Being a fan of Iowa bands will, with time, break your heart. One night, you see a group playing the stage at Iowa City’s The Mill. You find some love for their music, and a song or two slips onto a playlist. But as things go, The Mill closes, rest in peace. And you learn that band you loved isn't playing shows anymore. Such is the case with Hex Girls, who've reinvented themselves as Mr. Softheart.
Over the course of the pandemic, the group has drifted towards post-punk, a lineage closer to groups like The Cramps and more contemporary acts like Viagra Boys. But probably the most of obvious contrast from their previous work is the four-piece act is now just three. In the place of the drummer, they’ve brought on a drum machine.
“It was all new, like clicking little squares that highlight sounds and seeing what happens when you press play,” said guitarist John Fisher.
It was an exciting experiment, but there have been some hard conversations as the formerly-four-piece pitched the new act to an audience familiar with their old music.
“They’re like ‘So you don’t have a drummer?’ ” Fisher said. “And what’s nice is now, close to a year later, we’re not really getting asked that question anymore which is refreshing to hear.”
Singer Nick Fisher, John’s brother, joked that the ultimate goal is digitize everything so they don’t have to show up to any of their shows. But as synth and guitar player Charlie Patterson explains they’re intentionally leaving melodic parts out of the backing track. Giving the band something to offer live to the crowd.
“We want to be able to perform those so it’s a balance of filling out a song but minimal enough that we perform the bulk of it,” Patterson said.
Spend any time with their recording at Live at the Vault recording in West Liberty or — for my money their best track — “Jesus Santa Xmas,” there’s a maybe self-serious, definitely self-conscious character at the center of the act. Nick Fisher said it came naturally, an evolution of the Hex Girls voice.
“It’s not something that’s planned down on paper and executed or anything,” he said. “it comes from a place of wanting to write songs that are vignettes of characters sometimes the same character sometimes different but really capturing moments and trying to channel that.”
It’s high-drama. It’s moody. And well worth coming out for, at least until the boys finally automate everything.
