Here’s a story for you. She was raised in Nashville, the daughter of Grammy winning American country music songwriter Edward Monroe Hill, got into the industry and scored a publishing deal at the age of 20. She then dropped out of college and signed to a label. Happy ending, no?
Not exactly… Especially if you’ve always known you were a “punk kid!”
That’s the story of Gracen Hill, today reborn as Penny Lame and we are honored to host her christening and bless the world with her brand new track “Lipstick”
“Penny Lame has always been inside of me and now it’s finally bursting out!” Gracen admits.
“I mean punk, rock and weird synth music is all I listen to so it feels perfectly natural for me to be making this kind of music. It’s just who I am.”
When we asked her about the transition from being Gracen to birthing Penny Lame, her answer was enlightening.
“I just think I wasn’t ready for a big record deal. Simple as that. I’ve always written music but sometimes you can get trapped in a cage that doesn’t allow you to develop your authentic artistic self. That’s what happened to me and when I reached that point of non return I just knew that I had to get out of that deal and pave the way for Penny Lame.”
Gracen takes her creative self to a whole new level.
“LIPSTICK” is a sweaty alt-punk-pop wake up call about pushing back against a partner’s abusive behavior and rising out of the toxic fumes.
“Every time they hurt me, I would add another few lines and imagine I was screaming at them in the microphone”
Her looks and style tell the exact same story! Her long time collaborator Caleb Herring is a video guru and together they reveal how much thought and process has gone into the making of the upcoming music video for “Lipstick”
“Aesthetics are crucial for us and we feel like this video had to make a strong impact so we tried different things but after a while we just thought we had to shoot it in NYC. After all, what’s more punk than NYC?!”
“We just spent the whole night filming here and there in a deserted New York! Caleb just went “Go get drunk and have a good night and we’’ll make a music video out of it!’ It was punk as hell!”
We won’t spoil it for you. You’ll have to keep an eye out for Penny Lame as she redefines Punk and find out for yourself. But don’t worry, you’re gonna hear about her. A lot!
