One of my favorite things about writing about music is discovering new musicians. It takes me back to the days of listening to CD compilations from all my favorite record labels. Sure, I got the comps mainly because they were cheap and I just needed to hear that new song from a specific band. Along the way, I’d also get to hear some bands I wouldn’t otherwise even know about because streaming didn’t exist back then. A lot of those bands became some of my favorites.
These days, comps are few and far between, and the ones that do exist, are mostly digital. Just this month, I had a listen to the latest Ska Punk International comp, Songs For Moms, Volume 2. I knew some of the artists featured, but I also had the thrill of discovering new ones too. One such artist was Eevie Echoes. Her cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” was phenomenal. After listening, I immediately went to bandcamp and dug in. She puts me in mind of a perfect blend of the raw power of The Stooges mixed with the sincere aggression of Against Me! I say this with complete sincerity, Eevie Echoes may just end up being my favorite musical discovery of 2022. That’s why when she asked if we’d like to premiere her new song, “I Just Wanna Pee,” I jumped at the opportunity.
Aside from debuting her new song, Eevie also took some time to answer a few questions. I invite you to get to know Eevie Echoes, your new favorite punk artist.
When looking at your music, you’ve dabbled in a little bit of everything. What’s your favorite type of music to play though?
I think the music that I play is reflective of the music I listen to and the amount of skill I have to mimic those genres. I take a lot of inspiration from emo, pop punk, and hard rock which is a lot of what I grew up listening to. Bands like All Time Low, Against Me, Twenty One Pilots, Green Day, Pierce the Veil, MCR, The Pretty Reckless, Santana, Rage Against The Machine and Halestorm are bands that I really adore and listened to a lot of growing up and still to this day. I think they subconsciously influence my songwriting style. My favorite kind of music to play would be punk rock. There’s something about distortion on an electric guitar and gritty vocal delivery that gets me really giddy. I’m really attracted to the raw energy.
Your new song is called “I Just Wanna Pee.” There’s much more to the song than the title. What’s it about and what are you trying to say with it?
So “I Just Wanna Pee” is really a reactionary song to a lot of the anti-LGBT, and more specifically, anti-trans messaging that I’ve seen a huge uptick in the news lately. I guess you could say that I’m a bit chronically online. I tweet an ungodly amount and I try to keep up to date with things that are happening in the world but constantly staying updated can be really taxing on your mental health. Just a couple of weeks ago I went to bed just feeling absolutely deflated because there’s so much hate and discrimination against trans folks that people with large platforms are condoning in my opinion.
Between ignorant laws in Texas that classify gender affirming care as child abuse, the scapegoating of trans individuals by politicians, the whole trans women don’t belong in women’s sports “debate”, and people like J.K. Rowling and Dave Chappelle who make it their business to spread misinformation about a vulnerable community of people, it’s really disheartening, to say the least.
My partner sent me a TikTok the other day by @erininthemorn and there was a politician who said we should bring back an archaic law that would essentially criminalize LGBT people and have legal grounds to execute them. Not to mention in Florida they’re proposing laws to ban gender-affirming care for teens and adults alike. It’s legitimately terrifying at times and although I’m fortunate enough to live in a very liberal state, I empathize with the queer people fighting for their right to exist in other parts of the country.
I’ve had times when I’m scared to use the bathroom because I don’t feel that I “pass” well enough and I don’t want to be seen as a predator or get harassed. There’s a line in the bridge of this track that says “don’t wanna get chased out the stall by security” and that happened to me in real life my first week at my job. Fortunately it was handled delicately, but I was so scared and to this day it still lingers in my mind every time I have to use a public restroom. I guess the point I’m really trying to make is, that we’re not a threat, we’re not pedophiles or depraved monsters. We just want to exist without discrimination. I just want to be able to pee in peace.
Prior to this song, your last released offering was an acoustic ska cover. Do you see yourself marrying your more aggressive punk roots with ska music in the future?
