Tummyache, a band led by Soren Bryce, is as raw and unfiltered as ever as their latest single, Interstate Dr, marks the beginning of a new chapter: a body of work shaped by grief and the lingering aftermath of loss.
The project doesn’t shy away from difficult emotional territory, instead leaning directly into it. Written in response to the passing of Soren’s father, the song is dense with imagery – objects, actions, fragments – that feel both grounded and surreal. The writing moves forward while constantly folding back in on itself, creating a sense of motion that never fully escapes its origin. There’s a sense of movement throughout it, but also a looping, cyclical quality that mirrors the emotional experience it’s drawn from.
In this Creative Spotlight conversation, Soren reflects on the writing behind Interstate Dr, how grief reshaped her relationship to creating, and how ideas of community and connection have shifted as a result.
This interview has been edited for clarity and flow.
Also available on MQTWorld.com
Interstate Dr: Exploring The Striking Imagery, Language, and Emotional Meaning Behind the Lyrics
The writing in Interstate Dr feels both direct and disorienting. Grounded in specific lines while still leaving space for interpretation. Much of that comes from the way Soren uses language: flipping familiar phrases, leaning into contradiction, and allowing imagery to carry emotional weight. Objects become anchors, phrases become tools, and meaning often sits somewhere just beneath the surface, waiting to be pulled apart and reassembled.
There’s a sense of accusation in lines like “you’re a thief and a liar.” Was this written toward a specific person or more of a feeling/state?
The whole record deals a lot with the grief of losing my dad two years ago. I suppose this line is directed at him, not in the sense of his actual being a thief or a liar, but to impose this idea that life was meant to be a ‘certain way’ and with him disappearing suddenly it was taken in an instant. Thieving me of the time I thought I had.
“Every free act and deed just goes over my head” suggests a loss of control or clarity. What were you exploring there?
Again, because this is mostly to do with my dad, this line is directed at how everything him or my parents did for me growing up without needing recognition or credit just went over my head, and I couldn’t appreciate it until it was too late.
“You will never crawl out from the kindness you killed” is a really striking line! Can you explain what it means, the idea behind it, and what “kindness” represents in this context?
I really like extended word play in lyrics, I think they can be quite a fun tool and I love putting words together that are usually used together in other situations. For example, ‘kill them with kindness’ is a pretty well known phrase. So taking that and flipping it on its head was really my intention here, exploring what that means to have the role reversed.
It’s this kind of reversal that makes the writing feel so layered! Language isn’t fixed; it’s something to be tested, stretched, and turned inside out. That same approach shows up again in one of the song’s more biting lines.
The line “eat the losers for breakfast, it all tastes the same” also stands out, and it feels very critical. Would you like to explain this one as well? What were you feeling or responding to when writing that?
I feel like this line is mostly directed at me, my false sense of bravado and hard exterior toward the external world, using cynicism and judgement as a coping mechanism to not have to interface with others or be vulnerable. “It all tastes the same” just evoking the idea that whether you’re negative or positive, the outcome is the same, so why are you really doing it the hard way round?
The line “there is a light at the end of it” could be interpreted differently, depending on who you ask. Is that line meant to be hopeful, or more uncertain?
I find that this line came very naturally in recording, as it wasn’t initially written to have any words in the outro. I feel like they are meant to elicit hope and the idea that there are other things to look forward to.
Even if it isn’t true, the idea that there is a light at the end helps you to keep moving forward.
The song seems to move between anger and numbness, so how do you navigate those emotional shifts when writing?
I find my writing reflects my general temperament as a person. I suppose the lyrics just reflect however I was feeling at the time.
That emotional fluidity carries into the way the song is constructed as well. The shifts aren’t just happening in feeling, but in how those feelings are expressed: moving from internal states into something more concrete and visual.
The imagery is incredibly vivid and feels very tactile but also surreal (needle, bread, train, etc.) Do you think in images more often than not when you write?
I would say I do think very visually when writing. I like to use objects as a tool of place and memory, and I feel that objects are very powerful reference points that everyone can picture or relate to. Everyone has their own relationship with different objects, and I think that’s a very interesting way of approaching lyric writing.
