WEEDKILLER is a collection of irresistible songs that perfect the bold, genre-blending sound that has defined Ashnikko‘s work to date. The WEEDKILLER universe that Ashnikko has created is a dystopian fantasy that tells the story of a fae civilization occupied and destroyed by machines that feed on organic matter where the faerie protagonist seeks revenge by becoming part machine – a poetic commentary on environmental disaster and the rapid evolution of technology. Full of equal parts naked vulnerability and joyful rebellion. KALTBLUT spoke to Ashnikko during the release of their debut album, a follow-up to the acclaimed 2021 mixtape DEMIDEVIL.
KALTBLUT: Thank you for taking the time to talk today! So how have you been enjoying the summer so far? Are there any kind of standout events or favourite places you’ve had the chance to visit?
Ashnikko: What have I done this summer? I’ve been all over… where did I go? I was just in Berlin for my pop-up, just promoting the album, doing a Q&A, meeting fans and stuff. It was really cute, but where else did I go? [Pauses to think] I was in Japan. I was in Italy. I was in LA. Yeah. I’ve been bopping around, such is the nature of the job.
KALTBLUT: Yeah, of course. You’re based in London at the moment, is that right?
Ashnikko: Yeah.
KALTBLUT: What initially drew you to the city in the first place? I know you kind of moved over there when you were fairly young, right?
Ashnikko: Yeah, I moved when I was 18. I mean, I’m from a small town, quite a rural area of North Carolina, and I think it’s kinda, the grass is always greener. You always want what you didn’t grow up with, so I was always drawn to a big city, and I love the UK though. Such an incredible art and music scene, and yeah, it felt right for where I wanted to go creatively.
KALTBLUT: Could you see yourself maybe moving somewhere else for a bit?
Ashnikko: I mean, right now I kind of live out of the suitcase [laughs]. Yeah. I think though there is a certain draw that I feel back home in the mountains and the forests and stuff. I think, yeah, one day I’ll probably end up back there
KALTBLUT: I feel like the countryside in Ireland or Wales would be perfect.
Ashnikko: I love Wales so much! But yeah, I probably would go back to my home state. I just love the Appalachians and the forest. They’re so beautiful.
KALTBLUT: I like the idea of folklore from the old country. I feel like that’s quite associated with your music.
Ashnikko: We have so much in incredible, Appalachia-based folklore. It’s pretty spooky. There’s a lot of stuff, a lot of creepy crawly stuff that happens in the Appalachians, but I actually haven’t written about Appalachian folklore in my music yet. It’s mainly fairy Celtic stuff, but yeah, I should, it’s a good shout, actually. I am super interested in folklore.
KALTBLUT: This whole kind of fae, dystopian fantasy world is captured in the Weedkiller universe. Is it referring to anything in particular?
Ashnikko: There’s a lot of my own personal stories that I’m telling in the Wastewoods. The Wastewoods is what I call the realm that the story is set in. It’s autobiographical. There’s kernels of real stories in each song. Even the most fantastical ones have some kernel of truth in them.
I feel like my connection to the natural world has deepened as I’ve gotten older like deepened my sense of self, and I feel like the Weedkiller itself represents a lot of things for me. People who have hurt me in the past, but more in my own personal microcosm. But then on a more macroscale of just humans hurting our home, and there’s a lot of that storytelling that isn’t in the music, because in the music there’s a lot of, there’s some silly erotic songs. But yeah, there’s a bit of the storytelling in there. A lot of the storytelling is done through the visual side of the album and through the comic book that I wrote with DC.
KALTBLUT: I definitely picked up on the Tank Girl comic book influences in the video for ‘Worms’
Ashnikko: Oh yeah, definitely. I feel like this record is just an amalgamation of all of my favourite things, like Tank Girl and Mad Max and old Björk videos, Horizon Zero Dawn and Princess Mononoke to Studio Ghibli films in general, Angel’s Egg, and Neil Gaiman books, and I could go on and on and on and on.
KALTBLUT: What are your thoughts on AI and how it’s being seen as both enhancing and removing creativity in a way? Like how Grimes and others lend their vocals to create new music. Would it be something you’d consider doing?
Ashnikko: I dunno about vocals, but I have used AI in music videos before, just briefly. Like when we were in Weedkiller we were telling the story of my lead character’s mind fracturing, because she is becoming half Weedkiller. She’s becoming a cyborg. So to help people visualise that, we created this fracturing of the mind with AI. So that was helpful in telling that story about this AI, this AI killing machine. But yeah, I haven’t used it in a musical sense yet.
KALTBLUT: You mentioned releasing a comic book (Husk: A Tale From The Weedkiller Wastewoods) with DC. How did this collaboration happen, and would you consider doing a series of comic books? Or is it like a one-off special?
Ashnikko: So this is just a little snapshot into a larger story that I’m writing. I think it might end up as a graphic novel. I’m not sure yet, but that’s what I’m working towards. I am super excited to flesh that out, and I worked with some incredible comic book makers on this. It was really fun to work with the DC team. The illustrator, Tom Mandrake did such an incredible job with this and really brought my ideas to life. I was super happy with it.
KALTBLUT: It looks amazing! And you just came back from Comic-Con, right?
Ashnikko: I was in San Diego, yeah.
KALTBLUT: Have you been to Comic-Con before? And if not, is that world something you’d like to explore more?
Ashnikko: Yeah, I’m super into The Sandman which is also with DC. I love Neil Gaiman, I’m a huge Neil Gaiman stan, but yeah, I’ve never been to Comic-Con. I’ve always wanted to go and to be there for my own work was really special.
