• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

CURRENT STREET EDITION

DIG 23.05 – 4/8/21

BLEACHED, PLEASE: WHY DITCHING ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS MADE THE TRIO STRONGER

Written by NINA CORCORAN Posted April 15, 2016 Filed Under: Interviews, MUSIC

Photo by Nicole Anne Robbins
Photo by Nicole Anne Robbins

When you’re trying to write music, to let your mind roam free and your fingers play whatever guitar line that comes to mind, the last thing you need is someone halting that creative process. For Jennifer Clavin of garage pop trio Bleached, her world was spinning out of control and she kept hitting roadblocks that were out of her control. Unfortunately, they took form in an emotionally abusive relationship – one that she now, thankfully, is out of.

 

“I have such trouble explaining it,” she says over the phone, referring to her now ex-boyfriend. “There was a lot of manipulation. If you try to leave them, they tell you that they’re going to kill themselves so you can’t get out of it. But when you’re in it, you’re getting called names and awful things and being accused of things you never actually did. I ended up being stalked by the person later and had to get a restraining order.”

 

Several girls warned others to avoid him, one of whom went on to accuse the man of rape. While he never threw punches or anything worse at Clavin, he did incite deep mental pain and confusion, the type of bullying that scars people for life.

 

 

“The thing is, I got along very well with this person on a musical level,” she says. “He inspired me to let myself go musically and let myself write whatever I wanted. That’s what attracted me to him originally—the musical side—so it’s strange to think that he began to affect it negatively. I remember him telling me he would hang himself in my closet so I could find him dead when I got home. It wasn’t okay at all. At all.”

 

The rest of the band, her sister Jessie Clavin and bassist Micayla Grace, struggled to find ways to help along the way. Instead of letting it halt life as a band, they began working on their sophomore LP, Welcome to Worms, which, in many ways, wound up saving Jennifer Clavin. They ditched Los Angeles to record in the desert. Things were silent. Clavin left her phone in the car so she didn’t have to hear from her then-boyfriend.

 

“I trust my sister so much with her songwriting,” says Jessie Clavin. “Her lyrics hit me so hard that I’ll start crying during practice sometimes. There’s times where I have to get a grasp and realize that what Jenn is singing about is really happening. I think it went on for so long because you just don’t want to believe what’s happening is real. It begins becoming really unhealthy and it’s hard to process.”

 

 

“It’s almost a form of self-sabotage,” Jennifer Clavin explains. “You almost like the pain of the relationship because it makes you feel in a way despite being really unhealthy. It’s a way of not respecting yourself. I didn’t realize it at the time, but now I do. If you do love someone—which I did at the time—you don’t want to let them go because you think you can save them.”

 

The recording process saw the band enduring crazy hours, rereading lyrics repeatedly, and shifting their songwriting towards a smarter realm of melodies. Finally, it hit her. She realized she was going through an abusive relationship and how she was treating herself as a result. “It felt like a form of therapy without even realizing that was going to happen, that it would help me,” she says. “When we’re playing the songs, I’m so stoked on each one because various lessons came out of it. It’s like reliving it for a second without having to be there. I’ve never experienced that before in songwriting. You get to compare then to now – and I’ve grown so much, that comparing the two periods of my life actually feels good. I get to know things are okay now.”

 

BLEACHED + NO PARENTS + GYMSHORTS. FRI 4.15. GREAT SCOTT, 1222 COMM. AVE., ALLSTON. 10PM/21+/$12. BOWERYBOSTON.COM.

NINA CORCORAN
More from author
  • NINA CORCORAN
    https://digboston.com/author/nina-corcoran/
    WHEEL OF TUNES: JULIA HOLTER
  • NINA CORCORAN
    https://digboston.com/author/nina-corcoran/
    WHEEL OF TUNES: PANDA BEAR
  • NINA CORCORAN
    https://digboston.com/author/nina-corcoran/
    WHEEL OF TUNES: HOP ALONG
  • NINA CORCORAN
    https://digboston.com/author/nina-corcoran/
    THE BEST LOCAL EPS OF 2018

Filed Under: Interviews, MUSIC Tagged With: 2016, Allston, Bleached, Boston, Dig, DigBoston, great scott, Grunge Pop, Gymshorts, Interview, Jennifer Clavin, No Parents, relationships, Welcome the Worms

WHAT’S NEW

THE LONE OPPONENT: NEWCOMER MCBRIDE TAKES ON BAKER IN D3

THE LONE OPPONENT: NEWCOMER MCBRIDE TAKES ON BAKER IN D3

FULL PARKING ENFORCEMENT RETURNS TO BOSTON, BLUEBIKES STILL AVAIL FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS

FULL PARKING ENFORCEMENT RETURNS TO BOSTON, BLUEBIKES STILL AVAIL FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS

