When Egg Drop Soup write there’s some telepathy at play. If singer and bassist Samantha Westervelt is in the same room with guitarist Olivia Saperstein, they’ll sync and write an entire song within five to 10 minutes, while at other times, both musicians—previously in the band The Pinks together—have shared voice memos only to realize that they recorded a riff in the exact same key.
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“We often finish each others’ sentences or musical phrases,” says Saperstein, who adds that while they also write individually and bring lyrics, guitar and bass riffs or melodies that they can build around, their sonic sixth sense has been the deeper thread through most of Egg Drop Soup’s songs. “Recently, Sammy and I wrote crazy carnival-style riffs and when we shared them with each other it was like, ‘these are two parts of the same song.’ I can’t say that doesn’t happen often. It’s mystical.”
Tapped into their own musical clairvoyance, Egg Drop Soup face “societal issues, frustrations with this structurally anachronistic, patriarchal, heteronormative, and domineering society,” says Westervelt, along with some of the more fickle, social elements of life in L.A. on Eat Snacks and Bleed.
“Each song has its own way of dealing with disillusionment, both from a macro and micro perspective,” says Westervelt. “It can feel like this hierarchy exists—not just ‘the man’ is getting us down—but also socially. L.A. can feel very cutthroat and cliquey, and people, at least from my experience, sometimes treat you like you want something from them. They’re suspicious of your motives, even when you’re just new to the scene and genuinely trying to be friendly.”
Never wanting to impose her point of view on anyone, Westervelt is coming from the perspective of someone who was new to music and the L.A. scene when the band first started, so she tends to weave words from these observations.
“I was definitely feeling that at the time, among other things,” says Westervelt. “Unfortunately, the way things are going, I’ll probably always be a bit disillusioned with our world, in the macro sense.”
Filled to its brim with EDS’s own noise-punk, Eat Snacks and Bleed, the band’s literal euphemism for menstruating and snacking, is also a call to speak up and stand up for justice. Opening on the grungier “Rank Heavy Metal Parking Lot,” EDS unflinchingly start piercing the heavier subject matter of sexual assault and assaulters on “Hymen,” through the head-banging crunch of “Swamp Ass,” inspired by an acquaintance the band later learned did some terrible things to women.
“I think you’ll find a lot of this EP is about peeling back the facade and exposing what is really there,” says Saperstein, “‘like ‘I see you, and I’m not going to let it slide.’”
Bringing a touch of levity to the track, the band, donned in pastel, taffeta gowns, and plotting over tea and tarot cards, channeled their own 1980s prom night for the track’s video. A COVID-safe road trip to a house in Julian, California for Saperstein’s birthday, would be the setting for their twisted dance party, but they had to record “Swamp Ass” first. With more studio time on hand, the band also recorded the last song they wrote for the album, “Rank Heavy Metal Parking Lot.”
In piecing together the EP, the five tracks were an amalgamation of songs, some held over from a session two years earlier—including “Hymen,” featured in the upcoming film Jakob’s Wife, and “Tow Jam,” also part of the vinyl compilation Neon Corpse Parade (Sweatband Records)—with the remainder of the album recorded prior to the pandemic in 2020.
“The constraints of Covid definitely presented a challenge in terms of studio time and whatnot, so having those tracks already ready made it a little easier,” says Westervelt, who wrote the two older tracks, along with “Hard To Hold On” and “Swamp Ass” in 2019.
“We have a lot of songs and are always writing,” shares Westervelt. “Sometimes it can be hard to make decisions around what to record, release, and how to configure it.”
Despite the jagged timeline of some of the songs, Saperstein says there’s a clear cohesiveness to the album’s five tracks. “We have written so many songs over the past three years,” says Saperstein. “We usually record what we’re really feeling at the moment.”
The past year has turned into one of the most creative and experimental for the band. “It has made us focus on practicing and recording,” says Chapman, who replaced the band’s previous drummer Greg Settino in 2020. “I also realized how important it is to love your surroundings and your home, because you might get stuck there for the majority of a year. It was definitely a time of introspection and re-writing the script of the life of a musician, artist.”
Saperstein says that while Chapman hasn’t officially played lived with the band yet, it doesn’t feel this way since they all gelled naturally throughout the year, and the band is now closer than ever.
“We’re tighter on so many levels,” shares Saperstein. “We’re tighter as friends, but also sound-wise. It has given us time to evolve and experiment, and we have written a ton of songs.”
Moving ahead, the band is working on a live streamed video to complement the EP release, along with more videos and new singles.
“Unfortunately it seems like shows won’t be a thing for a while, so until then we’re just gonna keep practicing and writing and doing what we can from our little corner of the world,” says Westervelt. “We really can’t wait to tour again and are just really looking forward to safer, healthier times for gathering, and moshing, and shredding, and hugging.”
