Written by: Max Bennett, Photos by: Ali Brant; David Lisowski; Matt DeVito

Altarviolet Is No Alter Ego, It’s Greta Hotmer’s Essence.  Go listen to the 2021 album Sojourn by Altarviolet. Then listen to Altarviolet’s 2024 album Tired Wild Hearts. One may think these albums were by two separate artists. But Altarviolet is, and always has been, Greta Hotmer.

Releasing Tired Wild Hearts was not just releasing a collection of songs to Altarviolet; it was a release of pressure. “I come from a couple of backgrounds, a singer-songwriter, but also I was in a rock band, and Thrice, Deftones, and Tool are some of my favorite bands,” Hotmer, 42, said in a video interview with That Mag.

When she lived in the Philadelphia area, Hotmer was singing in local rock band The Moxy, who readers may know due to their ties to Bam Margera.

“In my old band, I was exhausted.”

A few years ago, she headed west after a long-term relationship that also was musically collaborative came to an end. While Hotmer discussed her past with That Mag, she focused not on the relationship but her long journey to releasing  Tired Wild Hearts. “I pretty much stayed in the singer-songwriter lane for a long time because that was the only thing I really knew,” she said.

While in The Moxy, some electronic elements came into the fray toward the band’s end, and Hotmer kept hearing synths in more and more music.

When she left her old life, she bought a Moog synthesizer. “I had no business doing,” she said of buying the instrument. “I got it to hold myself accountable, and I’m still learning how to use it.”

But if you put Tired Wild Hearts on, it doesn’t sound like she’s still learning to use the synth.

The 10-track album features plenty of synth work. From fuzzy house music bass lines to staccato-like, bright individual note riffs, the synth shines along with Hotmer’s soaring voice.

“I don’t have formal training in things,” she said. “As long as I can hear something and make it real, then I can do what I can do.”

She started on piano as a kid with her sister. The two would go to their lesson, and while her sister sat with the instructor, Hotmer would mess around with a keyboard in the next room.

“What I did most of those lessons is listen to all the sounds on the keyboard,” she said. “I remember being pretty young and thinking, ‘Oh, synths!’”

She moved on to guitar at about 12 years old and was heavily influenced by Tori Amos’s 1996 album Boys for Pele.

“She was so weird, and I loved that so much as a teenager,” she said. The synth and organ work on that album stuck with Hotmer, specifically from the second track, “Blood Roses.” The texture of those synths and organs made her want to infuse her own music with the same feelings. But she was turned up to 11, to use a music cliché, playing in rock and roll bands.

“I really love picking out and crafting synth sounds,” she said. “I love that sonic journey of getting all the nuances and vibes right. It’s an experience. I always think about that album when I’m thinking about sounds that I love.”

Tired Wild Hearts is an ode to those textures, and Hotmer’s fiancé has dubbed her new music “witch house.” What is “witch house,” you ask? Witch house brings together trap-style beats, electronic music, and pop vocals, creating a mysterious, almost supernatural soundscape. And, Hotmer produced the album herself using Logic Pro in her home. She had experience in recording studios before, watching people work the board while quietly taking in what she was seeing.

Her recording skills are largely self-taught, and a former bandmate passed down knowledge of mixing and how to carve out sounds one is looking for. She’s also taken these skills to Hollywood, so to speak. Hotmer has been submitting recordings to be featured in movie trailers. Having been exposed to quite a bit of musical theater as a kid, blending music and the world of theater and cinema seemed natural. She started hitting up people who worked in music licensing companies, telling them she was available for vocal recordings. Ever persistent, she found a contact and has been working with that person for a few months, with some recordings being shopped out to Netflix. But making music that’s licensable for big production houses such as Netflix is different from writing for herself.

Writing Tired Wild Hearts rekindled her passion for writing about, and for, herself. “This album is always what I’ve wanted to make and really get it out of my system,” she said. Almost like a pressure release.

And there is pressure to release. Having played in a rock band for many years, undergone a lengthy battle with Lyme disease, and seen her long-term relationship come to an end, Hotmer’s newest album is her way of telling the world, “This is me.”

Hotmer, now living in Colorado Springs, has found a life that embraces her out west. In addition to her fiancé and music friends, Hotmer has a found family in the jiu-jitsu community. A martial arts practitioner since 15, Hotmer doesn’t often compete in jiu-jitsu events, but trains four to five times a week with women who are looking for a workout and a bit of self-defense. She began with kickboxing, saying she really wanted to “beat the shit out of the bag.” Her then-instructor loved her ferocity and encouraged her to continue pursuing martial arts. Then she trained in Krav Maga, the martial art developed for the Israeli Defense Forces, and became a Krav Maga instructor for several years.