EMERGENCY PRESS CONFERENCE AND RALLY FOR DAUNTE WRIGHT

EMERGENCY PRESS CONFERENCE AND RALLY FOR DAUNTE WRIGHT

POLITICIANS GET IN LINE TO CALL FOR BOSTON POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY

POLITICIANS GET IN LINE TO CALL FOR BOSTON POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY

PARENTS RELEASE AN ANALYSIS OF BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDRAISING INEQUITIES

PARENTS RELEASE AN ANALYSIS OF BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDRAISING INEQUITIES

IF YOU’RE SURPRISED THE BPD CODDLED AN ACCUSED MOLESTER COP, YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION

IF YOU’RE SURPRISED THE BPD CODDLED AN ACCUSED MOLESTER COP, YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION

Primary Sidebar

HEMPIRE FREEDOM PACK 25% OFF

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • VACCINE EQUITY NOW! COALITION ASKS BAKER TO ALLOCATE 20% OF NEW DOSES TO HARD HIT COMMUNITIES by SHIRA LAUCHAROEN
  • rally to protest discrimination and crimes against Asian and Pacific islanders during Stop Asian Hate rally on Boston Common in Boston PICS & RECAP: “STOP ASIAN HATE BOSTON” RALLY ON THE COMMON by KEIKO HIROMI
  • IF YOU’RE SURPRISED THE BPD CODDLED AN ACCUSED MOLESTER COP, YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION by CHRIS FARAONE
  • A FAREWELL TRIBUTE (OF SORTS) TO MARTY WALSH by DIG STAFF
  • A NEW PLACE FOR MORE PEOPLE TO CALL HOME IN TOUGH TIMES by MARK EMMONS

READ CURRENT MEMBER EDITION

DIG Member 2.1 – March 2021

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG 23.05 – 4/8/21

Footer

digbos

digbos
This week is your last chance to hit up Mooby’s This week is your last chance to hit up Mooby’s in #Boston … https://digboston.com/moobys-boston-how-kevin-smith-has-brought-his-pick-up-experience-to-10-cities-during-the-pandemic/ #fan #popup #fun #restaurant #movie #Massachusetts #snoochieboochies
The group is asking that polices address the dispa The group is asking that polices address the disparities the #data has revealed. https://digboston.com/parents-release-an-analysis-of-boston-public-school-fundraising-inequities/ #education #school #public #study #fundraising #racism #Boston #Massachusetts
“We’re not going to survive for 20 more years “We’re not going to survive for 20 more years if we don’t do this [move to a bigger space].” https://digboston.com/how-juliet-hit-a-100k-kickstarter-goal-in-4-days/ #restaurant #business #food #crowdfund #SomervilleMA #coronavirus #COVID19
EDITORIAL: DIGBOSTON SEEKS CLIMATE IDEAS FOR MAYOR EDITORIAL: DIGBOSTON SEEKS CLIMATE IDEAS FOR MAYOR KIM JANEY. Environmental organizations and individual activists invited to submit opinion articles for publication. https://digboston.com/editorial-digboston-seeks-climate-ideas-for-mayor-kim-janey/ #politics @boston_mayor #environment #globalwarming #climate #activist #callforsubmissions #policy #Boston #Massachusetts
“Most are some of my favorite bars or local clas “Most are some of my favorite bars or local classics that I’ve learned to love in my time living in the city. Others just have a great facade that I know would make a great drawing.” https://digboston.com/drawn-but-not-forgotten-local-artist-sketches-beloved-boston-restaurants/ #art #artist #sketch #drawing #Boston #Massachusetts #bar #restaurant
Despite #pandemic hurdles, Mass #music instructors Despite #pandemic hurdles, Mass #music instructors hit new high notes. “My #teaching has gone to another level.” https://digboston.com/the-medium-is-the-maestro/ #education #Massachusetts #coronavirus #COVID19
From the podcast to the book, Wayne Federman chron From the podcast to the book, Wayne Federman chronicles the business of joke-telling. https://digboston.com/the-history-of-stand-up-from-mark-twain-to-dave-chappelle/ #comedy #history #book #interview #Boston #Massachusetts
“I’m calling on some of you to drop by a local “I’m calling on some of you to drop by a local field office and hear what people have to say.” https://digboston.com/dear-reader-the-political-season-is-upon-us-embrace-it/ #politics #commentary #election #Massachusetts
“I think most people agree that we want our publ “I think most people agree that we want our public dollars to go to those companies that are not cutting corners.” https://digboston.com/bill-seeks-to-penalize-contractors-for-unsafe-conditions/ #politics #legislation #construction #safety #labor #Massachusetts
“It’s just shocking to me for Massachusetts, t “It’s just shocking to me for Massachusetts, the state that puts itself forward as this paragon of democracy. Those are just fundamental building blocks of a democratic society.” https://digboston.com/researchers-show-extent-of-lobbying-against-climate-bills-in-ma/ #environment #globalwarming #climate #crisis #politics #lobby #Massachusetts
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Submissions

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]