Chicago free-range indie rock trio Horsegirl trample Bottleneck this Friday

Photo by Cheryl Dunn

Nostalgic for some 80s and 90s alternative rock? Let noise rock trio Horsegirl do you one better with a swirl of Sonic Youth-esque indie rock and post-punk crossed with their personalized Gen Z twist.

Formed in 2018 when the three members were just 14 and 15 years old, Horsegirl was born out of Chicago’s youth rock scene along with their accompanying band on tour, Lifeguard.

Penelope Lowenstein, the now nineteen-year-old guitarist and vocalist for the band, says the trio is still processing what came after that.

Horsegirl, also featuring Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals) and Gigi Reece (drums), have since seen mentions and praise from the likes of Rollingstone, The New York Times, Nylon, and NPR music. They are now on the road for their second full tour following the release of their first record last summer, playing landmark venues like Chicago’s Thalia Hall.

Horsegirl plays The Bottleneck in Lawrence this Friday, Aug.11 with support from Lifeguard, a fellow Chicagoan alt-rock band. Tickets are available here.

The Pitch sat down with Lowenstein to discuss breaking into noise rock as high schoolers, making it big, and touring as best friends—along with each of their childhood stuffed animals. Read on below:

What is the origin story of Horsegirl? How did you all meet and mesh musically?

Nora and I met when I was 14 and she was 15. We were both sort of floating around the same music program in Chicago, and when we met and immediately hit it off. Because we realized we were both kind of the only kids around who are interested in more underground music instead of classic rock. We were both obsessed with bands like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine and stuff like that. So I had just started high school when we both started playing guitar together pretty naturally.

We actually just went ahead and wrote our first song—I had never written a song until I started playing with Nora. And then pretty quickly we decided we wanted to start a band, but we needed a drummer. Nora already knew Gigi, so Gigi came on board. And then slowly, we started taking it more seriously and developed as songwriters. But it was a long process throughout high school. We’ve really grown up together.

Can you tell us more about this sort of mini-rock underground you all engaged in with musicians your age in Chicago?

I feel like the music scene in Chicago has changed a lot since we started as a band. When we started, there were a lot of young bands, but musically, it was very different from how it is now. We felt a bit alienated honestly—when we were younger—by the other music that kids were making. We felt like what we wanted to do was a little bit more noisy and kind of experimental than a lot of the more pop-dreamy bands that were going on. What was awesome about that music scene though was it did feel very possible to have a band as a kid in Chicago, and that was very inspiring for us. But slowly we started to meet younger high schoolers who were interested in the same music as us, like punk, and wanted to take it more seriously. I think that was when things started to change and we became very excited about the youth scene in Chicago.

And what was that network of young musicians like? I know you all are touring with Lifeguard, another more experimental rock band composed of young folks from the area.

I mean it’s awesome. The way that we met Lifeguard was, well I mean the drummer is my brother. And Asher was a friend of ours from school. But the way that we met Kai was through an open mic where he was playing with a different band called Dwaal Troupe.

And we were just so taken aback when we saw them. I remember there was a kid bowing a banjo, and it was very experimental. We were just shocked to see other kids who were kind of pushing it a little bit more. And that was very exciting for us. It was also when we started to feel like we were meeting like-minded people. And there were side projects within Dwaal Troupe, Post Office Winter was one of them, for example. That’s when we started to realize we were meeting bands that have sort of similar musical values to us. Just bands we can get really excited about and listen to like crazy.

Photo by Todd Fisher

How has this music scene shifted for you all as you’ve grown over the past three years?

It’s just pretty cool to go to a show where it’s an entire bill of young rock bands and people show up—including a lot of older folks. And it’s a pretty empowering feeling when suddenly big venues in Chicago will give us the space to put on a show. Like our last show of this tour is at Thalia Hall, which is just my favorite space in Chicago. The same goes for the feeling of looking back over the last four years at how much we’ve accomplished as a group of bands. There are also younger bands in Chicago that are saying things like, “It’s awesome to see Horsegirl and Lifeguard do it for real.” It’s just cool that we can have that influence in our city. It’s a really exciting, fulfilling feeling. 

Building on that, you all have been garnering more and more media attention, with accolades from publications like Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Nylon. What has that been like?

I mean, it’s totally unreal. Especially in the beginning—it just felt pretty sudden for us. I remember when that stuff started, it was kind of crazy. I didn’t really understand if this was real, especially for us, as things really started picking up during the pandemic. So I was literally just locked inside with Gigi and Nora, and we weren’t seeing anyone else. Then suddenly I was seeing all these big publications write about us, but I was like, “Is this even real?” Because I have no physical proof that like anything has happened to my band—we hadn’t played a show in a year. I also remember my parents, just being like, “What is going on down in the basement, like you guys started a band and?” We were all just kind of freaked out. But obviously, it’s very exciting.

Can you tell us a little about your first album that came out last summer, Versions of Modern Performance?

The album was written when it was Gigi and Nora’s last year of high school. We started writing it before we even knew that the band was going anywhere. It was just a dream we had to make a record before they left Chicago. I do think in a way, the record is very special to me because it was just written between three friends before we even knew what we would

Cover art courtesy the artist

be able to do with those songs. At that time, we were very motivated to write noisy music that we were excited to play live. And that was the biggest driver—we wanted something with an energy behind it. Something that you could just feel three people together making music that can be played exactly how it was recorded—kind of like a punk mentality. When we went to the studio, we were mostly focused on how we could replicate the live dynamic between the three of us. It was also really important to us to not have things polished. Once we got a record deal, we wanted to hold on to this punk DIY element that was there before we had any resources.

Regarding the album’s release, I feel like nothing can prepare you for a first release of that scale. Because this was something private that the three of us had made and spent a lot of time on and suddenly, it just becomes available for everyone to make their own. So that was a weird feeling. That was also super special.

As you mentioned, the Horsegirl trio grew up together. What is it like now touring and spending even more time together on the road?

I will be honest: I do feel like we have one of the most awesome band dynamics I’ve ever seen. I mean Nora and I just moved and got an apartment together. And I think because we grew up together, and we all three moved from Chicago to New York together, and we’ve spent so much time touring—it’s just very familial. We look after each other in a way that I just feel very lucky to go through this with them. We honestly don’t get sick of each other in a touring situation. It’s actually very sweet, we just unpack the day together before we go to bed in the hotel. So far I couldn’t imagine being in a band where you’re not with your best friends. Otherwise, I think it would be a very lonely experience to be on the road.

As far as touring goes, do you all have any essentials you like to have along with you for the ride?

We all bring our childhood stuffed animals. That’s the big one. We brought a chessboard too, which hasn’t gotten much use, unfortunately. I’m looking around the van for more, but those are the noteworthy mentions.

Horsegirl plays The Bottleneck in Lawrence this Friday, Aug.11 with support from Lifeguard. Tickets are available here.