Interview: Transgressive - Alicia Cordisco talks reuniting for 'Remember Us To Death' and beyond.

 

Transgressive is a thrash, death pro trans rights powerful endeavor and my favorite project that guitarist Alicia Cordisco (Justicar, ex- Judicator) is involved in. After releasing the ferocious and false allyship skewering Extreme Transgression in 2023, the project abruptly ended. Seeing as they are one of the most bad ass lgbtqai friendly heavy metal af groups you will ever hear, I was thrilled to see the flame relit for the recent 'Remember Us To Death' 2 song EP (which rightfully slams genocide apologists). 

Back with a new vocalist in and stronger than ever, get ready for Transgressive 2.0! 

1.Hey girl! Excited to do this. How did this 2.0 version of the band come about? I was a big fan of the earlier incarnation and so was thrilled you reignited the group. Your older song "Feet To The Fire" is still so relevant. What led you to add a fixed front person? And how did Lux Edwards get involved as a guest on this EP?

Alicia Cordisco - Thank you for the kind words! Regarding Lux, they are one of my best friends and long time collaborators. They did 'We Protect Us' on the first album with me, and we have a melodeath band together called Wraithstorm currently. Originally they were going to be the sole vocalist on this song and it was going to be our last, but we decided to change things up when we decided to keep the band going and got BEEF as our fixed frontwoman. Regarding that decision, I originally was somewhat unhappy creatively with where the band had landed mostly due to my vocals. I've struggled with liking my vocals my whole life even though sometimes I Feel pretty good about them (See our song: "Defenestrate the Magistrate"--I think it came together great there), but I feel limited in what I can do with them. And it's also very difficult for me to practice, upkeep, and not something I feel great about doing live--especially since I don't think I could play guitar at the same time like I used to. So the decision to bring the band back together came after a long rest, a long break, and some time to think, and readjust. The right material came to me, and I met BEEF (Bethany Pitts, our new singer) and realized I had the ingredients to put together what I really wanted this band to be. The new EP is a reflection of that, and I'm excited to release more material.

2. Where are you now and can we expect shows anytime? Or is the country too unstable right now or distances between members unrealistic? The title "Remember Us To Death" is very fitting when there is so much erasure, even in written law that goes against the scientific community which validates trans identities and sex and gender BOTH as a spectrum.

Alicia- Yes, we will definitely start playing shows in 2026. We have one festival booked and are going to attempt to do a small run of West Coast US shows next year. Despite the live scene and political environment being more tumultuous than ever, I think now is the time to be visible and do it while we can, however we can.  Thank you for mentioning the title as well. It's funny, the title is actually a 'FUCK YOU' to Regina Spektor--an artist I loved for nigh decades, who after Oct 7 came out as a disgusting Zionist genocide lover. Her album 'Remember Us to Life' used to mean so much to me, among her other works. Well, this title is a twist on that, and the song itself is about genocide, so it doubles as a middle finger to her and other artists that put on a veneer of kindness but in truth are bloodthirsty genocide apologists.

3. I feel that way about Radiohead now. You've expressed in the past the role of a trans musician is not to only reflect on trans struggles but also to be allowed to simply exist and write songs about whatever you want, such as in your power metal bands, for example. I just saw the surreal movie Cuckoo and enjoyed it immensely. Hunter Schafer was phenomenal in it and it never focuses on transness. However there is also something to be said for the works of art like G.L.O.S.S. Trans Day Of Revenge or Transgressive's political moments, though they sometimes can take an emotional toll on the creators to hold that space. How do you balance your beliefs around this subject?

Alicia- I'm a huge GLOSS fan and this is a great question. And honestly why I temporarily ended the band. It got to be a little much for me, even at our level--we have carved a little space for ourself and its enough to feel certain pressures, and feel certain negative effects, and ramp certain anxieties. This type of music isn't done without risk, and it takes a toll. I needed the break to recenter myself and what I really wanted to do with it. For me, it's been about finding how I want to express these ideas, musically and lyrically, and the overall presentation, and I think the follow up album we will be releasing early 2026 will really reflect this. Additionally, making sure I have art--like the power metal you mentioned--that is simply sitting fully outside this, to balance it out really helps I think.

