Grumpy shares "Rice"
"The video is fabulously weird, the sonics are tender and idiosyncratic — Grumpy feels like an underdog to watch." Wonderland
"Heaven Schmitt knows when to indulge their strangest impulses. That’s no small talent, and it’ll make Grumpy a band to watch." FADER
"Heaven Schmitt’s songwriting is indeed an ideal glue for Grumpy’s music. Their sweetly melodious vocals and piercingly intimate lyrics cut through the noise, orienting everything else in their image." Stereogum
"A collage of glitchy, nonchalant ecstasy." Paste
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Grumpy's new EP Piebald will be released in a little over two weeks (September 26th) on Bayonet Records. A New York-based project led by Heaven Schmitt (they/he), Grumpy signed to Bayonet in the summer of 2024, and released their first EP for the label in October of that year. Entitled Wolfed, that EP caused an immediate stir, earning praise from outlets like FADER (who called Grumpy "a band to watch in 2025"), BrooklynVegan and FLOOD, and landing on Stereogum and Paste's Best EPs of 2024 lists, while the project made Stereogum's Best New Artists list.
Since the turn of the year excitement has continued to build around the project, with Grumpy releasing a string of collaborations with an eclectic group of artists that have included country music superstar Zach Bryan, Sidney Gish, Precious Human, Claire Rousay, Pink Must, and Harmony Tividad, while artist to watch features have arrived from outlets like FADER, Stereogum and Paste alongside praise from the New York Times.
Today, Grumpy is announcing an NYC release show for their new EP that will be presented by Stereogum, and sharing a video for their new single "Rice."
Rooted in DIY ethos and wrapped in Goosebumps-style theatrics, Piebald plays with the idea of ugliness as performance. It’s “clown logic,” exaggerating what is meant to be hidden for the listeners’ amusement. It’s not about being the hero. It’s about being the lovable malefactor, the main character who refuses redemption but demands attention. Grumpy isn’t embarrassed. They peel off the polish, slap on their tophat, and let the pain strut around in heels. Think Beetlejuice with a bleeding heart, Old Gregg in a spiral of ex-lovers and unmet needs. Heaven, the songwriter and front person of the band, doesn’t flinch, even as they offer themselves up for gawking. Pain is packaged with color, humor, and flair — it’s safe to look, but only because they’re in control of the spectacle.
This EP's unflinching emotional honesty is captured by "Rice," the EP's final track, as Schmitt explains:
Rice, the final song on the EP, foreshadows the next chapter. The EP tells the story of the unraveling of my marriage, and the self-discovery that unfolds at each turn, until Rice, where everything shifts.
After the painful loss of the life I had built with Austin (our drummer) and Lane (our keys player), I found love again. I had just moved to New York when I saw a photo of Anya on a friend’s phone. Anya, now our multi-instrumentalist and creative director, and I shared a powerful, year-long romance that felt otherworldly and unforgettable. It was a relationship I was sure I needed to do whatever it took to keep. But in the end, I wasn’t the one for her. She moved back to California the day after we broke up.
This song is about letting her go, and the genesis of a new fear: that maybe no woman could ever love me fully. That love would always leave me in the dust. Still, Rice is about hoping I could be so good that she might come back someday.
By February, she was back in New York. We tried not to get back together, but, of course, we did. One last time. Eventually, she retired from the relationship but officially joined the band as our auxiliary instrumentalist and creative director.
I don’t know what kind of fucked-up prophecy I’ve written into existence, but somehow, once again, the newest ex joined the band.
