{"id":10454,"date":"2026-04-23T12:58:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wednesdays-karly-hartzman-on-writing-through-pain-if-you-can-describe-the-feeling-then-youre-seeing-it-from-a-distance\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T12:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:58:25","slug":"wednesdays-karly-hartzman-on-writing-through-pain-if-you-can-describe-the-feeling-then-youre-seeing-it-from-a-distance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wednesdays-karly-hartzman-on-writing-through-pain-if-you-can-describe-the-feeling-then-youre-seeing-it-from-a-distance\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday\u2019s Karly Hartzman on Writing Through Pain: \u201cIf You Can Describe The Feeling, Then You\u2019re Seeing It From A Distance\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella7.jpg\" width=\"1440\" height=\"987\" alt=\"Wednesday\u2019s Karly Hartzman performing at Weekend 2 of Coachella 2026. (Credit: Steve Appleford)\"><figcaption>Wednesday\u2019s Karly Hartzman performing at Weekend 2 of Coachella 2026. (Credit: Steve Appleford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>On the opening day of Coachella, singer-guitarist Karly Hartzman of Wednesday briefly looked puzzled backstage as some pleasant but unfamiliar pop drifted over from the nearby mainstage.<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/justin-vernon-bon-dylan-eaux-claires\/\">Justin Vernon Details His Bob Dylan Cover Band<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/geese-fall-tour\/\">Geese Fall Tour Includes Band\u2019s Largest NYC Show<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/quicksand-new-album\/\">Quicksand Strikes Back With \u2018Bring On The Psychics\u2019<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cIt sounds like Christian rock right now,\u201d she says, tilting her head with a smile.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t, but the confusion was maybe understandable amid the noise and desert heat. This was Hartzman\u2019s first trip to the world-famous Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, and what she previously knew of it was only what she\u2019d noticed from a distance over the years. Sitting in a folding chair outside her band\u2019s trailer, she was still dressed as she was onstage an hour before: a trucker hat with sunglasses perched on top, and a black strappy top that revealed the busy line tattoos scattered along her arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll my friends that grew up coming to this festival were really stoked,\u201d she says. \u201cI was like, I don\u2019t know the culture, I don\u2019t know who usually plays it. But I know everyone\u2019s really excited on our behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1585\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-659001\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella3.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella3-340x499.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella3-768x1127.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella3-1047x1536.jpg 1047w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella3-498x731.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Karly Hartzman Weekend 2 of Coachella 2026. (Credit: Steve Appleford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>During their opening weekend\u2019s set, someone in the crowd fainted. Both Friday shows inside the Sonora tent were packed, as the band ripped through songs of vivid storytelling and memory, drawing on her own life experiences and others around her North Carolina community. The words are set to a distinctive blend of hard-edged indie rock with Xandy Chelmis\u2019 twangy pedal steel lines and other smoldering textures from the South.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s pretty representative of all the things we listen to, mixed with where we\u2019re from,\u201d Hartzman says of their sound. \u201cI feel like we\u2019re into \u201990s indie rock and shoegaze, but country music influence is unavoidable in North Carolina. It seeps in if you let it, and we wanted it to because we love it. It came really naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since last year\u2019s release of the band\u2019s sixth studio album, <em>Bleeds<\/em>, \u201cWe\u2019ve been touring our asses off,\u201d she says, and there are many more dates ahead across 2026. In May, the band heads to New Zealand and Australia, then returns to the U.S. for several summer music festivals, starting with Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee, on June 12.<\/p>\n<p>The album has won wide acclaim for its collection of songs about love and death, horror and innocence, in words vulnerable, empathetic, but also blunt and unsparing. The sounds stretch seamlessly from hardcore to bluegrass, and includes what is currently Wednesday\u2019s most popular track, \u201cElderberry Wine.\u201d The song is an indie hit, with nearly 9 million streams on Spotify alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The love song sets modern lyrics against a countrified sound: \u201cSweet song is a long con \/ I drove you to the airport with the e-brake on \/ Ain\u2019t heard that voice in a long time \/ Had to check back there to make sure you were alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElderberry Wine\u201d also showcases the understated side of her vocal range, which leaps from the gentle to enraged. \u201c\u2018Elderberry Wine\u2019 is the hardest song to sing in our set for me, because it takes control and I\u2019m also thinking like, \u2018Am I boring everyone when I\u2019m singing that?\u201d she says with a smile. \u201cWhereas, I feel like I\u2019m performing at the most I can give when I\u2019m doing a screaming song, that\u2019s more demanding on my voice, my vocal chords, my physical self. But expecting patience from people during our softer songs is actually harder for me, but people love them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1290\" height=\"860\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Photo-courtesy-Wednesday-1290x860.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-659002\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Photo-courtesy-Wednesday-1290x860.jpeg 1290w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Photo-courtesy-Wednesday-340x227.jpeg 340w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Photo-courtesy-Wednesday-240x160.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Photo-courtesy-Wednesday-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Photo-courtesy-Wednesday-498x332.jpeg 498w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Photo-courtesy-Wednesday.jpeg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wednesday gather for their performance at Coachella 2026. (Credit: Photo courtesy Wednesday)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday branches out further with the album\u2019s playful \u201cPhish Pepsi,\u201d set to some authentic jammy organic noodling in the Phish\/Grateful Dead tradition. Hartzman\u2019s lyrics begin with the story of a night of middle school partying and ends with a weirder grown-up memory: \u201cWe watched a Phish concert and <em>Human Centipede<\/em> \/ Two things I now wish I had never seen \/ We smoked weed out of a Pepsi can \/ Lyin\u2019 around under a Christmas tree.