Q&A with Hi Crime

Hi Crime is a Seattle-based indie band led by songwriter/producer, Mitch Etter. Originally formed as a recording-only duo in 2015, Hi Crime’s debut EP received unexpected attention from NW media outlets (including KEXP and 107.7 The End), which led to the band’s first live performance on local TV. The duo quickly expanded to a full band for this appearance, and decided to continue working as a band thereafter.

After releasing the albums The Kids Still Got It in 2018, and Midori in 2023, Hi Crime took a new direction with 2024’s Spirit & Candor, when Etter took the band back to its roots as a recording project, working alone for the first time. Traditional rock band arrangements quickly got replaced with the layered production stylings of an obsessive bedroom producer.

On Spirit & Candor Mitch explains, “Many of my favorite artists evolve over time, and I realized that most of Hi Crime’s music had been in a certain electric guitar-led, indie pop style. I wanted to explore new territory like my heroes do, so I gave myself assignments that forced me out of my comfort zone.” The result is a psychedelic folk-pop record, centered around an unusual acoustic guitar tuning, and Mitch’s lead vocals for the first time on a Hi Crime record.

The music on Spirit & Candor led the band to receive its first national media attention from NPR, and continued praise from respected NW media outlets including: KEXP, 107.7 The End, Sub Pop, KING 5, KOMO News, and the NW Film Forum.

The first new music after Spirit & Candor was the single “Collision To Fire,” released on August 11, 2025. On the song, Mitch says “I really wanted to make a proper rock song after playing so much acoustic for the Spirit & Candor songs. It’s not necessarily a reflection of where the band is heading next, but it sure is a hell of a lot of fun to play.”

Photo Credit: Dylan Randolph

Where did the band name Hi Crime come from?

Had I known that I'd be using the name Hi Crime for so long, I definitely would have changed it. The band was first called Crime Watch. We called ourselves that based on neighborhood crime watch signs. Just imagining ourselves as little cul-de-sac crusaders made us laugh. So we went to make Crime Watch our official name, and grabbed the email. Typed the first name as Crime, last name as Watch. We got an auto-email that said "Hi Crime! Welcome to Google." That made us laugh, and we realized that Hi Crime had better SEO than Crime Watch, and somehow sounded more like an indie band. The vibes were right at the moment, and we went for it without too much thought.

Last year, Hi Crime went from being a full band to a solo project. Can you tell our readers more about that?

Yeah, Hi Crime has gone through a few iterations over the years. Before Hi Crime, I had a college band where I wrote the songs, and had someone else sing them. When I moved to Seattle in 2014, my plan was to start another band that worked similarly. About a year into living here, I met Hi Crime's former vocalist Brielle through radio work we did together. She had never been in a band before, but we casually started working on songs together, and quickly made an EP in my bedroom just the two of us. We planned on just staying a recording project, but that EP got some attention, and we were invited to be a musical guest on the local TV show, Art Zone With Nancy Guppy. For the live TV performance, we recruited other musicians, and we all had such fun together that we continued as a 5-piece band after the TV show.

With that 5-piece band we started playing live regularly, and released our first LP, The Kids Still Got It in 2018. After the album, the first lineup changes started to occur. We lost a guitarist, and cycled through a few bassists as a 4-piece. As the rest of us worked together, we all eventually crossed into our thirties, and the others realized that they didn't want to be in bands forever. That's normal, and I realize that band lineups don't last forever, but I really tried to keep us together. There were a few occasions where someone would quit, and I'd work to bring them back. One time, we had to cancel a tour days before it started, because a member decided last minute that they didn't want to go anymore. That was personally devastating. Trying to accommodate other people's burnout just slowed the whole project down. It's why it took five years between our first and second album, Midori. I'm really proud of that second album. Everyone stepped up for it, but they knew & I knew that they didn't have it in them to continue after Midori. The band was kind enough to play shows to support the album we made together, and it was understood that they'd exit the project before the end of 2023.

