August 26, 2010

We Are Hex’s Jilly Weiss Has Hardcore Roots

When you listen to We Are Hex, you hear more than just a band indulging in all the post-stuffs and no-things hanging around today. There’s a palpable energy in the air. It’s something tangible, straddling imminence. But I couldn’t quite pin down where it was coming from or how it was arrived at. Until, that is, I talked to frontlady Jilly Weiss. Then it became so clear: She’s a hardcore kid from way back.

We Are Hex packs that same kind of punch in the face you’d get in your friend’s basement back in the day, when you and your dudes started going off. And that’s definitely something Weiss remembers well. “When you were there and it was real, it was more about the feel more than anything,” she reminisced. “A hardcore show was people who were freaks to everybody else, packed in a tight place. They were just having it out; just getting it out.”

That feeling would remain with her throughout the years, although her devotion to the scene… not so much. But who can blame her? When it’s all about br00tal breakdowns and haircut metal these days, why would you want to stick around?

“It’s like it’s all advertising now. It’s not even real,” she admitted, surely drawing the ire of some former compadres. “They’re are some good bands in there, but as a scene it’s been commodified and been held back. I don’t even pay attention to it anymore.”

And it’s not like Weiss was an idle bystander, letting out belabored sighs in the back of VFW halls. She was in the trenches, experiencing the sea change from the ocean floor, as it were. “My drummer and I, our last band was kind of a [hardcore band]. I mean, I’m sure it was happening before, but we kinda saw it happen.

“It was one of the things that made us feel like we were finished with that band. I mean, I hope those kids dig music. But I guess I wanted to play to people with more open-minded, eclectic tastes.”

Eclectic is certainly the operative term when discussing We Are Hex. Then again, with influences ranging from power pop to industrial to hardcore to lo-fi, it almost has to be.

We Are Hex – Birthplace of the Mystics

2 Responses to “We Are Hex’s Jilly Weiss Has Hardcore Roots”

  1. On 08/26/10 12:48 PM, Brian said:

    Awesome.

  3. On 09/1/10 2:59 PM, Don Gaines said:

    i’m certainly interested.

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