myveronica’s mia lin on riot grrrl ethos and the power of spoken word in their new single “calf”
The front woman of the alt-rock foursome puts poetry in motion on their latest track, getting to scream her heart out on stage in the process
Los Angeles band MyVeronica makes 90’s-style rock that pairs distorted guitars with moments of contemplative reflection. On the new single, “Calf,” singer/guitarist Mia Lin pushes the band’s signature dreamy sound in a heavier direction. Recorded in Downtown Los Angeles by Paul Larson (Strictly Ballroom, Datamaps), “Calf” finds MyVeronica stepping outside their bedroom studio and achieving huge guitar tones, piercing vocals and heavy drum sounds like never before. Despite its heavier sound, “Calf” retains the thoughtful lyricism and enchanting fuzz of their 2023s debut EP I Can Carry It All.
Lin says of the track, “Calf is an exploration in contrast— hard and soft, loud and quiet, life and death. I wanted to explore the ways that these contrasting parts inform each other. We buried a bunch of guitar noise and feedback under the main instrumental of the song to create a sonic duality that explores this idea further…summing up to create the feeling of ebbing and flowing throughout the song.”
The single references Laura Gilpin‘s “Two Headed Calf” poem as a metaphor for the beauty and brevity of life. Whispered like a prayer, the verses describe the solitude of a short life lived in peace and beauty. The vocals dance upon layers of twinkling guitar and feedback, creating a noisy atmosphere to get lost in.
The chorus provides sharp, screaming contrast. The refrain “The stars are twice as bright,” misappropriates Gilpin’s famous line, “there are twice as many stars as usual,” to deepen the meaning: our existence is made rich by its duality. Lin screams the chorus with intensity, simultaneously giving thanks for life and cursing its inevitable end.
MyVeronica front woman Mia Lin graciously answered our questions about how Riot Grrrl works itself into the band’s identity, the stylistic choices behind the polar opposite spoken word verses and screamed chorus, and her interpolation of the poem that inspired the song to give it new meaning.
First, MyVeronica is an awesome name, and fits perfectly with the Riot Grrrl and nineties grunge/guitar rock vibe you all are inspired by and infuse into your music. Where did it come from?
Thank you! The name comes from a lot of different places but the short version is that it came to me when I was really into watching Veronica Mars, a TV show from the early 2000s. I also like that it follows the format of My Bloody Valentine and MyMelody from Hello Kitty. It’s possessive, it’s MY Veronica when I’m writing the songs and it becomes yours when you listen to the music. It’s something we share, it belongs to everyone in different ways.
You guys formed not too long ago in 2021. In this short time, how has your relationship to each other as collaborators, songwriters, and friends changed along with your sound?
Since I started MV in 2021, we’ve had a lot of different people play in the band. We’ve had the current lineup for about a year: Charlie Havenick on drums, Hovhannes Tamrazyan on bass, Tristin Souvannarath on guitar and me on guitar and vocals. We have some other friends who play with us occasionally too. Being in a band with some of my closest friends is awesome, music is so important to all of our lives and we connect deeply over it. We share a lot of the same favorite bands so it’s easy for us to find musical points of reference that shape our sound. Tristin especially always puts me on to great bands and knows exactly what I mean when I’m trying to describe a guitar idea. Playing music together is so special. With this band I try to express the deepest parts of myself and I feel so lucky to do it with the help of such genuine and talented people. I’m also very inspired by all of my bandmates’ other bands: Friend’s House, A Brighter Summer, and Charlie’s solo project. The overlap between all of our bands is cool because we influence each other and get into the same music at the same time.
You’ve said that an era of rock music that has heavily inspired you is the Riot Grrrl movement of the nineties; if you could go on tour with any band from that movement, who would it be?
That’s so tough! I’m definitely more inspired by the DIY ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement than the music, but I would have loved to be at some of those shows in the 90’s. If I had to pick one 90’s band, it would be The Breeders. Everything Kim Deal touches is gold. I’ve been loving that so many of my favorite bands of the 90’s have been doing 30th anniversary tours and playing albums in their entirety. I’ve been able to see Liz Phair, The Breeders, Sunny Day Real Estate, Built To Spill and so many of my favorite bands play my favorite albums.
All lyricism is poetry in a sense, but I love the spoken word style with which you deliver the verses on “Calf”, and it reminded me a lot of people like Patti Smith and Bikini Kill. What inspired that choice? Was it wanting to try something new stylistically, did that style better compliment the lyrics being derived from an actual poem, or something else?
When I wrote “Calf,” I was going to hardcore shows and getting very influenced by skramz bands like Saetia and Your Arms are My Cocoon. I wanted to make a song with a screaming chorus and the spoken word verse felt like a perfect compliment to it. There’s something so evocative about speaking over music, it pulls you in and makes you listen. Slint is a perfect example of that, so many of their songs have spoken vocals just barely peeking up above the instruments and it captivates me every time. The song itself is influenced by Laura Gilpin’s “Two-Headed Calf” poem. That poem always hits me right in the heart and I wanted to make a song that captures the same feeling. I changed some of the words from her poem to emphasize the duality of its themes: life and death, solitude and togetherness, beginning and ending. I like that this song is a complete sonic departure from our other music but still makes sense within the whole MyVeronica universe.
The beauty of guitar music is how it’s meant to be played live – how has performing “Calf” live been, and is it a different experience than performing your other songs? How has the crowd reaction been (I imagine it’s great for moshing)?
Performing “Calf” is so cathartic for me. I get to scream and make noise and exorcize everything inside me. A lot of our other songs are mellower so it’s a moment of release in the set where we get to play harder and faster. We lean into the quiet/loud dynamics and noisy feedback when we play it live. I expected people to mosh during the song since it’s energetic, but the thing I’ve actually heard multiple times is that it made people cry in the audience. I guess there’s just something raw about it that makes people emotional. I feel lucky to have that moment of catharsis everytime we play, it’s good to scream often.
And lastly, a question I am obliged to ask, what is the last meme you have saved in your phone?
about myveronica
Inspired by 90’s rock, shoegaze, and emo, MyVeronica began as the solo project of singer/guitarist Mia Lin. Now a four-piece band, MyVeronica is still an outlet for “exploring the deeply personal through the universal,” shares Lin. The band seeks catharsis and exorcism: accessing the deep, sensitive part of yourself that doesn’t have space in daily life.
MyVeronica embodies the DIY ethos of 90’s riot grrrl scenes and the grassroots movements that came before them. Formed as a group in 2021 in order to play a Halloween show, the band has cut its teeth in the Los Angeles DIY scene surrounding UCLA. The band continues to play independent shows all over Los Angeles. Along with digital music releases, MyVeronica has put out tapes, multiple zines, self-produced music videos, a special edition CD, handmade merch, and more, all available on the band’s Bandcamp page and at live shows.
MyVeronica is Mia Lin (vocals/guitar), Tristin Souvannarath (guitar), Hovhannes Tamrazyan (bass), Charlie Havenick (drums).