Stitched Up Heart

Of Werewolves, Vampires, and Cute Furry Kittens

Interview by Ken Morton - Photos by Jack Lue

On Labor Day weekend, Mixi of Stitched Up Heart made her way into the heart of Los Angeles accompianed by four adorable kittens. The occasion was for a Highwire Daze cover interview complete with Jack Lue photo shoot! After the pictures were taken within the realm of a very gothic apartment space, Highwire Daze sat down with Mixi to discuss the upcoming Stitched Up Heart album, touring with Butcher Babies and RA, her work with ARE Animal Rescue, cute furry kittens, and more!

What was it like shooting with photographer Jack Lue at this interesting location?

I didn’t realize you could get so many pictures done in so little time with so many different spots and poses. It was probably the most pictures taken in any photo shoot we’ve ever done. It was awesome!

How has the recording of the new Stitched Up Heart album been going, and who are you working with?

I finally just finished my end – all of the vocals are completely done for this next record. So right now, it’s with Mitchell Marlow – he’s producing the record. And Kevin Thrasher’s doing a few songs. So, it’s just in the mixing stages right now – and then we turn it into the label – get the thumbs up – and then start the marketing process and the plan for it. I’m really, really excited. It’s a lot heavier – I scream a little more than the last one – so it’s a lot of fun!

How much did the pandemic and the social unrest in the world influence the writing of the record – if at all?

The first year of writing this album was in the pandemic, so there was a lot of influence. We did a lot of writing in 2021 towards the end as well. There’s some influence from like the aftermath – and how we feel. Our emotions have changed so much during the time we were in it – unsure of what was going to happen. Everybody’s living in fear, and nobody really knows the answers and knows what to do – but they think they do. So, I think there was a lot of uncertainty in some of the songs – and there’s a lot of getting through it. It’s a very aggressive record – like “I just want out of this cage” kind of thing.

Are there any particular subject matters or a title for the album that you can share at this time?

The album has a very dark, almost horror movie kind of theme to it. There’s some references of werewolves and vampires. We had a lot of fun with the visual aesthetic. I can’t give you the title yet, but it is along those lines.

How did your recent tour with the Butcher Babies go, and what was it like to tour with a bunch of girls instead of a bunch of guys?

Well, we’ve done a lot of tours with women – I think it

works really best that way. But Butcher Babies – I’ve known them before we were even a band – like I’ve asked to be in their band before – and they were just like “NO!” (Laughter) “I’ll pay keyboards – whatever you need!” They already had two guitar players I think at the time. I’ve known them a long time, so it was definitely a long time coming to make that tour happen. And it was probably the smoothest tour we’ve ever done! It was everybody supporting each other and having each other’s backs. We did it in the pandemic – and we made it through without anybody testing positive – which was awesome! Just really good energies – and that’s what it should be like – everybody should always have each other’s backs. And I feel like I only want to go out with bands that support each other from now on.

You also recently went out on tour with a band called RA. How did that tour go and what were some of the highlights?

We did two weeks with them actually. Sahaj Ticotin, who is the singer of RA, was co-producer on our album Never Alone that Mitchell Marlow produced as well. They both co-produced it, so it was really cool. They had September Mourning out as well, which is another band that he produced. So, it was all Sahaj’s little babies that he had come out. We were just basically routing some shows out to Welcome To Rockville – one of the Danny Wimmer festivals in Florida – and back to California. And their tour just happened to line up with the dates that we needed. We kind of crashed the party and jumped on some shows with them.

Choose To Live – Suicide Prevention. How did you become involved with that show and cause?

I’ve known Lacey Sturm for quite a while now. We did a tour back in 2016, and her social media guy connected me. He does a lot of those causes and their whole network of people too. They just asked if I was interested. Anything that has to do with those kind of ideas – anything that you can do to help say something or be there for people when they need it the most and they don’t feel like that anyone cares. That’s really near and dear to my heart, and so I try and do almost anything anyone asks me to help give back. We could get up here and play music and be a rock star, but what does that do really – aside from heal people through music. But it’s what you actually do – the actions that you do, and not just saying it in the songs, but really being there for people. I was immediately like, “I’m in! Let’s do this!” And so, it was really cool to get together and talk about this stuff and hope that we’ve at least touched one person.

