Dublin-born rock sensation SPIDER has been making waves in the alternative world as of late. Listed as one of Kerrang Magazine’s Top 24 Alternative Artists to keep your eye on in 2024, she began the year with the release of “Daisy Chains”, her cathartic and aggressive new single. With her punk-infused rock sound, the former Catholic schoolgirl is injecting a fresh dose of rebellion into the rock world.
Raised by an academic family, SPIDER didn’t come from a musical background. Between her and her older brother, she was always the one with the big feelings and was initially drawn to music once she realized it was a form of expression. Inspired by famous women in rock, it has a become a big influence for her sound, as she often combines the sounds of contemporary female alt-pop artists with those of 1990s Riot Grrrl bands.
“I think that era of music specifically right now is really feeding my soul.” she says, “It’s like everything I do, where I’m kind of like, ‘okay, well, what would Bikini Kill do in this instance?’”
Throughout her discography, SPIDER has gone more alternative with her sound. She was initially afraid to add guitars in her music, even though she loved the heavy use of them from artists like Paramore and 5 Seconds of Summer. After working with skilled producers who were incredible guitar players, SPIDER realized she wanted to embrace the distorted sounds she’s always loved as her music taste started to include more intense artists.
“I really don’t know what the change was, but for me it does kind of feel like I’m just coming back to myself in a way, and I’ve just kind of stopped pretending like I’m not a rock girl,” she says.
As a woman and an artist of color, SPIDER acknowledges that the rock scene is heavily dominated by men. When playing alternative festivals, crowds mostly consist of older white men – a stark comparison to her fans who are women, queer, or non-binary. SPIDER says it almost feels like these men in the crowd are sizing her up while she’s on stage.
“Should I be scared of people who haven’t done all that much to be here?” she says. “Not to say that people haven’t paid their dues…cause I feel like everybody works hard in industry, but I feel like for white men, in a genre that’s been very palatable for them to be in, it’s not that hard for them to do their thing. It’s not that hard for them to gain success or find their space to succeed in. Whereas I feel like for women, non-binary people and people of color in the alternative space, it’s so much harder for us to have that platform. Sometimes I feel like people struggle to look at people of color in the alternative scene and call them alternative. It’s almost like there’s this automatic pop girl type of thing that I’ve experienced a lot, where I’ll feel like I’m making very obvious rock music or alternative music or punk music and people [will say] ‘I love the pop energy.’ So I think getting recognition from a publication like Kerrang was very much my ‘rock girl passport.’”
Her newest single, “Daisy Chains”, was released on January 19. Inspired by a situation where a man invaded her personal space, the song conveys SPIDER’s emotions following the event. Women are often conditioned to respond with kindness or be the better person in situations like these, and SPIDER was mad at herself for doing so.
“I was angry about the fact that he felt like he could invade my space like that,” she says. “I was angry about the fact that he didn’t feel the need to apologize. I was angry at myself for being so nice to him afterwards, for not really having the confidence or the backbone to say anything at the time and also for thinking that I had to maintain kindness after someone treated me that way.”
“The victim who’s just suffered this thing that’s happened nearly reserves the right to have a violent reaction,” she says. “I was thinking about guys who do that, or maybe guys who don’t take no for an answer and are touchy, guys who invade personal space and then act innocent about it. There’s violence in that.”
The new single will be featured on SPIDER’s upcoming EP Object of Desire, out February 23. On the EP, SPIDER explores themes of family dynamics, struggles with sex and intimacy, and healing from a strict Catholic background. Because of these vulnerable topics, SPIDER says this EP was the scariest to write.
“I think, if anything, the EP is a journey of those topics,” she says. “It doesn’t give any answer. It’s just more of an exploration of my thoughts on it and where my head was at with things.”
After a traumatic music industry experience at 19, the now 24-year-old stopped making music for a while. Not soon after, she was seeing spiders everywhere. After some research, she learned that spiders are often considered spirit guides for creatives who stopped creating.
“I was doing more research and there was stuff about spiders having ties in old folklore from indigenous tribes about spiders carrying this spirit of storytelling and strong feminine spirit and a connection between past and present, and all of it was really resonating with me,” she says. “So then I was like, if I do decide to make music again, I think I’m gonna call myself SPIDER. Then I did do that, and everything just started feeling way more authentic.”
SPIDER says that after stepping away from Catholicism, she’s learned how to heal from such an oppressive environment and navigate topics like objectivity and desire on her own.
“I genuinely went to the extreme where I was like, I believe in nothing, to then figuring out what I was naturally gravitating towards because it actually resonated with me, not because of what I was being told,” she says. “Sometimes I think it’s just about genuinely starting from zero and starting from the bottom and [asking yourself] ‘what is my soul actually calling me towards?’”
As well as an upcoming EP, SPIDER has her first ever headlining show on March 20. Set to perform at Camden Assembly, she’ll play songs from her upcoming EP she’s never played live. Openers are undecided at this time, but SPIDER wants the event to highlight alternative people of color.
“When my music first started getting some attention, I hated the concept of performing live,” she says. “I was so scared, and I remember being like, ‘I’m gonna try and drag this out for as long as I can and not do a show for as long as I can.’ I was so terrified. But now, actually playing, I feel really confident in my live show and the energy I can put out.”
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