MIXI OF STITCHED UP HEART EXPLORES NEW 'TO THE WOLVES' ALBUM

I'm music magazine, stitched up heart, mixi, alicia denmer, to the wolves, mitchell marlow, craig mabbitt, escape the fate, Powerline Management, godsmack, sully erna, rockstar supernova, tommy lee

Stitched Up Heart began 13 years ago and so much has happened in this crazy world during that time. The band went from being an indie band with numerous personnel changes, battling it out in the musical trenches out on the road to getting signed with Century Media Records. They’re toured with the likes of In This Moment, Godsmack and Halestorm. They’re about to drop their third studio album on 9/1 entitled To The Wolves. It’s a bit of a return to roots record with the band reaching back and tapping into their heavier, darker roots from their indie days. We were able to steal a few minutes of lead singer Alecia “Mixi” Denmer’s time. She was in between packing for their tour with Escape The Fate and feeding kittens that she is fostering which has become another passion of hers.

The last time that we talked was for the release of your last album Darkness which happened during Covid and everything was under lockdown. This time, things are a little bit different. To The Wolves drops next week (9/1) so I’m sure you are super excited to get this released onto the world.

Mixi/Stitched Up Heart: This one was a lot of fun to do. We really zoned in on exactly what we wanted to do for a new beginning. It was very focused and we knew we wanted to go back to the heavier roots from when we first put the band together but not so much, maybe a more grown up version. I kept the word fierce in my head for every writing session. I wanted it to be just human emotion elements, but the last one was so introspective and sad and isolated. This is angrier and out for blood and ready for vengeance (laughs).

What I have heard so far is definitely a return to roots and a bit darker too. You also seem to stretching your vocals out a bit more. Given your surgery that you had, was this a difficult thing for you to do?

Yeah man, every day is a struggle with my vocals but I’m too stubborn to not keep going and not work my butt off to maintain. The reason I didn’t scream as much on the last record was because I was scared to push my voice because I had just had the surgery. Even at the beginning of the record was challenging because I couldn’t close my vocal cords together on notes. I’ve worked my whole life for this and it’s the only thing that I can picture myself doing. It was like taking the rug right out from beneath me so I didn’t know what else to do and I still don’t (laughs). On this record I feel stronger and I have been working really hard on my voice. I didn’t hold back and I wasn’t as fearful of hurting myself. I just had to give it my all and I just felt the need to scream and that’s what came out.

I bet it felt good.

It really did and little things always go wrong in a set and how you respond to that is how you recover. What I usually do is just go crazy and scream (laughs). It’s super fun and I really enjoy it and it’s real easy for me. I did push it a little harder in the studio, but live it’s just like second nature.

When you very first started preparing for the album, was tapping back into your roots intentional or did it just kind of turn into like an organic thing and create a life of its own?

We worked with Mitchell Marlow, who we did half of Never Alone with. We have a really good chemistry with him as far as writing and we’re always on the same page. We didn’t work with him on the last record so you can tell it’s a little different. One of the first songs we wrote we knew this was the lane and we wanted to stay in that. Our guitarist was writing and writing and writing and I’m super picky on musical structures and stuff like that. Once it got to the studio, we really only had about 15 songs for the record and almost every one of them made the cut.

You’re about to go out on tour with Escape The Fate and you have a song on the new album called “To The Wolves” which is with Craig Mabbitt of Escape The Fate. Where did that connection happen?

We have the same management company, Powerline Management. They also have Escape The Fate, Butcher Babies, Gemini Syndrome, Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf. Our management set up a writing session for us to do with their guitarist Kevin Thrasher. We wrote “To The Wolves” in like two hours; it was crazy how fast we wrote it! There’s another one that we did with him, a very vampirely song. After we wrote “To The Wolves,” he said it would be great if Craig was featured on it. So our manager Zach hit him up and he was totally down. I think our manager just pushed really hard to get us on that tour. Most of that is just keeping it in the family.

That tour is one of those where you go to the bathroom when you first get there because you don’t want to miss a minute of the show.

I’m very excited to watch every single band on this one so it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m going to be a little more outgoing and out there and I think I’m going to go out to merch for the first time since about 2019 maybe 18. The whole thing shut down and I didn’t want to get sick on the road. Now I’m going to go out in between our set and the next set. I’m going to try to mingle and hang out and do like we used to do back in the day before Covid.

How long of a set do you get?

We have a 25-minute set which is about six songs. We’re going to play three new ones because I just can’t wait to play them because they’re really fun live. If anybody is listening wants us to play “Is This The Way You Get To Hell,” it’s just not happening. We are going to play some darkness and never alone songs on well so it’s 50/50.

Was that a tough setlist to narrow it down to?

We’ve never had this problem because this is just our third full length. When we just had two records it’s easier, but with three it gets a little tough. You want to play all your new stuff because you’re so excited. You’ve been playing the old songs for so long. I’m not going to lie; I just said we’re going to play these songs and I don’t care. I really want to play these new ones because they are so fun.

This is the first run for the new album and they’ll be another run and, fingers crossed, a headline which means a longer set and more songs.

We haven’t headlined since 2017 so it’s a long time overdue but we are thinking about doing one sometime next year. We’ll do a couple more support tours and see what we’re worth (laughs). We’ll see if anyone comes out; if two people show up I’ll be happy (laughs). It’s interesting anytime we do a headliner because we’re so used to opening for bands that are a lot bigger. It’s their audience and when we do a headliner everyone is singing your songs so it’s really awesome to do.

