Fugazi x South Asian Feminity: Listen To Ecca Vandal’s Pulsating New Pop-Hardcore Single

Ecca Vandal is the kind of artist I’ve dreamed of finding since I was first introduced to alternative and hard rock music as a kid. Growing up, I’d press my ears against my brother’s walls just to hear the heavy metal music bleeding through his walls. He was the drummer of a metal band and, while I loved attending his gigs, I admittedly felt dissuaded from joining the crowd. It felt like a boys club; an environment where I didn’t belong. When I later came across bands fronted by women, like Paramore, I fell in love with their music, and yet, it didn’t feel like my itch for a woman rockstar had quite been scratched. I wanted to hear a woman scream, to go all in. 

Ecca Vandal’s latest single, ‘Cruising To Self Soothe’, opens with a perfect scream. She’s a supernova backed by aggressive percussion and nostalgic, pop-punky power chords, and had me moving uncontrollably two seconds into the song. Ecca’s known for blending genres, with a style drawing from late 70s and 80s post-hardcore, punk, and new wave sounds. She tells Alternative Press that ‘Cruising To Self Soothe’ specifically takes sonic inspiration from Fughazi and Jane’s Addiction, two beloved bands she listened to a lot while writing the song all the way back in 2018. 

‘Cruising To Self Soothe’ is a powerful anthem about inner strength and letting go of people who drag you down. It’s bittersweet, simultaneously self-empowering and honest about the difficulties of having to forge your own way in the world. Lyrics like “I’m moving up where I belong, but at the top it’s fucking cold” and “you look better when I don’t look back” are relatable in a sense, tapping into an anger and loss a lot of us experience as we grow up and realise we have to leave certain people behind to grow. But her words hit especially hard, considering the explosive trajectory of her career. Recently signed to Fred Durst’s record label and now opening for Limp Bizkit on the European leg of their tour, Ecca Vandal is steadlily carving path for South Asians within hardcore spaces.

The ‘Cruising To Self Soothe’ video finds us in the Knox skatepark in Australia, a decision made by Ecca to echo her growing interest in skate subculture. Cutting between shots of her in different eccentric outfits around the park and her band, the video is reminiscent of early 2000s-era pop-punk visuals. Ecca manages to tap into our nostalgia while keeping things fresh, both sonically and visually. Her frank lyricism and commitment to being herself are what make her so exciting, especially as a South Asian creator. It's not all that often that we seen a brown rockstar, unafraid to be angry and headbanging with a head full of blue hair? Ecca Vandal isn’t just the cool new musician of the moment; she could be the start of a new era in music, creation, and self-expression for us all. 

Follow Ecca Vandal here. 

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