Interview with Zoe Garcia of Sunday Cruise
- Julie Simmons
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
By Julie Simmons | Music Journalist
As the drums and guitars steadily race for the outro, Zoe Garcia injects a strong, melodic plea into the mic before rocking back on her heel. Stepping away from the stand, she signals the end of her poetic rant. Cheers crest and just as the applause starts to wane, a stranger exclaims from deep within the shrouded crowd, “I just downloaded all your music!”
“I do remember that,” Garcia smiles widely, revealing a dimple. "That actually happens a lot."
Garcia and I are at Cafe Mustache in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. I'm recalling the first time I saw her band, Sunday Cruise (SC), play at Schubas a few years ago. Like the guy in the crowd, I also became a convert that night. For me, it had to do with the paradox: an emo, pop-punk band loosening up the room through incredibly tight rhythms.
Each member of Sunday Cruise - Garcia (lead guitar, lead vocals), Camden "Cam" Kiefer (lead guitar), Cassidy McGill (bass), Levi Hansen (drums), and Nolan Manke (drums) - is a multi-instrumentalist. Due to scheduling conflicts, SC has relied on two drummers over the years which means that the band has three drummers, including Garcia.
"I've been told I have good rhythm for a guitarist. I played drum kits from the time I was six and then went into percussion until I was seventeen. So, I guess that's why I play guitar with a strong sense of rhythm," she shrugs a little, unimpressed by her own resume.
I tilt my head slightly, "That's interesting because most fans know you as a lead guitarist."
"I moved to guitar because I wanted to write songs and the guitar is obviously more melodic and perfect for songwriting.”
Even during the original SC lineup, when Garcia was attending the Visual and Performing Arts Academy (aka "The Academy") at Larkin High School in Elgin, Illinois, her lyrics were and remain raw and melancholic. An alternative vibe could’ve worked well with her prose, but instead, she chose to cloak her visceral imagery in punk as it has a way of excising her tumorous emotions, leaving only clear margins.
The problem with pursuing punk back then was that Elgin didn't have a scene to generate a fan base and fuel the music. Undeterred, fifteen-year-old Garcia learned about an underground DIY circuit.
Using her parents as supportive escorts, she snuck into pop-up basement shows on the outskirts of Chicago, known by insiders as the CT House. Though no longer in existence, rising bands like Beach Bunny, Why Not, and Jeffrey Donger played at the CT House in the 2010s. It was at these basement shows that Garcia crossed paths with Manke - one of SC’s future drummers - triggering a chain reaction of introductions that ultimately led to a refreshed band line up.
"Were you welcome there?" I ask bluntly.
"Nolan [Manke] and I were definitely accepted but I think people were surprised, 'Oh, you guys are fifteen!' I feel like [the CT House] is where I first learned what the DIY music scene was like and what it's like to play in someone's basement and be a 'real' band. I also learned that there were - still are - not many women in these spaces. Many times, I'd be the only 'girl' playing in the entire line up."
Garcia was fifteen when SC released their self-titled EP in 2018. Back then (and still today), she was singing about mental health issues.
It sucks trying to be quiet
cuz my head’s never quiet
It’s never silent
I don’t know if I’m trying
Why am I always crying?
— "That One Song" (T.1.S), written by Zoey Garcia (age 15)
Through her stylishly oversized, round glasses she emotes, "I always felt safe in my songwriting. I felt safe to be honest, so my music is really raw. I sing from my stomach, and I feel like I can say things without shame. I get to shape these broken feelings into something pretty."
I clarify, “Kinda like that Japanese art technique of reassembling a broken object? You know, where they use gold paint to highlight where the brokenness was repaired?”
“I’ve seen that! Yes! Like that!”
As sound and lyrics came together, it was time to make a debut album. SC released Am I Pretty? in 2020; Garcia describes it as a "tumultuous" album born out of manic episodes during the pandemic. From that album, “Philophobia,” a song about the irrational fear of falling in love, ended up going viral on social media. A year after their debut album, SC released Screaming in the Mirror. A few years later, another LP, Art of Losing My Reflection came out. During this time, SC performed at Austin City Limits, toured the U.S., signed with Lauren Records, and shot music videos at a Logan Square apartment. As fans know, some SC videos come with trigger warnings.
There’s always something on Garcia’s plate whether it's squirming worms or her own bleeding heart.
"In our music videos, I feel like I'm always playing this character that's obsessive or, for lack of better words, ‘mentally ill.’ I feel like it's a way I get to express the things I've struggled with in life. I'm bipolar and have major depression. So, the character in our videos is like my alter ego but also shows the manic side of my bipolar disorder."
I dip my eyes into my empty cup of decaf, look up and ask respectfully, “You mentioned you’ve always felt safe in your music, but as the fans started to emerge, have you found that they’re a reflection of You or a reflection of that alter ego you play in the music videos?"
"I think, me. Especially girls, queers, neurodivergents, and Latinos. They talk to me and tell me, 'I see myself in you.' They're fans but I see us on the same level. A lot of people reach out to us on Instagram and tell us they started listening to us five years ago when they were in high school. So, it's like we all grew up together. But we’re also getting new fans all the time.”
SC's fanbase expanded yet again when a TikTok creator decided to use their song, "Loser," to ship Mike Wheeler and Will Byers (aka "Byler") for the final season of Stranger Things (2025).
I don’t care much about you
but I wouldn’t mind if you liked me too
Kisses on your hand, meet me in the bathroom.
I wanna be alone with you
— “Loser” (10M+ streams on Spotify)
The band's connection to TV and film struck a second time this past January when SC played “Eat My Heart” to a crowd of actors for an indie film that was shot at Theatre Y in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood. For an authentic feel, the movie's director and producer allowed the band to invite fans. Some traveled five hours to be in the scene.
"Yeah, that was fun,” she reminisces. “We knew we'd only play a part of 'Eat My Heart' but we still wanted to give them a good performance. We got a lot of followers after that shoot.”
Back at Cafe Mustache, an employee is turning on analog TV sets around us to convert the coffee shop to a neighborhood bar vibe. So, to wrap up our interview, I ask about the band’s future.
SC is getting ready to kick off a summer tour through the Midwest and East Coast. By the end of the year, they’re hoping to do a full U.S. tour where they’ll co-headline shows; this jogs a memory Garcia conjured up related to a unique co-headlining arrangement.
"Once, we played at this place in Ohio that had two stages. The other stage had a metal band - something way different than us. When that other show ended, these buff guys walked over to watch us play. Afterwards, some of those guys came up to the merch table and said, 'I want every one of your shirts and the hoodies!' They had no clue who we were, but they were like 'hell yeah!’ That's sick. No matter who you are or how old you are, you're still carrying every version of you to a show and we love that."
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