Born out of the stillness of the pandemic, HVIRESS is the electrifying side project of Mishkin Fitzgerald (Birdeatsbaby, Crimson Veil) and Hana Maria (Hana Piranha). What began as an experiment in creative freedom — a space without pressure or expectation — soon evolved into a dark, spellbinding fusion of electronic, ritualistic pop and gothic mystique. Their debut album, BITCHHOUSE, channels empowerment, chaos, and sisterhood, creating a “safe space where women make the rules.”
In this conversation, Mishkin and Hana open up about how HVIRESS was born, the meaning behind BITCHHOUSE, their work with producer Evan Rodaniche, and how the project became both a sanctuary and a playground amid their many musical ventures.
Welcome to HVIRESS
When did you realize that it was time for a new project, considering that Mishkin has already four different projects? When did you realize, well, this is material that I cannot use on Crimson Veil and the other projects?
Mishkin: Well, actually, we started HVIRESS in the pandemic when everything was really still. So it wasn’t because “We were like, oh, we’re not busy”. We just were writing a lot of music at that time and there was a lot of space. And I think Hannah and I just wanted to have some fun and write something that didn’t really have any pressure underneath it. It felt like in the pandemic that all of that pressure to tour and release music kind of went away.
So yeah, we wrote “Arrival” then and, you know, Gary was also writing these kinds of sketches with guitar riffs and classical kind of sounds that didn’t really fit into any of our projects. And so, yeah, Hannah and I were like, let’s do a side project. Let’s do something that’s just the two of us, electric, no strings.
Hana: Just for fun.
Mishkin: And it just started.
Hana: Oh, I was just going to say it’s around the time we got heavily into like witchcraft together. Yes. And the songs and the project was kind of an extension of that, you know, it was like, felt like making spells.
Producing the debut of HVIRESS, BITCHHOUSE
You know, from this journey, BITCHHOUSE was created, so I wanted to ask you, how was producing it?
Hana: Yeah, so it actually took us a lot more time than we thought to finish the record. We got signed to Give or Take I think a couple of years ago now, and we promised them a record. And then it took—we were so busy with our other projects—it took us another year to finally finish.
But we worked with a producer in LA called Evan Rodaniche, and he’s produced a lot of Hana Piranha stuff already. So he’s already a frequent collaborator with us. His sound is very kind of shiny and poppy, and it’s absolutely perfect for him. So between him and Gary, they worked on the production
Signing to GIVE/TAKE
You know, this album is going to be released under GIVE/TAKE. How you came in contact with them?
Mishkin: We, once we’d put out “Arrival,” I think we got approached by them. Was it “Arrival” they put on their first Deaf Club thing?
Hana: Yeah.
Mishkin: We’d put out three singles and after the third one came out, we got contacted by this label, and they wanted to put us on, first, a compilation CD called This Is Death Pop. The label kind of pioneers the genre death pop, and we thought HVIRESS fitted really, really well. And I don’t think we quite realized what a big deal it was until the compilation came out.
It was really successful, and it really resonated with a lot of the other artists that they had curated, especially Wendy Rae Fowler, who’s on their label as well. And she’s featured on BITCHHOUSE on the “My Cup Runneth Over”. And it just felt like the right fit. So then obviously we approached the label and said, we’ve got this album — which we didn’t have at the time and now, we do have [laughs]. And they said, “yeah, we’d love to work with you”. And that’s how it started.
The ethos behind the BITCHHOUSE album
You said about the BITCHHOUSE album — it’s an album about building a protective space where women make the rules. But can you tell me about it? I was really curious. So what are you minding?
Hana: Well, I feel like “Bitch House Rules” came from Mish and I — we used to occasionally, when we weren’t working (very occasionally), chill out, sit on the couch, have loads of snacks, and watch some crap TV broadcasts. And we’d be allowed to go on our phones, do whatever we wanted, anything that you wouldn’t usually do with other people. And it was called Bitch House Rules.
It’s a place, a safe space where you’re with your friend, and you can do anything you like. You can doom scroll while watching TV if you want to, and you’re not going to be told off for it.
Mishkin: Yeah, you can eat an entire packet of Jammy Dodger biscuits and no one’s going to tell you off. You can scroll the most terrible stuff on the internet, and just kind of have like a bit of a space.
