Q&A: Saint Misty Escaped a Cult to Bring You Lesbian Pop Anthems
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY MILA MATEJCEK ☆
Photo by Mila Matejcek
IT’S TIME FOR EVERYONE TO HEAR THE DISCO PRINCESS—Unafraid, electric and clad in cheetah print arrives Saint Misty. The band recently concluded a tour across the U.S., providing a powerful performance full of diverse and colorful costumes, sincere political messages and support of letting your freak flag fly. Saint Misty is a breath of fresh air in a world that wants you to suppress yourself in the name of conformity; their willingness to be campy and have fun with their art and performances shines like a beacon of hope.
What started as a solo project in 2023 for Mikayla Marsh recently took on new life as a dynamic duo when drummer Elise Burcham took on a permanent status in the band. Burcham started as the live drummer and now contributes to musical production, whereas Marsh pioneers the lyrics and songwriting.
There's something fearless about taking your pain and sharing your story publicly with the world—and Marsh is no coward. Her experiences with queerness and escaping a religious cult provide inspiration for much of her songwriting. Without it, she says, Saint Misty wouldn't exist the way it does today at all.
Luna caught up with Saint Misty at Chicago’s very own venue, The Hideout, to connect more with the group’s story.
Photo by Mila Matejcek
LUNA: You are currently on tour visiting from San Diego. What has been your favorite memory on tour so far?
SAINT MISTY: We love traveling together. Just getting to hang out with our friends all day, and then do our favorite thing in the whole world, which is music. Also, obviously meeting strangers who know our music is insane, because…how do you know who we are? We've had a few really fun shows where the crowd (even if it's been on the smaller side) connects with the music really well. That gives us energy, and then we give them energy back. That energy exchange has been super fun.
Getting to dress up in all the costumes that we planned out [is amazing, too]. We love getting to play dress up every night. [Mikayla] even has a whole costume plan, vision boarded everything out.
LUNA: Mikayla, were you a theatre kid growing up?
MARSH: Very much. I was also a dancer for my whole childhood. The first musical theatre thing I was ever in was Newsies, when I was really little. Then, in high school, I was in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I loved it. I was in Pirates of Penzance, too. I feel like that was what transitioned me into becoming a musician later in life. Also, weirdly, doing music at church taught me how to do music, but with performance art. I learned I really love costuming and I love stage makeup and all that stuff. [Elise] was a theatre kid, too!
BURCHAM: I didn't do acting theater, but I did pit theater. I also played for Spelling Bee. I music directed Rocky Horror, which is one of my favorite shows ever. It's where I met my girlfriend. I've done Footloose. I always love the ones that I get to dress up for.
LUNA: Your music explores themes of identity and resilience. What are some specific experiences that inspired your writing?
MARSH: I was raised very religious, and then when I was a teenager, I joined a Christian cult. I joined at 17, and then I left officially when I was 19. I left Christianity altogether when I was 21. I turned 21 during the [COVID-19] pandemic [where] we were all forced to stay home, and so it happened in baby steps, when I had lots of time on my hands to reflect. I also wasn't allowed back because they had suspected that I was a lesbian. Which I didn't even know at the time! I hadn't even really started to question that.
This is not to knock on affirming [queer positive] churches, because they’re a very safe space for queer people and specifically gay and trans people. They’re absolutely necessary in my opinion, but they carry a lot of the same traditional values that I was not interested in anymore.
I’m obviously not Christian anymore, but having to come out as a lesbian and leave this whole chunk of [my] life was really weird. It was when I first started writing songs! I would just write about random shit or relationships or whatever, but I never really liked the songs that much. And then…I don't remember what I was reading…but it was just so simple. Someone was like, "Write what you know the most about,” and I was like, "Unfortunately, I know the most about religion and Christianity.” And then those always end up being my favorite songs that I write—the ones where I'm unpacking religious trauma.
I wrote “Eden” because I was sad about living in America. My parents are very conservative, and so there was this ideal American life of “We're a melting pot and everyone's welcome here and we celebrate all religions and all people” and then you get older and you learn anything about the country we live in…and it's like, “Oh, that was never real.” I was just really sad about that, because how amazing would it be if we were actually the thing that we talked about? And then I started specifically thinking about Christian nationalism, and how that's still taught in churches, like “We're a beautiful country, we're a melting pot,” whatever. We're not any of that.
LUNA: Do you feel like your music would be very different if you hadn't had that experience?
MARSH: Yeah, I don't think I'd make music at all. Or, maybe I would, but it probably wouldn't be very good. I don't know. I think the best art comes from personal, lived experience and having something to say. If I didn't go through that, I would probably not have much in my life to talk about. Other than that, I have a very beautiful life.
LUNA: Your website and aesthetics are very campy and reminiscent of Myspace and Y2K. What are some of your influences?
MARSH: Baz Luhrmann is one of my favorite filmmakers ever. His 1996 Romeo and Juliet is like if Saint Misty was a movie. Moulin Rouge too—just the over the top, cracked out energy, super saturated. Obviously, a lot of drag, [especially] super weird alt drag. I love Sasha Velour, she does some crazy weird stuff. I love Lady Gaga…she just has some of the most insane performance art pieces ever. I could just watch videos from [her Art Pop] tour over and over again and get so many ideas. There's this one she did at South by Southwest, [where] she hired a vomit artist, which is a real thing! It’s a life changing performance. It’s complete chaos, but everything’s intentional, and everything has a meaning. It brings your people closer to you when you're willing to do some weird shit to express yourself fully.
LUNA: What would be your crazy performance moment? If you had no budget, what would you do?
SAINT MISTY: We think the best creative ideas come from when you have harsher limits. You have to come up with cooler stuff when you have very little to work with. We would love to have lasers. Or to do a concept album at some point. We were just talking about this. Something super conceptual! Visually, we love kink aesthetics, and would love to have some crazy, latex wearing people.
LUNA: When you think about your art in relation to your queer identity, what feels most important for you to share with the world?
SAINT MISTY: It gets better. Being 18 and being like “This is not fun, I don't want to be this thing” [is awful]. We don't want other people to feel like that. Being gay is awesome.
LUNA: Who is Saint Misty?
MARSH: We like thinking of Saint Misty as this weird guardian angel. An entity. Obviously, it's a band, but it started as a version of this person that I really wanted to be. As Saint Misty, I can be crazy and assertive and say what I want to say—which is not really a personality trait I had before, especially when I was younger. I've always been riddled with a lot of social anxiety. I just think about my younger self, when I was so afraid to speak my mind. I was afraid to stand up for myself. Saint Misty is just this version of myself that I [thought]: in a perfect world, I would be this. And now I get to be like this!