I originally intended to bring in new full-time band members. I started writing new songs, and recording demos to pitch to potential bandmates. I recorded every part of the demos myself, and doing so- I felt an enormous freedom being able to create at my pace. Within a few months of finishing Midori, I had the next album Spirit & Candor all mapped out. I remember playing the first five tracks to Brielle in the car on the way to a gig. I mentioned that I was still looking for a new singer, and she was the first person to say "No. I think you need to sing this yourself. You sound good." Initially hesitant at that idea, I grew to embrace my vulnerabilities as a vocalist. That transition of leading a band to just being the band all myself ultimately was a pretty natural extension.

Would you ever consider going back to a full band?

It depends, but I'm definitely open to that! Being part of a band is way cooler than being a solo artist. When exciting things happen for Hi Crime, hired guns won't live that excitement in the same way because of their distance from creating it. Sharing the highs and lows of band experiences is really special.

It's possible that the current live band evolves to become that. They aren't actively part of the creating process, but we're playing a couple new songs that I haven't fully recorded yet. They're contributing parts I didn't write for them, or they're shaping my parts in new ways that I think are really benefiting the songs. I love doing everything myself, but sometimes outsider perspective is exactly what a song needs. Everyone else in the live band has other projects, so they can't commit as much time to Hi Crime as I would like them to. But it's a great thing they have other projects, because we all understand what it's like to be a bandleader. We all get our creative outlets satisfied in exactly the way we want to.

What is your creative process like?

Ok. This is all going to sound self-indulgent. Feel free to roll your eyes as you read this... A song can originate from anywhere. There really is no set process for channeling inspiration. That's a magical thing. Once that spark of inspiration comes through, I do kind of have a workflow I've settled into for turning an idea into something real.

I'm almost always by myself, experimenting on the guitar and making strange vocalizations that could be for vocal melodies, drums, bass, piano, or any other production elements. In my head, I usually hear a fully arranged song, and am attempting to document those elements into a voice memo before those ideas escape. During that process, random nonsense words spill out of the subconscious as I sing a template vocal melody. Strangely often, many of those nonsense words will make their way into the final song. When I talk to other songwriters, many of them say the same thing, which kind of reinforces to me that there is a magic force communicating their ideas, and we're little vessels for those ideas. Some people are better than others at being a vessel. For myself, I know that the final result doesn't always sound like what I heard in my head, but over the years I have gotten better at translating those ideas onto recordings.

Photo Credit: Theresa Ambat

Do you have a favorite song that you've written?

There's two main eras to Hi Crime so far, so I'll pick one song from each! The first era, my old bandmate Brielle sang lead, and "Barefoot Pretender" is my favorite song I wrote during those years. I like to think of it as my folk rock odyssey. The music & lyrics came to me very late at night, I was feeling sleepy, and in the drowsiness-the song felt like the soundtrack to a beautiful imaginary film.

In the current Hi Crime era, "Everything Under the Sun" is my favorite. I was trying to write a new bridge for the song "Traveling Merchant," and this song presented itself instead. It was the spark for me creating my first suite of music. "Everything Under the Sun" is the second of 5 songs that flow into each other as a mini-concept album... Most other songs I've written, I can tell what other artists I was trying to sound like, but this song feels like the most authentically Mitch thing I've done.

You said “Everything Under the Sun” is your most authentically Mitch song. Can you elaborate?

When I think back on most of my songs, I can tell who I was influenced by making it. "Barefoot Pretender" is Kevin Morby-coded. "Wait" I was trying to invoke Tame Impala with all the synths. "Channel Surfing" is definitely inspired by MGMT's "Siberian Breaks." But for "Everything Under the Sun," whatever influence there may be, it's unknown to me. I'm not saying that it's so unique that it can't be compared to any other artist. But as I was making it, I don't remember making any decisions. Like everything about that song was innate. I simply documented whatever pure expression was inside of me with that one.

If you could have any of your songs featured in a piece of media, which song would it be and what would you like it to be featured in?

