Muncie Girls are breaking up. The Exeter band announced the news on social media today, writing: “We started this band when we were 17 and the biggest goal we could muster up was to release a 7” single. We ended up doing more things and going to more places than we could ever have imagined.” They’ll be playing some farewell shows at the end of the year.
The band began in 2010 when Lande Hekt and Dean McMullen started playing together in school; Luke Ellis joined a couple years later. They put out their debut EP, Revolution Summer, in 2012; another EP, Sleepless, came out the following year. In 2016, they released their first full-length, From Caplan To Belsize, which is when we named them a Band To Watch. Their sophomore album, Fixed Ideals, came out in 2018. They released the B-sides collection B-Sides The Point in 2020. Bandleader Lande Hekt has gone on to release two solo albums, 2021’s Going To Hell and last year’s House Without A View.
“The community we found ourselves a part of was so special and really became our lives,” the band wrote in their farewell message. “If it weren’t for the kindness of total strangers putting on shows for us, feeding us and letting us stay at their houses, we would never have been able to do any of the things that we’ve done.”
Here’s that full statement:
After nearly 13 years, a demo CD, a demo tape, three 12” EPs, three 7” singles, a 12” split record and two albums, we’re saying goodbye to our band Muncie Girls. We started this band when we were 17 and the biggest goal we could muster up was to release a 7” single. We ended up doing more things and going to more places than we could ever have imagined. We were lucky to be from a town with such a brilliant music scene and venue, the Cavern, and I remember how it felt to travel to so many cities and discover other scenes just like ours.
The community we found ourselves a part of was so special and really became our lives. If it weren’t for the kindness of total strangers putting on shows for us, feeding us and letting us stay at their houses, we would never have been able to do any of the things that we’ve done. We were even once temporarily adopted by a family in Texas when we went to play SXSW and they baked us cherry pie and drove us to our gigs. We were taken on a tour around Australia by complete strangers who became some of our best friends. We went to Japan after some strangers offered to book us a tour and we travelled around on trains and borrowed local bands’ gear, guitars, everything. We spent most of our time touring in mainland Europe where we made friends for life, playing in squats, venues, gardens, bunkers, wherever.
I often heard stories of bands having to sleep in their vans or in parks or service stations. We always had somewhere to stay, no one ever let us sleep rough. I know we were incredibly lucky and we have our scene and our friends and fans to thank for that. We’ve relied so much on people’s kindness; I hope that we were always grateful enough.
We’ve decided to do a farewell tour and we hope that you’ll join us at a show. Muncie Girls will always be a massive part of our lives and we will each always play music, just in different projects now. Thank you everyone!
And here are their farewell tour dates:
11/30 Brighton, UK @ Green Door Store
12/01 Exeter, UK @ The Cavern
12/02 London, UK @ Boston Music Room
12/07 Bristol, UK @ Exchange
12/08 Manchester, UK @ Gullivers
Tickets for those shows are available here.
