There's a lot of love at the core of Mannequin Pussy. The Philadelphia alt-rockers are a self-professed family — lead guitarist and synth player Maxine Steen says as much in a Zoom interview, admitting that the quartet are "the family that chose me" — and though their previous pop-punk albums might sound chaotic or angry at first listen, with songs about toxic relationships and fear of being alone, their music is all about the messiness of love.
The band makes it a priority to make their shows a safe space, from their "very femme-forward" mosh pits, as Steen puts it, to a literal marriage proposal that once happened on their stage. “I think people feel comfortable enough to be themselves at a Mannequin Pussy show,” drummer Kaleen Reading muses. As the years have gone on, the band's love and respect for each other have only strengthened, which in turn has only improved their songwriting dynamic.
The band’s latest album, I Got Heaven, is the fruit of that love and respect. Though their most genre-bending and mature release to date, it retains the raw punk energy of their previous three full lengths. Songs like “Nothing Like'' would have landed them on Top 40 radio circa 1997, while the rugged “OK? OK! OK? OK!” could soundtrack a scuzzy night at your local punk dive. Album highlight “Split Me Open” uses lead singer Marisa Dabice’s saccharine vocals as a Trojan Horse for the chaos that ensues. It’s a perfect representation of the band’s new sound, which uses pop conventions to sugarcoat their heavier moments and subject matter.
The title track that opens up the album is explicitly about Christianity’s role in trying to control certain parts of the population, most notably queer people. “One of the greatest ills of our time is the hypocrisy of the church and the way that they have weaponized shame,” Dabice explains. Her anger is palpable; as an “inherently political” band with queer members and members of color, she continues, there’s a lot in our world to be pissed about. While some might think it bold to kick off their new album with lyrics as blasphemous as “what if Jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?,” the band is unflappable in their intention.“I think as artists you have an opportunity to clap back,” Dabice says. And what better way to do just that than drop an album that holds space for that justified rage while sounding sublime?
Below, the band spoke with Them about the wisdom of your 30s, intense yearning, and why their new record is their horniest yet.
“I Got Heaven” is about the hypocrisy of Christianity in this country, which fuels horrible legislation against LGBTQ+ people. Is there a reason the album opens up with a political statement?
Marisa "Missy" Dabice: One of the greatest ills of our time is the hypocrisy of the church, and the way that they have weaponized shame in their attempt to control portions of the population. If the people feel confident within themselves, if the people have class consciousness, if the people feel connected and united to each other, then it is so much harder to exert any sort of control. I think our lines of struggle as individuals in this band may be different, but they're all really entangled under the same web of what it feels like to live under oppressive white supremacy and patriarchal systems that are intent on dividing and conquering.
As you reach new levels of success, so does your reach. Is being outspoken politically a large motivator for the band?
MD: I feel like our motivation is to make exciting, beautiful music. But recognizing that we have this space to create a body of work that people can connect to and find comfort in is the cherry on top. People come to our shows and feel very comfortable to be exactly who they are because they know that under the roof of Mannequin Pussy, when we are the one taking over that building for the night, we are not casting judgment. We're there to bring people together.
Not to be corny, but the love songs on this record seem to be about loving oneself. There is maturity to that.
MD: One of the phenomenal things about being in a band is that we all are growing older and maturing together. The four of us are this quilt of experiences. We're seeing each other enter new phases of our lives or enter new relationships and we get to see how it changes and affects us. The songs we write as people in our thirties have a wisdom that comes with experience and growth. There's a reason why those weren't the songs that we were creating in our twenties. People feel like this is a more mature album. It's like, well, yes, we've matured.
The record also touches on physical yearning, especially on "Aching." Can you elaborate on that?
MD: I think our past records, in terms of lyrics, have been about rage. A lot of people could say The Patience was a breakup record. But I Got Heaven is not about the dissolution of a relationship. It's what happens when you realize that you have been influenced by society to feel as though finding a partner is the ultimate goal, which leads you into one entanglement after another. I say entanglement, not relationship, where you are going from romance to romance without a breath in between. The album asks, how do you live in your own solitude? How do you get comfortable with yourself? And what happens when you sit in the solitude of yourself? You start to yearn a bit.
Maxine Steen: I think that there is definitely “queer yearning.” I didn't come out until I was 31, and how it just affected my life is the worst. I think that there is a yearning for the truth within yourself.
"Split Me Open" was my favorite song on the album and there is a noticeable unevenness to it. I saw it as being about wanting to give yourself to someone and then taking it back; would you agree?
MD: "Split Me Open" is about that feeling of being so engulfed by your own lust for a person and feeling this overly romantic objectification of them. Some of the songs on this album really have to do with that sort of the yearning that comes from your own solitude. What a lot of those songs have in common is that there's a point where you recognize that it's just your desire and not someone that maybe should be in your life.
That lust really comes through with the double entendre in the title.
MD: Only in passing do I realize what a horny lyric “split me open” is. It’s pornographic. But, I'm going to play dumb because I was thinking about my heart splitting open.
MS: I was like, "Damn! That's a sexy lyric!"
MD: It's wordplay, like, "Are you splitting open your legs? Are you splitting open your ass? Are you splitting open your heart?" There's all these different ways that we split ourselves to let someone in.”
Speaking of sexy lyrics, I read in SPIN that this might be your horniest record yet. Can you elaborate?
MD: I think Kaleen's drum parts are going to get some people very horny. People are going to get hot for it.
MS: Red Hot.
Kaleen Reading: Well, my girlfriend will love that I was thinking of her.
MD: There are some pretty fun innuendos. Maybe there's a horny cum joke in there if you listen for it intently.
Colins "Bear" Regisford: There's a lot of horniness on the album. But most importantly, the person you should be most horny for is yourself.
Marisa "Missy" Dabice: Oh, bear.
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