My first instinct is a Wes Anderson film. My second instinct is to have a song used for something like "Sweet Victory" in Spongebob. That'd be amazing to be a cultural reference for an entire generation. I feel like I haven't written the right song yet for either of those two uses, but people tell me "Underwater Breathing" is their favorite Hi Crime song, so let's throw that in a Wes Anderson movie until I write a perfect Spongebob song.

Earlier this year, you performed a really cool set at The Emerald Forest. How did that performance come about?

I met Scott, the owner of the Emerald Forest in a random encounter. He told me about his property, showed me pictures of the venue, and I said "This is amazing! Do you ever do music out here? Like film music videos, or do live shows?" Scott said, "Nooo, but we'd love to!" We worked together on creating something special. I hope similar productions can be made at The Emerald Forest, but it won't be easy! We had to make multiple trips carrying all of our equipment through 1.5 miles of forest. I should reiterate, that's hand-carrying. The land is very uneven with many roots, rocks, DIY bridges over swampy water. There were a few items we had permission to zipline across the swamp, landing closer to the treehouse; but that's also a hassle. I highly recommend watching us zipline a guitar amp across the swamp on our Instagram or YouTube. Trust me, you want to see that.

Jim Clithero's painting for Hi Crime's Emerald Forest set.

Jim Clithero actually created a painting of that performance. When I first saw you holding it, I thought it was a vinyl. Do you have any plans to produce a 7” of the set?

That's a great painting Jim did by the way. He's currently working with me on a big music video project.

OK. So this is silly, but I want to do a 7" just because I love the idea of announcing on social media. "Hey guys, I have a 7"... also I have a new vinyl." Get it? That dumb joke has been living in the back of my mind for a while, lol. Seriously though, I'd love to do vinyl. People have asked us to make vinyl, but it's expensive, and I'm not yet confident we'd sell enough to break even. There are certainly band expenses that I don't mind losing money on, but I don't want to have hundreds of vinyl records stuck at my house unnecessarily. I think when we do our next album, I'll probably bite the vinyl bullet finally.

Outside of performing, you also work in radio at SPACE 101.1 where you host NW Orbit. Can you tell our readers about your show?

Yeah! Tuesdays from 7-8pm PST, I play music from around the Pacific Northwest. That includes all of WA, OR, and BC. Most of the playlists are very Seattle-centric since that's what I'm familiar with, and where our primary listenership is. But it's open to all PNW artists. Folks can email me their local music suggestions to mitch@space101fm.org.

Before SPACE 101.1, you were also a radio DJ in college. What drew you to radio specifically?

God, you've done your research, Brennan! Yeah. I'm still surprised that not everybody wants to be on the radio. I just assumed everyone wants to be on TV, or be on the radio, or be seen and heard in some way. When I was first looking at colleges in my state, I knew that Truman State University had a student-run radio station, and that was incredibly exciting. I'm the most obsessed with music person I know. I couldn't wait to play music on the air, talk about it, and meet other people who shared my passion. We took the development of the station very seriously. While at KTRM, my friend said "Do you know about KEXP in Seattle? I feel like that's what we should be modeling our station after." He introduced me to KEXP via their YouTube channel, and since moving to Seattle, I've been a KEXP volunteer for 11 years now. I've gotten to meet many of my musical heroes, network, and learn more about the wider music industry there. All because college radio put me on that path.

Is it ever hard to separate your work platforming music from your work creating it?

It's never been an issue. With my show at SPACE 101.1, I'm aware that I'm in a gatekeeper position. Hi Crime has been very lucky to receive wide radio airplay around the northwest, and in some cases the world. I remember getting tagged by a Spanish radio station that played our music once. That was cool. But for all those stations that have supported us, there have been so many unanswered emails, or people straight up saying "I don't like your music and won't be playing it." You quickly get a thick skin to that. But again, I realize now that I'm in that position to platform or deny artists... I decided with my radio show that I'm supposed to be doing a local music show that represents the scene. It's not a "Mitch's taste in local music show." So I'm playing songs or artists sometimes whose work I don't really enjoy, but I can still see merit in. Luckily it's pretty rare that someone sends in something that is totally garbage and I have to say "no". Though I do still need to say "no" to a lot of songs because my show just can't play every genre.

