What the F**k Is Glitchcore: A Conversation with Hello Mary
Hello Mary is a Brooklyn-based trio made up of Stella Wave on drums, Helena Straight on guitar, and Mikaela Opponheimer on bass. The girls are revolutionizing the modern rock grunge scene, although they prefer to specify their genre as just “rock.” In this interview, Andrea delves into Hello Mary’s newest singles, middle-aged audiences, and the peculiar labeling of subgenres.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Oh my god it’s Hello Mary. Thanks for agreeing to chat with Unpublished! First thing’s first, how did each of you get involved in music?
[HELENA:] You have a solid answer, Stella.
[STELLA:] My mom plays drums, so percussion was always around [growing up]. She also played guitar a little bit and sang and so I was always kind of in a musical household. And then I just, you know, started taking lessons in high school and really liked it and then found these guys and I've been taking it more seriously since then.
[HELENA:] Yeah, me too. My dad plays drums and some guitar so he didn't play that much when I was little but he definitely liked playing a lot of music and encouraged me to be a musician. So that's how I got into it.
[MIKAELA:] Yeah, I played jazz for many years. I played jazz bass and upright. I wasn't that into rock or anything but jazz until I met Helena basically in the eighth grade. We started playing music together. And then yeah.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you know jazz theory or did you used to?
[MIKAELA:] I did! I used to know a lot more.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Theory is exhausting. Anyway, guys. So I was thinking, do you think that being from New York gives you some sort of advantage in the rock world considering that this was the spot for rock in the 90s and early 2000s?
[HELENA:] Oh, no, I think it definitely gives us some respect. New Yorkers don't really like people that aren’t from New York. So, I'm not like from LA moving here, you know. And, if we move to LA I don't think people would be like, fuck you, you're from New York.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Totally. So what do you guys think? I read somewhere that Hello Mary was talking about how you hope that rock would bounce back into everyone's radar. Nowadays, it's kind of coming back, like Willow collaborating with Travis Barker and then Pretty Sick is like taking over New York right now. Everyone's listening to them. So what do you think of this movement of bringing rock back into the mainstream? Is it tied to anything? Does it have something to do with the pandemic, maybe?
[STELLA:] I mean, I don't know. I think the way that it's coming back is very different than… also like I don't even know if I would say it's coming back. I think it's coming back aesthetically. And, you know, I think Tik Tok sadly has a big part to do with that. Grunge fashion is really in now and, like, that type of thing is kind of mainstream now. But I don't know if I would say that, actual rock music is coming back. Um, I think maybe in certain ways it is. All of our parents were kind of young in the timeframe where alternative rock and grunge and indie rock were really popular. So I think, you know, we kind of all grew up on that type of music. So maybe that has something to do with it. I don’t think I would say that it's actually coming back.
[HELENA:] Yeah, definitely the aesthetic is back and I think there's probably some more rock fans now than some years before, but maybe I just didn't know them because I was young.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I don't know if you guys knew that CD sales rose up for the first time in like 10 years. They rose up by like, 1% - but it's still very much, “oh my god, what the fuck is happening?” People don't really buy CDs. And so it definitely has to do with this aesthetic reasoning of like, let's bring Y2K back. Let's bring the 90s back. And so it's kind of sad but at the same time, at least it's getting more exposure in a way.
[HELENA:] It's definitely a good thing. Even if it's for the wrong reasons. It's better than terrible.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I also wanted to ask you - I think Stella said once “Fuck indie rock. Fuck alt-rock. This is just rock.” So, I wanted to talk to you guys about this. What do you think about all the weird labeling that goes into subgenres? Like, what the fuck is glitch core?
[STELLA:] Yeah, I mean, I don't even know what that is. I think what I said, what you referenced, kind of sums it up. People can label themselves however they want. I'm sure that there are certain genres that we fall into and that we remind people of. But, it feels weird to just be like, oh, yeah, we're a grunge band. We're an alternative rock band. We're an indie rock band. You know, not every song is grunge. Not every song is indie rock. I don't know. I just don't like defining it too narrowly. But, you know, if people want to define themselves narrowly, then go ahead.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Yeah, that’s cool. I like that. I enjoy that. Speaking on enjoyment, Hello Mary opened for Quicksand and Pretty Sick last year. How were those experiences?
[HELENA:] It was really fun to play with both of them. Quicksand was amazing. I feel like we tend to attract middle-aged men. Just like, not physically. Like our music.
[MIKAELA:] Yeah, I feel like that was the best crowd we've had so far.
[HELENA:] Yeah, I think my favorite crowd is that kind of audience. It's like people that just like music, you know?
