Q&A: Cellmate Dismantles Imposter Syndrome on New Single “1MP0573R!”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
“YOU JUST GOT TO GET WEIRD” — Identity has become increasingly curated, performative and filtered through endless social media feeds. Kingston, New York dance-punk duo Cellmate is asking an uncomfortable question: What happens when even authenticity becomes a performance?
Cellmate's new single, “1MP0573R!” (Imposter), dives headfirst into the psychological maze of imposter syndrome, digital identity and the pressure to constantly present a perfected version of oneself. The result is a cathartic release that’s inspired by hacker horror core, garage rock grit and electronic experimentation. The single dismantles the concept of performance itself. Not just on stage, but in everyday life.
“There’s becoming this level of humanity where we just are maybe feeling like imposters, even being a loser, it's like you have to perform that,” says Cellmate frontwoman Maria Alvarez. “Especially with touring and trying to be a musician on Instagram, I feel this pressure to be the cool girl and all that. I'm into what I'm into, and I'm going to express that. If I'm already doing it, I'm already doing it. I don't need to make myself the cool girl or whatever. I can use that competitiveness towards myself, towards bettering my craft.”
“1MP05T3R! showcases a heavier, more aggressive side to our band while not straying far from familiar territory on previous releases (“Fixer, Stuck”), said Steven Markota (bass). “We are enjoying the process of carving out our sound one song at a time. Nothing feels off limits and that’s what makes this band so exciting for us.”
Cellmate has built its reputation on collision. Alvarez and Steven Markota cut directly to the heart of what makes “1MP0573R!” resonate. In a culture obsessed with branding every aspect of life, the song rejects the notion that artists need to package themselves into digestible personas. Instead, Cellmate embraces imperfection and weirdness.
For Alvarez, that freedom arrives when self-expression is no longer tied to outside approval.
“Maybe it goes back to social media and being performative, even without realizing, I think maybe it's part of our culture now, and we have a super proper etiquette culture and everything,” Alvarez says to Luna. “You just got to get weird, let loose. I wish I could share the feeling that it doesn't last forever.”
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what inspires your artistic style and sound?
MARIA: Originally, Steve reached out to me. I had met him through this other project that I was in where he helped fund recording. He was experimenting with egg punk, and he sent me some demos, and I was drawn to the sound and I can just be in my basement for eight hours making weird sounds and doing whatever. I sent some stuff back, and then we started creating this playlist of inspirations that had no boundaries and no label saying we had to sound a certain way. If there's no barrier, what would I want to make? It doesn't matter if these two songs sound completely different. Right now I wanted to make a disco song, and then the next song is a hardcore song. The music is whatever I’m inspired by and it’s part of the future to meld things, and that's how new genres come about. I've always really enjoyed how electronic and rock music mixes, like I love Nine Inch Nails and Prodigy. I've been listening to Prodigy since I was nine, because they had the song “Omen” in the movie Kick-Ass. I needed to listen to this every day and fantasize revenge.
LUNA: Your newest single “1MP0573R!” dives deeper into your sound and continues to push Cellmate’s sonic boundaries. What emotions or inspirations did you feel compelled to explore this time around?
MARIA: I wrote that song in 2023 and it was just one of those like I would try to do challenges where I'm going to sit down and write a song today, but I didn't think it was going to be used for anything, so it just sat there. Sonically, I was inspired by Prodigy and hacker horror music, just wanting to feel like I'm in a video game, and then lyrically, I noticed that there's a trend in the past few months, there's been so many more songs coming out that are called “Imposter” or “Imposter Syndrome.” I'm hearing a lot about it right now with social media, and the way that people probably constantly feel the need to perform. There’s becoming this level of humanity where we just are maybe feeling like imposters, even being a loser, it's like you have to perform that. I was thinking about that a lot at that time, especially with touring and trying to be a musician on Instagram, I feel this pressure to be the cool girl and all that. I'm into what I'm into, and I'm going to express that. If I'm already doing it, I'm already doing it. I don't need to make myself the cool girl or whatever. I can use that competitiveness towards myself, towards bettering my craft, and what is making me feel like an imposter? How can I use that to be real?
LUNA: Can you talk me through the creative process for “1MP0573R!” looked like?
MARIA: I would go on YouTube and look for drums like 180 bpm dance punk drums, and then the ones that you can download for free and use, I would use them for inspiration to bring over to my GarageBand and then I'd try to write my bass over it. I learned this skill from Alan Day from Four Year Strong, where I feel like he's so analytical with songwriting and structure, and anytime I've had the opportunity to work with him, I'm taking notes because I've applied that a lot to my songwriting. Song structures are usually A, B, A, B, C, D, so I need a maximum of four riffs. Once I have that down and I put them in the structure that they're in, now I can zoom into each part, and how can I make this part special? How can I make this part verse one stand out from verse two? I send it to Steve and then he remixes it, and we'll add all the electronic layers and synths.
