Marisa Dabice of Mannequin Pussy on Religion, Men, & Being the Most Boring Version of Herself

Written by Gabrielle Sangataldo

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Mannequin Pussy is more than just the shock factor of their name. Made up of Philly natives Marisa “Missy” Dabice (vocals, guitar), Kaleen Reading (drums, percussion), Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass, vocals), and Maxine Steen (guitar, synths), Mannequin Pussy revolts the best way they know how: through music.

Their fourth album, I Got Heaven, released on March 1, 2024, serves as a fierce testament to such, with the theme and variation of how to survive a vicious world bleeding through each track.

The band’s lead singer, Missy Dabice, elaborated on these intentions and more in a preview of their performance at Asbury Park’s Sea.Hear.Now festival on Sept. 13 and opening act for Turnstile at Philly’s Mann Center on Sept. 19.

First, kind of a hard-hitting question. You had said in an interview with Stereogum that “I Got Heaven” as a song is meant to “merge the sacred and the profane” and that “heaven is here on a planet that gave us everything we need to survive.” I feel like this aptly encompasses the entirety of the album, and even on John Mulaney’s talk show [Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney], you performed the song with intense religious imagery. I have to ask, through the production of this album and performing its songs, has your relationship with religion changed at all, either positively or negatively? What has that experience been for you?

I don’t think that my relationship to religion has changed at all in the past couple of years. I think it’s exactly where it’s always been, which is this unfortunate position where I feel like I’m witnessing religion as a weapon all around me. I’m very sympathetic to the fact that I think people need something to cling to, and something that brings them community, and something that brings them comfort. I take no issue with religion when it’s used as this personal connection that one has to their god and the way that they worship, but I do have an issue when they use their religion as a way to legislate other people’s bodies, identities, and experiences. I feel as though I’m only watching the religious rite fall into religious zealotry… I just think it’s very unfortunate that something that is meant to bring people peace and understanding within their own lives is, every day, being used as a weapon against other people. 

No, I completely agree. I was raised Catholic. I don’t subscribe to it anymore, but whenever I see any sort of religious imagery in music and art, I kind of am immediately drawn to it. I just had to ask you what your relationship was with it, as you make art related to it.

I would say I have no relationship to a specific religion, but I definitely have my own personal relationship to a god and to spirituality. I’m sure that a lot of the things that I believe Catholics would take issue with, but I don’t really care if people take issue. It’s my beliefs, and this is my experience on earth, and nobody else’s. I don’t think that anyone should be allowed to dictate how you worship or pray or do anything. 

I completely agree, and I honestly could not have put it better myself. On a similar vein, with your experience as a human being: as a woman musician in such a male-dominated genre, let alone industry, what are some challenges, whether expected or unexpected, that you have faced while you’re paving your way?

I’m not really sure. I really try to stay very focused within the work and the belief that our group has in each other. I think any woman in any field eventually learns just how valuable drowning out the noise is, and drowning out what other people think you should be. The type of woman you’re supposed to be should constantly be a rewritten and challenged thing. I do think that we’ve been quite lucky in some respects as a band in terms of some of the horror stories I’ve heard from friends about coming up in the industry. For some reason, we’ve always just been a band where I’ve felt more respect than disrespect.

However, I have also noticed that as we have gotten more popular over the last couple years, there is something that really seems to greatly upset men on the internet. There’s just something about us that a lot of them just really seem not to like. For me, I’m lucky because all of us in the band are in our mid-to late-30s. There’s a certain point in your life where you’re not just saying, “Oh, I don’t care what anyone thinks about me.” It’s, no, no, no. You truly do not care. You just don’t care. So that’s kind of how I feel about that. Their hatred for us has kind of gotten me more interested in this philosophical and intellectual way, where I feel more fascinated by men than I ever have. 

That’s honestly a super interesting perspective on it. I totally agree that I can absolutely see where men take an issue with an “angry female,” with no other better way to put it. That’s why, for me, I’ve never really liked heavy rock music because I don’t really enjoy listening to an angry man, but when I listen to a woman do it, I feel empowered and validated. So I can totally see where men see that and don’t really agree with it or enjoy it.

I guess I can maybe start to understand this idea of, now maybe they understand this concept of not everything being for them. But our music, very genuinely speaking, is for everyone. It doesn’t need to speak to someone’s individual experience in order to be for them. 

Yeah, I 100% agree. I can see where men don’t understand that perspective on it.

It’s like, have a little imagination, man! C’mon! But no, I am truly fascinated right now with men. I’ve been reading a lot of studies on incel culture and the modern man. The UK just did all these studies. There’s this really fascinating one called the “Lost Boys” that they recently put out about what’s happening with adolescent men. So, in seeing these reactions to us, I’m not being simply dismissive of, like, “Oh, that person’s just a piece of shit.” I’m like, “Something is happening in them. They’re having some sort of experience that’s causing them to lash out at people they don’t even know.” I want to get to the root of why that might be.

I think it’s just the patriarchal idea of, “Oh, well, my opinion is always going to matter when it doesn’t.”

