Cover Story: Chase Petra finds comfort in inclusivity and foolishness

Chase Petra has always centered their identity on growth. The “quarter-life-crisis-pop” band uses immersive storytelling to try to understand a range of emotions from the piercing ache of growing older to the quiet sting of growing apart. “I’ve always felt that Chase Petra’s uniqueness has lied in the lyricism and the storytelling, not to toot my own horn,” lyricist and lead vocalist Hunter Allen shares. 

“I turned 29 [recently], so I’m not sure if it still counts as quarter [life crisis] unless I’m gonna live to 120, but it’s certainly still ‘crisis-pop-rock,’” she says. “The lyrics that I tend to write are about intense emotional moments so it’s always gonna be a crisis over here.” 

Their latest EP, A Terrible Ennui, arrived on June 26 and confronts topics of imposter syndrome, gender discrimination, social isolation, and more. The lead single, “405,” tackles the ‘cool girl’ epidemic of pop culture and the alienation and awkwardness that comes with experiencing it from the outside. “Growing up right outside of Los Angeles, you’re very aware of the idea of coolness and fame. It’s always in your face,” Allen explains. “‘405’ is a reckoning with myself like, ‘Listen, you’re never gonna be cool, chill, and mysterious and that’s probably for the best.’” 

The song covers a topic somewhat similar to that of the previously released, “Famous.” The single, which was released last summer as a stand-alone project alongside “We Were Friends,” struggles with the desperate desire for fame, validation, and success. “‘Famous’ is this reckoning with the idea of wanting to become famous or what you think fame can bring you with the branding and social media,” she says. “Everybody just wants to be famous, but I don’t think we often think about the fact that being famous actually probably sucks in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of masking and hiding, and it’s all bullshit.”

In the same vein, the EP’s final single before release, “Soda Pop,” addresses the inherent misogyny of the music industry and how it affects the perception of women in the spotlight. “I’m very lucky that in my career with Chase Petra, we have spent so much of our time surrounded by women, queer people, people of color, [and] people who were typically not at the forefront of the emo scene when I was a teenager,” Allen shares. “I was in a very male-dominated space at one point after spending a lot of time, again, working with women and queer people almost exclusively. I had forgotten that people, mainly men, view me differently because of my gender and that there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Despite significant progress made since the ‘90s and early 2000s, the alternative scene has continued to discredit musicians based on their gender identity.  “It was a shock to my system,” she continues. “I had genuinely forgotten that I’m not just a musician, I’m not just a road dog, I’m not just on the tour. But also I’m a girl. I had to ponder my gender quite a bit after that experience.” 

“I think just even in my own personal experience, being surrounded and together and having each other has made my experience of the music industry so much easier and happier,” Allen adds. “Oh my God, I just think about what Hayley Williams had to have gone through in her career. Any woman when I was in high school playing the Warped Tour scene, I cannot imagine how hard that was. Frankly, I’m grateful that I am not having to fight those battles in the same way.”

Allen, however, is contributing to dismantling gender inequality within the scene in different ways for the next generation. While music festivals in the alternative scene regularly lack female representation, Chase Petra joins a lineup of almost entirely female-fronted bands for this year’s idobi Radio Summer School Tour. Each year of the touring festival has aimed to recenter the focus of live music back on creativity, accessibility, and inclusivity for fans and growing artists. 

“It’s everything that the version of me that started this band when I was 19 could have ever wanted…

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