+HIRS+ is a grindcore/thrash collective hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that began in 2011. They have a very atypical anonymity, and have a host of musical contributors. They embody much of the spirit that traditionally comes from Philly hardcore, and the riotous, blistering live show that you would expect from such a band.
Sounds Like
A meat grinder? Honestly that might be the best way possible to describe the boisterous sound that +HIRS+ produces. They keep things short and generally not so sweet as his hardcore tradition, but pack a punch in their songs that almost always stay below a minute in length. Their lyrics delve deep into frontwoman JPâs experience as a trans woman, and into the political and social injustices that plague trans people, often becoming ostensively anti-cop, but the collective as a whole is intensely anti-authoritarian. The poignant and bluntly spoken lyrics along with the absolute wall of noise +HIRS+ back them up with make for an amazing and captivating experienceÂ
Music
The collective has done a variety of splits, some notable personal favorites being ones done with Water Torture, Peeple Watchin, Lifes, and their most recent release with Romantic States. They have a truly huge discography, which I suppose is easy to do if you have songs that are occasionally one second long. They have two of what could be considered full lengths - one titled THE FIRST 100 SONGS, the second, surprise! Is called THE SECOND 100 SONGS. If youâre worried about the length - a whole hundred songs? Consider this: the shortest song on the latter of the two albums - âwe are.â - clocks in under one second. They have some awesome EPs that are also worth a listen, too YĂU CANâT KILL US, TRANS GIRL TAKEOVER 2K17, and The Sexxxy Flexxxi are all very notable moments in the collectivesâ extensive history. You can check out all of their music on their Bandcamp.
Photo courtesy of Yoni Kroll
Members
+HIRS+, rather than having a typical lineup exists as a collective. Frontwoman JP and guitarist Esem are usually part of the lineup, but the collective consists of a host of rotating musicians, and because of othersâ involvement prefer to refer to themselves as a collective, rather than a band.
Tour
Currently the only show +HIRS+ is planning on having is in their hometown of Philadelphia, PA Â on July 11th @ Glitter Galaxy with Pube, Pandemix, and TVO
How Are They Diverse?
+HIRS+ have never shied away from the âqueercoreâ label, speaking extensively about frontwoman JPâs experience as a trans woman in this day and age. Many of their musical collaborators have also been trans or gender non-conforming, and +HIRS+ seem to care very deeply about visibility, activism, and lgbtq+ issues.
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Izie is a 17-year-old non-binary, gay trans multi-instrumentalist. He began his music career by taking on-and-off piano lessons through the ages five and 13. While songwriting has always been an interest to him, it wasnât until he received his first guitar in eighth grade when he started to explore, discover and experiment with different music styles and ideas. Using YouTube and guesswork, he also eventually picked up the bass, ukulele and harmonica.
We got to talk with Izie through a Skype interview about his music career, and he said, â[I like music because] my mind is always racing, but music is really grounding for me. I always need to be doing something with my hands, and when I'm making music, I'm able to slow myself down. It's really therapeutic.âÂ
Next year, Izie will be pursuing music composition in college to fine-tune his songwriting skills and to accomplish his goal of becoming a professional musician. However, another huge goal of his is to make music more accessible: â[Music is] an important way to communicate. I want to make [music] more accessible, because it's such a good thing. There's so many good ways it can be used, like in therapy and to just get ideas out there; I just love the idea of everyone being able to put their ideas out there."
Sounds Like
Self-described as âAmateur Bedroomâ, Izie draws his inspiration from artists like Wavves, Surf Curse, Elvis Depressedly and Alex G. He also cites Elliot Smith to be a huge inspiration: âListening to Elliot Smith puts me in a creative mode. [His] music is really meditative. It's easy to listen to; it's a little bit sad sometimes, but other than that, I don't know, it makes me happy and a bit nostalgic too, cause my mom used to listen to it when I was little.â
This kind of nostalgia is an example of the types of emotions Izie aims to capture in his music. His songwriting process is primarily based on the mood he hopes to convey, trying to fit his lyrics and melodies to help communicate it.
âMy process with songwriting is all over the place, and I like to keep it inconsistent because I think it brings a nice variety,â Izie said. âI put a ton of focus in the melody, but lately I've been trying to focus on the lyrics cause I want to strengthen thatâŠI write a lot about my relationships and that's pretty common, but it's a good thing to do because it's an easy place to pull emotions from and it has a lot of depth.â
Izie records his music by using his phone and edits it on his computer using Garageband. Although Izie believes he could find better equipment to record and edit, he wants to prove musicâs accessibility in that you âdonât have to know anything about music to put your fingers on a guitar and mess around until something sounds good.â Izie especially found inspiration in this belief through Alex G, who produces unconventional music, according to Izie.
âI look up to Alex G, because he makes some weird music. He's really widening my perspective about what can possibly sound good, and heâs challenging the ideal,â said Izie. âHis music sounds bad sometimes, and I love that. It's almost like an acquired taste because listening to it at first it sounds like somebody doesn't know what they're doing. It's like abstract art where there's an element to it that's uneasy, and it just takes a moment for it to settle in as an entire piece. I want to be able to make bold moves like that [as an artist], because that also makes music more accessible, since itâs so much more about the sound than about any other aspect of creating music."
Although Izie is not yet sure of what these âbold movesâ entail, he is still looking for his original sound.
âI think we're at a point where there can't be original ideas anymore, because there's just too many out there. And I think the only way to get an original sound is to copy literally everybody and pull inspiration from every artist and genre you possibly can. Because there's always something to draw away from them,â Izie said.
Music
Izie released his first EP on his Bandcamp and Soundcloud earlier this year. You can also check out his music covers on his YouTube channel!
Thoughts on representation in the Alternative scene
Izie has only released his music online through Tumblr, and has received positive support so far. However, he believes that once he delves deeper into the industry, he will inevitably encounter challenges regarding his identity. Especially with the latest PWR BTTM fallout, Izie believes that it just highlighted how little non-binary and trans representation there is in the alternative scene.
"Representation is totally important and I cannot even begin to explain how let down I was with the whole PWR BTTM thing, because the fact that there were two adults who were also non-binary making fantastic music was the best thing ever. To have that taken away sucks, but also, fuck them,â said Izie.
âIt's really daunting going into the music industry. I don't just want to become my gender,â Izie continued. âIf we had more trans people in the music scene, then other trans people would probably be able to enter it more smoothly and there wouldn't be so much focus on the fact that theyâre trans and there could be more focus on the fact that they make music, since we're all just people who are making music. But we still need the perspective from people who are different. It's just that idea of making music more accessible again. I donât like to think that someone would be hesitant to put out their music because they don't want to be ridiculed for being trans or gay. That shouldn't stop people from wanting to be creative.â
