Asking Trophy Wife Anything
This interview has been edited for conciseness and clarity.
A couple days after seeing her perform an intimate solo set at Brinstar, I sat down with Berklee graduate McKenzie Iazzetta — known professionally as Trophy Wife — to discuss her new EP, Voyeur (released November 15th), her writing process and angry ladies of the ’90s.
Maayan Milchan: You graduated from Berklee this past spring and moved to Brooklyn. How has your creative process changed since you graduated and moved?
All photos courtesy of Amber Dunning.
McKenzie Iazzetta: I feel like because I've been so focused on [recording Voyeur], I haven't written anything new [recently]. But after I graduated in the spring, I still had some classes left to do in the summer, so I feel like I haven't even gotten a real picture of [my new creative process]. I mean, I've had two months, but this month I haven't even been in New York because I've been on tour. I feel like I haven't gotten a really clear picture. I definitely have a lot more — or not a lot more, but some more — free time. I'm still trying to figure out what it looks like for me.
MM: So you wrote Voyeur while you were still in Boston?
Iazzetta: Yeah.
MM: When did you write most of the songs?
Iazzetta: I didn't know that they were going to [make up] an EP when I was writing them. I wrote “Linoleum” about two years ago, maybe two-and-a-half years ago. I wrote “Ask Me Anything” two winters ago. I wrote “Baby's Breath,” “Leech,” and “Enough” more recently — probably in the past year, or maybe last winter. But while I was writing them, I didn't really know that I was going to put them together.
MM: When did you record them?
Iazzetta: Over the summer.
MM: Did you record them here?
Iazzetta: Yeah, we recorded them in my bassist Christian's apartment. We set up a whole thing in his roommate's bedroom and did it all in there. It was like 100 degrees, and we had to turn off the AC because of the sound, so we were all in there sweating. It was awesome, though.
MM: You mentioned that you didn't anticipate [all the songs] being on an EP together, but do you feel like there's any differences you've noticed between Voyeur and your previous work — or in how you view it?
Iazzetta: Honestly, Bruiser [Iazzetta’s previous EP] came together in the same way. I don't know, I feel like if I tried to sit down and decide I was writing five songs, my brain would shut off, versus writing one at a time. I definitely feel differently about this one. “Ask Me Anything” is a re-release — that one I had released in [December 2020], but it sounded really, really different. It was almost like a test song. We were trying to figure out how to make things sound good. But yeah, I have another year and a half on me [since Bruiser came out], I guess. Another chunk of time. I kind of approached them in the same way.
MM: I know you were previously involved in the Boston house show scene, and now you're making a comeback. What has it been like to be back in Boston after graduating? Has it felt different or has it been the same?
Iazzetta: Honestly, the biggest [difference is that] the whole time I lived here, obviously, I had my own apartment. [Now,] I feel funny being here; I feel like I'm wandering around. But no, it's really nice. I played a solo show at Brinstar [on Friday night].
MM: Oh yeah, I was there!
Iazzetta: [It was nice to be in a house venue again], because that's not really a thing in New York.
MM: Oh, really?
Iazzetta: Yeah, because there are more venues that you can play there, versus Boston…
MM: Only the bigger ones...
Iazzetta: Yeah, there's either the bigger ones, or there's O'Brien's — which is awesome — and a few things like that. There just aren't as many accessible venues to smaller musicians here, so we kind of have to put on house shows. It was so nice to be [at Brinstar], and I [performed at] Warehouse XI which I'd never played before. I'd never been there before and it was really cool. I have another show in Boston on Tuesday.
MM: You're opening for Skegss, right?
Iazzetta: Yeah. It's just funny, I feel like I've played so many Boston shows. It has felt nice to be back. It's definitely very different from New York here, so I feel like I have to adjust back and forth every time.
MM: With your band, have you had a consistent lineup, or has it changed?
Iazzetta: It's been pretty much the same since we got together a year and a half ago to record Bruiser. At the time, Micah Rubin was on drums, but pretty soon after that, Michael Martelli [started playing] drums for me. Christian Pace is on bass. Mario Perez is on lead guitar.
MM: Were they also Berklee students?
Iazzetta: Yeah. Michael is still in school, and the rest have graduated. Mario moved to New York and lives in Harlem. Christian is still in Boston, and so is Michael.
MM: Because half of your band still lives in Boston, how have you been handling your shows in Brooklyn?
Iazzetta: If I have a show in Brooklyn, Christian and Michael drive there to perform with me. We knew that this was going to happen. We've been getting in the swing of things and getting shows in New York and it's going suspiciously well so far. Luckily. I have a bunch of shows lined up. But it sucks for [Christian and Michael], because they're going to have to drive five hours.
MM: You mentioned during your set at Brinstar that you rarely perform completely solo. Is your writing process mainly just you or are your band members involved?
Iazzetta: I write by myself. I don't know how people do it with a group of people. When I'm writing songs, I won't even write them down. I can't even let it exit me if I don't like it. I feel like my brain would be like, "That's embarrassing," if I had to write with them or with anybody. I bring [the songs] to the rest of the band and then we figure out, as a group, how to make it a real song versus something where I'm just sitting there and being annoying. [Laughs.]
MM: I know you didn't write all of the songs on Voyeur at the same time, but did you have any situations and/or things that influenced this group of songs?
Iazzetta: Yeah, I definitely have a lot of musical influences for this one. I was listening to a lot of Tori Amos, Mitski and Wednesday. Wednesday is so awesome. I mean, I feel like I'm always listening to a lot of women from the ’90s — just angry ladies. I've been into heavier stuff recently, but definitely a lot of [the angry ’90s ladies]. Some of the songs on Voyeur were written for class. It's funny — I was forced [to write], which is good. Sometimes I have to be forced to write a song because I'll just sit and not write one for a hundred years and then be like, “Why don't I have any more songs?”
MM: What's next for you and your band?
Iazzetta: Right now, we just have shows coming up. We have the one here on [November 22nd] at Paradise Rock Club. Then, we have so many coming up in Brooklyn — we have ones on the 29th, the 2nd, and the 9th, and then I have a solo show on the 15th. We'll take a break for the holidays, and we'll be back at the end of January. We'll probably have a show up in New Hampshire at the end of January, which will be really fun. That's pretty much what we're doing.
MM: Very cool. Thank you so much for doing this. Good luck with the show on Tuesday and with everything in the future — and congratulations on the EP! I've been listening obsessively.
Iazzetta: Thank you so much!
To keep up with Trophy Wife, you can follow her on Instagram, Spotify, and YouTube, or visit her website. For more of Trophy Wife’s influences while writing Voyeur, listen here!