A spotlight interview with Jack Powers, ahead of her appearance at LOUD WOMEN Fest NYC on May 16.
How did you choose your band name?
My band’s name is Jack Flowers & The Petal Tones! When I started playing live shows, the running joke with my bandmates was that we were a fictional band, along the lines of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. I suggested we call ourselves “Jack Flowers & The Petal Tones” to double down on the joke, but I grew to really like it. I love puns, I love music theory, and I love flowers 🙂
Where do you call home (geographically and musically)?
New Jersey!! I grew up by the shore in West Keansburg, and now I’m living in Newark <3 I got into music when I was 12 because my friends and I wanted to play songs from American Idiot, so Green Day is definitely a “home” band for me lol
Describe your sound in three words.
eclectically cute queercore
Tell us about your music
I put out my first album, girl clothes in November! girl clothes is loud, glitchy, punky, silly and so deeply personal. It’s an abstract portrait of my experience coming out as trans and starting HRT. If you want to know what the inside of my brain sounds like, check out this album <3
I wrote the first version of ‘slur’ because I was told that there would be protestors at the pride event I was playing. I put together some dissonant guitar riffs that my band could repeat while I yelled to drown them out. While recording my album, Girl Clothes, I came back to those riffs from a different angle. I was thinking about the directness of those protestors in comparison to the calculated “polite” transphobia that I experience with my extended family. They’ve worked out all of these ways to subtly fuck with me so that if I call them out, I’m the one who is “causing a problem”. Sometimes, these micro aggressions feel more evil than just calling me a slur. At least the protestors had the gall to be direct.
What’s your local scene like — and how do you fit in, or stir it up?
i feel so incredibly lucky that the scenes we’re involved in are specifically queer / women-led. many of the shows we’ve played are incredibly sweet and welcoming.
What’s the strangest gig you’ve ever played?
i played an acoustic set in a new brunswick basement while sitting on a dryer lol the dryer was on!!
Dream lineup: you + three other acts (alive, dead, or imaginary). Who’s on the bill?
my chemical romance, mannequin pussy, and 100 gecs <3
What’s next for you?
my band and i are going on our first tour this july! we’ll be playing in NYC, Philly, DC, Greensboro NC, Richmond VA, and Albany NY in July!
Catch Jack Powers at LOUD WOMEN Fest NYC on May 16