Getting Stuck in Your Head: She Eats Planets
Sara Hart can sum up her view of the Connecticut rock scene in one word ,”bummer.” “We love playing at home, but it seems like people in the surrounding states frequent live shows more often.” Her frustration may be justified as it seems more bands right over the border in Massachusetts seem to be making names for themselves almost overnight. Sara and her band She Eats Planets however, are optimistic “We’d love to turn Connecticut into a rock state!” Hart exclaims “We’ve been able to cultivate a healthy following in Connecticut and we’ve found venues that really go out of their way to flip the scene around.”
Alongside Hart at the helm are bass player Talya Goodman, drummer Matt Mello and Laura Robida on lead guitar. “We’re playing music for the masses” states Robida. “We’re not playing down to anyone, you don’t have to like metal to like us and you don’t have to like pop, you just have to like music.” As individuals, the band finds influence in a wide array of artists from The Beatles and The Donnas to Tool, Nine Inch Nails and everything in between. This sensibility has provided She Eats Planets with a fan base just as diverse as each of the band members themselves. From high school aged listeners to rock scene veterans fifty and up, SEP attracts a wide crowd with their classic rock grittiness and catchy, pop-infused melodies.
This past Spring, the band found itself performing for a crowd of three hundred at Toad’s Place in New Haven. Hart’s view on playing the legendary venue? “That was an amazing experience, it was intoxicating to play to such a huge crowd, we can’t wait to play more shows like that one!” Such an opportunity didn’t go to their collective heads as they’re not above playing to crowds considerably smaller. According to Hart “We don’t really consider anything we’ve played “small scale” because even if we’re playing to one person that enjoys us, we count that as a huge success.” The band is also vying for a position at the upcoming SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin, Texas.
You can’t help but hear the rock, pop and even at times classic metal impressions on original songs like “Shut Up (I Love You)”, “Push Your Luck”, and their live cover of Pat Benetar’s “Heartbreaker.” When asked how involved the entire band is in the songwriting process, Sara states “Someone will start messing around at practice and the others will just jump in.” She adds, “Usually when the three of them pick up on something I get easily inspired and start writing, before you know it we have a song.” Hart and Robida have even gone so far as to record riffs or verse and send them to each other online. They do this in order to compose music when they can’t physically be together to write.
Drummer Matt Mello states “We’re all pretty good friends so we have lots of fun when we hang out, including during our writing sessions, recording time and at gigs.” Adds Mello “We’re all really laid back people and we enjoy each other’s company whether we’re working or hanging out.”
This dedication and sense of togetherness has no doubt been part of what makes She Eats Planets a powerful band with a sound that, while mainstream, still holds it’s own brand of uniqueness and charm. “Overall, we’d like large scale notoriety but right now, we’re really focused on expanding our fan base, meeting people who like our music and just connecting with them.” Says Robida “Of course we’re always looking to the future and the ‘next step’. It’s so easy to get lost in the what-ifs but we try to focus on what we’re doing here and now.” She adds “We want to share our music with people who love listening as much as we love writing it, that’s what music is about, it’s uniting people and just letting them have a good time. I like that.”
Official Website: www.sheeatsplanets.com