Maybe somewhere along those dates Craig will come out and do the song with you kind of like Sully (Erna) did on “Lost” when you were out on the road with Godsmack.

I hope but I’m not going to push it; I’m just stoked to be out on tour. I’m too shy to ask but if he came up to me and asked if I wanted to. Obviously we would love him up there but I don’t want to push it. I’m very grateful that they took us out.

What was the toughest part of making this album? Does anything stand out?

There is one song on the album that I fought to not put on the album because I don’t like it and I don’t think it fits the rest of the record. I’m not always right and I have my own personal preferences. I didn’t write this song so maybe that I don’t have an attachment to that song is part of the reason. The people who wrote it are awesome, but I just don’t feel like it vibes with the rest of the album. I’m curious to see if anybody figures out which one that is.

Oh, now I’m definitely curious.

You’ll know when you hear it. You’ll be like this doesn’t make sense.

We’re in this short attention span world. You know everyone’s always looking ahead to the next Netflix series to watch before they finish the one they’re on. Is there anything lined up after this tour that you can mention?

I’m not at liberty to discuss it but obviously there are tours. There is festival conversation and stuff like that are in the works and once I’m allowed to announce it I will do that but I can’t really talk about it yet.

Yes, nothing like a good teaser! The band formed in 2010, so you’ve been doing this for 13 years. That’s a long time considering a lot of bands don’t last that long.

I’m just crazy I guess; I’m just too stubborn to quit (laughs). It’s not an easy industry and it’s very challenging especially these days. If it was the 90s, it would be like ‘hey here’s a million dollars to make another record’ and everyone would be rolling in the money but it’s a very different in the streaming world. It’s not an easy road but I feel like in anything you do in life you just have to follow your heart. 13 years is a long freaking time and hopefully one day it will break and we will be free sailing. I feel like we’re fighting an uphill battle but I must really love it. (laughs).

You keep on being stubborn! That proverbial towel that people throw in should be nowhere in existence.

All towels must go (laughs).

Do you still do kitten rescues?

Yes, I am up to 97 kittens that I have fostered. I have three kittens in the downstairs bathroom; two are eating food and weaning. One is about three weeks old so he is still on the bottle. I have to give him back to the rescue in a couple of weeks and they should almost be ready for adoption then. I can’t not do it; it’s just a part of me.

I love that about you and the huge, caring heart that you have. I see it’s about time to wrap this up, but before we go we must work in our Three For The Road segment of fun questions. What posters did you have on your wall while growing up?

I had a Nirvana poster, a Sublime poster, a Nine Inch Nails poster and a Bob Marley poster. I had an eclectic mix of posters. I had a point where I just covered my whole wall poster to poster and you couldn’t even see the wall anymore.

What was your very first tattoo and did it have a meaning?

I got, of course, the tramp stamp. It was at a tattoo party; I drew up this whale tail little thing that I did in my art class in high school. I wasn’t quite old enough to get one but it was a tattoo party so I decided to get around the ID part of that. I was actually so nervous that I found some whiskey and chugged it. I did two lines and he was like yeah you can’t get anymore and then I passed out so I just had these like a diamond for like a second. Then I went to a couple of shops and I finally found somewhere that would finish it. I just went to them forever since I didn’t have to give him my ID. So mine was the infamous tramp stamp; always a good first one (laughs).

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Tommy Lee, when I first moved to LA the only person I cared to meet was Tommy Lee. I ended up working on the show Rockstar Supernova; I was a production assistant on the show. It was such a cool show; you had Gilby Clark, Jason Newsted, Carmen Electra, and Dave Navarro. There were just so many cool people. I just thought Tommy was so cute and I avoided him like the plague. Then I got stuck on a couple of elevators and there was this awkward silence. I will forever remember that! I’m not crushing on the man anymore but he was definitely my first period

I’m super jealous that you not only got to see but meet Danny Elfman!

That was insane and not expected! Our guitar player Merritt’s (Goodwin) sister is an actress and her boyfriend is a director and he’s friends with Luis Guizman ,the Dad in Wednesday. He had some extra tickets and she asked if we wanted to go to the show period. Our guitar player is also big in film composing and scoring, that’s where his real heart and passion is. So going to see him was awesome, but I didn’t realize that we got hooked up with VIP backstage. They had us line up and we’re used to backstage but this is Danny Elfman. The publicist came up to us and said ‘he’s right over there. Why are you over here? Go over there and talk to him.’ I started talking to him about tattoos a little bit. He just turned 70 and the guy is ripped. He grew out his hair over the pandemic and tattooed himself like crazy. I would have loved to have talked to him longer but they were so many people waiting to talk to him. Maybe one day we will need again. He’s a cool dude; his birthday is the day before mine so that’s cool. We’re both weird

Vanilla’s okay, but weird makes the world go around.

I have no idea what flavor I am at this point (laughs).

And on that mystery, we shall come to a close. It’s one week until the release of To The Wolves and then your tour starts with Escape The Fate. It’s about to get crazy busy for you guys, but I know that’s how you love it. Thanks again for your time Mixi; it’s always a pleasure talking to you.

Thank you Johnny and for all of the years of support.

I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price