We caught up with Jenna McDougall at 2000trees, to discuss her solo project Hevenshe and more.
Welcome back to the UK and to 2000 Trees Festival. How is it being back over here for your first international shows as Hevenshe?
This feels like a whole new experience. I feel like I’m back but I feel like I’m having a new experience because I am here alone, I am playing different music, but I feel so supported. I’m coming here to people that have their arms open to me already. So, I don’t really have to earn an audience. It’s really special. They’re already here for me, building this project with me.
You’ve recently released your latest song, Floor Bed. What’s this particular song about and why did you choose to release this one first?
It’s a coming out song. Like, I come out as queer in the lyrics. It’s a story, honestly, of a very regular day, a very regular Sunday, and that’s one of the lyrics in the song. It’s just about deciding what outfit to wear when you go to the girls’ house that you have a crush on. It’s very innocent and playful and girly, but it’s in the form of a grunge rock song. It’s super fun and it’s channelling Alanis Morissette, who’s my idol. So, yeah, it’s a lot of fun to play that song, and it really stands out in my discography. It doesn’t have a sister in my set list yet, but it feels like a new beginning that I couldn’t wait to find out how much more of that sound I have in me.
It’s a real vibe, I have to say. There’s a strong sense of vulnerability in your lyrics. Do you write more from reflection or is it more of an in-moment emotion that comes into your songs?
I’m very much using song-writing to process things. I’m trying to work it out as I go. It’s very therapeutic writing music.
How has the response from fans shaped or surprised you since starting the project?
It’s been pretty amazing. I found out that I have my top 100 fans. That kind of, the cluster of people that will do anything for you. They’re like ride or die fans. I found out who they are, and it’s been amazing. I run a Patreon and a Discord, and I make a lot of my decisions with this group of people. It’s not an exclusive group, by the way. It’s just that it happens to be around that number of people that are part of a monthly membership with me to help make this project possible. So, this is a fan-funded project. In reality, I called it self-funded, but it’s really my fans that are making this possible. So, I feel very supported and seen and valued.
What a beautiful connection to have with your fans. Very excitingly, your first international Hevenshe headline show is next Friday. What can we expect?
I’m going to play my whole discography, and I’m going to play a couple of songs solo. One in particular that I wrote about my fans, but I never released, and one that I hope will be from a new record that I want to make. So, I want to share some songs with the fans that aren’t out, and it will have a unique feel to that show that those songs have never been heard before, but it’s our moment to share that. I’m so excited. I think the venue is perfect. It’s beautiful. I think it really suits Hevenshe from what I can see. I’m looking forward to it a lot.
Do you have a song in the set that feels especially cathartic to perform live?
That’s a good question. Trying Not To Feel has a bridge where I’m kind of like, it’s almost Tonight Alive parallel kind of energetically because I sort of say, “don’t take from me what I won’t give.” It’s like very, what is the word?.. Defiant. Yeah. So, that’s a moment that I sometimes let my voice go out of control and like, really yell it – I just let it out. So, that song, surprisingly, because it’s a pretty upbeat song, but it’s about being depressed and feeling like you have no agency.
You’re touring with The Used next month. How did that opportunity come about?
I mean, I hunted that down. When I knew that they were doing it, I was like, I was messaging everyone in the band. I was emailing the manager and the booking agent. I was like, I want to be on that run! Haha. Yeah, to be honest, it’s through relationships, with all those people. I toured with The Used for the first time in 2013 in Tonight Alive. We did Warped Tour in Australia and we became friends at that time, and then 2014, we did America together. So, there have been a lot of crisscrossing of paths over the years, and it’s a band that I’ve loved so much.
Were you a fan of theirs growing up?
Oh yeah. It’s surreal to like spend time with people that you’ve idolised, and you kind of have to shift your perspective. You have to take them off the pedestal and all that kind of stuff, but you know, I played one of their songs in a talent quest when I was 14 in my first band. So, I’m excited. It’s been a lot of that in my career. I’m pretty lucky. I don’t know if it’s like that for other people, but everyone I’ve ever looked up to, almost, I’ve had the chance to work with or tour with. Strong manifesting as a teenager, I think.
And following that, you’ve also got your reunion show with Tonight Alive in Australia!
Yeah. One off this year.
How does it feel getting that going again for the show?
We’re excited because we did Sydney shows last year as a warm-up to an American festival that invited us to go to Vegas, When We Were Young. And we got together in the very, like seriously, walked on stage. The boys had done one rehearsal without me to get the gear going, and the next day I walked on and we played the set from the very beginning, the first song, and I was like, this feels perfect. Nothing’s changed. We’re all locked in, like, we were feeling really polished and tight from the get-go. So, it feels amazing and I can’t wait to do it again. I can’t wait to play more songs that we didn’t play last year.
Is it nice revisiting those songs?
It is. It feels like a part of yourself. It’s like looking at old photos and going, I remember that. The memories come back.
So, we’re at 2000 Trees at the moment. Is there a particular artist or artists that you’re excited about on the line-up?
I’m so happy that PVRIS is co-headlining their day. I came here today to make sure I didn’t miss that set and got to catch up with them. So, that’s a really big draw for me. Like, I think I’m going to be exposed to bands I didn’t know about and I’m really excited about that. I’m excited to see an Australian band called Battlesnake and support them. They’re from Sydney as well. So, yeah, I’m excited to learn about what else is happening here. I’m excited to be a punter today.
Lastly, if Hevenshe was a festival, what would it be like?
I would love to have a Hevenfest. That would be nice, I would be so happy. I recently booked a Sydney show that had a burlesque comedian, a pole dancer, a line dancing instructor, a DJ. I would love to have an inclusive, across-the-board artistic festival that’s like, you don’t know what you’re going to get. It’s like a day of variety of arts. That would make me really happy. Multidisciplinary artists. Food and art, and lots of activities. That would be so fun. I want to surprise and delight, shock and refresh people with that kind of line-up.
Interview by: Alia Thomas
