Hurts So Good: Five Fast Facts with Speakeasy on their Therapeutic track "Monogamy"
- Isabella Basile
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Speakeasy is a Queer Black and Brown Femme Fronted Soul Punk band based in Lenapehoking, founded in 2022, including members Isa Escobar on lead vocals and guitar, Izzy Mizell on guitar and vocals, Kenia Hale on bass and vocals, Cameron Lloyd on Keyboard, and Arya Bali on drums. Speakeasy is devoted to making the revolution irresistible. They just released their debut album, We Still Have Time, on May 23rd, 2025. According to Speakeasy, “We Still Have Time is a representation of Speakeasy, the world we live in now, and the one that we want to see in the future!”
IB: Hi Speakeasy, I am so excited to sit and chat with you today!
SE: Hey! Thank you for having us, we’re excited to be here! (in unison)
1. IB: Tell us a little about yourself and how Speakeasy started!
SE: We all got together playing in the DIY scene in New Brunswick, NJ. Isa (our lead vocalist) and Kenia (our bassist) met at a venue called the Garden, and bonded over playing music and being Black girls in a pretty white scene. We decided to form a band to play together and honor the Black roots of rock, punk, and other forms of alt music. Isa and Kenia are founding members, and Arya, Cameron, and Izzy joined the band afterwards, each bringing their own talents and energies! Since then, we’ve been playing at shows, strikes, protests, and other events that mix our passions for music and activism.
2. IB: I can really hear the pain in your voice about halfway through “Monogamy.” What were you imagining during this vocal performance?
SE (Isa): At this point, when we play “Monogamy,” I don’t even feel sadness or pain, it’s fun and therapeutic as fuck to play that song and get really loud and to perform the different types of vocals that it requires. It’s funny when people hear pain in the song because, while I have been through stuff, when I perform the song, I mostly just enjoy the experience of singing and having fun with my friends.
3. IB: Do you typically start writing a song with instruments or lyrics? And what did your process look like for "Monogamy?"
SE: We typically start writing music by jamming together, playing our music in tandem till we catch a rhythm or melody, Isa will add lyrics on top, and we get in a kind of flow. It’s like we’re communicating with each other through our instruments, speaking a different language together.
Isa: When it comes to “Monogamy,” it was during a time when I was just beginning to play guitar. All I wanted to do was play the guitar, express my feelings, and be able to sing along. We’ve been playing it for a long time, and It’s interesting because as the song gets older, I get older too, the song changes and grows in the same ways that I do, and my bandmates add new parts as well and the music benefits from all that we each put into it.
4. IB: What does your recording process typically look like?
SE: We’ve tried different recording processes, some more DIY, some live recordings of shows, and our new album was entirely recorded at a SUPER cool non-profit recording studio called Inspiration Audio and Carriage City Studio. The recording process is super collaborative, we had like 5 different studio sessions, recorded and re-recorded, and worked together to find our sound.
5. IB: I see that you are going on tour this summer, which venue are you most excited to play? Are there any venues that you are nervous to play?
SE: We’re excited to play all the cities we’re hitting. Our bassist, Kenia, is originally from Cleveland, and she’s super excited for the rest of the band to see her hometown and get to know the music scene she grew up around. We’re also excited to see bands we’ve played with before playing a Juneteenth Show in New Haven with our friends at Punk Noire, and another Juneteenth festival in Scranton, PA, with our friends Pucker Up! It’s so cool getting to know new parts of the country with bands we’ve gotten to know as family.
IB: What is one song you wish Speakeasy wrote?
SE: “Gimme All Your Love” by Alabama Shakes, such a fun song to play, and the way that the band plays with space is so well done!
IB: What can we expect to see in the future Speakeasy?
SE: We’re super excited for our first album [We Still Have Time] to come out. It’s the culmination of 3 years of hard work and lots of love as a band. And we’re going on our first tour this summer, which is gonna be dope. From here, we’ve also been writing new music together from all our jam sessions, so we’re definitely excited to work on new stuff together as well.
IB: Thank you so much for your time, it was great talking to you! I can’t wait to see what Speakeasy does in the future!
SE: Thank you so much for having us!
Listen to "Monogamay" below!
Credits
Lead vocals and Guitar: Isa Escobar
Vocals and Guitar: Izzy Mizell
Bass and vocals: Kenia Hale
Keys: Cameron Lloyd
Drums: Arya Bali
Production: EJ Gaub
