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Vita |
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No More Dysphoria
Interview Hit Like A Girl |
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A queer perspective on women in pop culture |
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Foto: Gia na Ca liolo Interview: Christine Stonat 1/2020
weird-Interview-Steckbrief (in eigenen Worten / in own words)
Name: Nicolle Maroulis Age: 28 Profession: Server Place Of Living: Montclair, NJ My weirdeste Characteristic: I almost exclusively back up into parking spots every time; never head first.
Singles: Hit Like A Girl „No More Dysphoria“ + „It‘s Not Me“ Out: seit Oktober/November 2019
Hit Like A Girl ist das Indie-Pop-Projekt von Nicolle Maroulis (28) aus New Jersey. Nicolle Maroulis sind non-binary und queer, Pronomen: they/them. Neben der Musik betreiben Nicolle Maroulis die Non-Profit-Organisation No More Dysphoria. Die Erlöse gehen an trans*, non-binary und gender non-conforming Personen, um ihnen finanziell durch alle Aspekte der Transition und anderes mehr zu helfen. „No More Dysphoria“, so heißt auch einer der beiden neuen Songs von Hit Like A Girl. Ebenso wie der zweite Song „It‘s Not Me“ ist „No More Dysphoria“ erschienen im Herbst 2019. Nach ihrem Debut 2017 sollen die beiden neuen Singles die Vorboten zu einem neuen Album sein. Und das wird ein sehr persönliches Album, so wie der Song „No More Dysphoria“, in dem Nicolle Maroulis erstmals über das eigene Non-Binary-Sein singen. Dysphoria, auf Deutsch Dysphorie, beschreibt den Leidensdruck aufgrund von körperlichem, psychischem oder sozialem Unwohlsein. Bei trans* und non-binary Personen tritt dies häufiger auf z. B. in Bezug auf das Nichtübereinstimmen von Geschlechtsidentität und Körpermerkmalen oder sozial erwarteter Geschlechterrolle. Wie sich das anfühlt, wie alles mit der Musik überhaupt anfing, wer oder was noch hinter dem DIY-Projekt Hit Like A Girl steckt, wie stark die Bande zu anderen Bands und Künstler_innen aus der Region um Philadelphia sind, das und mehr erzählen Nicolle Maroulis aka Hit Like A Girl im aktuellen weird-Interview. Hier im Original in englischer Sprache veröffentlicht. Hit Like A Girl spielen am 14., 15. und 16. Februar 2020 drei Konzerte in den USA.
Online: https://hitlikeagirl.bandcamp.com
weird: You are a songwriter, singer, guitarist - when and how did your musical career start?
Hit Like A Girl: I started learning how to play music at a very young age! I didn’t actually start pursuing it as a career though until about 2014. I started performing music as a solo singer-songwriter, but hated being on stage alone (still do), and gave up for a little bit. I was usually pretty shy about showing my songs to people, and I don’t really know what changed exactly but one day that flip switched and I was ready to put myself out there again.
weird: Your musical work today is promoted by Jamie Coletta who is promoting mostly bands from and around Philadelphia. Among them the well-known The Wonder Years from Philadelphia. You are living in nearby New Jersey near New York City. Are you connected with other musicians Jamie is promoting?
Hit Like A Girl: Yes!! So Jamie has worked with, and continues to work with SO MANY of my favorite bands. The No Earbuds lineup is damn near perfect, but just to name a few that I love a lot are Kississippi, worlds greatest dad, Jupiter Styles, Ratboys, Chris Farren, Dogleg, Prince Daddy and the Hyena, John-Allison Weiss, Calicoco, etc.
weird: Do you have any musical influences from artists, bands particularly from that Philadelphia and New Jersey area or other influences?
Hit Like A Girl: Absolutely! So I think I draw a lot of influence from Philadelphia bands such as Kississippi, Petal, Tigers Jaw (Philly adjacent), Hop Along, Cayetana, etc. Some New Jersey bands I draw influence from are Fire is Motion, Forth Wanderers, and Mandancing.
weird: Hit Like A Girl is you, a drummer friend and some guest musicians you invite to join you here and there. Who did you get involved for the new two songs?
Hit Like A Girl: Yeah, this band has just accidentally become a collective of sorts. I have musicians jumping in and out for various different tours and stuff. When it comes to the initial songwriting, it’s almost always just been me, my friend Frederick Pruden, and our friend Levi Miller (Boyd, Blue Heaven, Threads). For the song No More Dysphoria, it was us three, and for the song It's Not Me, I wrote that mostly by myself but had some help from Ryan Hillsinger (who also helped produce it at AGL Sounds in New Brunswick, NJ).
weird: After your independent album debut “You Make Sense” 2017 you released two new songs in fall 2019. Your latest song is called ”It’s Not Me” which is out since November 2019. Will these songs lead to a new second album?
