Girl with a Hawk keep Justine Covault close with ‘Feel Me’
Boston band pays tribute to the late Red on Red Records founder and Boston music scene champion on Friday, November 17
Now Playing: Listen to ‘Feel Me’ on Spotify
Girl with a Hawk release new EP ‘Keep ‘Er Lit’ on December 8
Girl with a Hawk downloads and assets folder
BOSTON, Mass. [November 17, 2023] -- They say life comes at us fast. But it can get taken away even quicker.
For Girl with a Hawk, the Boston band led by indie scene veteran Linda S. Viens, the past year has been highlighted by a blur of massive highs and the lowest of lows. It started in December of 2022, when the late Justine Covault asked Girl with a Hawk to join her emerging indie label Red on Red Records, releasing a new single and video for “Same Stars” a few short weeks later. Over the summer, Covault unexpectedly and tragically passed away, while Girl with a Hawk’s second single on the label, “The Romantic,” was enjoying success across the blogs and digital radio, helping to earn a New England Music Awards nomination in the “Rising Stars: Massachusetts” category.
Nearly a year after Covault’s invitation, Girl with a Hawk are preparing their debut EP, Keep ‘Er Lit, set for release on December 8, with a party that night – booked before Covault passed away – at The Burren in Somerville. But first comes a new single, an upbeat synth- and guitar-led yearner called “Feel Me,” dedicated to Covault and her impact on both the band and its members, out Friday, November 17 on the band’s new home of Rum Bar Records.
“I can’t say that we have closure yet; as it has only been six months since we lost Justine,” says Viens, “but I would say that the way the song seems to embody our heartache, and at the same time confirm that our relationship is still a living thing – whether you believe that or not, does bring some comfort. We feel her guiding us, and for me personally, I still feel deeply motivated to make music and to conduct myself in ways that would make her proud. I’m sure the band feels the same way.”
Three of the five members of Girl with a Hawk had known Covault since the mid-’80s, and eventually the years turned to decades and while life pulled them in separate directions here and there, they reconnected during the pandemic when Red on Red was launched, even suggesting Lee Harrington from The Neighborhoods as their new bassist. Viens and Covault bonded over shared experiences, like being older in a city’s music scene, raising families alongside a life of rock and roll, and the weight and expectations of being a woman in a male dominated landscape.
“Justine asking us to join Red on Red Records was an epic coming full circle for all of us,” Viens admits. “Many of the things she talked about regarding her stunning record – released just six days before she died, The Signal Light, were things that were subject matter for my songs as well: we’ve lived, we’ve loved, we’ve lost and we’re still here – so let’s rock the music and this life as hard as we can while we still have the chance. And the way she focused on women-fronted bands for the label made us all very very proud. What she was doing with Red on Red was groundbreaking, and it was an absolute thrill and honor to be a part of it.”
Now the band raises a glass to Covault with “Feel Me,” and even the single artwork has their fallen leader front-and-center, as the art depicts a photo taken by Wayne Viens at a wedding in the late ‘80s. It’s a ghostly image, and an appropriate one, as the timestamp of the photo echoes the vibe of the song, with its throwback new wave flair and punk-fueled dance aura. It sounds unlike anything Girl with a Hawk have released so far, and is held together by Richard Lamphear’s synth lines, the propulsive drumming of Nancy Delaney, Harrington’s trademark bass, and some white-hot guitar work from Dan Coughlin. Viens says that Coughlin’s guitar playing here, especially in the searing solo that barrels the song towards its conclusion, expresses the ineffable, the rawness, and the pain the band felt when Covault passed away.
Viens also notes that the song was originally written after a friend had called to express suicidal ideation after checking himself into a hospital. Viens felt helpless in the situation, and eventually could not reach out to her friend.
“When Justine died suddenly after this happened, I became the person who was bereft and in despair – not suicidal thank God – but crushed by the tragedy of it. I realized playing the song live, that the song was not specific to my friend, but universal in its themes, and that I was now the person ‘who could not be consoled’. I saw that communication between souls worked both ways: I wanted Justine to know that I was with her still, even if she was in the spirit world, and that she still was with me, in the earth-bound world and that consolation and reassurance flowed both ways. ‘Feel Me’ is me speaking to her, and her speaking to me too.”
Like Girl with a Hawk’s prior singles, Viens isn’t afraid to open up her soul like a diary, allowing her emotions to flow through her songs, displayed so vividly for the world to absorb. Whether it’s “Feel Me” or the aforementioned “Same Stars,” about Viens’ brother’s incarceration, or the summer’s “The Romantic,” what Viens is feeling permeates throughout Keep ‘Er Lit. In a way, the songs reflect the shared vision she had with Covault.
“All the songs on the EP are in different ways about surviving the vagaries of fate as well as taking responsibility for choices made, etc., about the search for identity and wholeness, and about finding some kind of peace and comfort through knowing one is not actually alone, even though in tough times, we can feel alone,” Viens concludes. “It’s also about the ways we are connected to our loved ones, and rooting for them, even if separated in physical time and space. As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of parallel themes with our soon to be released EP and Justine’s record, The Signal Light – addiction, depression, personal loss, and survival. Things every human can relate to; no one gets out unscathed.”
And we never know when we’ll be called.
***
‘Feel Me’ single artwork: