Kira McSpice

July 9, 2025

Kira McSpice

Kira McSpice describes how her band Ashen Veil was born out of Somergloom, migraines, and feeling like you want to puke onstage.

The Somergloom veteran shares personal highlights as the festival heads into its fifth anniversary.

AUDIO

TRANSCRIPT

Hump Day News: I'm here with Kira McSpice. We're here to talk about Somergloom. It's going to be an August 7th through 9th event in Somerville and Medford for the 2025 edition, a five-year anniversary, and I'm really excited to talk to Kira because she is a four year veteran. Having been a performer at the festival. For 2021 through 2024. So thank you so much for being here, Kira.

Kira McSpice: Hi, thanks for having me.

Hump Day News: And do I have that right? I don't want to get my basic facts incorrect here. You performed every year from 2021 to 2024…

Kira McSpice: In 2022, we were supposed to perform with Ashen Veil, my metal band, but then Will [Ponturo] and I got COVID…

Hump Day News: Ohhh, OK!

Ashen Veil

Kira McSpice: So it ended up not happening. We were so sad about it because we had such a great time in 2021. But I did, yes, 2021, 2023, and 2024.

Hump Day News: I was wondering because 2022 was one I did go to. I went to 2022 and 2024. I was looking through my old notes and write-ups, and I knew Ashen Veil was on the bill, and I just could not find the [band] write-up in the actual review. So there we have it – it was another Covid snafu.

Kira McSpice: Oh yeah, it was a tragedy. We were very sad. Yeah, Will is my husband. And he's the guitar player of Ashen Veil. So me and him both had it. And it was miserable.

Hump Day News: OK. And that's William Ponturo. I was going to say because I've been looking through some of your solo work, the liner notes, who's been playing, and I’m seeing some recurring characters and then of course there's some overlap with Ashen Veil. So there you have it.

Kira McSpice: Yes. Yeah.

Hump Day News: All right, let me go all the way back to year one. Just setting the scene. If I got my notes correct, it was Boynton Yards for the first two years, right? Yes. And that was a slowly coming together construction zone. But there was a space, a sort of a large asphalt space where they were regularly doing events. 

So I imagine, you know, the first time anything you know gets pulled off sometimes there's bumps in the road. Do you remember it as a smooth operation? Or what? What was the first year like?

Kira McSpice: Oh my God, it was amazing. It was perfect. I thought it was perfect in every way. There was a train behind the stage that would go through. I thought that was amazing. I love that there were vendors.

Yeah, 2021 was kind of wild because it was the first time that I had performed [for an audience]. You know, the pandemic happened, and we all had to stop [performing live]. It was the first time performing for a [live] audience.

And also it was my first time performing for an audience with this new material that was heavier – what became Ashen Veil. So I was very nervous for it. I thought I was going to puke, which is scary because I had to scream and whatnot. And it was the first time I really thought that I could puke on stage. But it ended up being so great. Everybody was all so supportive.

“... it was the first time I really thought that I could puke on stage. But it ended up being so great. Everybody was all so supportive.”

Hump Day News: It does seem like a very supportive community. I definitely remember that in 2022, especially with COVID and just, you know, everyone was being really encouraging to everyone and really understanding too of the limitations that some people had as well.

Kira McSpice: Yes. Yeah, it felt amazing to perform. Like I felt I felt like the energy at that Somergloom was just incredible because everybody was coming out of hiding and we were all still very scared, you know, like social distancing and stuff….

Hump Day News: Like what are we allowed to do? What are we not allowed? How does this work?

Kira McSpice: Exactly. Yeah. But we are also excited to be having a show, or a festival – it was a great experience.

Hump Day News: And like you said, the train yard goes or the train tracks go right behind there. Did that train come through during your set?

Kira McSpice: Oh, I can't remember. I kind of blacked out during that. I remember a couple points during the set. I don't remember a train. But I do remember there was this really intense moment during the set where we sang the song “Daylight.” And I walked into the sun, and I was just singing up at the sun, and it and everybody was silent, and it truly felt like such a heavy, intentional, spiritual experience. It was beautiful. But yeah, no train though. 

Hump Day News: I've definitely noticed a strain of spirituality in your work. I was listening to a bit of The Compartmentalization Of Decay. I was listening to a bit of The Migraine In Four Parts. Was it the Migraine In Four Parts that you were alluding to as part of the material that turned into part of Ashen Veil?

Kira McSpice: Yeah. So I did the migraine in four parts and the third phase of that series is called Attack, which is when the migraine is happening, and Attack is sonically very different from the other albums in the series. I wanted it to reflect that phase, and be really harsh and grating, so I got William Ponturo and Jack Whelan together as a band to be the “Attack” band.

Hump Day News: So just to provide some context there, the four parts I have in front of me. Prodrome, Aura, Attack, Postdrome. So this really heavy one you're talking about is that third one, Attack.

“That’s Attack. And that was so much fun to make. I loved screaming. I loved writing with Jack and Will. I loved the sounds. I loved everything about it, so we ended up creating Ashen Veil as a way to funnel all of that emotion, energy, music into a new project...”

