We are now down to the final push.
We are now down to the final push. College kids are pushing through finals, retail workers are pushing through the holiday season, and Star Wars fans are counting the dwindling days until The Force Awakens opens next week. Not to be out-pushed, D.C.’s Ex Hex will be making a final push of their own by wrapping up their recent tour schedule with a show at Strange Matter on Wednesday, Dec. 9, at Strange Matter.
Ex Hex is the D.C.-based punk trio of Mary Tomlin (guitar, vocals), Betsy Wright (bass, vocals), and Laura Harris (drums). Their debut album Rips was released in October of 2014. Wednesday’s opening acts will include Mac McCaughn & the Non-Believers and Richmond’s The Ar-Kaics.
Ex Hex’s Betsy Wright took some time to talk about their upcoming show, the band’s future, and the unique relationship between the D.C. and Richmond music scenes.
The formation of the band itself is due in part to D.C.’s close-knit music scene. “If you play music, you generally will kind of start to get to know other people that play music in D.C. because there’s just not that many,” Wright said, “I met those girls just over the years.”
After a few years of living and playing in Virginia, Wright eventually returned to D.C. and thus Ex Hex was born.
“I was living down in Charlottesville for four or five years, and then I was moving back up to D.C.,” Wright said. “And those guys had started jamming up together a little bit and they heard that I was moving back, so they got in touch and I went over and played with them, and it just sort of clicked, the first time we played together.”
Having played in D.C. and Richmond, Wright observed more similarities than differences in the respective music scenes. “I feel like there’s a lot of crossover,” Wright said, “A lot of kids from Richmond seemed like they used to come up here and see music, and a lot of people from D.C. would go to Richmond to see shows.”
The past couple of years have been very busy for Ex Hex, and they intend to stay busy. “We’ve been on tour for two years, so we’re kind of wrapping up our tour cycle and we’re going to sort of hunker down this Winter in D.C. and start to write some new songs and probably start recording in Spring/Summer,” Wright said, “We’re going to do a couple of shows, couple of festivals this Spring and Summer, but we’re not doing a ton of touring next year so that we can really focus on making another record, and we’re probably going to end up putting a lot of time into it.”
One thing Wright particularly looks forward to for Wednesday’s show is the chance to play with The Ar-Kaics. “They’re our friends and they know a lot of people in D.C., so they’ve played with us in D.C.,” Wright said, “Also, we just love getting to hang out with them and we love their record and seeing them play.”
All in all, Wednesday’s show looks to be a promising evening of rock and roll.
“This is going to be a fun show,” Wright said, “Come out, because we’re not going to be playing in Richmond for a while.”
Doors open at Strange Matter at 8PM with a $15 cover. Tickets can be purchased online here, at Steady Sounds, or at the door.
