STITCHED UP HEART's ALECIA 'MIXI' DEMNER Explains How She Deals With Online Criticism

In a new interview with The Metal Mixtape, STITCHED UP HEART singer Alecia "Mixi" Demner spoke about how she deals with criticism in the age of social media. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I try to do meditations and pause, 'cause it is a rough industry. It's a cutthroat industry. It's very much judgmental and you're pouring your heart out for people to comment that they hated it online. People don't just yell at you to your face, but they could say it online for everybody to see and they don't realize you actually could read that stuff too. And that we're people also, right? Artists are people. So, it does take a toll, and I have a therapist now for that and I'm on antidepressants for that. If you wanna be real honest; I'm a very transparent person when it comes to that stuff. So, that's helped a lot, and meditation and trying to really try to live in gratitude. And when you have gratitude, you can't have fear at the same time as gratitude, so you have to try to focus on the positive. And it's, it's harder than focusing on the negative."

Mixi also talked about how the pressure of the pressure to meet commercial expectations can stifle artistic experimentation. She said: "There's so much that's different when it becomes a business versus just like a hobby. You're just painting for yourself or you're making music for yourself and you're just having fun with it and trying to create this art. And then once it becomes, like, okay, well, now that we accidentally had all these radio singles that did really well and when we first got signed with Century Media, never alone went on hyper rotation on [SiriusXM's] Octane and it wasn't expected… So, there was a lot of pressure on the second record to do as good as the first one. And I think we kind of lost ourselves in it, because you've got all these… I try to take direction as much as possible, but I think I lost myself a little in what we were creating from the beginning and what the vision started out like. And so I think that this record [STITCHED UP HEART's upcoming album, 'To The Wolves'] definitely… I think we stopped caring what anybody else thinks and just really truly tried to get to the core of what we wanted to create. What kind of sounds? We wanted more riffs, we wanted more screaming. I was a little nervous to start screaming, 'cause before the second record, I ended up having vocal cord surgery and it was a super-challenging time for me. But I was scared to scream on that record. And now this one, I'm just, like, you know what? If my voice goes, that's the way it is, and then I've gotta go and deliver some pizzas, I guess."

"To The Wolves" will arrive on September 1 via Century Media Records.

STITCHED UP HEART will support ESCAPE THE FATE, along with D.R.U.G.S., POINT NORTH and GARZI, on a U.S. tour beginning on August 31 in Salt Lake City, Utah and wrapping up on October 5 in Portland, Oregon.

Formed in Los Angeles, California in 2010, STITCHED UP HEART has gained recognition for its intense live performances and deeply personal songwriting.

Mixi is joined in STITCHED UP HEART's core lineup by James Decker on drums, Merritt Goodwin on guitar and Randy Mathias on bass. They released their album titled "Never Alone", which debuted in the Top 10 of both the Billboard Heatseekers and Hard Rock charts. With their single "Finally Free" organically gaining hyper rotation on active rock radio the band paved the way to success for the next two singles "Monster" and "Catch Me When I Fall".

In 2020, STITCHED UP HEART released its sophomore album, "Darkness". Produced by Matt Good, the LP delves further into the band's introspective songwriting and showcases their growth as musicians. Tracks like "Lost" (featuring Sully Erna of GODSMACK) and "My Demon" highlight the band's ability to blend heavy guitar riffs with anthemic choruses, making a lasting impact on the rock genre.

STITCHED UP HEART is:

Alecia "Mixi" Demner - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
James Decker - drums, backing vocals
Merritt Goodwin - lead guitar
Randy Mathias - bass, backing vocals