“Manual for dying” is a title that immediately suggests a philosophy or a personal guide. What does this album teach you about life, creativity, and survival? How do the themes you explore here connect to your experiences over the last three years?

The last three years have been a split between relentless touring or constant baby stuff….being pregnant I toured and was tired…and then after the birth of the baby, I was up super early and with him all day except for the naps…and then when we did the tours, we luckily had grandma…but this next USA tour we are taking Winter on the road cuz i missed him too much lol! One definitely needs a little help if you want to keep making art while having a baby guy! I have to plan my alone time a lot more now, but being organized in order to create the creative caos has always been my thing anyways so…  ya…just adds to the delightful beauty of decay and all that which we reference in the album thematically.

Each track is its own little art jewel vignette that was handcrafted in between breastfeeding and naps! Through this creation of life and revisualization of my own time (now in relation to this new situation), I realize (even more than before) that dying is basically the same as living, you can’t explain either, you just feel it. As I  look back (and forward), I try to exist without society’s framework, without the rules everyone seems to follow out there about what it means to be an artist or a woman (especially a woman with a child, over thirty). All the rules I see for an artist mother over thirty I am SUPER NOT INTO! I am doing my one fucking thing…even with this new fucking thing… I’m trying to keep organized to be a mother but I will always let go of the things that will tie me down or bury me in the mundane nothingness of the herd. I don’t need the herd to raise my baby or my career.

Many of your songs explore control, desire, and destruction. Why are you drawn to these themes, and how do you decide which personal experiences become lyrical material?

Society loves its bread and games (bread and circuses/ panem et circenses)! The human world rejoices in abuse, sometimes even celebrates being the victim. I find a sick joy singing into the face of that hypocrisy. Life is a struggle, so ya know… fight back; have fun while you do it. Enjoy that old hero’s journey- every one has the chance to go on it, even though you might have been told somewhere that you aren’t worthy or strong enough.  Sometimes, in my work, I purposefully contradict myself, showing how two rivalling ideas exist within the same breath…neither is the truth but they both exist and they both mean nothing…like when I sing “hurting- it doesn’t have to be a bad thing’ but then say that the relationship isn’t hurting enough to mean anything. Both of these issues are true …but what is the word ‘truth’ anyways? It’s a fat fuck is what it is. I’m not here to tell anyone the truth – but I won’t be lying to you through my work…that you can be sure of! 

“Boy on a leash” evolved on stage before it became a studio track. What lessons did the live performances teach you about the song’s energy and structure?

Through the live shows, with the fledgling “Boy on A Leash” single, we (the drummer and I) pretty much beat it sensually over and over again until it cracked open.lol  My voice got more aggressive, something i can’t really get in my home studio but it comes out easy like a dragon from the cave…on stage. So, it was great to realize what worked better live and then have the chance to  record that feeling in the studio later. We even recorded some of our live shows in our European tour and added that in! We also stripped down the earlier version, making it harsher and more physical.

This is the first single from the manual for dying saga. Did you approach it as a standalone story, or as part of a larger narrative?

It’s both. It’s the door opening and also slamming in your face…on the beat!  It is it’s own little story while also a broad archetype. The leash metaphor is pulled through everything, control and freedom at the same time.  The pulling of the leash sets the tone for that club brutality that dominates the record (while also getting bitten at the ankles falling into fully icy metal or dancey aristocratic romance).