Biography
Muncie Girls came together as a British trio whose approach fuses instantly memorable melodies with punk drive and the weight of hard-rock riffs, all lifted by the clear, emotionally direct singing of Lande Hekt. They first entered the studio in 2011, earned widespread critical praise for the 2016 album From Caplan to Belsize, and refined their sound with greater focus and finish on the follow-up, 2018’s Fixed Ideals.
The three Exeter, U.K., natives—Lande Hekt on vocals and bass, Dean McMullen on guitar, and Luke Ellis on drums—had already formed close ties within the city’s D.I.Y. punk community before launching the band in 2010. Drawing on shared frustration and personal unrest, they began playing and writing material, initially appearing as support acts alongside Caves and Great Cynics. Their earliest recording, a three-track self-titled cassette issued on What We Should Be Doing!, surfaced at the close of 2011. Early the following year they tracked the EP Revolution Summer for the Exeter punk imprint Specialist Subject, which quickly led to regular rotation on BBC Radio 1’s punk program.
Extensive dates across Britain and Europe limited new releases to the 2013 Sleepless E.P. A split single with Great Cynics arrived in early 2014, and another split, this time with the German punk band Sandlotkids, followed in 2015. While Hekt balanced commitments to several other projects and launched School of Frock—a workshop aimed at helping girls form bands and learn instruments—the group returned to the studio at the start of 2015 to cut their first full-length. From Caplan to Belsize, whose title references Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, appeared in March 2016 and carried a sharper political edge; Kerrang! awarded it a rare five-out-of-five review. With the record issued in both Europe and the United States, the band’s following grew well beyond South West England. Their 2018 album Fixed Ideals continued that momentum, wrapping Hekt’s introspective words in a noticeably tighter and more polished production.
The three Exeter, U.K., natives—Lande Hekt on vocals and bass, Dean McMullen on guitar, and Luke Ellis on drums—had already formed close ties within the city’s D.I.Y. punk community before launching the band in 2010. Drawing on shared frustration and personal unrest, they began playing and writing material, initially appearing as support acts alongside Caves and Great Cynics. Their earliest recording, a three-track self-titled cassette issued on What We Should Be Doing!, surfaced at the close of 2011. Early the following year they tracked the EP Revolution Summer for the Exeter punk imprint Specialist Subject, which quickly led to regular rotation on BBC Radio 1’s punk program.
Extensive dates across Britain and Europe limited new releases to the 2013 Sleepless E.P. A split single with Great Cynics arrived in early 2014, and another split, this time with the German punk band Sandlotkids, followed in 2015. While Hekt balanced commitments to several other projects and launched School of Frock—a workshop aimed at helping girls form bands and learn instruments—the group returned to the studio at the start of 2015 to cut their first full-length. From Caplan to Belsize, whose title references Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, appeared in March 2016 and carried a sharper political edge; Kerrang! awarded it a rare five-out-of-five review. With the record issued in both Europe and the United States, the band’s following grew well beyond South West England. Their 2018 album Fixed Ideals continued that momentum, wrapping Hekt’s introspective words in a noticeably tighter and more polished production.
Albums
Singles