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJam bands are a blind spot for me, to be honest,\u201d the singer explains. \u201cThat song is about one very specific memory of my friend attending a Phish concert. But when I was dating Jake Lenderman [aka MJ], he\u2019s really into Dead and his family is, so I got it by being on the outskirts of watching him and his dad enjoy it\u2014not a phase I specifically had. But I do know that the lead singer of Phish, Trey Anastasio, has heard that song and is not offended by it. He seems like a cool guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She already knows how she wants the next Wednesday album to play out: Loud.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hartzman predicts a \u201ca fully screaming hardcore album. I had a very interesting year of dating this past year, and I desperately need to channel some of my frustration with that into something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She adds with a laugh, \u201cI had an idea that I wanted it all to be from the perspective of horror movie protagonists. But now I\u2019m like, last year felt like a horror movie to me. So it might be personal again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hartzman has been studying hardcore, reading up on its history, embracing it as her own. An early sign of that direction is the new album\u2019s thrashing \u201cWasp,\u201d which reacts to the deterioration of a relationship through not-quite 90 seconds of aggressive guitar and non-stop rage vocals.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1290\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella5-1290x872.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-659003\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella5-1290x872.jpg 1290w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella5-340x230.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella5-768x519.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella5-1536x1038.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella5-498x337.jpg 498w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Wednesday_Coachella5-1668x1127.jpg 1668w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wednesday, Weekend 2 of Coachella 2026. (Credit: Steve Appleford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMostly, it was a challenge for myself to see if I could scream an entire song,\u201d she says of the track. \u201cI try to have at least one thing I\u2019ve never done on every album. I think that\u2019s where we\u2019re headed, and I\u2019ve been putting a lot more time into listening to bands that are in that direction further than what I\u2019ve heard already. Listeners can tell when you\u2019re referencing something but you\u2019re not devoted to it. I want to make sure I\u2019m fully devoted with an appreciation for hardcore music before I bother diving into it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A lot of artists with a popular new song, as Wednesday has in \u201cElderberry Wine,\u201d might steer its next project in a similar direction. Hartzman has other ideas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot of songs that sound like \u2018Elderberry Wine.\u2019 If they like that song, there\u2019s plenty of other ones to hear from us,\u201d she insists. \u201cIt\u2019s not like it\u2019s an outlier in our discography. I would never make music with the audience in mind, or let that influence what I\u2019m going to write. That\u2019s a fast track to making a shitty album.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She adds, \u201cI get it, because having someone\u2019s attention is so addictive, I guess. That\u2019s not what motivates me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a songwriter and recording artist, Hartzman first felt like she fully reached the sound and content she\u2019d always imagined with \u201cBull Believer,\u201d an epic of noisy, contemplative rock on the 2023 breakthrough album <em>Rat Saw God<\/em>. The intensely emotional lyrics were inspired by teenage memories of a friend dying from an overdose, and closes after nearly nine minutes with the singer roaring into a microphone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had been like, okay, my purpose on this earth is to write about this really painful experience that I had when I was younger,\u201d Hartzman recalls. \u201cWhenever I feel like I write a song that can accurately express that for me, I\u2019ll have done what I wanted as a musician. Luckily, I did that on the last album, and now I\u2019m trying to do that with other things in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before she began making music, Hartzman had always written for herself, whether it was poetry or creating zines to share. \u201cOnce I picked up guitar in college, I was like, \u2018Oh, these were <em>songs<\/em>,\u2019\u201d she explains. \u201cThey were always supposed to be songs and fell into place. But I\u2019d always wanted to be a musician. I just didn\u2019t have access to the things I needed to get there before I was at college.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Midway through the writing of <em>Bleeds<\/em>, her longtime romantic relationship with lead guitarist MJ Lenderman ended while on tour in Tokyo. The album was recorded a month after the breakup, and their creative partnership continues. While Lenderman left Wednesday\u2019s touring unit to focus on his solo career, he\u2019s fully expected to return for the band\u2019s next studio recordings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPersonally, we\u2019re just kind of good,\u201d Hartzman says. \u201cWe\u2019re buddies, so there\u2019s no personal problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The band, which also includes drummer Alan Miller and bassist Ethan Baechtold, is joined on the road by touring guitarist Jake \u201cSpyder\u201d Pugh.<\/p>\n<p>As a source of inspiration and catharsis, writing about her own experiences has never been a problem for the singer-lyricist. \u201cI don\u2019t see the point otherwise,\u201d Hartzman says. \u201cI\u2019ve found it to be the most rewarding for me, so I\u2019m like, why would I not write about it? The thought of it being personal never limited my willingness to put something out. It\u2019s motivating.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She takes comfort in the sharing, she says. \u201cTo have written the song, I would\u2019ve had to overcome it. If you can describe the feeling, then you\u2019re seeing it from a distance, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/spinmagazine.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday\u2019s Karly Hartzman performing at Weekend 2 of Coachella 2026. (Credit: Steve Appleford) On the opening day of Coachella, singer-guitarist Karly Hartzman of Wednesday briefly looked puzzled backstage as some&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[790,31,35,24,3181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coachella","category-features","category-interviews","category-pushly","category-wednesday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}