It’s such an important topic and cause…

It really is. There’s a lot of people suffering – and most people are too scared to even talk about it. A lot of time you don’t even really know. There’s been times I’ve been at my darkest hour and I’m not going to tell people. I want to isolate and avoid human beings when I’m not in my best space. But it was a good outlet – it was actually a good conversation – and really getting to know each other and what each other has been through as well. Lacey’s been through a lot. I read The Reason – one of her books – and cried in tears at the airport. So that’s part of the interview we did. But she’s been through so much. It was really awesome to be a part of that and help in some way.

And you are also part of an organization dealing with animals. I see we have four kitty mascots here for the photoshoot.

Yes, I brought my bottle baby kittens to the photoshoot because they have to eat every 2-3 hours. I couldn’t leave them at home. So, they are hopefully going to make the cut in some of the pictures. (Laughs) But yeah, they’re

mewing in the background if you want to put in parathesis their little input on this conversation. (Laughter) But the rescue I’ve been fostering with, I’ve fostered 78 – if you don’t count the ones I’ve watched for a day. And it’s one of those things that again – it kind of feeds my soul. It gives me a purpose – it gives me a reason. I have to help these little kittens – and that’s why I’m here – for things like that. It gives me meaning in life.

Is there a name of a rescue that you can recommend?

Yes! ARE Animal Rescue is the one I’ve been working with – it’s where we moved to. They need so much help out in Riverside County, California. Arerescue.org is the website – and you can donate – you can foster – anything you can do to help. They have over 900 animals in their care right now. They’re trying to expand because they just need it so badly out there. There’s an overwhelming amount of feral animals and stray dogs. So, I try to do whatever I can to help as a bottle feeder.

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During the pandemic, Stitched Out Heart celebrated their 10-year anniversary. What was it like celebrating something like that in your home?

(Laughs) I don’t know if we even got to celebrate. We didn’t celebrate anything in 2020! But yeah, we started in 2010. I didn’t even think about that. I don’t celebrate birthdays, so I pretend like I never get older. Yeah – wow it’s crazy! It’s now 12 years – fast forward, because I guess that year really didn’t count – so then we’re a year younger actually. But yeah, we didn’t get to celebrate, but it’s kind of crazy to think that it’s been that long that we’ve been working on this. I mean 10 years ago – think about what you were doing. I was still doing this band. (Laughs) Clearly me and the boys have some dedication issues where we just can’t stop. Maybe it’s a little masochistic to be in the music industry this long. There’s a lot of rollercoasters in it. You don’t get what you sign up for, but you work really, really hard. And you battle all of the things you have to struggle to get through to prove ourselves over and over and over again. And we’re still here! And I think it shows that we just can’t stop.

Actually, a long time ago, I tried to give up – our drummer wouldn’t let me. He just kept me going. And I’m glad he did, because there’s so many magical moments

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that we’ve had that I wouldn’t have been able to experience. I wouldn’t have been on tour in the arenas with Godsmack and Halestorm and In This Moment. And I wouldn’t have been able to experience some of these festivals in Europe with my band. There were experiences I would not have been able to experience like I didn’t keep going – and keep trying – and keep working my butt off for it. So, I’m really happy I’m still here after 12 years – it’s crazy!

Do you have any messages for Stitched Up Heart fans who are reading this right now?

Yeah, I would say find your purpose – follow your heart – because anything you do, you’re going to go through challenges. There’s going to be struggles with whatever it is. So why do something that you don’t want to do? Why waste your time? If this is the only life that you have – it may not be – who knows. Who really knows? But if it is, do what you love! Follow your heart. Again, there’s going to be challenges anywhere. So that’s all I could tell anybody. Just don’t stop – no matter what.

http://www.stitchedupheart.org/

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