Pale Pastel Hardcore Interview - These Severed Hands

Hey guys, I am incredibly excited to interview you! First off, what’s the deal with pastel post hardcore? That’s definitely a niche!

hey hey! thank you for interviewing us. we are excited to be part of your zine! i decided to self-proclaim this project as pastel post hardcore because i wear pastels (fairy kei to be exact) and feel like post hardcore is the best genre to describe our music overall. one of my j-fashion mutuals called it “pastel hardcore” with “pastel” in place of “post” when i first started making music again, but the online hardcore kids did not like or understand that it was a stand in for post, so i added the post back in. 

Your social media presence is pretty incredible, who’s the brains behind those posts?

thank you! i, leslie (vocalist/songwriter), am the one that does all our social media.

So I’m a. Punk magazine, but I like to think I know my stuff. Post hardcore is a genre I love. In fact, Silverstein is one of my all time favourites. What punk and hardcore bands inspired you?

Silverstein is great. the biggest band that has been an inspiration for me is pierce the veil. i’ve also started taking inspo from more screamo leaning bands lately like Foxtails, Raccoon City, Noragami, and Knumears.

I’m in the UK, and I’m a fan! Are you aware of a more international fan base?

that’s amazing! we do have a bit of an international fanbase. i am very happy that the good news of tsh is making it to all corners of the earth. i hope for us to eventually tour other continents!

Okay… so I have to ask about the scream! You seem proud of the fact you can reproduce it live. Do you have a technique or warmup routine to keep up with screaming like you do?

i try to practice as much as possible. i usually run through whatever the set list is of our upcoming show 3-5 times per week plus band practice. i also randomly sing and scream sometimes. i do a specific warm up that i found on youtube that i like. i ripped the audio from the video and chopped out all the talking parts. it’s called “Daily Vocal Routine for a Strong Voice.”

Kudos for wanting to sound the same live, there’s nothing worse than when the singer hands off the vocals to the crowd…

The newest single Baby Dear, sounds like everything I’d ever associate with the post hardcore sound , wrapped up in one song! Can you tell me a bit about that track?

baby deer is the first song we wrote as a band. all the previous songs i wrote on my own, and everything but the guitar on them is midi. our audio engineer would record what i wrote with real guitar. this was the first time we really got to go as raw as i wanted with the sound because it’s all live instruments, minus the keys. this is the sound we plan to move forward with on all new songs (including our next song, i am my mother’s mother, which comes out October 11th!). the lyricism of the song is about my struggles being very forward-facing online. people are cruel. i have gotten a ton of hate since i started this project. people will pick you apart, forgetting you’re a human too. i have gotten a lot better at ignoring the bullshit over the last year, but it still gets to me sometimes.