Interview: Kiernan Hutchinson of Birthpush Talk Pushing Genre Boundaries
Birthpush premiered their debut release “Goth Girl” on April 10.
By Ashley Gallagher
Birthpush is a band originally from Baltimore and started as a solo act of just Kiernan Hutchinson. As the sound grew, a couple of Jacksonville University students were brought on board. On April 10, they premiered their debut release, “Goth Girl,” which is compiled of three tracks.
What made you decide to combine rock and blues? It is a unique combination!
When I think about the music I grew up listening to, pretty much all of it was one form of rock or another. Metal, punk rock, emo, you name it. Only later when I started to write music and produce and really start listening, I realized that blues is basically the mother genre of all these newer sub-categories of rock. So I guess my affinity for blues just comes from a dorky preoccupation with the origins of all of my favorite genres. It's blues. Pretty much everything comes from the blues, and if you go even farther back you'll find that the first "blues" songs were slave spirituals. Then you start to understand the angst that's engraved in the genre, and in rock and metal and punk.
Why is it important to you to make the music you want to make and not conform to a genre?
I think if you asked my friends and family they'd probably tell you I cringe obnoxiously at the thought of conformity. It's true, I hate being "a part of something," for whatever reason. But musically, I think it's important to drift among the possible sounds. It keeps things interesting, at the very least, but if you really think about it, everything is a mesh. You wouldn't have one thing without everything else.
What are some artists that have influenced you, since there are many diverse sounds on Birthpush's EP?
Right off the bat, Marilyn Manson clearly influenced the vocal style. I guess it's more obvious on the last two songs, but you can definitely tell I wish I was him. There were a few artists that inspired the "sound" of the EP, including Boy Pablo, Summer Salt, and the song "Mine" by Leven Kali, which a friend showed me not long before I wrote "Goth Girl." The production on that Leven Kali song is just incredible. Makes me dance and sing every time.
Not to sound sappy or anything, but the artists I brought into the project gave me inspiration as well, especially my friend Jacinto's jazz saxophone and piano performance. Remember when you were a kid and you'd see someone older than you do something you thought was really cool, and then you'd just start laughing uncontrollably 'cause you were just so giddy at how cool that thing was? That's me when I watch jazz performers. And it's amazing--almost aggravating--when they get on your song and just make it ten times better! So that gave me a lot of inspiration as well.
Why did you expand Birthpush beyond a solo project?
Well, I was mentored for a few years by a great jazz saxophonist and producer, so I knew the value of bringing someone like that on board. It was also kind of on a whim because I had written this weird psychedelic-rock track that I wanted Jacinto's sax lead over, and after we tracked that I just asked him if he'd take a look at the songs I had written and he ended up doing one take for each and that was that. I ended up getting a few more friends to do my backup vocals. I think the backup vocals on "Tongue" and "Paper Cuts" we did the same day as all that sax stuff, now that. I think of it, and that was when I really started to want to release everything. It's just way more fun to work with people as a collective, artistic mind rather than by yourself, and plus the music just wouldn't be as interesting without them.
What can we expect in the future of Birthpush and does the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to some plans?
We did have some plans in the works to shoot a music video for "Goth Girl" before the world went to shit, so we'll be dropping a lyric video with some cool edgy visuals instead. That should be out in the coming weeks, and we did a cover of a Nirvana song and a Ronettes song that might be dropping here and there too. There may be a future three-track EP in the works as well! As long as we're stuck at home we'll be busying ourselves with making more and more music!
Follow Birthpush on social media
Instagram: @BIRTHPUSH
Facebook: @BIRTHPUSH
Listen to “Goth Girl” here: