consumed with writing so I have not gotten to explore too much but I really like Billie Ellish, which I know is a totally different genre, but I’m obsessed with her. Our guitar player listens to a lot of film scores. He likes Tom Zimmer and movie music type stuff, composing type stuff. Our drummer pretty much listens to every band we end up on tour with. If you listen to his playlist every band is a band we have toured with or are going to tour with. Bass player is stuck in this disco stew we call him, he just loves funk music. The funky bass line type of stuff, Red Hot Chili Peppers would be his go to and Flea is his favorite bass player.
I think a common misconception is that because you play a certain genre, it means that has to be what you listen to solely or that your favorite artist are in that same genre. I love hearing the eclectic playlists for different artists. I really appreciate your time and I hope you guys stay safe in this pandemic. Is there anything you’d like to say to the fans?
Just stay safe and go check out the new album on Spotify!
