“Hey, can anyone recommend me some female fronted bands?”

How about an all female midwest emo band from Austin, Texas? 

Chronic Avoider is that all female emo band from Austin, Texas and the four of them have found a home for their peppy and unstable sound on the Tiny Sounds Collective with their debut EP, appropriately titled: Big Feelings.

Soon to be a household name within the DIY emo community, Chronic Avoider are heavily influenced by veteran acts of the genre like Snowing and Casper Elgin, while also citing inspiration from twinkly bands of the current fifth wave like TRSH & Gulfer.

Three of their four members are all over this EP shouting out their frustrations over noodly riffs. Thematically the lyrics cover a range of innermost topics from losing themselves in relationships, to the suicide of a close friend, and unsolved personal traumas.

Big Feelings is as raw and authentic as their DIY recordings and ethos, nothing is held back, overly polished, or glossed over on this debut EP. We got the backstory on how this EP came to fruition throughout a series of interviews conducted via email and Instagram messages with the band.

COULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WRITING PROCESS?

“It’s pretty fluid as far as what pieces come first. All of us write lyrics, so the writing process basically looks like one of us bringing in lyrics (or sometimes just a vague theme with a brain dump of intrusive inner thoughts), and we build our instrumentation around that. Sometimes drums will come in with a beat or sometimes guitar will start us off with a riff and we will create structure around that before we even have lyrics.”

HOW WAS YOUR RECORDING?

“We are huge fans of the DIY sound and our music not losing its rawness and authenticity.  Recording for us was making sure that we were able to capture that as well as we could with recording our instruments in a live setting while focusing on vocals afterwards. We basically want our music to sound like you just walked into a house show and the levels are balanced and you can hear it well.”

HOW WAS BIG FEELINGS MIXED & MASTERED?

“Big Feelings was mixed by our friend Peyton Heinig at Arnold House through Tiny Sounds Collective, he is the lead singer and guitarist from bands Drunk Uncle and People Make Me Make Things, who we all really respect in the scene. The Mastering was sent to our friend Hunter D’Amour, (Homesick Recordings), from the band Fine! I Guess”.

HOW DO YOU WANT BIG FEELINGS TO COME ACROSS TO THE LISTENERS?

“We’re big therapy people, and I think our lyrics often reflect that as we sort of try to process our emotions through music. I think our recent formula of raw and aggressive but complex and intricate with lots of deep feeling and the experience of the ups and downs of aggression and melancholy, are those deep and dark emotions a lot of people strain to talk about. We aim to take the audience on the journey of feeling hopeful to hopeless or angry to insecure.”

“WE WANT OUR MUSIC TO TAKE THE AUDIENCE TO A PLACE WHERE THEY GO THROUGH THE MENTAL BREAKDOWN WITH US, AND HOPEFULLY THEY CAN FEEL SEEN AND CATHARTIC IN THOSE MOMENTS.”

- REECE @CHRONICAVOIDER

ANY SHOWS OR TOURS COMING UP?

“We have a show coming up on Dec 5th over at Chess Club here in Austin, TX with Bottom Bracket, Drunk Uncle, and Upsetting. We are taking a small break in November to write more songs for our album but we plan to go super hard during the new year with more shows and festivals.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR CHRONIC AVOIDER?

“We are constantly growing, pushing ourselves, and trying new things as new inspiration comes in. I’d love for us to write a bunch more songs that we’re super proud of and release a full album, especially an album that comes in the form of a physical copy. We hit an absolute turning point at our last show where a room full of people were singing our songs, and I don’t think we’ve ever felt more joy in our lives. We want our music to feel that always.

We want more people to be singing our songs and connecting to the lyrics and feeling inspired by our craft. The next songs we write will be very thoughtful and intentional. The current song we’re working on is a Christmas song, which we hope to record and release by the end of the year.”

ANY CLOSING WORDS FOR US?

“Our EP is dedicated to Elisa Meza, she recently lost her battle with cancer at 29 years old and she truly was one of our biggest fans. We released the EP on October 5th, 2024 to celebrate her 30th birthday. We love you so much Ellie, FUCK CANCER.

And also, fuck Donald Trump.”

A small run of 50 gorgeous orange cassettes are currently available to pre order through Tiny Sounds Collective and should be arriving by November.  These are the first physicals for both the band and the collective and we’re quite excited to watch both of them blossom and grow.