Interview: She's Green

It’s an exciting time for US shoegaze revival band she’s green. Originating in the midwest city of Minneapolis, the band have attracted a cult following of nearly half a million monthly listeners on streaming platforms. With a uniquely nature-inspired approach to songwriting, and a gorgeous sound that blends dream pop and shoegaze with a great focus on swirling texture, there’s no wonder the band’s roaring set at the Bodega opening for Softcult drew an enthusiastic crowd response. I caught up with them just before they took to the stage to talk about their two EPs, experiences with college radio, their upcoming 2026 tour of China, and more. The Mic's Josh Holmes reports.

she’s green are Zofia (vocals), Liam (guitar), Raines (guitar), Teddy (bass), and Kevin (drums).

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Josh: It’s lovely to meet you guys. I’ve loved both your EPs for a while, especially the Chrysalis EP. I think I stumbled onto you in 2024. I guess the best way to start the interview is by asking if you’ve ever been to the UK before. Have you ever toured here before, or is this your first time?

Teddy: First time on tour, yeah. I think some of us have visited before, but first time touring here.

Josh: I know the weather’s a bit naff, but I hope it’s treating you well.

Teddy: We’ll take this winter weather over our winters back home any day.

Josh: I imagine a midwest winter is pretty miserable. I guess one good way to start off is talking about your songwriting style and your influences. You guys have typically been tagged as a shoegaze band, but you’ve mentioned in some interviews before that you don’t especially write for shoegaze fans. Are there any influences there that people wouldn’t normally expect that have a big impact when it comes to your songwriting?

Zofia: Yeah, I think there’s a lot of influences that are sorta adjacent. I’m thinking, like, The Sundays, Slow Pulp, and a newer band I really love called Babehoven.

Josh: And I guess the other thing I wanna go into is the difference between the Chrysalis and Wisteria EPs in terms of songwriting. How much did you change things up between both your EPs, since there was a two-year gap between them?

Liam: I mean, I think the biggest change was adding a new guitarist [Raines], but we really started writing together as a band more [for the Chrysalis EP].

Zofia: Yeah, Wisteria was a lot of Liam and I starting something, and then Teddy and Kevin adding to what was already written. Chrysalis was different, because it felt more like something we made together.

Josh: More of a collective project?

Zofia: Yeah, exactly.

Liam: I think, like, definitely on tracks like Willow and Figurines, those came more to fruition more naturally as a group. We jammed those out more than we jammed the songs on Wisteria, for sure.

Josh: On the subject of Willow, that’s my personal favourite track on the Chrysalis EP and it’s my favourite track you guys have done so far. Is there anything more you can tell me about how that specific track was recorded?

Teddy: That one came together quick.

Liam: Yeah, I mean, when we were writing it we were all together in an apartment space. It was probably the one that came along the most naturally to us, and then recording it was super fun. We did it with our homie Jack!

Josh: I guess another thing to ask is about how you guys have blown up pretty recently. You’ve got about half a million monthly listeners on Spotify, which is huge. How has it been responding to that success — has it been overwhelming for you, or have you just taken it in your stride?

Liam: It’s been strange.

Zoey: It doesn’t really, like, translate that much? I think it’s because a lot of our listeners are pretty spread out, so when we play a show it still feels like it’s pretty intimate and a smaller size. Especially because we haven’t toured that much. It still feels like we’re a young, beginning band; it doesn’t feel like we have this huge success all of a sudden just because we have all these listeners. We still think we’re in a “beginning phase”.

Teddy: It’s kinda hard to wrap your head around a figure like that.

Zoey: It doesn’t feel like that many people are listening, but it’s really cool to see and we’re super grateful.

Teddy: Then again, everywhere that we have managed to go, there’ve been people that’ve come up to us and been like, “I’ve been so excited to see you guys!” or like, “This is the first show I’ve ever been to, I really wanted to come out to catch you.” That is especially mind-blowing.

Josh: So it’s like having a tight-knit, dedicated following?

Teddy: I’d say so, yeah. I’m in awe of it — it’s wild and very strange, but very cool.

