Tape Collection Interviews: fanclubwallet's Hannah Judge

The Ottawa bandleader looks back on the project she's built and looks ahead at the world she wants to build with the label she co-founded, Club Records

Like all too many of us, I relied on Spotify’s algorithms to spoonfeed new music to me for years; I soaked up my Discover Weekly religiously until it broke and fed me fake music for several weeks straight in late 2020. My Discover Weekly had always been hit-or-miss, anyway. It tended to show me songs by artists I was already following but hadn’t yet saved to my library. However, I have to give kudos to the nonsense algorithm for sharing fanclubwallet’s “Interstate” with me. The three-minute soft heater is as catchy as a Morningwood hit and charming as Frankie Cosmos. “Interstate” was Hannah Judge’s third single as fanclubwallet, the first being a cover of “This Must Be The Place” and the second being the moody, almost gazey “Fike.”

Over time, it’s been fun to watch Judge grow as an artist and stay true to her ideals. Shortly after I started following her, she released “Car Crash in G Major,” which grew into a minor streaming hit that had industry figures pounding on her front door, eager to link with new talent in the post-Clairo, post-mxmtoon, post-Billie Eilish world of “bedroom pop.” The song remains a live favorite more than four years after its initial release. Judge is a longtime music nerd with a particular admiration for Spencer Radcliffe, Hop Along, Owen Ashowrth, and more famous do-it-yourselfers. She and her close ring of collaborating friends held onto their creative vision and DIY ideals while crafting music under the industry’s watchful eye, and their subsequent output, 2021’s Hurt is Boring EP and 2022’s You Have Got To Be Kidding Me, showcase an indie rock singer-songwriter with rich interiority and strong balance between vulnerability + restraint. Their two most recent EPs, 2023’s Small Songs Vol. 1 and 2024’s Our Bodies Paint Traffic Lines, represent a project in transition, growing from a solo endeavor into a proper band.

When I thought of putting this series together, I knew I had to talk to Hannah. I’d organized a feature of Hannah and her growing toy keyboard collection for Slumber Mag just before the Hurt Is Boring rollout, so connecting like this made sense. I have Hurt Is Boring on cassette. Judge is someone who wears her influences and her hopes for the music world on her sleeve, best showcased by the label that she and her partner-in-crime Michael Watson started, Club Records. When we first connected, we were both getting our feet wet as more formal participants in the musical ecosystem. Now, Judge is a multifaceted DIY leader, working overtime to heap love onto her friends in the Ottawa, Ontario scene while her personal musical project matures with her.

DC: One thing I go back to on a regular basis is Small Songs because it reminds me so much of what I listened to in college. It stands out from some of your music because your music is typically more hi-fi and the songs are full length. These are truly short. They remind me of shorter Owen Ashworth hits.

HJ: Loooove him! We played a show together last winter, and he played a bunch of stuff from the new album and I was like YES! Soooo good!

How did you settle on making something like Small Songs?

I knew that we were gonna put out OUR BODIES PAINT TRAFFIC LINES and it would be a full-band EP with the biggest sounding songs, fully produced. So, I thought I kinda wanted to show both ends of the spectrum. I wanted to strip it back to just me, I did all the production, and it kinda is back to my roots. In high school, I used to make really sad instrumental music, no lyrics. I was really inspired by Blithe Field and Teen Suicide/Ricky Eat Acid and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. I had these songs that didn’t feel like they’d fit anywhere else, so I hunkered down in my room when I was depressed at the time. Here’s what it’s like when it’s just me and here’s what it’s like when my best friends in the whole world are all together.

What’s it been like to create and run this label, Club Records, with someone so close to you?

It’s been awesome! Me and Michael started working together on music in 2019, maybe even 2018. They’ve been a big part of fanclubwallet, and when we started they produced and I had never really put out music before. They’ve been putting out music with various bands since like 2014, so they knew how to pitch music and upload to Spotify, stuff I didn’t know how to do. Club Records kind of started because so many people asked how to do this and that and Michael sort of already had one. When I was going through the album cycle, I’d forget things I needed to do, too. So, we thought we should put it out on a website for our own reference and to show our friends. It’s grown from there: Club Records has the resources page, which needs a slight update, but it grew into local bands here in Ottawa – I’ve seen a lot of my favorite bands just stop because it doesn’t go anywhere and they don’t know how to build an online presence. This is kind of selfishly my project for helping my favorite local bands stay afloat and navigate around unspoken boundaries that are hard to find answers for. This has tended to be local bands where we’ve had some creative involvement like production or visuals.

With Club Records, there’s considerable sonic diversity. Do you see that continuing?