But then the aforementioned Lyme disease struck when she was 20. By 23, she had to put a halt on training. “I was like 80 years old for most of my 20s,” she said. “It’s why I refuse to do whatever I’m supposed to do at this age.”From about 23 to 35, martial arts were not a part of Hotmer’s life. But she dived back in, going on to earn her black belt in Krav Maga, then began taking small jiu-jitsu classes about seven years ago.

Now, she has two stripes on her jiu-jitsu brown belt, one level below a black belt. “It’s added so much to my life in so many ways,” she said.

Krav Maga,  is explosive, and students are typically capable defenders in about six months. Jiu-jitsu is much more of a long-term discipline, an art, she said.

“I have fun now,” she said when comparing Krav Maga to jiu-jitsu. “I always wanted brothers, and now I have like 40 of them.” And when she trains other women in jiu-jitsu, she hopes they tap into their “warrior spirit.”

“It’s important,” she said of women feeling empowered and able to defend themselves. “I teach my girls to be terrifying.”

Hotmer said that of the things that make her, her, martial arts is one of the primary factors. Another is, obviously, music. “Music is the piece of me that I didn’t give proper homage to until now.”

“I’ve had tremendous challenges with things,” she said. “Not more so than other people, but feeling like I was in a cage for so long, I’m very, very grateful for just being able to do this and give it a go.”

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photo credit: NIA Primus

Written by Killian O’Neil

Everyone has a story to tell in multiple ways; some through acting, others through writing, and my favorite, the stories that are told through music.

Philadelphia musician, NIA, is no different from spinning her craft of telling a story with her lyrics. NIA is a smooth R&B artist that reminds me of something that would be playing in the late nineties. She was raised in Queens, New York, with her Trinidadian parents, but now resides in the City of Brotherly love, Philadelphia. She began to actively write songs for her brother and quickly fell in love with all facets of music, and by her junior year of high school, she was producing and singing.

Shortly after she got accepted to Shippensburg University, that is where she broke free of the cocoon and stepped into her truth of music. Sooner than later, NIA evolved into a Badass Openly Queer woman who was shaking things out of the status quo. Eventually, she started to play locally and embrace collaborations with other artists,  while she was at school and even started her own label during her senior year of college called Chilled Room Records.

I was lucky enough to speak with her and ask her a few questions.

“When you started writing at 5, did you know that music was what you wanted to do?” I asked.

“Definitely,” NIA began. “I don’t remember a day where I didn’t know that music was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It has always been a part of me.” Another thing about NIA is that she is Queer, so I asked her if it was challenging for her to come out.

“Was it challenging for you to come out as a queer artist? Were you afraid that it would be more difficult as an artist?” I wondered.

“Not really, only because I was already out when I started to take music seriously. Interestingly enough though, it was very hard when I first began writing music. I wrote songs for my older brother because I didn’t think it would make sense for me to be singing songs about girls. This is something that I grew out of eventually, but in the beginning, it was a challenge. I was never afraid because life has always been harder for me. I was up for the challenge because I feel that it is important to represent people like me who often are not given a platform. When you’re born into a world that doesn’t expect you or really want you to become an influential human being, everything else is light-work in comparison; you build resilience.“

NIA has a bunch of influences such as Calypso, Sade, and Soca Music when it comes to her sound. She is pretty straightforward with the tunes that are in her earbuds.

“I know you have specific artists that are influences but are there any genres that have really impacted your sound?”

“Neo-Soul has been a huge influence for me since I was young. I always looked at Alternative R&B artists as the “children of neo-soul. I love Jazz too, it makes my soul feel calm and it motivates me to either move throughout the day or be still. Soca is another big influence for me. Other than ‘Games,’ there’s not really much of that influence within my past releases. Some of the newer tracks that I am preparing for release will have more of that though.”

After everything that has been learned thus far made me curious about what her routine is like. Every creative has an outlet and a way to express themselves and for NIA it’s songwriting to name just one. So I asked her what it looked like to a fly on the wall during her writing process.

