CHIRP Radio writesCHIRP Radio Q&A With Heet Deth (Performing at CHIRP Night at the Whistler on 9/29)

Chicago band Heet Deth will perform at CHIRP Night at the Whistler on Sunday September 29th. We recently caught up with Julia (drums and vox) and Laila (guitar and vox) from the band to ask a few questions.

So, What’s going on? Tell us about your current releases and/or upcoming shows (such as CHIRP Night at the Whistler!).

Julia: We released Heet Deth Hooray! back in 2021, and while I feel incredibly lucky & grateful that we’ve had the successes we’ve had with only the one release, we’re itching to release album 2.

We have some banger shows coming up this fall. We’re excited to play with Tension Pets at the free (yes, FREE) CHIRP show at the Whistler Sunday 9/29, the night before we’re playing Burlington with one of Chicago’s finest, Mr. Phylzzz, and Zookraught from the west coast. Then in October we’re opening for Fat Dog & Lip Critic at Empty Bottle, there’s a lot to be excited about.

Laila: Our next couple shows coming up are so rad, it’s our first time ever playing the whistler and our first ever chirp night and it’s an honor to be included, let alone with one of the coolest bands weve seen, tension pets. The next show we’re looking forward to is October 24th at empty bottle with Fat Dog and Lip Critic! Lip Critic melted our minds and we got to see them rip up Detroit, we are so psyched to join them in their mayhem! 

How do you go about turning your thoughts, ideas, and feelings into sounds?

Julia: Laila will send me voice notes with riffs or even just recorded mouth sounds for me to listen to, then when we get together we see if we can make some magic happen, which I think we usually do.

When I practice by myself I practice slow, excruciatingly so. Sometimes slowing down a pattern for an exercise gives me inspiration and I’ll start jamming/iterating on the practice patterns.

Laila: Sometimes it’s a phrase or a rhythm that I can’t help but get out of my body that needs to be released. A lot of the time if it’s my thoughts, they don’t go away until I let them out. I think that’s why music feels so freeing and honest to me. Other times when I improvise noise making, I find a moment of sound and try to isolate it, looking to see what potential it has to transform into something. It’s like riding a wave of noise and following where it wants to go, finding ways to let go of control and just experience what it is. 

If your music was a kind of beer, ice cream, or coffee (take your pick), what would it taste like?

Julia: I can see our ice cream flavor being raspberry with a super rich dark chocolate ribbon & a touch of powdered habanero or chipotle chile mixed in. I’d eat that.

Laila: If our music were a drink, it would be mix of a highly caffeinated energy drink, malort and edible glitter served with a cloud of sativa from a complicated to use vape

Ice cream: matcha ice cream and lavender syrup 

Do you have any particular or unexpected influences? Are any other artists or bands catching your attention at the moment?

Julia: Little known fact, one of my earliest favorite movies was Cabaret, and I feel like I take a little bit of both the Emcee and fraulein Sally Bowles with me into my performances in Heet Deth. 

I’ve been listening to a lot of Tierra Whack this year, World Wide Whack struck this perfect balance for me between looking into your own abyss while still maintaining your self/silliness, depending on the track. She’s got earworms like you wouldn’t believe.

Speaking of earworms, I also REALLY got into Hex Dealer by Lip Critic. I don’t know how else to put it, this music makes my brain happy.

Laila: I always think of Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, fever to tell, Lightning Bolt's catalogue and ABBA as a constant wavelength of music that I like to embody. These days though I’m listening and playing along to egg punk bands, Gang of Four and Minutemen. 

If you couldn’t make music or be involved with music, what would you be doing right now?

Julia: Trying to figure out how not to be miserable, then once my feral rage passes I’d make the choice between a career in floristry or a career in end of life care.

Laila: I’d be a roadie or lighting designer, it’s hard to keep me away from the stage or music. At the very least I’d want to make everyone look and sound cool and pretty. 

What is it about Chicago that pleases you?

Julia: There is something for literally everyone here, no matter their niche interest.

Laila: The people make me most pleased. This is the city where you get to explore who you are, show people your weirdness and your passion and more often than not, find people that support you in your beautiful and strange dreams. Chicago is the center of all that is cool, deal with it!

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in a basement?

Julia: Whippets

Laila: I played in an Irish punk band. I’m happy to say those days are behind me. 

Do you take vacations? What’s your perfect trip?

Julia: Most of my trips are for tour, which is one of my favorite reasons to travel. My favorite trips from the past have been leisurely road trips with people I love where we stop whenever we want to.

Julia: Any trip when I can disconnect from the digital life and disappear in nature for a bit is always ideal 

If you were someone’s life coach, what are the top 2 life lessons you’d teach them?

Julia: 1. Don’t give advice if you don’t know shit about the topic 2. Please consider someone other than Julia Bard as your life coach.

Laila: 1. Listen to your own advice 2. Let yourself be strange 

Are there any stories or anecdotes you want to share but haven’t been asked the right question to do so? Or do you have anything you’d like to declare to the world? Feel free to share…

Julia: I’d like to come out and say that I really don’t think The Hobbit needed to be 3 movies. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Laila: My grandma before she passed was losing her memory short and long term, but she was adamant that I understand that there is no time to hate people but all the time to love and be kind. I think that’s a cool thing to remember, and I think about it a lot.