I love getting to be involved with more genres of music. Hit us up! Straight-up pop, R&B, deathcore, bring it on.

For as long as I’ve known your work, you’ve championed the Ottawa scene - what has the Ottawa scene given to you, and if you had unlimited resources, what would you want to offer it?

The Ottawa scene has given me the joy of music. I made mix CDs as a kid, but in 2015, I went to my first ever local show at a venue called Gabba Hey, which is about to have their first show since lockdown. I saw Alex G play there, Nicole Dollanganger, and tons of local bands. I think that, if I hadn’t had access to all-ages venues in high school, I wouldn’t have become as involved. I did photography, and I met a guy named David Sklubel and he did Local Ottawa Live! I filmed all these bands and did interviews and got into 19+ shows as a kid with a press pass. I built the confidence to make my own music and show it to other people. It’s given me friendship and music.

With unlimited resources, I’d start my own all-ages venue because we lost so many.

Did you grow up in Ottawa?

I did!

Did you grow up around a lot of music or did you fixate on it at some point?

I was an only child and had no friends; I got bullied a lot. But, I did learn to make jump-cut music videos to like, Katy Perry songs in middle school. So, when I was 11, girls were making videos to Charli XCX / Marina and the Diamonds. Because of these cool YouTuber 15-year-old girls, I found cool music earlier. I spent all my time listening to YouTube recommended stuff. My parents aren’t terribly musical but they were theater majors and they are artistic enough.

I made my mom take me to see Mac Demarco. She left halfway through the concert; she haaaaated him.

I think my parents accompanied me to Beach House and Best Coast; I think they enjoyed them.

I’ve taken my parents to so many concerts. We waited for 10 hours for The Killers. My mom let me see Grimes when I was 16.

I’ve never seen her!

It was the perfect time to see her because she’d just put out Art Angels.

Speaking of Grimes - if I remember correctly, didn’t you keep up with music at university in Montreal?

I moved to Montreal for university. Within a week, some random guy invited me to a show, and we ended up at a DIY venue called The Bog. It was the coolest place I’d ever seen. It was in an apartment building, so you had to wander through the halls, then down to the basement. I mentioned I used to take photos of bands in Ottawa and that I wanted to get involved. I was then at every single show and spent more time there than at college. It was a really great place and I loved that I did that. I felt very safe and included there.

Has it informed how you do things in Ottawa?

I think that being raised on the importance of safe spaces in music venues and accessibility of people, so it’s obvious who to talk to if there’s a problem. Inclusivity as a practice in venues has been important to me. I wish I ran a venue so I could put these into practice more; we don’t do much booking with Club Records.

As a musician and as someone with a chronic illness, you’ve been vocal about disability justice in music. What’s missing these days?

I wish there were more masked events. I know there are some in Ottawa that Debaser is putting on. They’re a really awesome booking agency. I’ve gone to fewer house shows. I don’t feel super great about going to them because I’m always really worried. There’s not a ton of accessible venues in Ottawa right now because so much stuff is closed. SAW Gallery is doing great and Debaser is doing great. In DIY, that stuff could be talked about a little more.

I came across your music the way a lot of people do - my Discover Weekly fed me “Interstate” and I liked that. What was it like being a sort of Spotify unicorn for a minute?

It was super crazy for me. When I started putting out fanclubwallet music, I’d been doing stuff in my old band, Gullet. The goal was always just to get to play house shows. I didn’t expect that anyone would listen to fanclubwallet beyond the Ontario circuit. My dream was to do the Montreal, Toronto, Peterborough, smaller town Canadian circuit. I was also really sick at the time. So, when Interstate got on playlists, Michael banged on the door to announce that I was on these sick playlists. I was like “oh that’s great but it stops there I’m sure.” Then, when “Car Crash” came out, I was in the hospital, and I checked my phone and suddenly I had dozens of emails from record labels - like, what the hell? I appreciated that Michael had some experience with this, so they had some insight. That’s one reason that I do Club Records. I don’t want this to happen to someone and then they sign with the first person they talk to.

Exactly - so many people do that and it doesn’t go the way they think it’s gonna go.

It’s hard when you’re young and excited. You’re young and the coolest thing is to be on a label. But you don’t necessarily know if they’re gonna rob you blind.

You went with a distributor deal instead?

I was super, super lucky. I went with AWAL. It was a good deal; 75% of royalties after recoup go to me and it’s not a long deal. I recouped, we’re good, they were super chill, and they loved that I made all my own music videos. I didn’t want any label to shape me into something that I’m not, so AWAL was great for just letting me do my own thing.

It seems like a good avenue for people who get caught in the streaming world but want to retain creative control. I’ve seen distributors who do label services but distro is their game.