The HVINESS singles and videos
As you said before, there were already two singles released — “Welcome to the Bitch House” and “I Am the Snake Queen.” What can you tell me about working on the videos and the songs per se?
Mishkin: “I Am the Snake Queen” we worked on with an animator called Vlad, who does kind of like a mixture of real animation and AI animation together in these cool lyric videos. And we felt because “Snake Queen” had a sort of story about how modern culture has gone into overconsumption.
And it’s a bit disgusting and kind of surveying this really capitalist state, his work would be perfect for that. So, he’s blended ancient images of goddesses with modern pop culture and trash, really — which fits the ethos behind “I Am the Snake Queen.”
And “Welcome to the Bitch House” is like, you know, obviously, we wanted to share a bit of a more feral, wild side to it and do something quite sexual, but empowering, and maybe a bit terrifying. It was kind of like women together, being their free selves and expressing ourselves doing ritual magic. Just descending in chaos and freedom.
That’s what we decided to do for “Welcome to the Bitch House.” A lot of it was improvised, actually — we had an idea to go to the woods, build a fire, and the whole thing just escalated. We ended up covered in blood — you know, naked. It was great.
All this different musical worlds intertwined
Nice. Well, you know, I’ve always been about be who you are for the rest, I don’t care, I don’t judge.
Mishkin: So Bitch House Rules — everybody’s welcome in the house.
Precisely. As I mentioned before, Mishkin also plays in Crimson Veil and Birdeatsbaby, and you, Hana, have your solo projects. How do all these different musical worlds connect with HVIRESS?
Hana: Well, I think we have been writing together for a while. Mishkin helps to do the writing for Hana Piranha, I help with the writing for Crimson Veil. We have kind of been collaborating for a long time on our projects and HVIRESS as well. We’ve come together as equal parts. And we are writing, something that equally both of us.
Mishkin:Yeah, and just for the two of us — the other projects are obviously our main focus, but there’s quite a lot of pressure with projects you’ve been doing for a long time and building. With HVIRESS, we wanted to do something that was quite free.
And I don’t think we expected it to be as big as it’s become for us. We just wanted to put out a few songs for fun, but then the songs just kept writing themselves and they just kept coming. I think it’s really important that you retain a sense of play and fun with your music. When something starts to feel like work, it’s time to step back and write something that isn’t that serious.
You can hear with HVIRESS — although it’s quite dark and purposeful, there’s really an element of silliness and fun. I think if you don’t have a project where you can just blow off steam and do whatever you want, you start feeling a bit tired of the other ones. We love to move between the projects; they all feed each other and you get inspiration from each sound. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t stick to one genre for the rest of my life.
Feeling free
Absolutely. I completely agree with you. Do you feel in a way more free here with this project? Because I felt listening to the album that both of you expressed yourselves more.
Hana: Yeah, I think our careers don’t depend on this project. You know, Hana Piranha for me — I’ve been fighting for years to get to a point where it is established. And it’s the same for Mishkin’s Crimson Veil and Birdeatsbaby. And really, those are the things that kind of define us as artists, whereas HVIRESS is something we can do just for fun, and it’s over and above everything else we do.
Any touring prospect for HVIRESS?
But realistically speaking, do you see any touring prospect with this project? Or do you see it just as a studio outlet mostly?
Mishkin: I think we don’t rule anything out with any of the projects. I mean, a few years ago Crimson Veil didn’t even exist, and we didn’t really know where that was going. I think it’s good with your music career to keep an open mind. We’d love to tour it, but we can’t do that right now — it’s not the right time.
Perhaps when our other projects grow in size, and we have more control over what we’re doing, it might be really fun for HVIRESS to tour with one of the existing projects. That would be fantastic. But we certainly wouldn’t say no to a tour if the right one came along.
As far as touring right now, we’re just happy that it’s a studio project. Because as soon as it starts to feel like work, then it’s not really got the HVIRESS kind of charm that we wanted from the project.
Mishkin & Hana: Yeah, exactly. We want to stay Bitch House for now [laughs].
So, Hannah and Mishkin, I wanted to thank you for your time and for joining me tonight. I hope I asked everything — if not, this is your space to add some bits more.
Mishkin & Hana: Thank you for your time.
Mishkin: Well, thanks for having us and for supporting HVIRESS, and yeah — we look forward to hearing what you have to say.
