Fresh off the hype of their fourth studio album, “I Got Heaven,” Mannequin Pussy is preparing to jump into the fall leg of their release tour. During this tour, the alt-punk band is going to be performing at ACL weekend one, as well as making stops in McAllen and El Paso, Texas.
The Paisano had the chance to speak with front person Marisa Dabice about the upcoming tour, performing at ACL and future plans for the performers.
“A music festival is like a weird high school reunion for musicians, where you go to the festival ground and you immediately start running into a bunch of friends of yours that you haven’t seen in years sometimes,” said Dabice. “So I really like, look forward to backstage moments where I’m running into a friend from another band that I haven’t seen in a few years, and it’s just like, a really special place to reconnect and make new friends.”
With the upcoming tour, Mannequin Pussy made the decision to play in some of the more isolated cities in the state.
“I specifically requested to stop in those regions, we had already played Dallas, Houston and Austin on the spring ‘I Got Heaven’ tour,” said Dabice. “For me, I just feel like it is really important to go to parts of the country that usually get passed over. And like, I’ve played shows in McAllen and El Paso before, and some of the best [shows] I’ve ever played have just kind of been in these places that artists tend to look over or pass over.”
“I wanted to bring the band to a place where we haven’t played before, because that’s kind of like what makes touring, which is already so repetitious, exciting again. The opportunity to go somewhere that you’ve never seen before. And you know, I think it means a lot to the people in those towns who are used to having to drive, [especially] in a state like Texas, sometimes seven or eight hours to get to a city to see a band they love. But, we, for whatever reason, have a lot of fans down in the RGV.”
Dabice also discussed how touring through Texas is like a journey, going through vast, isolating landscapes.
“It’s remarkable to me how big Texas is. Like, I get it, like, that beautiful Texas song — ‘Stars at night, big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas.’ I’ve had that experience being on the highway, just kind of looking up at the sky, like, holy sh—t,” said Dabice. “I think it’s a culturally rich place. It’s a beautiful place. There’s both desolation and beauty in it.”
Mannequin Pussy will perform at weekend one of ACL on Friday, Oct. 4 at the Miller Lite stage from 3:10 to 4:10 p.m. Following their festival performance, they will play at the Cine El Rey in McAllen on Oct. 5 and at the Lowbrow Palace in El Paso on Oct. 6.