Hit Like A Girl: Yes! We are definitely recording new stuff at Headroom in Philadelphia in the beginning of April (2020, Author’s note).
weird: ”It’s Not Me” is a song about a relationship with a wom_an that is drifting apart instead of leading to a marriage as hoped. Is this a true personal story?
Hit Like A Girl: Yeah, this was one of my first attempts at writing a super specific story based song lyrically and I was really nervous to do that. I was thinking no one could connect with it if it was so super specific to me, but yeah a lot of the lyrics are based on what happened. Long story short, I was in a serious relationship with someone, we lived together in Tampa, Florida, she got a dog, we had a little apartment, she wanted so many more things than I was able to give her, and we had our rough patches of course as all relationships do.
weird: In October 2019 you released the song ”No More Dysphoria” which is a very personal story of you. You are non-binary and you say that one day you feel 100 % like a binary cis woman, the other day 100 % like a binary man. What does putting your story into a song and singing and playing it out to the people mean to you?
Hit Like A Girl: We haven’t played it live just yet! I don't have a permanent enough of a lineup to have been able to figure out logistics about how to bring the song to a live set yet. I also am sort of scared to play it live. I am worried more people won’t relate to it, and not be able to keep their attention if we were playing it live, I don’t know. That might just be anxiety talking. Releasing it was the first big step. I’m still pretty anxious about have done that.
weird: No More Dysphoria is not only the name of your new song it is also the name of the non-profit organization run by you. With this you help trans and non-binary individuals financially mostly through different aspects of their transitions. When and why did you found this organization?
Hit Like A Girl: I founded the organization about four years ago. I was talking to one of my only trans friends at that time, and she had come up with the idea and told me about it. When she finished talking I remember just immediately feeling like, “Yes. Let me help you with this. I love this.” We had a little group of us in the very beginning, but as time went on and the more and more serious we were getting about it, she dropped out the group in fear of outing herself. I asked her if I may continue on, and she gave me her blessing, and it’s been mostly me ever since. I have some help from friends every now and then, but not every day. I decided to keep this alive because not only do I love helping people, but I also understand the pain involved with living in a body that doesn’t feel like your own, and if there's something I’m able to do to prevent people from feeling that pain even if it’s only .000001 % so than it’s worth it to me to do.
weird: You were able to raise about 4000 Dollars first year, I guess. How do you work to raise awareness for your work and the needs of trans and non-binary people?
Hit Like A Girl: First of all, if it wasn’t for everyones’ generous and kind donations to No More Dysphoria, there would literally be no way any thing we have accomplished would be possible so I just want to thank each and every person who has ever helped in some way at all. Our primary source of fundraising besides donations, is me selling merchandise items at my bands’ DIY shows. We have wall flags, shirts, stickers, etc. for sale at our shows. I also get invited to bigger artists’ shows to table and sell merch there. Some bands we have worked with in the past include but are not limited to Foxing, Prince Daddy and The Hyena, Kississippi, Caroline Rose, La Dispute, Gouge Away, Slow Mass, Adult Mom, Mom Jeans, Mover Shaker, Koji, Petal, and Coping Skills.
weird: Being non-binary, being a musician, being head of an organization – how do you want your own story to go on this year, in the next years?
Hit Like A Girl: This is probably the hardest question of all because I can’t remember the last time I sat down and thought about MYSELF. I just got into a new relationship and I don’t know it’d be nice to see her and I blossom this year and maybe go on an actual real vacation that isn’t tour related.
weird: Writing, playing live, recording, listening – is music helping through and healing for you?
Hit Like A Girl: I’ve recently fallen under this idea that I HAVE to write music FOR people to hear, for labels to hear, for marketing and PR agents to hear, that I will make a career off of, etc. That pressure and weight has made me terrified to pick up a guitar just for fun. When I’m able to get myself to snap out of that mindset when I do sit down to write, THAT’S when making music becomes healing for me. When I am able to let go of the ridiculous notion that every thing I create has to be FOR something.
weird: You will be on tour in the US in February 2020. Will you be solo, as a duo or with a band, and what are you most looking for being on tour?
Hit Like A Girl: We are only doing a little 3 day weekend tour in February with our friends in a band called Proper. That will be a full band tour! We are then going to soon announce tour dates in March to/from SXSW and that will be a 3 week full band tour with our friends in a band called Short Fictions.
I’m not sure if the question is supposed to be asking what am I looking forward to the most being on tour but to answer that I am looking forward to not being at my day job for a little bit, and sleeping in a different place every night because that means I will get very good sleep finally.
Interview: Christine Stonat 1/2020 Photo: Gi ana Ca liolo |
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Ausgabe Nr. 143 Februar 2020 |
