Tara Giancaspro interviewing Avery Mandeville of Little Hag

As we get ready to fall through the cotton candy matrix and land with all our paws in August Leo season we've been blasting Little Hag's super catchy new single "YOU BLEW IT!" here at Meow Meow Pow Pow HQ. We've been opening the windows and playing the other single "THE MACHINE" onto the street while mopping up candy wrappers. We've been visiting the 2021 and 2020 albums Leash and Whatever Happened To Avery Jane? like finding old friends we have somehow always known. Singing along with "BLOOD". We're hyped for the album which releases on August 23rd and you can pre-order on bandcamp here. 

We found out about Little Hag through Tara Giancaspro's substack which we adore and love reading and recommend you check out, where she writes weekly posts on pop culture and other topics ranging from personal to interviews, including this excellent interview with Avery Mandeville of Little Hag.

Excerpts from An interview with Avery Mandeville of Little Hag!: 

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I was in love immediately, and now have a photo of Avery Mandeville, Little Hag’s frontwoman and one of the first people I texted when Scandoval broke, in my wallet.

When I was a senior in high school, I interned at Bar-None Records, demoing CD’s (Sharpieing through bar codes to make them unsellable before sending them off to radio stations and blogs). I loved Glenn and Mark, the heads of the label, and have kept in touch with them since 2009 (!), so proud that a local business based in Weehawken has had such an impact in the world of indie music. Glenn reached out a few years ago to let me know I had to check out his newest signee, this sea-punk redhead with a Buddy Holly hiccup and a complete distaste for censorship. I was in love immediately, and now have a photo of Avery Mandeville, Little Hag’s frontwoman and one of the first people I texted when Scandoval broke, in my wallet. Avery graciously agreed to an interview, and I was all too happy to use this to promote her new single, “You Blew It!”

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Little Hag was formed in 2016 in the suburbs of central Jersey by Mandeville, guitarist Matt Fernicola and drummer Owen Flanagan; joined in recent years by bassist Mitchell Warren-Devlin and keyboardist/vocalist Cara Introcaso. Fern and Avery came up together in the local open mic scene, eventually hosting their own at the legendary Inkwell Coffeehouse in West Long Branch where they worked on what would become Avery’s debut self titled material. After signing to Hoboken’s Bar/None Records in 2020, they released Whatever Happened To Avery Jane, a compilation of older tunes with the new summer bummer pop single “Tetris” about the mortifying feeling of COVID induced lust. Then came the truly messy, NSFW heavy hitters on 2021’s Breakfast EP, an unholy trinity of "Piss,” “Blood" and "Cum.” Their following sophomore LP Leash was abrasive and daring, calling out a variety of shitty dudes - exes, alcoholics and old man stalkers - and the ugly ways we self sabotage. The power of these feminist anthems saw Little Hag take the late stage performing with Bright Eyes, Alex G, Interpol and Spoon in their hometown of Asbury Park, with Naked Giants in L.A. and at Feile Na Greine festival in Limerick, Ireland.

Their following sophomore LP Leash was abrasive and daring, calling out a variety of shitty dudes - exes, alcoholics and old man stalkers - and the ugly ways we self sabotage.

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I actually don't know this about you - where did Little Hag come from? I know you use your name in your music and branding: Whatever Happened To Avery Jane? and "But come on Avery, nothing is free" in "The Whole World," which is the line I scream the hardest during your set, every set. What was the decision process in adopting a band name vs. using your own, and were there any strong runners-up?
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I wanted to separate my real self and my singer/songwriter years from the full band music we were making. When we signed to Bar/None Records it felt like a good time to rebrand! The origin of Little Hag’s name is kinda stupid. I was going through a phase where I was changing my Instagram handle weekly to like @officiajoeyfatone and @officialdanitykane. At some point it became @littlehag and just stuck. My handles before that were @mrnicebutt and @nomoremrnicebutt so things could’ve been… very different.

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How does being from New Jersey inform your lyricism and ethos?
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Being a Jersey Girl is so important to me. I love the beach, pork roll, and having a man pump my gas. I probably would be A Bitch no matter where I was from but being from Jersey makes me That Bitch.

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Read the interview in full and check out Taras substack!

We asked Tara if she wanted to join the MMPP family and contribute more to the blog and she said YES so stay tuned for more cool content!

In the meantime check out Lana by Tara Giancaspro on the blog.

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