Mandi Crimmins took time out of her busy schedule to answer our questions about her music. Let’s see what she has to say!
First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
It’s almost my birth name! My legal first name is Amanda, but I started going exclusively by Mandi when I was 18.
First off, “Mandi” was a nickname as a kid, but it wasn’t until we got email for the first time as a family that I picked out how it was spelled. I wanted to be edgy and cool (like all 8 year olds) and thought the “i” was way cooler than the “y” (sorry to all Mandy’s out there!)
Second, I stopped going by Amanda when I was 18 and went to college because I felt weighed down by my past when I wore that name. It was a version of me I no longer wanted to carry around. While to some “Mandi” may not seem to be all that different than “Amanda”, to me it was a freedom I needed to grow into the person I am today. To this day, only my family and childhood friends are able to call me Amanda.
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
I have been singing for as long as I can remember. My parents finally put me in singing lessons after I had a serious injury as a kid. When I was 7 years old I shattered my elbow and caused permanent nerve damage in my left arm and hand. To date, I’ve had 3 bone surgeries and 2 nerve surgeries, and wore an arm brace off and on until I was 17. I fell so in love with music during this time. It was this constant source of comfort and joy. My mom would drive me everywhere to sing. I remember doing this weekly open mic night at a bar in town when I was around 12 years old – nothing gets you more prepped for a career in music than singing to a room full of drunken adults on a Wednesday night!
I eventually started writing my own songs when I was around 16 years old, which was a challenge as I had to be able to play an instrument to do so. So I started teaching myself the piano. I found out how therapeutic songwriting was for dealing with trauma. Everything that I had locked inside myself just poured out onto the page. After that I was HOOKED and thus applied to Berklee College of Music to study more about Songwriting – which I got into! When I got to Berklee, I made the decision to go by Mandi instead of Amanda to mark this new journey, and in my sophomore year I released an EP/demo of my first original songs.
How would you describe your sound?
Definitely Alternative Rock/Pop Rock!
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
Currently, I am heavily inspired by Royal & the Serpent. I think what she’s doing for the alt rock/pop universe is so fresh and new. Also, I’m a huge fan of PVRIS and that definitely influences my sound. I have always loved mixing electronic with real live instruments, and those two artists are prime examples. Going back to childhood, I was (and still am) HEAVILY influenced by Evanescence. I wanted to be Amy Lee so bad that I taught myself piano. I’ve always loved their sound and how real their music felt, lyrically.
What’s the last song you listened to?
“This Won’t Go Over Well” by The Haunt! They make insanely good music, and just happen to also be friends of mine.
What’s your source for hearing new music?
My main source is honestly my Spotify “Discover Weekly” playlist. Other than that, it’s friends and artists sharing their fave new songs or releasing their own music.
Who is your dream producer?
This is a tough question! Honestly I love working with my two current producers a lot, Max Haunt and Nick Lewert of The Haunt. But a couple producers I’ve thought would be really cool to work with someday would be Pink Slip and Cody Tarpley.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
There are so many answers to this one!! I think a collab with Siiickbrain, DeathbyRomy, or FKA Rayne would be amazing. I also have some crazy-talented artist friends that I’d kill to collab with: Echos, bodyimage, MOTHICA, Kanner, and The Haunt
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it?
I feel as though music found me. I was seriously injured as a kid when I discovered my love of singing. I had a rough childhood at times and felt very alone and misunderstood. Until I heard music that made me feel so validated and so seen. I remember having the Evanescence song “Everybody’s Fool” on repeat because I felt like I was living a lie too. I’d never felt more understood than I did then. So when I started my music career I always decided that I would recreate that same feeling for people who need it, just as I did then. I want someone to have “BREAK ME DOWN” on repeat because for the first time they don’t feel “crazy” or alone. I want my art to comfort and be a safe space.
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together?
It depends on the day for me, how my writing style is. I tend to always be jotting down lyrics that I’ll go back to when I’m creating a track. Lately I find that I build the track first, and then let whatever the sonic vibe is of that song tell me what it’s trying to say. Sometimes you go into a session wanting to write an angry high-energy banger to scream into the void, and once the track comes together you realize that maybe it’s actually more of an introspective inner rage or it’s not even angry at all. I also try to listen to what my head wants to get out lyrically. Sometimes lyrics just won’t leave my head and I try to listen when that happens.
Having studied songwriting at Berklee College of Music, I was very eager to start really writing on my own where I could “break some rules”. Studying in a creative field is very weird because you’re graded on things that really never should be graded on. My mom used to always (and still does!) tell me that “art is never wrong” – and it’s not! So I felt that I got this tool belt – this knowledge of the “rules” of where, when, and how to do certain things – and now I could bend it a little. Mis-stress a word on purpose, make a chorus with an odd number of lines, or like in the case of my new EP’s focus track “ILY, DON’T LEAVE” – title the song something that is never sung in the song. I love it so much – its like little rebellions.
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you?
I love connecting on social media, especially Instagram and also TikTok. I try to keep my content as real and relatable as possible. I want to be a safe space for people.
https://www.instagram.com/mandicrimminsmusic
https://www.facebook.com/MandiCrimminsMusic/
https://www.tiktok.com/@mandicrimminsmusic
What’s next for you?
So much music!!!! I’ve got so many songs on deck that I’m itching to release, and they really push the envelope even further than the EP. My next “era” so to speak is just raw unfiltered acceptance of myself – the good and the bad.
Anything else you’d like to add or let us know about?
I’m a major mental health advocate and most of my writing is about my struggle with my own. My EP “BORDERLINE” is basically a look into my diary as I struggled living with Borderline Personality Disorder. I want to always be opening up a conversation about things no one is talking about, or breaking down societal stigmas that cause harm.
