Interview: Muncie Girls
Muncie Girls
Exeter Pop-Punk Trio Muncie Girls (Lande Hekt, Luke Ellis, and Dean McMullen) released their brilliant and critically acclaimed debut album ‘From Caplan To Belsize’ earlier this year. Since then they have played some of Europes biggest festivals alongside a solo tour. I spoke to Luke to find out more…
Hi Muncie Girls, if you wouldn’t mind introducing yourselves…
Hey, my name is Luke and I play drums.
Are there any particular artists you would say have influenced you as a band?
There are lots of artists that have influenced us as a band, but not just one in particular. We all grew up on punk rock so there are numerous styles and eras of punk bands that have influenced us collectively and as individuals in various ways. Too many to try and mention.
You released ‘From Caplan To Belsize’ earlier this year, it’s great to hear a record with meaningful and political lyrics these days, how did you find writing the album?
The album came together quite easily in the writing process. Lande writes the lyrics and we all arrange and create the songs together through various methods. We would only ever write songs about issues that are real for us and feelings that are relevant to our lives. The lyrical content and sound of the album is just what came out naturally for us in that period of time.
Speaking of the album, it has received great praise from both critics and fans, how does that feel?
The album has been received unbelievably well. All we wanted to do was to write a bunch of songs that we love and are proud of. We felt that we achieved this after the recording process so we never really thought about anything beyond that. We have been truly shocked and humbled by the response from the album and it means a lot to us to know that people seem to have related to it in some way.
You’ve got a big headline tour planned for the end of the year including an Exeter homecoming gig, you must be excited?
Yes! It's been a long time since we've done a full UK headline tour so I'm both excited and nervous to see how it all pans out. I always feel a bit more pressure playing on home turf for some reason. I think this is because you feel like you have more to prove playing to people you know and care about. Which is obviously nonsense. I cant wait none the less.
You’ve had a very busy year so far, what’s been some of the highlights?
This year has been intense. Amazing, but intense. We will have had no more than a week off touring between March and mid August. We've done some amazing things like playing festivals such as Download, Groezrock, 2000 Trees, The Great Escape and there’s more to come! We've toured with some great bands and seen / made so many friends along the way. Playing shows is the main reason we play in this band so we've been very lucky.