Yes. A hundred times yes. It’s funny you ask that I’m working on an album at the moment called The Cons Of Being A Wallflower and there’s a track on it called “The Letters U Wrote,” which is a ska-punk track. It’s a very soft and poignant song up until the bridge where it really explodes into an aggressive emotional song and it’s one of my favorites to play live. I have a few songs on that album that fuse my aggressive punk roots with ska, grunge, and other influences.
I suspect it’s not an accident that this song was released during Pride. What does Pride mean to you?
Did I really release it during Pride? I had no clue. What a coincidence. Pride means a lot to me because it’s a celebration of how far the movement has come but also a reminder to continue being there for each other and keep pushing for change. It’s truly astounding to see how much progress we’ve made in the 52 years since Stonewall and I’m grateful to have found such a beautiful community of people.
It’s important to recognize that Black and Brown trans women are the reason the modern Gay Liberation movement exists. Women like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson fought like hell to provide opportunities for gay and trans youth during the height of the AIDS crisis and they did everything in their power to protest oppressive systems of power and while I can’t do all of the work they did, I try to maintain a spirit of activism and I’m grateful for their sacrifice.
I’ve developed a much deeper connection to the movement while researching the AIDS crisis and the powerful showing of activism that surrounded it for a research thesis I was working on over the last year. The circumstances that gay people in the ’60s were dealing with were horrendous and in comparison to our current society, we’ve seen a really huge shift in societal acceptance, a breaking of stigma, and a flourishing of the community.
There’s still a lot of work to be done but it’s important to celebrate the progress we’ve made thus far. I think it’s beautiful and it fills me with hope for future generations.
Usually, this month is ripe with rainbow activism and opportunism from corporations and such under the veil of being an ally. I’m sure the visibility and awareness is nice, but how can cis folks be real allies?
Yes it certainly is. It’s certainly a pet peeve of mine to see corporations slap a rainbow on their logo during June and say “hey gays we care about you” but then donate their profits to anti-LGBT organizations and politicians every other time of the year, ahem Target. I can’t speak for the entire community but I will say that in my own life my cis friends who are allies and who have made me feel the most affirmed just accepted me into their fold.
So many of my female friends have just been incredible allies by not making it such a big deal of the fact that I’m trans they just let me be one of the girls. Of course, in cases of family, it’s different and it can be a bit of a shift when you thought you knew someone then find out that there’s more to them that you didn’t know, but the main thing is to approach with compassion first.
Often times when queer people come out they’ve built up this worst-case scenario in their heads and when people react badly it just proves that fear right. It’s crushing when you take a leap of faith and fall flat on the ground and it can make people cynical and untrusting. I’ve been there. My coming out was far from stellar.
The best way to be an ally in my opinion is to a) lead with love b) take the time to understand life from a queer person’s perspective and c) make space for them to figure things out.
It can be a really tender time when someone has to rediscover themselves and shed the parts of themselves that they’ve built up for a sense of safety. Be patient, it will take time to adjust but make a concerted effort to do so. It’s okay to make mistakes but make sure you correct yourself when you do, and the queer person in question will appreciate it. You may not understand every aspect of what a person’s going through or a person’s identity, but showing them that you respect them as they are and showing them that you truly “see” them can be life-changing.
Who are some musicians and artists that inspire you these days and what makes them so inspiring?
One artist that I find incredibly inspiring is JER. Shoutout to them and the band they’re in, We Are The Union. Besides the fact that their music is absolutely rad, a part of me is really proud to see Black queer excellence in punk music. Growing up I never saw Black people in rock, punk, or metal aside from like Tom Morello (whose music I absolutely adore by the way). You mostly see people of color in rap and hip hop and there’s nothing wrong with that it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Seeing artists like JER killing it in headline tours with bands like Kill Lincoln and putting out a ska-punk album that’s rocking the Billboard charts is so cool. I’m super proud of them and their strides in the music industry are going to show more young Black kids that they can be rock stars AND embrace their culture.
If you could tour with one active band, who would you want it to be and why?