Grief, Creation, and the Upcoming Album
The upcoming record exists as a response rather than a plan – something that emerged out of necessity rather than intention. Instead of trying to define grief, it allows that experience to remain open yet deeply personal, and ever-evolving. Somewhere within that in-between space, creating becomes less about structure and more about expression. The music doesn’t attempt to resolve anything; it simply holds what’s there.
Your upcoming album explores the aftereffects of grief, so what felt most important to capture about that phase specifically?
I didn’t set out to capture it for any sort of sense or purpose; it was just the only way I was able to cope with what I was feeling at the time, and ultimately, a record came out of it.
There’s a sense that grief reshapes everything around it. How has it changed your relationship to creating?
I think the way it’s changed things is that it is just going to inevitably be part of everything I do or create. My dad was my number one supporter, and the idea that he won’t even be able to hear these things I’m so proud of creating now is quite hard, and changes the relationship to it once it’s released.
What do you hope listeners understand about grief after hearing this project?
I’m hoping they just have something that they can relate to and find some comfort in, knowing they aren’t the only ones feeling the way they are in their grief period.
With you as the central force behind Tummyache, but with rotating collaborators, how did that fluid structure influence the sound and identity of you guys’ upcoming album?
I would say the upcoming album is quite an anomaly because it was a lot less collaborative due to the nature of the subject matter. I really needed an insular space that felt small enough for me to explore and navigate these difficult emotions without too much external interference. However, overall, the amount of lovely people that have been involved with tummyache is such a blessing, and I feel super grateful to everyone who has ever lent me their talents and time.
Live Energy, Community, and Reimagining Connection
Beyond the recordings, Tummyache exists as a shared space that extends into live shows, community, and collective experience. While the songs may begin in isolation, they don’t stay there for long. What emerges live is something different: cathartic, communal, and rooted in connection.
You have a packed run of shows coming up. How does performing these songs live differ from recording them?
It’s really fun taking things out on the road because it’s quite cathartic, and it’s nice to see the response, especially to the more emotional ones, though sometimes it can be hard to relive the memories each day behind songs.
Your shows are described as spaces built around accessibility and mutual respect. What is the main thing you want people to feel when they’re in that environment?
I suppose I want everyone to feel that they are a part of something bigger than themselves and also just bigger than Tummyache. I really value community, and its power to heal a lot of things wrong with the world, so if all we can be is a vessel to create space for that to blossom, that would mean so much to me. We’ve managed to connect with a lot of like-minded beautiful people through playing music, and I hope it continues.
You emphasize community, care, and creative freedom over commercial goals. What does that look like in practice for you?
Well, to be blunt, it looks like being broke quite a lot of the time! But I do genuinely believe that these pillars are way more important than money. I just want us all to be on the right side of history and feel like we moved the wheel even slightly on making things more equal and fair for not just artists but any oppressed minority. DIY is a wonderful tool, but it can become quite tainted by insular, white, male-only bands, and it’s important for all of us to keep checks on that.
Soren isn’t sitting idly by, waiting for someone else to create a safe space for artists and minorities to connect, either. She’s taken the initiative to create a space for creatives to gather and build a future for art that doesn’t rely on digital spaces!
The Unplugged Artist Collective came from frustration with social media. What kind of space or connection were you missing that you wanted to create instead?
I am hoping to create a thought-movement that encourages people to question what they consume and start to step away from social media. I truly believe it is not beneficial to humanity as a whole, and we need to move more toward small, group-focused communities again. It’s not good for our mental health or our social health. Artists are particularly getting the short end of the stick, as they’ve become more and more commodified and less respected as important parts of an overall culture.
What do you think makes it possible for art and music to still exist meaningfully outside of digital spaces today?
I can only speak from my own personal lens, but I just do think that we all need that basic level of human-ness in the things we consume, otherwise we aren’t feeling our empathy or compassion. I feel that there is a strong desire for this within ourselves, even just subconsciously.
Through Interstate Dr, and the record it introduces, Soren Bryce offers something that feels both deeply personal and widely resonant: a reminder that even in isolation, connection is still possible through sound and through the spaces we choose to build together. That reminder is what makes the project so worth tuning into.
Interstate Dr by Tummyache is out now, with their fourth album Repeat in Reverse set to release in October 2026.
“I hope to catch anyone on tour and connect. Thank you so much for reading and listening.” – Soren
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