“Motherfuckers Call Anything Shoegaze”

Her New Knife on Philly, Club Bangers, and their New EP

By: Vlada Stark; Photos By @kevin.stinks

The revival of shoegaze has been written about in underground mags an almost heinous amount. But in the words of Her New Knife, (the rising band from Philly’s entrenched shoegaze scene) “Motherfuckers call anything shoegaze.” Her New Knife, consisting of Elijah (drums), Carolina (bass), Ben (guitar), and Edgar (guitar/vox) released their new EP Chrome is Lullaby to a rapidly growing fanbase. While on tour with julie, the band members sat down to talk about their roots and the ongoing tour. 

So why the name, “Her New Knife?”

Elijah: “I just read it in a book and really thought it was cool. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Hunter S. Thompson. Amazing. Coming up with a band name is really hard and I thought that was cool. You can’t think too much about it. There is no symbolism to the name or anything.”

Edgar: “Elijah and I had recorded our first release, like just the two of us. But we didn’t have a name. So when we were gonna put it out, we were like, fuck, we need a band name. So we just kept on coming up with stuff and that just sounded like the coolest.”

How did Her New Knife form? 

Elijah: “Edgar and I played in a band previous to this band, and we met there, just in college. And then Edgar knew Ben from high school in Florida. And then we knew Carolina from college. We all went to college together essentially. And then me and Edgar started making music during COVID and then asked them to play.” 

How was the music scene in Florida? Did it feel any different coming out of there? 

Carolina: “There definitely is a scene in Florida, but it’s hard to make a name for yourself out of it just because it’s so spread out. It’s a hard state to get out of. There definitely is a thriving scene in South Florida. Okay, like Palomino Blond and Bloom Dream. There’s a bunch of really good things. Yeah. Like a lot of screamo. Like a lot of heavier stuff down there.”

Philly shoegaze has been a growing scene for years now, what is it about Philadelphia that attracts the genre?

Ben: “I feel like the genre is definitely going everywhere. But I think with Philly in general, it’s just, there’s a lot of different music there, it’s not just shoegaze. So I think it just attracts a music scene. Yeah, and Julia’s War is a really unique label that Doug (Douglas Dulgarian from They Are Gutting a Body of Water) has created and curated. There’s obviously more people than Doug that work in Julia’s War. Julia’s War is like the label. The big Philly label.”

What other scene bands do you recommend from Philly? Especially the ones that have stayed pretty local and haven’t made it out here to the West/Southwest?

Ben: “Fib is one of the craziest bands that I have ever heard. They’re so lit. Yeah”

Elijah: “The Shield. I saw them for the first time the other night and they were so good. me n ü. me n ü is big. Legendary. I don’t know if A Country Western has come out here but they’re really cool.” 

Edgar: “Doug’s new project is Echo Tracer. It’s really cool. Oh, Cry9C. Dude, yeah. Crazy ass industrial 3 piece. Shit is so fucking wild. Oh, and Null. They’re like I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s like experimental music. It’s music that you gotta move to – do something to. Yeah, it’s like clarinet, and violin, and bass over some crazy track– like drum tracks. It sounds weird explaining it, but it’s honestly so beautiful live.” 

Shoegaze fans say hearing shoegaze live is almost religious or a type of high, what do you guys think?

Ben: “Yeah. I don’t even listen to shoegaze music. Actually. I like going to a show and hearing loud guitars, but I also like going to the club. Yeah, I like club bangers. I like Frost Children. We’re about to play with them on tour. They’re awesome.”

What are some records that inspire the sound of Her New Knife? 

Elijah: “I know Edgar and I listened to a lot of Deceiver by DIIV like during COVID. That definitely influenced me. 

Ben: “You just said you didn’t listen to shoegaze.” 

Elijah: “That’s not shoegaze. Motherfuckers call anything shoegaze nowadays.”

Carolina: “I forgot what it’s called, but that new Drahla album. Oh, Angeltape. That shit is fire, yeah. Angeltape by Drahla. Dream Tour? Drahla. They’re a fucking UK band. They need to get over here. Dream tour is anyone who would take us to Europe. Yeah. It could be anybody. We’ll take anything. Drahla is like a mixture of Egg punk, but it’s like noise-rocky like Sonic Youth. But it’s not shoegaze, it’s just post-punk.”

How does Her New Knife stand out artistically? 

Elijah: “Dope ass Swag.”

Edgar: “I was about to say we just have dope ass swag. Dude, that’s all you gotta say. I don’t know. There’s definitely been like a lot of artists and different genres that have inspired me. But I definitely feel as if I’m at a point where I feel comfortable trying to find my own way to play things and write songs. Being in this band is definitely a great way to just try to make something that’s just me and not really informed by anything. But, I don’t know, I think that we have a cool sound and I’m excited to see what we’re going to sound like in the future because we’ve definitely been experimenting more.”

You just released your new EP Chrome is Lullaby. How is it the same/different from previous releases, and what are your hopes for the EP?

Edgar: “Chrome is Lullaby is a lot of music that we wrote after we moved to Philly. All the songs are just after moving from Florida and being there and kinda only doing music for a long time. But the tracks definitely feel a lot darker, and almost like simpler, honestly, but I think there’s a really cool sound about it.

I definitely, I feel like our early stuff, I did a lot typical, normal, drop D, like power chord with the nine and shit – a lot of bands do. Now I feel like the songs are played in like a more specific way. Every kind of song is just different. And the guitar parts – It’s definitely more. It’s not that weird, but it’s cool. It’s like angular percussive.”

You guys have been gaining traction within the past year. I (Vlada) got into you guys around March and think Her New Knife has a lot of potential to become something big. Does gaining a lot of traction seem scary or is it just a lot of excitement?

Carolina: “Kian from julie reached out to us. But they [julie] just asked if we wanted to do all the tour dates, and we said yeah. And then, just like the logistics of printing like, way more merch, and you have to get a rental, and it’s so much money and work [that] goes into before the tour that a lot of people don’t realize and that was really scary. But it’s definitely been worth it so far.”

Edgar: “We lay on the floor next to each other on tour. So awesome. In the car the other night too. That was just so like crazy to me.”

Elijah: “I had the longest dream that night. It felt like it was about going on tour too and we had been on tour in that dream for a week. And then I just wake up and I’m in New Mexico. I was like, I’ve never seen this before. And there’s just like the most beautiful sunrise.” 

Edgar: “You’re gonna wake up tomorrow and you’re gonna be right back in that car.”

Elijah: “She’s (Carolina) in charge of what movie goes into the DVD player in the car. What’s been the most recent one? Was it Wayne’s World? Scott Pilgrim. Oh, Scott Pilgrim. We have Scott Pilgrim, Monty Python, and Wayne’s World. And the Darkest Minds. I forgot about that shit.”

It’s your birthday Edgar. Are you doing anything special since you’re in Vegas?

Edgar: “I’m 25. I’m gonna try to crush a couple Negronis and then I’m gonna take 200 cash into the casino.”

Her New Knife has wrapped up their first North American tour with julie, They are Gutting a Body of Water, and Frost Children. With their recent audiotree live session receiving praise, Her New Knife is set to continue making waves in underground scenes.