In this week's People Issue, Steve Haruch interviewed the very rad Bleed the Pigs frontwoman Kayla Phillips about everything from tinnitus to the importance of talking about race in the hard-rock music scene. We could only fit a small excerpt in print, but Phillips had so many great things to say that it's worth sharing more of their conversation online. Read on to see what Phillips has to say about her band's recognition, how their upcoming material has evolved and how noise music helps her deal with anxiety and tinnitus.
You've got some new stuff you're getting ready to put out, and you said it feels a little different because [Bleed the Pigs is getting] more attention than before. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Yeah, before, when we started the band, I just wanted to play heavy music. I didn't really expect anyone to pay attention and listen. But it kind of took off right away, really fast, thanks to Tumblr; that's where a lot of our fans come from. And then we got in Spin. And now, it's like the entire world is looking and judging. At the end of the day, if I like it, there's nothing you can say about that — I like listening to it. But still, there's people you want to like it. It's a little scary, but I think it's some of our best stuff. I think we've grown, and we're trying new things.
What would you say is different about it?
I mean, it's not extremely different. But our older stuff mixed a lot of different genres, like hardcore, grindcore — now it's a little bit more on the grind side, so it's really fast. And then we have this one song that's just really doomy and slow, and just, like, nasty. I love it, it has a lot of noise. I finally get to do things with all my pedals. It's really cool. I think everyone's going to enjoy it. I do a lot of different vocal ranges this time, too.
So you're going faster and slower?
Yes! I don't know how we do it. In that doom song, it literally starts off so slow and then stops, and then switches to extremely fast, and then goes back into slow and noisy. I don't know if you saw the Nirvana covers that we did ... the "Endless Nameless" one was an inspiration, how it's chaotic and noisy at the end. Kind of like that.
And you've also been doing a side project that's on the noise-noise end, right?
Yeah, just straight-on, heavy noise. I have pulsatile tinnitus in my right ear, so I named it Pulsatile Tinnitus, because it only made sense. It's a weird genre for people to get into because it's not necessarily even a genre. It's just different noises. But I was able to pick up the guitar and try to learn it, and add that to make it ambient. And it helps a lot of people. Like, they've come to me and said it helps with their anxiety, helps them calm down. And that's what it does for me, like when we're on the road. I have a phobia of being in cars, so touring is really stressful! But listening to white noise and different noises really helps me zone out and get through it.
Interesting. So there's sort of a therapeutic aspect to that project?
Yes, yeah there really is. You'd expect it to drive you crazy and make you want to, like, bash your head in. I'm sure that's what my mom would do. [Laughs] But for me, it really is therapeutic. Even doing it is therapeutic, because you kind of almost never really know what's going to come next when you move your pedal or move your knob. I don't know. I really do enjoy it. You get to get a bunch of different new pedals and connect them and try them out, and they all just come into a wave, and even on one of the songs that I recorded, my amp had picked up a radio signal, so it's just in there at the beginning, and it just fit perfectly. It's really cool.
Is that a common thing, if you have pulsatile tinnitus, that white noise helps alleviate the symptoms, or is that sort of unique to you, do you think?
I'm not sure. I don't know how many people like to actually listen to what is bothering them in their ear all day, but for me, it's like, I can't just sit in silence because then it just gets louder and you focus on it. But having other noises that are coming from somewhere that's not directly in your head, I think it just tunes out the one that you're always hearing. It helps mine out.
