MONEY SUCKS
Rocking with The Monsieurs, Fuzzy, Shepherdess, slinging vintage at 40 South Street, Hilken Mancini co-founded Girls Rock Campaign Boston and Punk Rock Aerobics.
BOSTON, MA
So I’m posted up in Boston, and waiting for Hilken Mancini to wander up to the Mobile Incubator for her interview. I’ve been parked in the shady area of Harvard’s Zone 3 and my solar batteries are completely dead. I hope Hilken doesn’t mind that we’ll be doing this interview by the glow of a flashlight.
But before we jump into this interview, I want you to go back in time for a sec. I want you to remember growing up and there was a moment where you just didn’t understand the world anymore. Like why is the world this way? Why do people have to do X, Y & Z? Why can’t I just be myself? And there’s that brief crack in our psyche and we just start to sacrifice parts of own authentic, original, unique spirit to just fit in.
Well, Hilken thinks that’s bullshit. You’re gonna hear how she overcame her experiences of being harassed as a young female musician and being told what her role was supposed to be. Hilken stepped into the Mobile Incubator with over twenty years experience as a musician. You’ll know Hilken from bands like Shepherdess, Fuzzy and The Monsieurs. Whether independent or signed to a major record label, she’s a multi-faceted entrepreneur, and a grassroots leader empowering women on both coasts through punk-rock music.
“I think that money sucks. And I think that what it’s really about is if you have something to say. I have something that I want to say in this world…
I wanna tell people that they don’t have to be anything. Cuz no one ever tells you that. No one ever pulled me aside and said ‘Hey you know what, you’re not supposed to be doing anything. You can be what you want to be.’
…And once you feel that you’re fucking free. And you can make any decision and follow thru with it because you don’t have to be doing anything.”
In the early 2000’s Hilken found herself struggling to find a record deal in an industry going through an unprecedented shifts. Internet piracy through mp3s led to landmark artist/agent disagreements.
Contemplating her next move, one day Hilken was musing that she loved aerobics but none of her punk friend would join in. Her friend Maura Jasper said “Well we’d do aerobics if it was to punk rock.” Thus began the venture that is still rocking today. Punk Rock Aerobics uniquely knit together Hilken’s love for live music, her classical dance training, and her punk aesthetic.
Hilken’s passion for reaching underserved audiences brought her to another venture when she traveled to the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland Oregon to do Punk Rock Aerobics. That profound experience led her and Nora Allen-Wiles to start the sister organization Girls Rock Campaign Boston.
When she’s not running her initiatives like Girls Rock Campaign Boston and Punk Rock Aerobics you’ll find her at the helm of the vintage boutique 40 South.
My favorite quote from Hilken is, “I’m an entrepreneur so I know about fuck it let’s take this risk.”
- Lucas Spivey
MUSIC VIDEO
PUNK ROCK AEROBICS
PODCAST
DISCUSSION
Hilken knows how to make lemonade from lemons. When Hilken hurt her back (3:38) and was dropped from the label (9:02), she didn’t let herself get down. She brought her experience as a dancer and punk rocker into “Punk Rock Aerobics”
Q: What lemons from your past can be made into lemonade today?
Advertising theory says that there’s “nothing new under the sun”. Yet new combinations of two established things can be just as creative. Punk Rock Aerobics combined Hilken’s two past endeavors - her love for dance and punk music - into a new thing (10:32).
Q: What are two of your passions that have yet to be combined?