[STELLA:] People that actually are there to rock. I mean, it's also fun to play to young people because going to shows and listening to different kinds of music is really important for young people. And that's always fun and there's an energy there. But, yeah, the Quicksand shows were just really big shows - they were the biggest shows we’ve played. We were, obviously, opening, yet playing to that many people in such a big room was a big deal for us.
[HELENA:] Yeah and they [the audience] had no idea who we were so that was cool.
[UNPUBLISHED:] No, yeah, Quicksand is huge, guys, that must have been insane. Do you get nervous before performances or not?
[HELENA:] I was so nervous for the one in New Jersey for some reason. I was freaking out.
[STELLA:] Were you nervous?
[MIKAELA:] I wasn’t. I knew the crowd was going to be good and that they would talk with us.
[STELLA:] I was so excited.
[HELENA:] Are you from New York?
[UNPUBLISHED:] No, I’m from Puerto Rico. I just go to school here in the city.
[Helena, Stella, Mikaela:] Uuuuuuuu
[UNPUBLISHED:] Yeah, man for a second I thought your name was Elena in a Spanish accent. Anyways, guys, two new singles are out. What the hell? Are you guys excited?
[Helena, Stella, Mikaela:] Oh yeah!
[HELENA:] I’m so excited.
[UNPUBLISHED:] So these two singles, “Stinge” and “Sink In,” how do you guys feel about them? What do you want your fans to know?
[HELENA:] I hope the fans like them!
[STELLA:] They're two of my favorite songs that we have. So I'm hoping that translates to our audience. But if it doesn't, then it doesn't. It's good because the only songs we have out right now that feel really true to who we are the last two songs that we released, so just any addition to this new Hello Mary era is really exciting, you know, so it'll be fun.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I listened to them and they're insane. I'm obsessed. So I feel like people are going to be obsessed too. You actually worked with Bryce Goggin on these two singles right? How was that transition from DIY studio to now full-on decked-out professional studio? How was that experience?
[HELENA:] It's so much better. Bryce is just such a cool guy. Super, like “fatherly vibes.”
[STELLA:] He’s worked with a lot of people that we really look up to and respect. So you know, it's a good combo of like, him being really down to earth and chill and respecting our music and all that, but then also, we really respect him as a producer and engineer, so it's a good relationship.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Yeah, he's worked with bands like The Breeders, The Apples in Stereo, and Luna. He's got an insane roster going on there. And so, about these singles, are there any themes going on that you want your fans to know of?
[HELENA:] We should think of something.
[STELLA:] There has to be some stuff! I'm sure there are some hidden messages that we'll uncover if we listen to them repeatedly and think about them.
[UNPUBLISHED:] And so any merch that we should be aware of? Any CDs, records, or albums coming along?
[HELENA:] We have a huge pile of shirts in my room. We also have a new design.
[STELLA:] And maybe posters. We don’t know.
[HELENA:] And we do have an album. We literally have it.
[STELLA:] We could literally post it.
[MIKAELA:] We actually have two albums.
[STELLA:] Yeah! We have two albums that actually aren’t going to be released for a long time.
Helena: Maybe in the summer because we need to tour.
[UNPUBLISHED:] So, actually, what have you guys been listening to lately?
[HELENA:] I was just listening to The Who on the train, which is kind of weird for me. But, I’m trying to listen to albums all the way through instead of just shuffling songs. I know Mikaela does that right? And I was just talking to my parents about how I listen to one song off an album that I like, and I just never know any of the other songs on the album, and that's fucked up. That's not how it should be done.
[STELLA:] I have the same issue. But, I feel like I'm not trying to change it, which is fucked up.
[HELENA:] I think it’s weird on Spotify. You use Apple Music, Mikaela, right?
[STELLA:] Yeah, I don't. I use Spotify because I'm just a playlist girl. So that kind of makes it like, more song-based rather than album-based. But I've been listening to the people I always listen to, which is like Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Led Zeppelin, Pavement.
[MIKAELA:] I’ve been listening to MIA recently.
[STELLA:] Interesting.
[MIKAELA:] I know, right? Kind of shocking.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I brought up the music question because I was stalking you guys on Spotify and I saw the weirdest playlist names of your fans. And so I wanted to show them to you all because I thought you might find them interesting. One of them is titled, “Songs for committing arson with your titties out.”
[MIKAELA:] I actually love this. I had no idea.
[UNPUBLISHED:] And another one is, “I threw glass at my friend's eyes and now I'm on probation.”
[STELLA:] They make sense with the old vibe of music that we had, now we’re moving towards a different direction.
[HELENA:] They’re still awesome.
Stinge and Sink In by Hello Mary is available now on all platforms.
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