Josh: I know you guys started out meeting through college radio, right? How did that influence the writing and recording of your first EP? I’m very curious as a college radio host myself.

Teddy: Ayy! [fistbump]

Raines: Sweet, which college?

Josh: Right here at the Uni of Nottingham! Gotta plug Vapour Trails on URN.

Teddy: Awesome! At least for me, it was very influential in putting me onto a lot of music that I wouldn’t have heard otherwise. That then became very influential for me as a musician and, I guess, as a “songwriter”, with big quotation marks.

Zofia: I think, like, it didn’t really influence the writing. It was mostly Liam and I, and I wasn’t in the student radio and it was more just something to the side. But we ended up recording drums at the radio station! That was a huge resource that we had.

Kevin: We used to just sneak in with our gear. I’d get into Studio K and rip some tracks.

Teddy: I occasionally would be the backup engineer in the live studio, so I knew the code to get in. All the Wisteria drums were recorded in there! [laughs]

Josh: I guess something else I wanna talk about in terms of your early rise is the importance of a local music scene?

Raines: Massive.

Josh: In the UK, especially with, like, shoegaze, dream pop, a lot of the genres you’re typically associated with, we don’t really have that sort of thing necessarily — certainly not like in the US. How important was that local scene to you in the early days?

Zoey: It was honestly the thing that got us to, y’know, even make a band. Liam and I were making music, but because our local scene was thriving so much and we were going to so many shows, it really inspired us to get people together and wanna just do it for fun! That’s become something bigger than we’d ever expect.

Josh: Another really important thing I wanted to ask about: you guys are touring China next year, which is absolutely ridiculous! You’ve gotta be one of the first big Western shoegaze acts to tour China that I could even name.

Teddy: Yeah, when you put it like that, holy crap! [laughs]

Josh: I mean, there’s a pretty rising local shoegaze scene in China with bands like Default [缺省] over there. How important and cool has it been to you guys to be given the chance to tour there?

Zoey: Really, really amazing. Honestly, I’m super excited to hear from people what bands are in their community that they love, because we’re just so detached from that. I’m most excited to just hear from people over there. And Raines can speak Mandarin, so that’s gonna help us communicate with our listeners over there.

Raines: It’s definitely very weird. People have been like, “How does that happen?!” and I think that touring there is different from other countries, y’know? We just got very lucky, to be honest. There are bands that are, like, a thousand times bigger than us that have never been played in China. It’s a very unique and singular experience, to be honest.

Josh: You are a shoegaze-adjacent band, so I’ve gotta ask this usual question. What kinda gear do you usually use, whether that be playing live or in the studio (if it’s a different setup)? What kinda pedals and effects do you typically rely on?

Zoey: [points at Raines] He knows!

Raines: Reverb, delay, and distortion. It’s all there is. There’s loads of cool stuff, but we’d be here forever.

Liam: My Green Russian Big Muff is probably the one pedal I couldn’t do without.

Teddy: I’m trying to think what’s more important — effects or amplifiers — for me? I think, actually, maybe the bass I play at the moment. I love my old Kramer that’s got an aluminum neck. Or, uh, I guess aluminium [UK pronunciation] since we’re over here [laughs]. But yeah, I find that thing really cuts well through the mix of stuff that we do, so that’s most important for this band. A good drive pedal is really important for me too.

Josh: I’ll make this last one quick, since we’re a bit tight for time. Is there anything you can tell me about the future? I’m waiting with bated breath for a full-length, because I loved the EPs so much.

Teddy: [reading my phone’s notes] Follow-up plans to the EP, I see, as you’ve described it.

Kevin: The tracks are recorded! There is new music.

Zoey: We can’t say what, but…

Raines: There is a plan to release it that we’re working on currently.

Teddy: In, I’d probably say, the near-ish future.

Josh: Huge.

Raines: It’ll be in 2026, we’ve said. Our new music is coming in 2026!

Josh: That warms my heart.

The latest EP by she’s green, Chrysalis, is available to stream on all major platforms.

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Photos coutresy of Josh Holmes

Edited by Daniela Roux