You’ve talked before about being a musician in Seattle and the importance of community here, what advice would you give to artists moving to Seattle?

There's so many musician paths one can follow, I don't feel fully qualified to give legitimate advice. The universal truths are always good to repeat. In any city, who you know is helpful. Go to shows and talk to people. If you're not a dick, people are happy to help you.

In my experience, you can't always rely on others, so being a jack-of-all-trades has been helpful. In addition to your music skills, learn how to do basic audio engineering, make a website, create videos, be diligent with emails, be pro-active in all aspects of your career. No one is going to care about your project as much as you.

Photo Credit: Christopher Greene

Stay curious. Seattle is an incredibly supportive music city. Make the most of it.

Do you think being in Seattle has influenced or changed your approach to making music?

Hard to say. Probably! My life experiences here have certainly made their mark on my music. But the idea of Seattle itself imprinting itself in my music I don't think has really happened. I don't think I make music that makes people say "That's obviously a Seattle band." The cloud of grunge influence that covers the city hasn't presented itself with my songwriting. I used to feel like my songs were influenced by the weather, but I don't think that's as apparent anymore... I'd be curious to live somewhere else for an extended period of time, and see how much the environment does play a role.

On your Substack, you’ve talked about the difficulty of self-promoting as a musician. What advice would you give to other emerging artists in the same position?

Haha, starting a Stubstack has been funny. I've only done two posts so far. Thanks for reading it. That article definitely acknowledges my own shortcomings in promoting myself. So again, I'm not the best to give advice. I'll give myself some advice here!

1. Stay current and engaged. I've met some older artists who don't have Instagram, and I know that's limiting their reach greatly. I don't really do TikTok, and I should. I'm reluctant, but that's not a good excuse. It could only help.

2. In the same spirit as above. Get people's emails! Myspace bands didn't carry over into Facebook. Facebook bands didn't carry over into Instagram. The Instagram bubble won't last forever either. You'll lose access to all of your followers if you don't have their emails.

3. Don't worry about chasing streams. Some people pay for playlist placement, and they get a lot of streams that are mostly bots. They don't turn into real fans. I don't know what the answer here is. Paying for good marketing might be the sad reality. Being aware that I can't do everything myself. A good team is essential if you can afford it.

4. Posting about your new song only 3 times on social media is lazy. Do more to promote. Promotion exists outside of social media. You worked hard on making it. Work hard on promoting it. Have a plan.

If you could pick any band or artist, past or present, to tour with, who would it be and why?

It's really hard not to say The Beatles. Need I say more? Being in the periphery of Beatlemania during their touring years would be insane.

Who, or what, has most influenced your music and artistic style?

I don't know how much his influence is audible in my music, but John Frusciante was a very formative influence on me as a young musician. His early solo music outside of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was the first time I heard really weird music that I knew you couldn't hear on the radio. It opened up a world for me.

What are you listening to currently?

I was in Portugal earlier this year, and while travelling I got the chance to talk with many people also visiting from all over the world. On my last night, an Italian man told me to check out Fabrizio De André. He's like an Italian Leonard Cohen, and I've been obsessed with his music ever since. His lyrics are very important, and I'm sadly missing out on that by not understanding Italian, but the 70's singer songwriter vibes are so good that I'm more than happy just taking in the music without fully understanding the messages. Beyond that, Cameron Winter/Geese have been pumping out great tunes, Animal Collective is on constant rotation. Oh! And the Japanese band Fishmans are a newer discovery for me. "Baby Blue" is a perfect summer song.

Listen to Hi Crime's single "Collision to Fire" now.

Photo Credit: Dylan Randolph