Kira McSpice: That's Attack. And that was so much fun to make. I loved screaming. I loved writing with Jack and Will. I loved the sounds. I loved everything about it, so we ended up creating Ashen Veil as a way to funnel all of that emotion, energy, music into a new project and wrote a new album together. Yeah, so that's why it's been Ashen Veil after that 2021 show. But we were just performing as Kira McSpice because we didn't realize we wanted it to be its own band yet.

Hump Day News: So Somergloom not only gave a platform for Kira McSpice, but it was a kind of a fertile breeding ground for new bands, new material, new music.

Kira McSpice: Completely, yes.

Hump Day News: And it sounds like that was maybe the heaviest of all four parts.

Kira McSpice: Oh, yes, definitely.

Hump Day News: Now that dovetails nicely with the festival because they identify as a “heavy” music festival, and I don't want to dwell on this too long, but I'm kind of like a music writing nerd that thinks too much about genre. What does “heavy” music mean to you with your music? And how do you see it fitting into a sort of larger aesthetic at the festival?

Kira McSpice: Well. So. With my solo stuff (now that I've kind of differentiated Ashen Veil from the solo stuff) I have been able to redefine what “heavy” is, because I liked it segmented when I was doing Attack. But something I really love about Somergloom is that they do a really good job of defining what “heavy” is. I feel really lucky to have been a part of that definition and the act of defining where it's made me realize that I really do make “heavy” music solo as well as with my band Ashen Veil. 

The definition for me would be: emotionally intense. There's some weight to the music, which, I guess, you know, is “heavy.” It's not just heavy metal. It's not just these grating tones and screaming and stuff.

There's also with my record, The Compartmentalization Of Decay, a heavy content matter. The lyrics are pretty, just, weighty. That album is about trauma, and how I dealt with a particular trauma in my life. And I really love that the team, the Somergloom team, have given this platform to this kind of music in so many different ways. It's so multifaceted.

Hump Day News: I totally agree with that. It's like when you go to a gallery at a museum and they have some sort of overriding theme, but it's so creatively curated. I was really impressed by last year's edition. I could feel this underlying unity. And yet all these different bands were pulling in all these different wonderful directions. 

Kira McSpice: Totally.

Hump Day News: So it's like a really good picture gallery, like a really good exhibit. Like you will see that same theme, but in so many different ways.

Kira McSpice: Right, yeah.

Hump Day News: I'm looking forward to that again this year. I think the organizers do a great job. Heavy music, a weightiness, a spiritual, emotional intensity, you know. No, we're not just cranking up the amplifier and talking about, like, getting beers on Saturday night., there's like. Maybe there’s some more stuff going on there.

Kira McSpice: Yeah, definitely intensity. Like every set, every band, it's very intense. And I love that realm. I love to inhabit that realm, and also be present to watch that music. And that's why Somergloom is so great because you just get to live in that for a whole festival.

Hump Day News: Well, let me bring it back to that then: being a spectator now. Because [the festival] is five, the big fifth anniversary. But this will be the first year you’re not performing [ed.: or rather, scheduled to perform]. How will it feel to take it in from the audience this time?

Kira McSpice: Oh, I'm so excited. I mean I'm. I'm so excited to see my friends. I'm excited for SUMAC, Body Void, A Monolithic Dome, Vudu Sister. I mean I'm super stoked. For as always, it's perfectly curated and I cannot wait to go. And also to be a spectator and not have to worry about performing too, because I get to truly just sit back and enjoy it.

Hump Day News: For sure, relax, you're not worrying about a set coming up… Any unforgettable personal highlights with the fest to leave us with?

Kira McSpice: Totally. Like I said, 2021 was the big, big intro year. But also I think my favorite year was 2023 playing with Marissa Nadler and The Infinity Ring at The Rockwell. That was such a intimate, beautiful show. Everybody sat down. It was beautifully filmed. The sound was amazing. I love Marissa Nadler. I love The Infinity Ring. They did an awesome job, and I also felt like my set – I'm really proud of it. It felt like a really good way to perform The Compartmentalization Of Decay. It all just felt right, a great show….

Kira McSpice

Hump Day News: Was it performed solo?

Kira McSpice: I was performing with my husband, Will.

Hump Day News: OK, because that was another question I had [about] your solo material. You know, obviously, when it gets recorded, you see a lot of other people helping out. But for the live performance, I've only ever seen you as a solo act. So you do bring the ensemble together sometimes live?

Kira McSpice: Yeah, it always changes. It depends. What kind of set I'm doing? I've been working with the band lately, but I think I'm gonna go back to a two-piece just to keep performing The Compartmentalization Of Decay until time for the new record…

Hump Day News: Oh yeah, do you have anything in the works in terms of new material?

Kyra McSpice: I do, but I can't talk about it, yeah...

Hump Day News: Under lock and key. No worries.

Kyra McSpice Linktree

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