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Riot Grrrl Queen Mish Hanna gives the 411 on The Diets’ latest tour.

‘It was a true riot’, Mish Hanna conceded when I got together with her in a grimy, Camden café for a good old catch-up. Mish was sat in a very eloquent, Rococo armchair and wore a little black dress, leather jacket and matt black DMs; she ordered tea for two and was stoked to see the smorgasbord of cakes on offer. The lead singer and guitarist offered a totally uncensored recount her time on the road with her killer band whilst chowing down on Victoria sponge.

What made this tour so riotous in comparison the previous tours The Diets have done?

Well, I mean the first majorly exciting thing that made this tour so rad was that it was our first time headlining. Don’t get me wrong, we’d of been content being a ‘warm-up’ act for the rest of our lives but it was too cool having ‘The Diets’ in huge letters on our tour posters. I feel like being a headliner was super stressful as well as being super rewarding though, it was a lot more pressure than just being a ‘support act’ or whatever. 

What made it more stressful headlining as opposed to supporting the headliners?

I think we felt, or at least I did, the heat way more before going on because the crowds came to see us. Like, when I go to see a gig because of the headliner I couldn’t care less if the support acts were crap or not. My damage was that if we, as like the headliners, were absolute garbage then we’d get way more abuse than if we were just the support act no one got cut up about.

Obviously headlining must’ve made this tour so special to you, but wasn’t this your first time gigging out of the UK too?

Oh my God! It was and I loved every second of performing abroad, granted we only went to America and Canada but it was such an experience. We played in some super divey places, like this one place in LA that was literally just a warehouse but it was so cool to meet our fans overseas. I mean, I didn’t think we had any but it’s so reassuring to see young Riot Grrrls everywhere carrying the torch.

On your Tumblr, you posted a photograph of yourself and Kathleen Hanna (from pioneering Riot Grrrl bands such as Bikini Kill and Le Tigre). Did you meet her when you were gigging in the US?

I still cannot believe I meet Kathleen, like we’re on first name terms now and everything! She actually came to see us playing in New York and I didn’t know she was in the audience, no one knew at all! Our tour manager thought it’d be sooo hysterical not to tell us that she was coming, so when I was singing and jamming and stuff halfway through and I just see her on one of the tables on the balcony I thought I was going to die. It shook me up super badly knowing that my idol was there watching me, I played so badly toward the end of that set list it was unreal. I legit just walked up to our tour manager, Carl, after we’d finished and freaked. I was all ‘how could you not tell us? She’s majorly gonna hate us now and it’s all your fault!’, I was such a diva.

What happened after that? Did you speak to her about it?

Well yeah, it makes me sound like such a bonehead though. After I finished abusing Carl, I went out to see her and she was super considerate and understanding. I felt so stupid for thinking she was going to hate me forever, she said that she couldn’t even tell that I was spaced out towards the end. I honestly have never met someone as uber cool as Kathleen. I told her about how much of a total inspiration she was and junk.

How much influential do you think Kathleen Hanna’s music has influenced your own band?   

Her bands were at the pinnacle of Riot Grrrl when we first started The Diets, I mean they still are. I don’t wanna speak on behalf of the rest of the band but I’m fairly certain she is to all of us what Jesus is to Christians. She invented the Riot Grrrl zeitgeist and will always be influential. I mean, she’s were I got my stage name from for Christ’s sake, Mish Hanna.

And is the Mish used in homage to Mish Way (from Canadian punk band White Lung)?

Duh! I adore White Lung so much, like when The Diets first started jamming I was practically a carbon copy of Mish Way. People actually used to tell me that I needed to stop copying her so obviously, it was dire. Like, whenever I saw her with a new coat or something I used to go thrifting around Camden Lock to find a similar one. I was so pathetic it’s crazy, such a giant nerd.

Did you meet her as well whilst touring?

No, I actually didn’t. We never really mad plans to meet up with anyone though, it was Kathleen that came to see us, still can’t get over that. I think we’ll meet up with them next time. Or… White Lung are bringing another LP out, I could be super lame and beg to support them.

That would be the most killer concert ever, White Lung supported by The Diets. What was the best support act you had whilst touring?

Don’t get me wrong, every support act we had were rad. I mean, Joanna Gruesome and Pins in the UK and The Dum Dum Girls overseas. They were all the best… no I couldn’t pick one they’re all a thousand times better than our crappy band anyways.

What was your best experience whilst touring?

Obviously, I loved meeting Kathleen but I think that the radest thing we did touring was going to an Urban Outfitters opening in the US. It was totally serendipitous, we were just hanging in our hotel room and then our tour manager burst in saying he’d just been talking to the PR guys or whatever at Urban Outfitters. They asked for us to attend, it was crazy. It was like partying hardcore and clothes shopping: my two favourite things. I met some super cool local artists and socialites and stuff, plus I got soooo many freebies.

I am too jealous, what is the best freebie you got?

Well, I had to be super practical. I hated it because I could only get stuff that I could certainly fit in my luggage back to the UK. I mean I fell in deep, deep love with this ‘60s chair but how was that gonna fit in my suitcase? The bestest thing I got was this awesome biker jacket with hella lotta patches and zips and stuff, I feel like such a Betty when I’m wearing it. Full on Joan Jett vibes, man.

