Q&A: Alix Page Releases New Single “Pulling Teeth” Ahead of Tour With Ella Jane

Q&AMusic

Sep 19

☆ BY Alex LaBrec ☆

LAST TIME WE SAT DOWN WITH — Alix Page, she was getting ready to set off on her first tour with Gracie Abrams. Now only a few months off the bus, she’s ready to hit the road and start releasing music again. Her new single, “Pulling Teeth,” is a clear response to her experience working alongside one of the leading ladies in lyrical heartbreak, showcasing her matured reflections on the ongoing emotions that follow a failed relationship. The new single and music video co-stars actor and singer Mark McKenna, as both of them beautifully portray the battle fought between your idealized montage of a past relationship and the reality of the uglier parts that make it ultimately come to an end. The track’s title was a phrase Page took from one of her final conversations with an ex, perfectly encapsulating the sense of agony and frustration felt when trying to salvage a relationship with a person that already has one foot out the door.

Page holds true to the style fans have fallen in love with since she released Old News this past year; her guitar and soft, slow lyrics take front stage. But what’s different this time around is her slight dive into a more electronic experimentation, something she promised to do in her upcoming tracks back in January. The layered voices and electric sounds beat to a similar drum to one of The 1975’s earlier albums, so it’s no surprise that she cites them as one of her hopeful future collaborations.

Page’s lyrics have never felt elusive — she gets to the point through direct references to conversations that translate to universal, cycled phrases that anyone who has experienced heartbreak has heard some version of. Questions and phrases such as “What if I’m never enough for you?”; “One more kiss and I’ll leave you,” and “Does it hurt that bad to love me?” are all at once heart-wrenching and universally understood as the phases that a pair runs through when faced with a dying love.

Though her latest release revolves around one relationship ending, Page has luckily had a lot more flourishing partnerships come to fruition in her professional life. In addition to her new video with McKenna, she’s just announced a new tour with Ella Jane around LA this fall.

Read below for our full Q&A, where we talk about her new track, the upcoming tour, and what else could be next in store for Alix Page.

LUNA: You’ve just come off your tour with Gracie Abrams and are already back to releasing new songs and performing shows with Ella Jane. How did your tour with Gracie prepare you for this next phase in your career?

PAGE: It prepared me in so many ways. Tour in general is exhausting; so worth it and so much fun, but exhausting. Knowing that I can handle playing that many shows and the ups and downs that come with them made me feel confident in handling any and every tough situation ever. I joke that after getting violently ill from jet lag and literally crying and throwing up in the Dublin airport on the phone with my mom at 2 a.m. California time and then playing a show in Glasgow hours later… I’m prepared for anything.

Jet lag aside, it just made me really excited to play more shows and hopefully headlines. I was ready to be home when the tour ended, but now that it’s been a few months I’ve been itching to get back on the road. I’m sure a lot of people have terrible first experiences and never want to do it again, so I think my band and I got really lucky with our first big tour being the dreamiest, best case scenario.

LUNA: Describe the writing process for “Pulling Teeth.”

PAGE: It came together pretty easily. The phrase “pulling teeth” had been rattling around in my brain for a little bit and I knew I wanted to use that for something. Once I had the chorus, I sat on it for a while and worried that it was too “dramatic ballad”-y. I got over that eventually and finished it up. It’s one of my few songs with a bridge, which I’m really proud of.

LUNA: You’ve mentioned before that pairing a montage of good memories in the music videos with your lyrics about heartbreak was meant to help you remember the sad parts of a relationship, rather than just fixating on the good. Has the creation of this new song and video helped you process heartbreak? Or is it purely reflective?

PAGE: I think it has helped me process heartbreak in a way. It’s a harsh reminder to myself that a lot of the time the good moments aren’t the whole story. Through all my experiences with heartbreak my mom has always told me, “Replay the documentary, not the highlight reel” — that kind of encapsulates the whole thing. I just think breakup sadness is never one-dimensional. Those sweet memories will always be there but they’ll live right next to a lot of frustration/grief/anger. The most healing part of writing this kind of song is feeling understood when people say they relate to it.

LUNA: Why do you think the phrase “pulling teeth” stuck with you the most?

PAGE: I don’t take the phrase “pulling teeth” lightly. Like, if someone compares anything to pulling teeth your immediate response is like, “Oof,” right? In the context of a relationship, if something is challenging to the point that working on it feels like pulling teeth, you know it’s probably time to leave. The hard part kicks in when you don’t really want to leave — that’s what the song is about.

LUNA: What was it like working with Mark McKenna for your music video?

PAGE: Such an honor! He’s obviously a very talented actor as well as a musician so it was a breeze. The guy’s a natural. I always appreciate when someone’s down to roll with the punches and be a little run and gun with us. I’m a big fan of his in music and in acting so it was really fun to get to live in both worlds with him. (I try to play it cool but Sing Street is actually my favorite movie of all time so I was geeked.)

LUNA: You’ve been able to work with so many great artists already, most recently in your collaboration Luke Wild for “Half the Story.” What has been your favorite part of these partnerships so far? Has it ever been challenging?

PAGE: My favorite part is being surprised by the things that work out. I was so anxious going into that session with Luke — I had no idea if we would make something we both liked, if anything. As a young woman going into these sessions, you’re just hoping that, at the bare minimum, the other writer/producer is a good person and a good listener. Luckily for me, Luke was both. Leaving the session that day, we’d written this really pretty, really introspective song that I didn’t see coming and [we] totally became friends. We bonded over growing up in the church and being homeschooled and our weird abilities to quote entire movies word for word. I’m getting to a certain point now where a lot of the people I’m meeting and working with are people I’ve been fans of for a long time and it’s a trip to wrap my head around. Everyone’s been so kind, too. It blows my mind anytime someone like that reaches out saying they like one of my songs or want to work on something together.

LUNA: What artists do you still hope you can collaborate with?

PAGE: Hovvdy, Del Water Gap, Glaive, Japanese Breakfast, Angelo de Augustine… The dream would be Imogen Heap, The 1975, or The Killers.

LUNA: What are you most looking forward to in your upcoming tour back with your LA fans?

PAGE: I’m turning 21 the night of the Troubadour show — can’t wait for that. Karaoke after that show might be in the cards. Constellation room is my real hometown show so that one’s gonna be really special. It’s been on my bucket list for a while now so I’m stoked to check that one off. I feel really lucky to be in a genre where, despite the sad songs we write, concerts are so filled with joy and community and love for music and for the people around us, so I’m just really excited to be back in that environment.

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We couldn’t be more stoked to have Suriel Hess as our new headliner for our upcoming LA show 🤩 🫶 Not gonna lie, us & Notorious Noise kinda went OFF with this line up & you’re not gonna wanna miss it - ticket link in bio 🎫