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Kind of a completely different question I have, but is there any song from any of your albums that has surprised you in how much you enjoy playing it?

No, it’s sort of actually the opposite with certain songs where I’m surprised by how much I hate playing them now. I’m like, oh my god!

Is there any specific reason that you don’t like it? Or just because you don’t vibe with it like you thought?

I only started taking vocal lessons in the past year, so through that, I’m really learning that a lot of the songs, in the ways that I’ve written them, are just very difficult to sing. They’re tough. They’re tough for me. So I really need to make sure that I’m healthiest in order to do them, but that doesn’t mean I don’t dread them. I still kind of dread them a bit.

You’ve mentioned before that touring too much can start to wear on you both physically and mentally. So speaking of your vocal health, is there anything you do when you’re on tour to preserve that as well as your mental health?

Oh my god, yeah. I have to become a horrifically boring version of myself when I’m on tour. I really do. I can’t even talk that much. When I’m not on stage, I’m not talking, for the most part. I do vocal warmups every day. I’ve had to quit smoking entirely, both cigarettes and smoking weed. I haven’t done either of those things since last year, and it’s a very, very necessary thing for me. What else? No drinking alcohol, no smoking, no talking, and just trying to get as much sleep as I possibly can. That’s the thing I’ve noticed most for myself, sleep. If I can’t sleep, that’s when I lose my voice the most.

That makes sense. I’ve done musicals and stuff throughout my life, so I totally understand the whole vocal rest thing and not wanting to overuse yourself. Speaking of tours, you have Sea.Hear.Now this weekend in Asbury. Are there any bands that you are just completely excited to see or even get the chance to meet?

I actually have not even looked at the lineup. I have no idea who’s playing. Who is on it? Who are you excited about?

Hozier is headlining one day, and then Blink-182 is the next day. Other bands… Remi Wolf is playing, and I know ZZ Top is going to be there. I’m trying to think of who else.

I’ll have to look at who’s on my day. Like you were saying earlier, I’m so truly burnt out that I’m just taking it day by day, so I have not really investigated the lineup. 

It’s pretty good. I think you’ll be excited to see who’s going to be playing there. I’m excited for you.

It’ll be a nice surprise for me at this point, I think.

Next week, I know you’re playing in your hometown of Philly while you’re on tour with Turnstile. Is there a different energy that comes with playing a hometown show rather than playing a show anywhere else?

I think we’re so fortunate right now that all of the shows we’re playing are so much fun, and they have such great energy to them. That being said, there really is nothing like getting to play in your hometown and the excitement. There’s just this unspoken camaraderie where you all know that you’re from there and you live there and you’re part of that community, so that’s just something that’s uniquely special. We haven’t played in Philadelphia since… How long has it been? I think since maybe last May. So, yeah, it’s been over a year since we’ve played in Philly, and we also haven’t been opening for anyone in a couple years. These dates opening for Turnstile are the first time we’ll be doing opening gigs in a long time.

That’s awesome. I’m from South Jersey, so I know that the energy in Philly is definitely unlike any other city, so I can imagine how fun it must be for that to be where you’re from, and now you’re playing a concert there.

Yes. Exactly.

Obviously, with these shows coming up, fans of yours already have an idea of what to expect from your shows, but is there anything that you hope new listeners take away from your performance, whether it’s at the festival or with Turnstile?

Just be open to it and have fun. I think there’s something really special about just seeing a band you’ve never seen play before and just allowing yourself to have a good time. I just saw Oasis on Sunday night in L.A., and I was just, oh my god. I haven’t been a show-goer in quite a long time, and it was just such a strange, revelatory experience. Being a show-goer is such a magical experience, and just reminded me how much I love rock music and that feeling of everyone knowing a song, or even if you don’t, being able to tell that it’s special to the people around you. There was one person who was near me who I don’t think really knew that many other songs, but I could sense their awe in the way that everyone else was reacting. I just thought that was really special.

Well, then I hope at the festival this weekend that you have time to see other bands and have that experience again. 

Yeah, I hope so, too.

My last question, but what is on repeat for you now? Any inspo songs or songs that you can’t stop listening to that you want other people to also be obsessed with?

I really have just been listening to so much Oasis, like getting right back into my childhood feeling. What else have I been really loving? Honestly, this is so lame, but I have not been listening to a ton of music because I’m on tour constantly and around loud music all the time, so I just want a little bit of a break. So I’ve been listening to a lot of green noise, white noise. There’s this artist called Greenhouse. I think the album is called Six Songs for Invisible Gardens, and it is just the most calming, beautiful… I can’t exactly describe what it is, but it’s very calming. I feel like my nervous system has really decided to be calmed lately. So that’s what I’m trying to do for it. I’m trying to calm it down. 

Mannequin Pussy performs at the Sea.Hear.Now Music Festival on Sunday September 14 at 4 p.m. at The Sand Stage. They will also play The Skyline Stage at The Mann in Philadelphia, PA on Friday September 19 with Turnstile. Click here for tickets.