If that was the best experience, what was the worst?

Umm, I guess the worst thing to happen to us on tour this time around actually happened here, like in the UK I mean. So myself and Katie (the band’s bass guitarist) were just walking around the venue, that shall remain nameless, in Liverpool. The gig had ended like two hours before and we were just out chilling while everything was getting packed up. These guys walk up to us down this super gritty alley and basically held us up. We got mugged; honestly it was the scariest thing ever. There were at least four guys and two of us, it was totally unfair. Kate joked about taking them on if there were fewer; we called the police and stuff afterwards. It wasn’t like they’d taken much but I wanted retribution hardcore, I was so pissed off it was crazy. When we got back I was punching walls, I really regret not beating up those boneheads.

That must’ve been terrifying, what became of the muggers?

To be real, I am clueless and I don’t really care. The police haven’t contacted myself or Kate so I guess I’ll never that £50 and cheapo ring back. Nah, I joke and everything but it is a serious issue. I’m not too pumped about the fact that the feds haven’t contacted us at all since the mugging. Social injustice is a killer, man. I want Batman to sort this out.

Speaking of social injustice, your latest LP was a lot less overtly political than the previous two. Do you feel that toning down your feminist mentality was the key to the LP’s popularity?

Well, first off The Diets didn’t intentionally tone down the Riot Grrrl stuff. Just because every song on the album isn’t about women’s rights, doesn’t mean we’ve sold out or anything. Some of our fans took issue to the fact that we made a song, serenading a guy (‘Hey Paul’). Just because we’re feminist doesn’t mean we can’t write a song praising a guy once in a while. Believe it or not, some men are actually pretty rad. I just get choked up about the idea people have that that our new material isn’t as genuine as it used to be.

I’m not suggesting that your LP isn’t genuine; I was asking if including more accessible songs like ‘Hey Paul’ has led to your newfound success.

Yeah, I totally get it. I wasn’t accusing you of that; I just needed to get that off my chest. To answer your question, I don’t really think that toning down the confrontational, political aspect of music leads to success. Look at Perfume Genius (the gay, Seattle-based musician). He’s just released his third album too and its way more popular than his last two. He achieved that by actually pumping up the confrontational and the political aspects of his lyrics. He’s doing this super innovative gay rights thing in his songs and it’s super rad. His song ‘Queen’ is to die, it made me cry the first time I played it.

You also are involved in the gay rights movement, are you not?

Well obviously, I’m here to support anyone the patriarchy tries to push down. You know, whether its women, the LGBT community or people of different ethnicities. The Diets’ mission statement pretty much says ‘we love you, even if the patriarchy doesn’t’.

When did you become so politically- minded?

Umm, I’m not too sure. I guess I always have been. You know how it is growing up in Greater London, you’re just exposed to every kind of person there is so you never really get a chance to be bigoted. My parents definitely influenced that side of me though. With parents with degrees in sociology and theology, you get very political very quickly. I think they had me handing Labour leaflets out at the age of four.

Who inspired you to make your music so political?

I’m not too sure, it’s weird because most of my favourite songs are all ‘power to the people’ and stuff. I think like The Clash’s music and stuff, which was never not political, has so much more value than a crappy love song. I just think that music should be meaningful and what’s more meaningful than making it about the way we live? Sure, love songs are cool but they’ll never beat ‘White Riot’ let’s be real.

You’ve recently been featured in Rookie magazine, how does that feel?

It feels super surreal. The guys there were super sweet and uber hip, I felt like such a dork there they were too cool. We got like a quick interview and they took some photos in this record store in Downtown San Fran but the best bit was picking a playlist to go up on their website. We only got ten of our favourite songs to put up and, I’m not gonna lie, I thought there was gonna be a bust up. Kate wanted some Siouxsie Sioux on there but Alice (The Diets’ drummer) hates Siouxsie Sioux and then we had two spaces left and Bethan (one of the band’s guitarists) had only chose two songs. By the end, the band had nearly split up. I got my favourite song ever on there so I was happy.

And which song was that?

‘Ladykillers’ by Lush. It’s my jam, we’ve covered it for a Riot Grrrl compilation album before, actually.

Speaking of albums, have you any plans to release anything soon?

Whoa man, cool down. We’ve only just got back off tour, we haven’t really talked about any new stuff; we just want a break. Although, I can say that I really wanna make our sound way more ‘dream-poppy’. Not just yet though, the band is taking a six month break at least.

What is it you’re planning to do in your break?

That’s easy to answer, doss around Camden and eat truckloads of cake. I’m not really sure yet. I’m definitely going up to Scotland to stay with an old, Uni friend but that’s all I’ve got planned. I’ll just sit and binge browse Tumblr with the curtains closed all day. Reblogging gifs of cats sleeping is my forte.

After the interview, Mish and I went shopping around some vintage stores. She insisted on paying for my stuff since I was ‘the best interviewer she’d had since Rookie’, we parted ways and afterwards I was sat on the tube in awe of what a total rioter Mish Hanna is. She is the Rebecca to my Enid.

By Abi Kates.