“What is your writing process like? When I write, I’m not in a good place a lot of the time. This is why a lot of my music reflects on my emotional state or different situations that have led me to a dark place. I’ve been forcing myself to not fall into the ‘depression music’ trend too much though because my creativity is very fluid and that includes my writing. I remember how much I loved Luther Vandross as a kid but sometimes I would just feel stuck in a cycle with consistent love songs. At the end of the day though, that was what he wanted to represent and I appreciate his artistry so much more as an adult. Still yet, I don’t want anyone to feel that way with my music. A lot of it is also me just wanting to be in a place where I’m happy regardless of the circumstances that I’m faced with. I don’t want to be complacent in that mindset, and I don’t want my music to be either.”

Inclusive of going into a studio there is also another special craft of writing a new song, and what happens during those moments.

“What do you like to draw from when writing a song?”

“Honestly, anything I”m feeling. Either what I’m feeling or just whatever is heavy on my mind,” she says.

Unlike most artists, she has been breaking her back to lock in with music for years, even within her own family by writing for her brother. Shippensburg was next on the list of reasons how she was going about her career with music. It puzzled me because Ship isn’t known for their music program at all.

“What made you go to Shippensburg versus staying in Queens and focusing on music?”

“By the time I graduated high school, I had already been living in PA for years. I originally was going to go to the Art Institute of Philadelphia, but that ended up being too expensive and unreliable. I had to change course last minute and I really wanted to get out of my house so I just applied to Ship. My best friend Darlene was already enrolled there so it made it more comfortable to imagine being there. At the end of the day, the experience was needed and what I gained from the support of the English department is something that I will continue to be extremely grateful for.”

Being from Trinidad originally seeing if her storytelling magic had anything to do with her roots.

“Do you incorporate your roots from Trinidad into your music?” I asked.

“Sound-wise, not as much as I would like to. That’s really due to the fact that I am constantly working on upgrading my sound and technology. I don’t even wanna touch Soca until I know that I can do it the justice it deserves, though I do listen to it a lot and cannot wait until I have something ready for Carnival season.”

Being a musician is hard for many different reasons, especially in this day and age. Not only do you have to worry about your own sound getting out there, but you have to make sure you’re doing it in the right manner and platform. Being a musician can mean you have a shelf life, so I figured i would ask where she thought her career would be in 5 years.

“In five years, where would you like to see your career going?” I ask curiously.

“In five years, I would like to be so established that I can comfortably start a family. I would like to see the fruits of my labor working in the favor of my loved ones and my band.” NIA‘s response was what I think every artist should be these days as we live in an almost post-COVID world. It has affected every single artist and musician under the sun which has ultimately propelled them forward.

“Has the pandemic affected your creativity in more of a negative or positive way? Have you been able to write more and focus mainly on your music?”

“Definitely more positive than negative, which I feel fortunate to say. I moved to Philly in the midst of it and met some great people. I met my amazing business partner, Tito Orjih, my bandmates (Veronica Hudson, Joshua Solomon, Dre Hooper, Julius Philp, & Clayton Carothers), the folks over at Oscar’s Greenhouse (OJ Mountain & Kuya Daniel), and my current roommate, Lamont Speller, who is also my very good friend. I’ve met a lot of great people which helped me to build my network and, for the most part, feel a part of a community. I just feel fortunate to have gained more than I lost, I know not everyone can say that. I was able to focus more on my sound and brand and learn more about business. Looking back on it, the Universe was really guiding me.”

Although NIA now resides in Philadelphia, she is still working every day on new music inside of the studio. I wanted to find out when I’d be able to catch her for a show so I could witness this genius of songwriting for my own which lead me to my final question.

“Do you plan on touring at all or staying local? When can we expect to see you in the Philadelphia area?

“I definitely plan on touring, I am local right now, but as soon as the opportunity presents itself, we are hitting the road.”

If you get a chance to check out NIA, Do it. She is a perfect mixture of an R&B reboot that we all have been searching for since the early nineties.

Connect with NIA

Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music

Philly-based Fried Monk (Lucas Kozinski) and beautiful-fortune (Jameel Farruk) are delivering the good vibes with their first single, “Planet B.”

After years of working together, the two artists are combining their projects, and delivering some popping indie electronic/hip-hop tracks for their forthcoming EP, Here As One, due out May 7th, 2021.

I have this Spotify playlist where I keep a list of my favorite tracks of 2021 thus far, and I had to add this song. It’s upbeat, catchy, and there are just good vibes. It’s ideal for that late spring/summertime weather.

Ironically, this track was only fully realized by the end of the first day that they had collaborated in the studio. After the two had laid out the structure of the EP’s opening track, “Patient Zero,” they immediately started on a beautiful, new electric guitar piece, and it quickly became their lead single.

