Interview: Embracing the ‘Glitter and Gore’ During Quarantine With Stretch Panic
Local girl-band Stretch Panic discusses the process of virtually working on their long-awaited debut album, Glitter and Gore, and their role in the Austin LGBTQ+ community.
Written by Keylee Paz
Photographed by Matt Lewis
Stretch Panic’s album release plans were put on hold due to the pandemic, but nothing has stopped the Austin-based three piece from working together remotely. Afterglow sat down with MJ Haha (Vocals, Keys, Guitar), Jenn Monsees (Vocals, Bass), and Cassie Baker (Vocals, Drums) of Stretch Panic to talk about their vibrant personas, their position in the Austin LGBTQ+ community, and their upcoming debut album.
Afterglow: How are you doing? What things have you been doing during quarantine?
MJ: Once the pandemic hit, we took a small hiatus so everyone could manage their own lives. We reunited after the fall to start organizing our debut album, and we’ve been working on band stuff — but all remotely, since we haven’t been able to meet in person.
Jenn: When it comes to how I’m doing, it changes everyday. I’ve been doing a lot of things like learning how to tap dance and learning French through Duolingo, listening to a lot of podcasts, things that keep my brain busy.
Cassie: I actually picked up giving more music lessons and am working on my solo project called Cool Tapes, but I have the habit of trying to do things all at once. The pandemic also inspired me to go back to school in the spring and pursue a music education degree.
The band’s stage presence is a perfect balance of vibrant, cartoon-esque visuals that compliment your unique genre of music that you call Ghoul Pop/Dork Wave. How did you come up with the idea to blend popular culture references with your performances?
MJ: Ghoul Pop and Dorkwave are actually genres that we coined. We combined our ghoulish personas and mixed it in with the broader genre of garage pop. We all like the kitschy, 1960s horror aesthetic, so we started the band around Halloween in 2016. I had the vision of ghost girls playing songs together — we even had a different band name. We were originally known as Mouth Without a Face, which was in reference to an old French horror film called “Eyes Without a Face.” Eventually, we morphed and headed to a more colorful direction. It’s really important to visually communicate who we are.
Cassie: Stretch Panic is “Adventure Time” meets “Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Stretch Panic’s music is a unique combination of playful sounds with strong popular culture undertones, which is music that can be heard on TikTok. Have you ever considered starting one to get more attention for your music?
Jenn: I recently made an account for us. I haven’t done anything because I don’t understand TikTok yet. I was talking to Saucy Yoda, who went viral because people would put on goth makeup to her song, “Mothership.” It’s wild because TikTok is such a new platform. It reminded me of my grandma’s reaction when the internet was new, it’s so overwhelming but exciting.
MJ: It’s interesting how communication has changed and how it affects the way you want to (do) stuff. The entire goal is to make something cool, find the people who would like it, and get your product to the people who would like it. There is an audience for everything, and the stuff we make comes from a young part of ourselves.
Stretch Panic does an incredible job of showcasing your support for the LGBTQ+ community, specifically in your band merch. How would you describe your involvement in Austin’s gay music scene?
MJ: Well, I’m gay. We’ve played a bunch of benefit shows to raise money for PFLAG and the Austin Pride Foundation, so we’re definitely in strong support of the community. We also try to play with a lot of women and support bands with queer representation, so that is really important to us. We’re definitely allies and queers. One of our favorite venues in town is Cheer Up Charlie’s, a big place for the LGBTQ+ community. Even in our music, we like to talk about the core message of misunderstood monsters. A lot of our songs try to make you question the expectations of people and support the idea of having an open mind.
You are releasing your debut album, Glitter and Gore, in early 2021. What are some of your influences and what was the songwriting and recording process like?
MJ: We’re releasing the album after Biden is inaugurated — because it’ll be the best time to celebrate Trump getting kicked out of office. We actually recorded the album over a year ago, but COVID put a pause on all of our plans and we recently started finalizing it remotely.
Jenn: I feel as a band, we’re always trying to do many things at once. We had already recorded an EP in a span of two weeks for a tour we did with Saucy Yoda in 2017, but we only did it so we could have music to sell at these shows. At the time, we also had our 4th member, Ashley Woodruff, who helped write the arrangements and harmonies. Now, those songs are re-recorded to perfection with the addition of our new songs.
MJ: We wanted to give these songs the studio treatment, and we got the amazing opportunity to work with an audio engineer named Justin Douglas from King Electric who understood our preferences. We really wanted to record songs that we can listen to forever without cringing. Our goal was to be organized and polish, refine, and edit our songs once we got to the studio.
Cassie: Our good friend William Riot also helped us write a lot of the songs. He’s like our cheerleader producer and secret member of the band. It is a major team effort.
You recently released a new music video for “Vampire Love.” Why did you choose this song to be the first single for your debut album?
MJ and Cassie: It’s so catchy.
Jenn: For the longest time, it was our set opener. It’s a perfect way to introduce our band — we’re playful, we’re gonna yell sometimes, and hopefully we can make you dance. The song is also a double entendre — you get the vampire and Halloween stuff and the relationship dynamics, which is common in a lot of our songs. It feels really natural to open our first album with a song we are super comfortable with.
Before we go, what's next for Stretch Panic in the future when everything returns to normal?
Cassie: We’re not sure what the future holds for the band, but I know that we still have some material that we want to record. I think we still have some tours that we need to do, because we’ve only done one national tour. I would also love to do an international tour, specifically in Japan, before we’re done. We haven’t toured in enough (places), and it has definitely held us back from reaching max exposure.
MJ: To be honest, it’s hard to imagine a ‘Future Self’ when you’re not sure what the future world will look like, and hopefully 2021 will be easier to navigate because the light at the end of the tunnel will be a lot closer. I just really want to release the album because people need something that keeps them resilient and positive about being someone they want to be. After the album is released, we’re thinking of evolving to a more bratty and angsty genre of music.
