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) 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!).

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

What is it about Chicago that pleases you?

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

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

Whippets

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

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.

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

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.

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…

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.