“I’m overly curious about the sun. I’m borderline obsessed with it,” says Farruk. “As a solo artist, I can’t help myself from having referred to the sun over and over throughout my catalogue of songs.” Combining this fascination with the all too common experience of a bad breakup, Farruk dove into his personal history and called ‘Planet B,’ ‘a declaration of my acceptance of a life without her.'”

Connect with Fried Monk

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photo credit: Rich Myers

Written by Killian O’Neil

Anyone who grew up in the Philly area and listens to pop-punk knows who The Starting Line is. They are one of the building blocks of the Philadelphia pop-punk scene as far as I’m concerned. The Starting Line has been around for well over two decades and still brings the same energy as when they were just starting out.

This past week I had the pleasure of being able to catch one of their live streams. On January 29th, they took to the cameras for the last installment of the live stream with a “Best Of” live stream, which featured some of the band’s best and favorite songs.

I was forgetting what it was like to hear music live (well, as live as I was going to get right now) and was somewhat skeptical of this whole live-streaming business these days, but boy was I wrong. I was eagerly sitting on my couch ripping a bong when the music started to blast through the speakers.

The Starting Line decided to turn it up to 100 right out of the gate and play the track, “Up And Go,” which immediately made me want to be in a sea of a hundred sweaty people around me who were all belting lyrics at the top of their lungs. The energy that the band was projecting made me, and I’m sure every other The Starting Line fan, felt like we were in the early 2000’s back at a show at The Electric Factory.

For anyone who doesn’t know that song, it is a lively and danceable treat for the ears and soul. If you don’t know the lyrics, you will wind up belting them out anyway. It was only a matter of seconds before I noticed myself tapping my foot and thrashing my head as if I was pressed against the barricades. There is something to be said about the energy of this band and how it is evident in their performances. If it’s one thing I know about life, it’s that you cannot fake chemistry in anything, and especially with music. Watching this live stream, I’ll tell you something, and that is that they still have it all these years later.

Before the music, there was a Q&A with the band touching on how all of this came together and their thoughts on it. I was blown away when I heard Mike Golla (guitar/vocals) say that “Twelve to fifteen of those songs we haven’t played since we recorded them.” The next thing you know, it just cuts to The Starting Line in front of a camera jamming like it was the mid-2000’s.

For a band to pick up and basically relearn every song they have ever put out, is extremely impressive and almost unheard of. According to Kenny Vasoli (vocals/guitar), This live stream, in particular, was all of the “deep cuts” that we miss and love from The Starting Line. The majority of the setlist seemed to be split up between Say It Like You Mean It and Anyways and a few other fan favorites sprinkled in.

You know when you’re at a show and the singer just stops and goes on a rant about something? It’s the single best thing because at that moment you’re reminded they are exactly like you. Right, it’s awesome. With that being said, this little rant made my night.

“This next song went gold and that just happened within the past couple of months and this is my first gold record ever and we really appreciate that. I mean it’s fucked up like twenty years into our career getting that, it’s like fucked up. So deep gratitude and thanks,” is what Kenny had to say about, “The Best of Me,” which is what they closed out the live stream with. It is an all-time favorite to the masses.

I have found that there is a correlation with artists that don’t sugarcoat shit during shows when they perform. They are the ones that are still around twenty years later playing their hearts out because speaking their truth is their passion.  Shortly after that song ended he continued on with talking about how they have never done an encore in the last ten years and how he’d like this to be called a “non-core” which had “Classic Jazz,” “Surprise, Surprise” and “Island.”

I will be honest with you here, I wasn’t sure how I was going to react to watching The Starting Line as a live stream. The entire concept of watching someone play live music via the Internet alluded to me until the other night, but my mind has been changed. The only thing to make that night even better (considering the obvious) was hitting the merch table before leaving the show. A girl can dream, but I can only hope that we get blessed with another live stream or new music in the not-so-distant feature.

Connect with The Starting Line

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Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter extraordinaire, Lizzy McAlpine, premieres a new, live video for her song, “I Knew,” out now. The track is featured on McAlpine‘s debut album, Give Me A Minute, out now.

McAlpine also unveiled a crowdfunding vinyl campaign via Bandcamp for the release of Give Me A Minute. The 30-day campaign hit its target in under an hour with 350 vinyl records sold in one day. You can find more information about her Bandcamp campaign here.

McAlpine has been playing music since she was big enough to play around her grandparents’ piano. Later on, she began creating freeform tracks that eventually became something more structured. She then began to share covers and original music on YouTube.

Connect with Lizzy McAlpine

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