Being on tour would be such a dream. Hands down, I’d love to tour with Laura Jane Grace and/or her band Against Me! I saw her live a month or so back and the energy was palpable. I’m a concert junkie, so I snuck my way up to the barricade to wave mosh and jump around like a crazy person. The way she commands so much respect with just an acoustic guitar and her voice is truly mind-blowing to me. I love the sense of community amongst fans of hers and met some Twitter friends in person at her show. Laura also just seems super down to earth and I think if we toured together we would have some really cool conversations.
What is an Eevie Echoes live show like?
So much fun. People who’ve seen my live shows don’t believe me when I say this, but I have really bad social anxiety. Put me in a crowd of strangers and I will just melt into the walls. I can’t handle it. But, when I get on stage, my brain flips into performer mode and only one thought goes through my head. “These people came here for a show, so let’s give them a fuckin’ show”.
Performing live is my happy place and I really come alive on stage. There’s such a potent connection and a collective feeling of love in the moment of playing a live show that I can’t get enough of, just the energy bouncing back and forth between me and the people dancing in the crowd is incredible. By the end of a set I can’t speak I’ve usually screamed my voice out and I need to down like 3 or 4 cups of water and a Lagunitas before I’m able to say thank you to all the people who come up to congratulate me.
Seeing people lose their shit when we finish with “womanly” is so rad and I want to jump off the stage and join the pit with them. It’s hard to explain without really being there but I promise you this. If you come to an Eevie Echoes show, you’re gonna get pure, unfiltered, punk rock and you’re gonna have a blast.
When looking ahead, where do you see yourself as an artist, and as a person, in the next five years?
I would love to have gone on tour or played a festival five years from now, at least once, even if it’s something small. I also would like to put out at least two albums and collaborate with a lot more people. I hope that I’m signed to an indie label five years from now and that I have access to higher quality recording gear so I can continue to improve my sound. On a personal note, I see myself being a lot more independent, a lot further in my transition and finished with school, working as a therapist and continuing my activism as part of an organization.
What’s one thing that excites you about music these days?
One thing that excites me is the community of musicians and creatives online. I think I fell into a really cool subsection of DIY musician Twitter. It’s really exciting to share music with other creative people and bounce ideas off of each other and just hear what they’re up to. What I love is that I’ve met a couple of these people in real life and they’re super nice and fun to jam with. I’ve become more internet savvy since quarantine and that’s really changed the game in terms of communication and getting to know people so that’s really exciting me. There are so many musical opportunities through social media that I’m learning about day by day.
What drove you to music in the first place?
I firmly believe that music saved my life. I’ve played drums since the fifth grade and I had been in school bands through middle and high school but I didn’t seriously get into writing original music until college. Growing up I got relentlessly bullied and I constantly feared for my life and my safety at school. Academically, I never had many issues, but socially I struggled to make friends and I often found myself being taken advantage of or manipulated because I naively believed that everyone had good intentions.
A lot of the things I experienced really impacted my mental health but I found a lot of solace in creativity and in music. Over time, I picked up more and more instruments because I enjoyed the challenge of learning something new and I wrote poems and songs about the things I was feeling and that was extremely cathartic for me. Songwriting was therapeutic and that drove me to music because I loved being able to make something beautiful out of the pain I was feeling and using that as a tool to connect with people. I love the community of musicians I’ve found and I hope to keep expanding it.
After this release, what’s next for you? Shows? More music?
Yeah, for right now I have a couple shows coming up, just some small gigs in Brooklyn. I’m playing Hart Bar in August and I’m trying to setup a ska show in September. Besides that I’m just chugging away on the album, as well as some covers for a couple comps I signed up for. I’m definitely looking to put out a single from the album before the end of the year so keep your eyes peeled.
Any last words?
Be kind. Spread love. And as The Toasters say, don’t let the bastards grind you down. I want to say thank you so much to Dane and Bearded Gentlemen Music for the opportunity; for interviewing me and for debuting my new song. It means so much to me and I really appreciate it.