LUNA: Does “1MP0573R!” set the tone for the rest of Cellmate’s upcoming music, and if so, what can listeners expect from this new era of music?
MARIA: I think so, but also I don't know. Not every song is going to be super fast punk. I think the more personality songs have more of a Garbage or Nine Inch Nail vibes, not as punchy. I wanted this song to come out first because I wanted to grab some attention and have fun, and then we can get into the dance party, and it's still going to have the alternative energy. The next single is more grunge, Garbage-inspired, but it still is pretty heavy. We have a very alternative background, so that's never going to be lost, no matter what we’re experimenting with.
LUNA: How do you hope listeners — especially your femme audience — can connect with or find power in this new era of music from you? What emotions or messages do you want to leave with them?
MARIA: I want to leave them feeling like you just got to get weird. Maybe it goes back to social media and being performative, even without realizing, I think maybe it's part of our culture now, and we have a super proper etiquette culture and everything. You just got to get weird, let loose. It's going to feel cringe, even the different makeup looks I'm trying out, and the different outfits, I know I got to get weird on stage. I can't just stand there, and the more I let loose, the more amazing feedback I get, and that only fuels it more. I wish I could share that with people. I wish I could share the feeling that it doesn't last forever. It's not like one day you wake up and you're cringe-free, but it's almost like a little high when you don’t give a fuck at a moment.
LUNA: I've been seeing a lot of discourse around that subject, because a lot of people are waking up to the fact that we live in such a hyper-surveillance state, where people think they're constantly being monitored, so they're censoring themselves, and they feel afraid to get weird or be their authentic selves. When I go out and dance, people are not dancing anymore.
MARIA: I’m a dancer and I like going out and dancing and going out to clubs, but clubs are dead. I went to a weird girl boot camp growing up. I'm not unfamiliar with getting some weird looks here and there, and even just being a teenage girl screaming at every show. I'm sure people in the crowd were like, what the fuck is going on, so it's never something I really get over, but the reward, the juice is worth the squeeze. The reward of not giving a fuck, even for a split second, is the best.
LUNA: I love this new era of makeup looks from you and how you’ve been experimenting with more colors and bolder aesthetics.
MARIA: Aesthetically, I would love to do a 60s mod meets retro sexploitation. I love Barbarella.
LUNA: What artists, records, or scenes were inspiring you while creating this era of Cellmate?
MARIA: Definitely a lot of Garbage, a lot of Gorillaz, a lot of Nine Inch Nails and Prodigy. I love The Chemical Brothers. One time I was trying to put some inspo songs on the Cellmate playlist for Steve, and I ended up putting almost every single one of their songs on there. They're so good, and I feel like they really do the electronic thing, but they also are so musical and melodic. I always have a good time listening to them and Massive Attack. Definitely Portis Head. I think it's funny, because this was all music I originally used to listen to as a kid, before I got into punk, like I listened to a lot of classic rock and grunge from whatever my parents exposed me to, but through like movies that I saw, I was introduced to Prodigy and then The Chemical Brothers. My mind is being blown by all this, and so it almost feels like reverting back to my childhood and the playfulness of that 90s hacker core.
I want to make future music, and that's always been the goal. I think one of the biggest downfalls in the industry, and what I see sometimes with artists is when you care too much what other people might want or what others like. People don't even know what they want. They only will react to what is speaking to their subconscious and who knows what's in their own subconscious most of the time.
LUNA: What is fueling your fire right now that’s pushing you into this new era of your career?
MARIA: Because I was always relatively on the quieter side, now I feel like I speak for myself and I have the opportunity to really show who I am and what I'm capable of. I love songwriting. I love when I listen to music, I always think, oh, I wish I was in the studio so I could try this harmony. I need my proof of concept first, and my proof of concept is myself, so I need to manage myself right now. That's what is driving me with Cellmate.I want to prove to myself that I can take something from the ground up and never lose myself along the way, and just have a good time the whole time.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
MARIA: I feel great. I'm just going to do what feels good, and whatever happens, happens, and that has made me feel like I have to focus on other areas of my life. I recently went back to school and I'm a psychology major. I don't know why. I was just like, “fuck it.” I need to focus. I need to put pressure on myself on something where I know there's a tangible outcome, where, the music industry and the art industry in general, unless you have the privilege of being able to financially pursue that full time, that was my biggest issue. I couldn't go on tour and pay my bills at the same time, and most of the time the people that can are people that live at home with their parents or that are really well supported, and so I've had to take that pressure off myself and put myself in a place where I just have to focus on other things and keep my passion as a passion. Because it's coming from a genuine place, it'll take me where it takes me, and if not, at least I have happiness in other things, and not just all my eggs in one basket.
We have another single that's going to come out after “Imposter,” and then just hoping that through shows we have money for more recordings. It's like a cycle, and then hopefully just keep growing till we can tour.
