Breaking Out: An Interview with Exit 18
Photo courtesy of Exit 18
By Nat Szczepanski
Climbing up the porch steps to some nondescript house in Allston, I notice an old piano waiting for some restless musician, though for tonight that wouldn’t be me. Instead I ring the doorbell, and a few seconds later Julia Perry (she/her) and Sean Leahy (he/him) appear — both members of a local rock band by the name of Exit 18. We exchange hellos and introduce ourselves before moving upstairs to settle in. Numerous small conversations take place before the drummer, Dylan Perry (he/him), arrives just as we’re about to start.
Recently the Boston based group has seen their newest single “Plastic Art” appear on two heavily streamed Spotify curated playlists. A first for the band, it comes as a shock because of the song’s inclusion right away: “On release day I told myself, ‘I’m not gonna look at it, we are proud of the song, it doesn’t matter how well it performs.’ I woke up in the morning and got that little notification,” Dylan says, a big smile on his face as he leans against the wall in a little cushioned nook of the room. At first Exit 18 figured it must have been a mistake. Clicking the link provided by Spotify proved to be a dead end and nothing appeared — or so it seemed. Searching the playlists directly and scrolling through the songs reveals that “Plastic Art”' is in fact included on All New Rock and Smells Like Stream Spirit, of which have around 297,000 followers combined. Julia, lead vocals and guitar, tells her side of the story separate from the boys: “I woke up in this bed right here to the giddiest text message in our band group chat from my brother. He was like ‘Good Morning!’ with so many exclamation points. Even I was searching through [the playlists] like ‘There’s no way it cannot be.’ Honestly [we’re] really grateful.”
But all of this success had to start somewhere, and for Exit 18 their formation took place over the course of several years. Their guitarist, Sean, explains how they initially met through an instructor named Randy Leventhal and studied with him until it all eventually molded together. Before then, Sean and Julia were a part of different bands in the scene. Sitting next to each other during the interview, the two recount how eventually things worked out. They first describe the mutual band vacancies that plagued their projects around 2013 and how both vaguely knew of one another in the scene. The eventual catalyst for the formation of Exit 18, however, came about because of a few key glances from across the venue way back then. In the present day they recreate that exact same face during the interview: a smirk playing on their lips and a knowing glint in their eyes, all of us present in the room dissolve into laughter. That being said, 2016 is the year that everyone in Exit 18 agrees marks the band’s official start.
A lot has changed between then and now. When asked about whether or not the band feels as though their sound has grown, they pounce on the question with a quick flurry of “absolutely”s before a silence creeps in. “Well it’s funny,” Sean then explains, “because we’re still releasing stuff we did five years ago, three years ago. Our last single, “Daddy’s Little Girl” was an old song from before Dylan joined the band. We reworked the whole song essentially.” The creative process is sometimes this cycle of rediscovery — picking up little lost fragments of inspiration. This time you bring a new perspective and the ability to mold the older work to reflect the present, viewing it through a lens of earned wisdom. The story of “Daddy’s Little Girl” and its follow up “Plastic Art” embody this notion, as their subject matter coincides with a reflection on the manipulation of women by a patriarchal society. At first the former was written by Julia at the age of 14 but it soon found itself turned into a conversation between that young girl and the woman the singer is today.
She explains that “It became exceedingly apparent that that song was really problematic for me to be having these thoughts that were so clouded in being raised a woman. There’s this social-sexual conditioning that puts these iron bars around femininity and what is worth something in society — one that is patriarchal inescapably, in every aspect of living. And so then I was like ‘why did I think that my highest worth was being willing and pretty?’”. This sentiment finds itself mirrored in the lyrics of “Daddy’s Little Girl”, obliterating the connection between self-worth and the approval of men. Soon Julia’s commentary expanded to comment about the preying on of young women in the music industry. The male majority found in the music scene has decided that the only worth women have is their youth and sexuality; to them this becomes something to be exploited for money and celebrity.
The themes find themselves in a state of exultation in “Plastic Art,” wherein she finally celebrates her own personal triumph over unlearning the conditioned expectations of women. It feels more pertinent to have the writer herself explain her victory:
“Primarily, finally just being able to celebrate feeling like I can notice [sexual social conditioning] when it’s happening (it’s everywhere) and tell it to piss off. I will fake satisfaction no more! Like, oh, duh I get to ask for and be what I really want, and deserve as a person; not what I think society, completely steeped in patriarchal misogyny, is asking of me. Feels way better and more powerful, more honest, more unfuckwithable. People are always squeezing to fit something uncomfy for somebody else’s benefit, and I quit.”
The piece as a whole is a perfect rock hit. The clean and faded guitars found in the verse are pushed aside by this rampaging chorus, helping to sell this act of celebration. On the other hand, the bridge of the song conjures the image of a spiral due to the masterful layering of vocals and guitars. Astonishing vocals truly distinguish the track: the raw power generated by the anger of this young woman is surreal.
November 19th will see the release of Exit 18’s follow up EP, Into the Mirror. Getting a chance to hear the tracks early, I can say that this release should be on everyone’s radar. The band executes an almost Halestorm-like sound while still staying original and adding in other influences as well. One track, for example, experiments with a more indie sound and shows just how versatile this Boston group can be. It really is no wonder they are featured on two Spotify playlists; simply put, this band is calling all the shots and kicking ass along the way
Find them Nov. 20th at The Tourist Trap for the release show.