BY REV. ADAM MCKINNEY for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 10/2/2026
For the past three decades or so, a certain contingent of music fans consisting of, let’s face it, mostly straight white dudes, has been bemoaning the untimely death of rock music. Gone, they whine, are loud guitars and pummeling drums, having largely been replaced with radio pop, EDM, and hip-hop. Never mind that the internet has proliferated and variegated music to such a degree that you can find basically any sound humans are capable of making, but it goes without saying that rock and roll never went away.
And why is that? Because kids will always feel the ineffable pull to form bands and make an ungodly racket in their parents’ garages. Sometimes, that music even escapes those garages and makes its way to the ears of those same whiny white dudes who then condescendingly intone, “The kids are alright.”
Case in point: me writing about this kickass new band called Chewing Gum.
Formed in 2025, Chewing Gum is a quartet of girls, most of whom are still in high school. To listen to their self-titled debut EP, though, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’ve been at this for years. Led by the howling vocals of Maddie Meharry, Chewing Gum’s muscular, imposing sound is made up of Maya Woods on drums, Olivia St. Germain on guitar, and Lily Holgate on bass. Theirs is the kind of heavy, sludgy, grunge-indebted rock that’s made for headbanging.
“We formed last March-ish,” says Holgate. “Maddie approached all of us with wanting to be in an all-girl band that plays heavy music. I think we said hard rock, but the genre wasn’t part of the band forming process. When we formed, we had two sophomores: me and Olivia. Maya was a junior and Maddie a senior. We all knew each other through a performance music program, so prior to the band we had already played before and only kind of knew each other. I immediately had a good feeling about the band. During our first rehearsal, we were able to write an original and that felt really awesome. It was a different pace to groups and projects we had been a part of in the past.
“Of course, now we’ve found our sound; the first songs we wrote we do not play anymore,” Holgate continues. “But we, since the beginning, have really musically clicked and since then developed as a group musically. Yes, it was intentional to be a heavy band because that’s the music we listen to, but there was never really a discussion about exactly what we wanted to sound like, or who our influences are, yada yada. What we sound like now is part of the process!”
With their first EP, all five songs of it, having just been released in September 2026, Chewing Gum is very much on the precipice of a discography that can go in just about any direction. As it stands, this is a band that feels like it’s operating purely on instinct, not following trends or looking to satisfy the aging punks who will praise them for reviving the ’90s.
“In the beginning, I don’t think we ever wanted to be a grunge band,” says Holgate. “Genres are super confusing, and forever we didn’t know what to call ourselves. Now, with our recent stuff, I think we’re claiming ‘heavy grunge’ because of the feedback we’ve gotten, and it seems accurate enough. Grunge emerged from Seattle because of the gloom and the grime and what it is to live here. So, we’re not grunge because we’re trying to be like the ’90s bands that Seattle is known for, but just because we live here.
“Also, half of us aren’t even from Seattle, so there’s no nostalgia that us two are trying to chase,” Holgate continues. “I remember, at our Easy Street show, a friend of the band came up to us and said something along the lines of, ‘You don’t sound like you’re trying to be a grunge band, you just sound like grunge.’ That really stuck, because being genuine means a lot to us. Maybe we’re not even grunge at all. I don’t think any of us care about the genre police; we just want our music to be listened to.”
Meharry’s lead vocals are the most immediately striking element of the band, landing somewhere between Grace Slick’s piercing virtuosity and Karen O’s feral ferocity. The rest of Chewing Gum is loud, swaggering, and surprisingly versatile, showing on “Below You” a talent for modulation that isn’t always present in young bands; rather than always reaching for punishing volume, Chewing Gum isn’t afraid to find beauty and emotion amidst the walls of sound.
So, are the kids alright? They always have been. Now, shut up and rock out.
Chewing Gum will perform at the Spanish Ballroom on Sunday, October 4, with Diving Board, Social Etiquette, and Discernment. This is an all-ages show, with doors at 5 p.m. Tickets and more info at spanishballroom.com.