Yeah, like Amuse, I’ve heard good things, too. I was lucky that I could build a good team at the beginning. I had to talk to a lot of people and vet people quickly. That was super overwhelming.

What is your relationship to those songs now?

It feels like it does when Radiohead plays “Creep” whenever we play “Car Crash.” We played a secret house show last year where we started “Okay, this is Car Crash in G Major” and then played it 10x speed, which I’d love to do more but it seems rude.

I still love those songs. If I listen to something like “Come On, Be Cool” it does feel a little cringey.

There did feel like a massive difference between Hurt is Boring and the full-length.

The Hurt is Boring stuff is largely from the Gullet era. I still love all those old songs, and I love “Car Crash,” which is deeply inspired by Casiotone. They feel kind of silly, but I still see myself as similar to who I was when I wrote those.

How did you develop a relationship with the music of, like, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Hop Along?

I sound Casiotone for the Painfully Alone through 8Tracks. I was obsessed with 8Tracks, I loved making playlists. I used to listen to this one that was called “Loitering in the Art Room” and it introduced me to so much cool music. I loved the song “Tonight was a Disaster” my Casiotone, which I think was earlier, and “White Corolla” is my favorite song ever. It’s my jumping-off point for every song that I’ll write for the rest of my life. If I can write a “White Corolla” I’ll be good. For Hop Along, my friend Jonas showed me. He was a graphic novelist and he stayed with us for a while; he taught me about art and showed me good music. He showed me the Hop Along / Queen Ansleis stuff and I thought that this was the kind of music I wanted to make and that I could really do it. There’s such a sense of warmth and community on that album. There’s tons of glockenspiel and dinky little instruments. Frances Quinlan’s songwriting is so interesting; they’re just one of the best storytellers ever. With like, “lo-fi” music, I felt like that kind of stuff made me feel like I could make it someday.

You release music videos comparatively often, and they’re often pretty unserious. Often, there’s play involved. How do you get the vision for your videos?

[It’s funny because] there’s lyrics that are fun and there are lyrics about cutting your skin off; I love to get pretty gross with it. With the music videos, I just listen to the song and I close my eyes and whatever pops into my head is where we end up. I am a cartoon-y person. I make cartoons, so I’ve never thought about going the super-serious route with the videos. The closest I’ve gotten with that is maybe “youve got to be kidding me.” Before working with David, I did those myself, and we’d be making these in one day.

There are two videos with abandoned buildings involved, too.

When I was a teenager, I was big on abandoned houses and urban exploration. I was on some forums for that. For “Fike,” I thought we needed to film it in this abandoned house.

It fits the mood of the song!

I agree!

It’s moodier than many others.

When we play it live, we play it super shoegaze-y. I feel the live version is much better than the recorded version.

Visual arts, comic writing / cartoons are big to your practice. When did you make that a part of your everyday life and how do you keep it part of your everyday life?

Music and art have been intertwined; I’ve always listened to music while making art. I have a problem relinquishing creative control and it’s certainly cheaper to do it myself. For the album, this person I went to high school with, Meredith Smallwood, did the artwork. Labels often help you find artists to work with, but it’s really important to me to curate all of the artistic components. If I don’t know what to draw for something, I always have an artist in mind who I want to draw a representation of it.

Who are some musicians who’ve made you feel like you can create the music you want to make?

Casiotone, Hop Along, Baths - all very much important inspirations. Blithe Field, everything that Spencer Radcliffe has done.

How about visual artists?

Artists: Jonas who often goes by “Goonface” and who wrote The Adventures of Jonas was really inspirational to me. My friends who are artists, like Etta, who plays as toothbrusher2000, is an incredible cartoonist. There’s Meredith Smallwood, of course.

What are you listening to?

“I’m So Serious” by Daryl Johns has kept me going. So good. The new Black Moth Super Rainbow song “Demon’s Glue.” I loved the fantasy of a broken heart album. That album? It’s a 10. I listened to it on a walk home from work and felt like it was life-changing.

What’s work right now?

I work at a community center. I just kinda do Club Records from there.

What’s exciting you about 2025?

There’s definitely more fanclubwallet music. That’s on the record, go ahead and mention it. We have a ton of stuff written. New music is exciting me and I’m working on a graphic novel.

photos courtesy of the artist

Tape Collection Interviews: Lately, I’ve felt “uninspired” as a writer, as you can probably tell from this newsletter’s dormancy. I’m not interested in reacting to what’s talked about on social media on a given day. So, I’m going back to my roots and interviewing artists who’ve got projects in my tape collection. I don’t have as much to say as I thought I did, so I talked to people who might have something to say. Simple enough!