4. I know you are a fan of bands like Opeth, Metallica, Blind Guardian. These are bands who clearly try to make every album a world or a place to inhabit of sorts. I was listening to Ride The Lightning today and was thinking how the riffs feel like old friends when you hear "Fade To Black". I feel like you aspire to similar things in your riffs and I admire that about you. It feels like a lot goes into each creative gesture. Can you discuss your writing process?

Alicia- I really appreciate that! That's honestly a huge compliment to me because that's exactly what I aspire to. I think it ultimately boils down to I try to write the music I want to listen to. If I can appreciate my own music as a listener and not just as an intellectual/artistic/musician exercise, then I think I've achieved what I want. The biggest thing I do is write songs constantly. People say I'm hyper-prolific in song writing, and honestly it comes from just never stopping. I write songs for practice, I force myself to write songs, and then I throw them out! Process the junk out, then the inspiration and flow state hits. I've got a better understanding of what does and doesn't work. It's harder to edit a blank page. Writing bad songs or forgettable songs or repeated songs to practice the skill of song writing and composition and arrangement even if it's not something I'm ultimately going to use, so when the inspiration for the next project hits I've got the techniques and craft under my belt to make it the best it can be.

5. Let's talk duopoly. Gavin Newsome has demonized the homeless and now is so fucking moronic he is platforming Steve Bannon. The normalization is sickening. No one debates in good faith and in fact the POINT is to move people to the right. And Newsome of course just came out and shat on trans athletes in a big betrayal. Duran Duran had one of first trans women in a music video once upon a time but recently posed by a cyber truck, showing total class disconnect. A fucking Tesla cyber truck! Unreal. 

Alicia- Yeah, this type of thing is extremely frustrating. And honestly why on our first album I went harder against rainbow capitalism, performative allyship, and liberalism than I did against conservatives. We all know conservatives are the wolf trying to eat us alive. But I'm very angry about the ones that opened the gate while wearing our colors and pretending they have our best interests at heart. We see this now in how the DNC has completely thrown trans people under the bus and even blamed us for the election (which is just numerically absurd when you consider how small our population is). I am simply tired of being a wedge issue and a political chess piece to be used by those in power to retain more power. 

6. Aus Rotten. How did you pick them and that song to cover? It rips! Also, can you talk about your next full length yet? You are doing it with Fiadh? 

Alicia- Leona, our bassist, had wanted to do an Aus-Rotten or crust cover for some time, and it's a shared band we all love. We were simply talking about in band chat one day and I got a wild hair up my ass to record the guitars real quick and it came together in seemingly hours. An appropriate message for the times and glad we could pay homage to some of our heroes at the same time--Aus-Rotten and similar bands like GLOSS, Oi Poiloi, etc continue to be a huge influence on our music even if there's not a ton of crust/hardcore/punk influence in the actual instrumentation of our music. As far as the full length, it's going to be much more on the death metal side, and much more on the technical/prog side--Remember Us to Death is very much an indication of moving in this direction. With Beef at the helm I can do a lot more instrumentally as she is capable of pretty much any metal vocal style--an accomplished death metal vocalist as much as she is also an accomplished power metal vocalist. I'm really excited. The album will be called "Not Even Death is Sacred" and will come out via Fiadh Q1 next year. We will have another 2 song EP of original material "Never Go Quiet" this year as well.

7. What is a childhood memory where you felt music stir your emotions or that made you reflect on the possibility of being a musician someday? Trans musicians get multiple egg hatching moments in our lives, haha. 

Alicia- I remember being like 4 years old and my brother had MTV on and the video of 'Black Hole Sun' was playing. It's a trippy video in general. I just remember being captivated by the wild imagery and Chris Cornell's voice. I didn't know what it was. I never heard the music or saw the video again until I was 12 but that image and some of those sounds stayed with me, I'd even have dreams about it sometimes. Then when getting into music and guitar at 12 I came across the video again and it was like everything connected. I suddenly knew why that was a core memory to my childhood self. 

#transgressive #thrashmetal #deathmetal #aliciacordisco #transrights #genocide #reginaspektor #arizonamusicians #antifascism #ausrotten