I shrieked when I saw the band julie’s announcement for their 2024 tour. It was the news I’d been waiting for after years of commenting “come to minneapolis” on the band’s instagram posts. And I couldn’t be more excited for the chance to see them play alongside some of the finest talent coming out of Philadelphia: They Are Gutting a Body of Water (TAGABOW) and Her New Knife. The night of the show came quickly, and after two other shows earlier in the week, I was content to attend the julie concert solo. I arrived at Fine Line twenty minutes before music started and took my place in the line that stretched down First Avenue, behind probably one hundred other concertgoers dressed à la TikTok alt subculture. I made it through the door just as Her New Knife took the stage.
HNK opened with a moody set showcasing their dynamic sound. A distinctive take on new post-punk and shoegaze, HNK appeals to fans of bands like DIIV, Deftones, and Midrift. The highlight of their set was their freshly released single “purepurepure,” off their upcoming EP Chrome is a Lullaby (to be released Oct. 24th!). The new single keeps pace with the sonic aesthetics the band has constructed in their discography thus far, digging deeper into brooding tones and featuring an eerie atmosphere evoked by plucked guitar notes, reminiscent of the striking strings of a horror film soundtrack (think: the shower scene in Psycho). HNK kept up the energy throughout the set with noise-heavy interludes. I had the chance to talk with the band after the show– see below for our conversation.
TAGABOW took the stage next, a pit opening almost immediately amidst the packed crowd. The band performed a lively display of their sonic range while turned away from the audience, as is customary for the group, though they mostly remained on-stage. From their grungy, warped shoegaze sounds which have awarded them the comparison to My Bloody Valentine, to their notorious abstract breakcore interludes, the crowd maintained a state of ecstatic motion throughout the set.
julie opened with “lochness” off their first EP pushing daisies. Keeping with shoegaze traditions, julie’s onstage presence was almost bashful, though their ethereal energies commanded attention. The three-piece group assembled themselves in a straight line on the stage, occupying the same plane and perpetuating a wall of sound. About half of the set consisted of songs from their newly released album my anti-aircraft friend. I counted seven crowd surfers throughout the night including Carolina Schooley of HNK and Macalester’s own, Andy Grott. julie concluded their set with a charmingly self-indulgent encore featuring sludgy renditions of “stuck in a car with angels” and “through your window.”
I had the chance to chat with the members of Her New Knife after the show. The band consists of Carolina Schooley on bass, Edgar Atencio on vocals and guitar, Ben Kachler on guitar, and Elijah Ford on drums. HNK is based in Philadelphia, though they are originally from Florida where they met through college radio at FSU in Tallahassee. Here are the highlights of the interview:
How would you describe your sound? What genre would you categorize your sound as?
CS: Like, pop
BK: When we were shooting a video the other night, this drunk lady said it’s like grunge from hell, and I kinda fucked with that
Do you have any important non-musical aesthetic inspirations, like visual artists or authors?
BK: there’s this director Mohammed Kourdofani who I think is pretty sick. He’s from Sudan and he does some pretty cool shit. His whole thing is like, documenting but within a story he created. Kinda showcasing what the world is like but within a story, especially in Sudan
EA: I be having a lot of dreams
EF: I like Louis Theroux, the British documentarian from the BBC. And I don’t think he influences my music at all, but I like his vibe
BK: Pitbull?
CS: Pitbull
Three words to describe the Philly music scene right now?
BK: Lit as fuck
Do you have any rituals surrounding your performances?
EF: Before a show, I run around and I try to track all three of them down, like guys we have to play in three minutes, we gotta get to the stage. And then Carolina will be in the bathroom probably. And that’s the ritual.
EA: He’s just playing
CS: Tech-decking
BK: Oh yeah, we tech deck heavy. Beyblade battles…
EA: I just bought a beyblade. Oh yeah, and gambling… we love to gamble
Like what kind of gambling?
EA: anything that involves taking some money out of my wallet…
EF: We’re throwing down for the beyblade battles with TAGABOW, we just fuckin throw down singles and let it rip
BK: We lost 283 dollars in Vegas between the three of us
CS: but I won money, I won like 17 dollars
BK: exactly that’s why it’s only 283
CS: yeah instead of 300
Favorite songs to play live?
EA: purepurepure and 12r
BK & CS: kittyriff and 12r
EF: I like to play Mouth but we haven’t played it on this tour.
What inspired the nightcore mixes and can we expect more like that?
BK: We just needed some shit to put out
EF: I was like, bored
CS: It was just, like, a money grab.
BK: We used the koala app and made nightcore between our songs…and we had some demos we did that with…
EA: and it sounded pretty good, it’s actually pretty good
EF: It was originally just like something to play when they’re tuning, and then people “where like where can I listen to that?” We’ll probably do something like that later but more produced… We have a bunch of DJ friends that we’d like to bring in for the mixes.
Are you guys sick of driving?
BK: it’s been alright, we split it up. It hasn’t been that bad.
EF: The drive from Nevada to CO sucked.
BK: Yeah I really like driving minivans. My mom would let me drive her minivan, she had a Dodge Ram…? A Dodge Caravan… and it was like a sports car red. And it was so fast. Don’t tell my mom but I would just hit, like, 120 going down the interstate going home and that was just so fun… so driving the van brings back some memories…
Impressions of the Twin Cities so far?
BK: I fuck with it, I beat a guy in skate so, pretty good
EA: Driving in after all the plain flat land… and then seeing this metropolis rise before us, I was like woah, we made it
CS: I like hearing the midwestern accent
EF: We had Culver’s…
EA: They got that shit in Florida though… it wasn’t even different.
EF: Culver’s was my first job.
EA & CS & BK: honestly it’s better in Florida
EF: Cuz I was buttering those buns bro
What’s the most memorable tour moment so far?
BK: Carolina’s stage dive tonight, that was lit
EA: Also Carolina learned how to ollie on a tech deck today
CS: When we lost the money in Vegas, we were smoking cigars inside… and we got three negronis and it was $90…
EA: My tour highlight was winning two Beyblade sets in a row earlier today.
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