Hex: The 13th Floor Interview

The 13th Floor’s Kate Powell talks to Hex ahead of their show tonight as part of The Others Way Festival in Auckland:

Naenae three-piece band Hex have made a name for themselves with their ethereal punk sound that intertwines feminist and pagan themes. Their latest single Runes/Ruins dropped last week ahead of their debut album The Hill Temple, due for release later this year. Ahead of their performance of the Others Way Festival this Friday I sat down with Kirsten Van Newtown, Jason Erskine and Greta Van Newton to chat about their latest release and where they’re heading next.

You released your latest single Runes/Ruins recently. Tell me a bit about it.

K: I wrote this one and Page of Pentacles around about the same time. This song is about my friend going on a bunch of tinder dates cos she broke up with her partner which was a very fascinating time for me. She had this one guy she was dating for a couple of months and she really loved him but it didn’t work out. They tried to be friends but it didn’t work out either. It’s also drawing on imagery from my actual life ripped off a Bourgesian thing in the middle verse and the last verse references me and Greta’s wedding day.

You directed the video as well where did you get the idea from?
K: For a long time I’d been planning the video as a narrative and it had imagery taken from the song and when we decided to film it one of the images I had was us jumping off a warf and actually I was like fuck that it’s the middle of winter. Then I questioned why it had to reference the lyrics as well and I was like oh it doesn’t so we just made these awful cakes.

I read it as being a comment on the current resurgence in traditionally “feminine” art forms and how more and more artists are taking the craft and subverting it. That what it means to be feminine is no longer something that can be neatly boxed. Like it was kind of a play on that Simone de Beauvoir line “One is not born, rather one becomes a woman.”
K: I like that! It’s about the tension between how you’re meant to present yourself and being utterly incapable of doing that in a way that other people would want you to.

It’s an interesting time to be a woman in New Zealand. You’ve got Jacinda Adern being the strongest Labour leader since Helen Clark, the first all-female finalists for the Silver Scrolls- I’m pretty sure The Guardian said it was a world first. What’s it like being a woman in a feminist band in New Zealand right now?

K: I throw a tantrum about this every so often. I’m like fuck this noise shut the fuck up men stop buying guitars.
G: It feels quite radical now actually being a woman in music. Compared to what we’ve been in the past it feels like we’re in the best spot musically we’ve been for a while.
K: Yeah it definitely feels like there’s been a ground swell of politicalisation in the music scene, which feels good, because I feel it’s something that we as musicians have been feeling a bit alone on for a very long time. Now it feels like actually other people are having the same experiences and thinking the same thing- wondering why events have no women on the line up or no representation of gender diverse or people of colour at gigs or festival so it feels like its growing.

Jason you’ve recently joined the band as the drummer, replacing Liz. How do you think you’ve changed the dynamic going from a three piece female band?
J: My initial involvement was recording the music and sound engineering with the debut record. Partway through that Liz moved to Auckland and Greta and Kirsten asked me to join the group and at first-

K: You were very reticent
J: Yeah I was offering them other women names they could consider first
K: Yeah you were like “you need a woman”
G: Everyone was recommending us women drummers. Like everyone assumed we’d replace Liz with another woman
K: Which we seriously considered
G: It was a shock for people “Oh my god they got a guy” which we loved shocking people on that one.
K: But also we didn’t want to get a woman for the sake of her being a woman. That seems very binary. We were actually more concerned with it being the right person.

Your debut album the Hill Temple is being released soon. Do you have a date?
K: Later this year- nice and vague! (laughs) its done we’re just trying to figure out the artwork. Whether we’re going to go gatefold or full OTT like glamour shots of us each inside

Your music has been described as punk folk You’ve also said in previous interviews that you have a love of rock opera. Typically it would seem that Punk and folk are seen as being genuine while Rock Opera is seen as dramatic and overly constructed. Where does your music fit within those influences, particularly with the upcoming record?

K: The thing with folk and punk are that they rely on an immediate response from the audience. But a rock opera is written painstakingly and it’s more like I will make the audience feel this thing. Punk is more we’ll just see what happens
J: It’s more visceral and immediate
K: Rock Operas take people on an emotional journey
J: Sonically with the new record we were looking to create a huger sound but not a refined sound. Just big and aggressive. We don’t want it to be too polished we want it to have a punk edge to it as well.
K: In saying that it sounds a lot more polished in our EP and that’s an evolution in our song writing as well and just having really honed in on our ideas about how we want to execute things.

You’re playing Others Way this Friday, who are you looking forward to seeing?
K: We really wanted to see Kane Strang, but we’re clashing! The Courtneys, All Seeing Hand and Unsanitary Napkin are always good.