Atlanta-based femme-forward garage punk trio The Coathangers need little introduction after six stunning albums over the course of their career. Their 2016 LP Nosebleed Weekend still stands as one of their finest works, an album full of haunting melodies, catchy hooks, and fierce, biting lyrics.
Tomorrow, the trio are releasing a seven-inch of demos on Suicide Squeeze Records that were demoed for the Nosebleed Weekend sessions that never made it onto the final record. “Hurry” was released already as a preview, and now fans are eagerly awaiting the release of “Drifter,” a different version of a song that appeared on the Parasite EP. But now you get to hear the lost demo of “Drifter” the day before its release right here. The track, which keeps the overall energy that made Nosebleed Weekend so much fun, feels like a Coathangers’ classic that has thankfully been unearthed. Check the track out below.
We sat down with Coathangers vocalist, guitarist, and occasional drummer Julia Kugel to talk a little bit about these tracks and how they came to see the light of day after so many years.
We’re here to talk about the two demo tracks you’re releasing at the end of this month, “Hurry” and “Drifter.” I understand these were originally demoed during the sessions for Nosebleed Weekend and they never found their way onto the record. Why were they left off in the first place? And what made you want to return to them so many years later?
I’m not sure. Well, “Drifter” was released on the Parasite EP later, but in a whole different version. It’s slow. And then “Hurry,” I just don’t know it didn’t sink in. And I was playing drums on that one, and I think maybe we opted for something else. But I just remember writing and writing and writing that song, like even walking around Europe at some point and being like, whoa, should it be like this? Should it be “I have a heavy head”?
And then I was revisiting, reminiscing, and revisiting some Coathangers demos. And I found this batch of demos. And it’s funny because I sing on some of the songs that Stephanie ended up singing on and it was just this discovery through my hard drives. And I found these two songs, and I was like, “Dude, you know, why didn’t we release them? Because it would have been awesome.” So I reached out, and everyone was stoked I’m putting them out.
Does that happen a lot? Do you usually bring a few extra songs to recording session when you’re making an album?
With Coathangers? We almost always used everything, and we would be finishing stuff in the studio. So it is a very unusual thing that we had an extra song floating around. It’s pretty highly unusual. It was always a goal to be really well rehearsed and have all the songs ready to go. And then (to) have extras typically never really happened.
I know that the three of you trade off writing responsibilities. You were involved with the writing of these ones, right?
Yeah. So I played drums on “Hurry.” So that was Stephanie playing guitar, and I was singing. And, yeah, we wrote almost everything together. There’s a few songs that people brought in, but we tried to keep it really democratic, because we we split everything evenly always. So it helped with the band dynamics to have everyone involved all the time.
Do you remember how these songs came about, or what the story was behind them?
Yeah, “Hurry” was just about anxiety. “Hurry/I’m worried/It’s creepy/It’s not okay.” I think maybe I’ve just been living in a state of anxiety for a while because it relates to everything that’s happening right now. That’s why it was so nice to find it, because (of)the heaviness of political events and just the state of the world. I remember for a while there was a lot of discussion about mass shootings, school shootings. There was a whole lot of songs about those kinds of issues like guns and just feeling really out of control and being worried about where things were going. This hasn’t really changed.
It’s potentially gotten worse.
Yeah, I didn’t know it could go past 11, but it really is going past 11. And, as a juxtaposition, “Drifter” has a similar idea of floating together through this madness. But this version is a way different version. It almost is uplifting. So it’s the way the arrangement affects the message. A lot of our Coathangers songs are actually quite dark, but because they’re delivered in a more upbeat way, people always qualified us as a party band. So it’s really strange how people perceive you.
I’ve never thought of the Coathangers as a party band.
Thank you.
The songs are upbeat and catchy, but it’s obvious that the lyrics are much deeper than that. It’s not party rock.
I appreciate that. Yes, thank you very much for noticing.
Have you ever tried out these songs live? I mean, obviously one of them made it onto an EP, but I don’t know if you’ve ever tried them out at a show.
No, I don’t think so. I don’t think so. We pretty much had a set of songs. Yeah, probably never performed live. I don’t think “Drifter” either. They were some songs which just exist in the studio, because “Drifter” ended up being a slower song. Those songs we avoided in live sets because we felt like they dragged the whole thing down, because it was more an energy, (the) madness of it all. But, yeah, they only exist in these recordings, which is so special. That’s another thing about recorded music. When it was invented, it was such a special thing to capture sound. Otherwise, it only existed that one time you heard it. So, yeah, it feels very special to me, but nostalgia is just pouring all over about the band and the journey and all that.
Other than re-releases like this, I know you’ve been working on your solo material a lot. Have there been any plans for any more Coathangers, material coming out anytime soon?
It’s hard to get everyone together because we all live in different states now. So it’s hard to get everyone on the same page. We were going to work on some things, but then if we did, I think it would take forever just to get everyone on the same page. We did that cover, that L.A. Witch split. And that was the first time we worked remote. We did a cover of Blondie “One Way or Another.” And that was interesting. That was our first (time) trying to not be in the same room, because we always did everything together. And it was really pretty weird, but nice. So maybe something like that can happen, but not quite sure.
OK, so is the focus, then, on your solo stuff? Because I know you had a new album that you put out recently. I know we premiered a track.
Yes, you did. Thank you. Yeah, I just put up my second solo record. It’s called Sugaring a Strawberry. And it’s such a dream. Like I said, Coathangers never really got into slower music. And I have like 1300 phone recordings of songs, and I used to always just divide them between, OK, these are my songs. And I have another band called Soft Palms with my husband, and so I write for that. And then I have another band called Animal Self with some other people, and I write for that. So I have so many songs, and I’ve been lucky to be able to collaborate with people on their tracks and just busy body when it comes to that kind of stuff. So it’s been really, really nice to do the solo work, because then I have final say over everything. And then I get really sick of myself, and I want to work with other people and I want to have input from other people.
Is there anything else you want to plug or talk about?
Just stoked the seven-inch is coming out on Halloween, and we have the glow-in-the-dark version of the seven-inch. And Halloween is Stephanie’s favorite holiday, so it’s special in that respect. I really just believe in music, and I hope that we all know that we need to support independent artists. And I want to mention that streaming is cool, but other ways of supporting artists is better, and go to Bandcamp and buy some stuff from your favorite artists directly. That message has been heavy on my mind. Art is important, especially right now. Are you in a band, Julie?
I am not. I’ve always wanted to be, but I’ve never had the power to bring people together like that. That’s always been my problem. And I have clumsy fingers with the guitar.
There’s always bass, bigger strings. Gotta start a band. Everyone’s gotta start a band and say something. We need to hear your voice.
Well, thank you so much for your time. I’m such a big fan of the Coathangers, and it was so nice to meet you.
So nice to meet you, too. Have a great day. See your band soon.
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The seven-inch is out tomorrow and you can preorder it from Suicide Squeeze Records. Follow the Coathangers on Instagram and Twitter for future updates.
