Stitched Up Heart was birthed out of heartbreak and emotion in 2010 by Alecia ‘Mixi’ Demner, with the intent of turning a positive spin on some of our darkest thoughts and feelings in life. Since their inception the band has been grinding to get to bigger and bigger stages. The band is getting ready for a big 2020, that is set to see them hit the festival circuit with the release of their upcoming album Darkness due to be released in March. I had an opportunity to speak with Mixi during the Cleveland stop of their latest tour supporting Steel Panther. It was great to get a more personal look into how the band composes their music and a look into the inspiration from which Mixi pulls to write songs for the band.
GA: Can you tell me how the band started?
Mixi: I put this band together in 2010 out of musical heartbreak. I was an artist with Geffen Records for a minute, and they dropped me. I ran home from LA to Florida (where I am originally from), to my mom and was like, “I don’t think I can do this music thing, it’s too hard.” She told me I had to finish what I started and to go back out there. So, I did! I decided to stitch up my heart and put a band together, that envisioned the music and the vocals, and the message I wanted to portray.
GA: The band released This Skin on November 29th, what can you tell me about the record?
Mixi: We produced the record with Matt Good, he did the Asking Alexandria’s recent record and has worked with Hollywood Undead, and Sleeping with Sirens. He is amazing. Lyrically: the lyrics for the new album are very introspected. I like to pull from deep dark vulnerable feelings; the places people don’t talk about and try to bring these ideas to light, and hopefully turn it into a positive message in the end. Musically: we wrote 70 songs for this record. We really tried to throw paint against the wall to see what would stick. This is our sophomore album, so it is important to us. It wasn’t until we had the last eleven or so songs written that we ended up keeping for the album. I finally dialed in what I wanted to say and dialed in the sound. We are really happy with it.
GA: I was listening to the This Skin album on the way to the show and listening to the lyrics. It feels like a very melancholy album at first, very heartfelt. Then you have songs like ‘Warrior” on the album, where it is more uplifting, shows you have a little bit of everything in the emotional spectrum on there.
Mixi: I went through a lot when we were writing this record, so I pulled from life experiences. I tried to bring it to a positive note, but obviously I can’t always do that. I think I am married to my problems. Lyrically it makes sense to me to pull from these feelings. With Warrior, it is more so about what happens after you come home from the war, the ptsd, and feelings of what you were doing out there, was it right and the things you could never talk about. That’s what that song sums up. It has a strength in it, to push through.
GA: In your opinion what are some of your personal highlights on the new album, and in what ways do you feel like the band has grown from previous releases?
Mixi: I think every album is like an evolution. I never want to write the same record. We could have easily done that, and not write 70 songs. For this album, we wanted to modernize the sound. I think we found a place that we are happy with creatively and we just went down that road. This is not what Stitched Up Heart is always going to sound like, but this is what we wanted this album to sound like. There are songs all over the map on this album. There are totally different genres almost, a lot of cross genre styled songs.
GA: It sounds like it is a snapshot in time for the band.
Mixi: Yea. I don’t know what will happen for the next record; but when you know it feels right, you just go with it at that time.
GA: The band also released the single Lost featuring Sully Erna of Godsmack, what was it like to work with Sully?
Mixi: Oh man I love that guy! He is the coolest dude ever! He really helped us out. We have been friends for a couple of years; we got thrown together in a writing session and just grew a friendship. He has always been about helping the underdog. We didn’t even have a booking agent when they took us out on tour. Sully fought for us to get on that bill with Godsmack and Volbeat. He really went to bat for us, and I think it shows his character. We are super grateful that he wanted to help us out.
GA: I remember the early days of Godsmack and they kept grinding and grinding. It is awesome to see that now he is like, let’s bring someone else along.
Mixi: That’s how he pays it forward. He just helps the little man out, because people helped him along the way.
GA: Can you tell me a little about how the band composes a song?
Mixi: It varies, usually Merritt and I will go into the studio and our A&R guy will set us up with a producer so we can see if the chemistry will mix. In our band, the producer helps bring out something else in us when recording. It took awhile till we found the right guy, and Matt Good ended up being that guy. We will start with some music, some guitar riffs. Then I will hum over it while the band is making the music part of things. I will then come up with the words, usually I will have a concept of what I want to sing about first. Sometimes that changes drastically, it just depends on what is going on. I will have an idea of what I want the song to be about. I like to start with the chorus as the concept, and then take a storytelling approach in the verses and how it will lead up to the chorus, with a little twist in the bridge.
GA: When did you start playing music and getting into singing?
Mixi: In grade school we had a recorder class. I remember loving that class so much, maybe because there was a cute boy in it. In middle school I decided to take band, and I played the tuba for three years. I thought it was the weirdest instrument, and it was bigger than me. I thought it was so cool. When I got into high school, they told me I would have to carry this big thing on Friday night football games, and I had to say I’m done. I picked up the guitar at fifteen. I had a boyfriend that was in an emocore band, and when they would be done practicing, I would play with all their instruments. My dad got me my first guitar lessons for my fifteenth birthday. Recently he just picked up that guitar out of the closet, and (he is about to retire) he tells me he wants to now learn how to play guitar. By doing this he inspired me to pick the guitar back up. This is the first tour we’ve done in nine years since I have played guitar onstage. So, it has been really fun.
GA: Are there any pre-show rituals or warmups you all like to do before playing live?
Mixi: I do a vocal warmup that I learned from taking lessons, I had a great teacher. I take about fifteen minutes just to warm up my voice. I am drinking tea right now just to keep it warm. I will take my keyboard and go through every note that I am going to sing for the night. I will try to close the chords in those areas so that I know mentally that if I hit that note in practice, I know I can hit it on stage. It seams to help me out a lot.
GA: What is next for the band after this tour?
Mixi: We have some stuff we can’t announce just yet. We do have a ton of festivals next year lined up. I think it may end up being a festival tour at this point. I think we are doing a couple with Metallica, which is really cool. That is just like a huge point, it is so cool. We are looking forward to a lot of touring next year. We just announced our preorders for the new record Darkness. You can pre-save it on Spotify, and you can possibly win a signed guitar from us by saving it on Spotify. The album will be released in March, and it will seem like we will be on tour forever after that.
GA: If people wanted to follow you through social media, or find out more information on the band where can they go to find you online?
Mixi: We are on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. We have a link on our Instagram where you can purchase bundles. We finally have our first vinyls, they are opaque red and very cool looking. You can also pre order the new album through the store which helps the band out.
GA: Anything else you would like to add?
Mixi: Thank you for taking the time to come and hang out with me.
Instagram: @stitchedupheart
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StitchedUpHeartRock/
Twitter: @stitchedupheart
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