KALTBLUT: Would you consider cosplaying as anyone? It could be a good way to sneak in without getting recognised.
Ashnikko: [Laughs] I’d probably do Jinx from Arcane. I get a lot of comments and people want me to constantly dress as Jinx.
KALTBLUT: That could definitely work! I think they’re finally coming up with a new season soon. Would you do something like an animated series as a continuation of the comic book or in conjunction with the album?
Ashnikko: I mean [laughs], who’s paying?
KALTBLUT: If you had an unlimited budget?
Ashnikko: If I could, absolutely. Yeah, I would love to flush it out.
KALTBLUT: Back to your current visuals, let’s talk about your video for ‘Cheerleader’ which I absolutely love because I only just watched Midsommar last week, so it’s fresh in my mind.
Ashnikko: Yeah, that film is fucked.
KALTBLUT: It’s too much. I feel like I predicted a few things, but there was some stuff I could not even begin to imagine. Are there any other types of films or directors that you’re into?
Ashnikko: The funny thing is I don’t really watch a lot of horror or thrillers. I like to come home and watch a nice Adventure Time or something sweet for my brain.
KALTBLUT: That’s totally fine as well! Are there any particular standout tracks on the album that you feel really connected to or maybe that you’re anxious about releasing?
Ashnikko: I feel super connected to ‘Dying Star’ because it closes off the album and is the closest thing I’ve ever gotten to a love song, and I feel super connected to ‘Super Soaker’. I’m super proud of both of them and the artists that I worked with, Daniela Lalita and Ethel Cain. I think it was such a beautiful link-up.
The album is just full of catharsis and removing toxins from my body, and then it ends on kind of a happy note. The last line of the album is “I want something soft”, which I think is nice.
KALTBLUT: That’s so sweet! Are any of these songs dedicated to anyone in particular, or a subject in particular?
Ashnikko: There are songs that are more erotic and love songs that are dedicated to people, and I have people in my life who have hurt me and I have found ways to channel that in my music. I always say that the Weedkiller itself isn’t just one thing, it wears many different masks, and it is just a reclamation of my autonomy and my sense of self and finding that again, and I think as you navigate your life, especially as a femme person, you lose that and that’s constantly being stripped away from you and…
KALTBLUT: Questioned?
Ashnikko: Yeah. So the process of rebuilding that I think is what this album is about.
KALTBLUT: I think that leads nicely into the next question which is about how you stated not owing an explanation for your sexuality, which I completely agree with, but what is your response to other artists coming out or being forcefully outed?
Ashnikko: I think it’s really silly. There’s this idea of queerbaiting, which I genuinely think has its place, not queerbaiting has its place, but I think using that word is right. In certain situations, say like a Disney film hinting at a queer plot line, but never actually doing it. I think then we can say it. They could never actually have a queer plotline because they don’t want to alienate their viewers. But in that scenario, I’m like, okay, yes, queerbaiting, but an actual person… I feel like being free with their gender and their sexuality and having that freedom to explore, I don’t believe in claiming someone is queerbaiting because I think my personal belief is that it’s not binary like that.
In order for people to be themselves, we have to destroy what it means to exist in that binary and I think being forcibly outed by people you don’t know on the internet is very cruel. Making people explain that to you, you being a random person on the internet, feeling as though someone owes that to you, is super weird.
It’s just, if you believe in the fluidity of a human in general, why are you making them label themselves to you?
KALTBLUT: Exactly, I totally agree with you. How do you manage to keep boundaries with things like your personal life when you’re in the spotlight and on social media so much?
Ashnikko: I don’t really talk about my personal life too much. I just think I don’t owe anyone anything in regards to my personal life. I love to talk about my music and my creative process, but anything outside of that, I’m just like, no one needs to know that. I like to think of these things as my own personal secret garden. I have a garden that I tend to that no one else but the people that I love get to see. And then beyond that, I have a secret garden that’s just for me.
I have three gardens that I tend to: my public-facing garden, my personal loved one’s garden, and my super secret one. That’s just for me.
KALTBLUT: I like that idea. You said before that the online world can be kind of a cruel place, but I think that it also brings people together in a positive way. Do you have any nice stories to share on that topic?
Ashnikko: Yeah, I’m doing a book club with my Discord, and I think it’s really, really cute. We’re reading Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and it’s really, really special to have that place. And I really love the way… I guess I used to be like this when I was younger, finding friends online. I just really love the community that my Discord has between themselves and people making friends at shows and planning to meet each other and across continents and across the world. Just making new friends. And the common thread they have is that they listen to the same music, which I think is really beautiful.
KALTBLUT: Do you have any kind of routines or self-care for when you’re doing stuff like this? Like, during promotion and travelling around and doing everything all at once.
Ashnikko: I try to go to a park and be outside in the forest as much as possible, I try really hard not to read comments and not to read reviews and stuff, just because it’s not good to know that much about yourself or to read that much about yourself.
KALTBLUT: That’s fair. Do you believe in things like Mercury in retrograde?
Ashnikko: I mean, there’s no denying that the planets and the moon have an effect on the human body, on life, on earth, so yeah, I’m sure.
KALTBLUT: Do you have any last words of wisdom?
Ashnikko: Plants are alive. The natural world is sentient.
KALTBLUT: Okay. I like that as a dramatic exit.
Ashnikko: Thank you!
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Weedkiller is out now: ashnikko.lnk.to/WEEDKILLER
