Last fall we wrote about our love of Madrid garage-party bad-asses Hinds, when we named them an On The Rise act to watch out for. Not to say we told you so, but after they released their debut LP Leave Me Alone at the top of this year, they’ve been all over the place and back again. Sure 2016 has been a shitty year, but at least we’ve had Hinds to cheer us up with some bright fun guitar tunes, that wash over you and make you dance. This past fall, we caught up with the cool quartet, before they played a sweaty & packed show that night at Toronto’s Adeliade Hall. We chatted with band members Ade Martín (bass) & Amber Grimbergen (drums) about feminism, confidence & what inspires them. Check out our interview and photos of Hinds below… 
Sidewalk Hustle: In your latest album, Leave Me Alone, there’s running themes about confidence and standing up for yourself. Where do you find confidence within yourself if you’re feeling like down?
Ade: I guess like anyone, you have a bad day & you try to get over it. Think about beautiful things.
Amber: Put on some music, something that makes you happy.
SH: Do you still feel nervous when you play?
Ade: Depends, but you can’t be. You just have to play the show.
SH: What helps you get over that hump and back into your needed vibe? How do you conquer your own fears so that you can get to the place you need to be to play the show?
Ade: We have a beer.
Amber: You have a beer, you play the first the songs and you just adjust. You have to allow it.
SH: Are you working on a new record right now?
Ade: Yeah we just started!
SH: Can you tell me a bit about it? How is it different? How’s it going?
Amber: The process has been the same in the beginning, we’ve only just started.
SH: You’ve been making music since 2011, but you’re still a relatively “new” band. Do you feel comfortable, like old pros? Are you worried about making a second album or you just like “fuck it!”? What kind of headspace are you in?
*Ade and Amber laugh*
Ade: An album is an album. It always gets you a little bit anxious.
Amber: It’s a big deal.
Ade: I don’t know. We’ll see. We’re not super nervous about it because we made the first album while we were touring, not in the van or anything because we only write at home, so it was very stressful. This year we made sure we had three months to write at home, actually sit down and get it done. From January to March we’re going to be in Madrid doing absolutely nothing but writing.
SH: That sounds exciting too! Do you feel like the exact same band you started off as or do you feel like you’ve grown in the past couple years doing the festival circuit and such?
Ade: Grown.
SH: What would you say is the most different or what have you noticed in your growth as a band?
Amber: Like any other person, over the years you learn things about life, it’s more material.
SH: Do you have any tour tips? Do you feel like you know the lay of the land?
Ade: I mean we’re differently way better at it now. It used to be way more passionate and the feelings were much more intense, with feelings going up and down. Now we’re more used to it, playing everyday & meeting new people. Before it was like “oh I met this person!” or whatever and but now we know what kind of things happen while you’re on tour. You also learn how to… I don’t know… Like sometimes you get these feelings when you’re lonely and you’re touring…
Amber: You learn how to deal with them.
SH: How do you still have energy to put on a show when you feel exhausted?
Ade: Sometime you don’t!
Amber: Sometimes you need a RedBull, sometimes you need tequila.
SH: Do you find that your friendship with each other plays a big role in the band?
Ade: Yes definitely, but it’s not just us. You see any band touring, if you don’t have love for each other… it’s just completely impossible. Either you take care of each other or it just doesn’t work. I’m sure many bands have broken up because of those things and that reason.
SH: For sure. It’s important & it’s important to have fun with each other too. There’s also a strong element of play in your music as well that really comes through. You don’t take yourselves super seriously.
Ade: But we do take ourselves and our music seriously! The only thing is we don’t try to look and act too serious, we like to be nice to people & give a good show, but it is our job to make people happy. To make people feel good.
Amber: We want people to enjoy!
Ade: You come to our show and you expect to have a really good time. 
SH: There’s a joy to the music that Hinds makes. You don’t put on a Hinds album to go cry in a corner. Is that a conscious decision?
Ade: The songs just come out.
Amber: Each song is different.
Ade: We do have a really sad song on the album. The happy ones are because we were happy in the moment and the sad ones, the opposite.
SH: Do you consider yourselves feminists?
Amber: I think yes.
SH: There is this female gaze in your music that’s empowering as a female listener.
Ade: We don’t get tired talking about it. I think in general, the more we tour and the more we see other bands playing the more we see how girls are treated differently. Every tour we see it in different ways. One tour is like “oh my god, sound engineers, why do they treat us this way?” and the next time it’s other artist, labels, whatever. It’s very difficult to find people that treat you the same even though you’re a girl. We would never ever ever work with someone who doesn’t treat us equally, but it’s difficult to find. If you think about it, everything is made for boys, even instruments & amps! They’re so heavy, no one thought a girl would have to carry them. So you have to make it lighter! I mean it’s silly, I don’t know if you can make an amp lighter, but it matters. There’s little things and there’s big things but you can tell everyday, there’s a difference. It’s a male industry.
SH: Your music does celebrate girl power in a natural & positive way. What are you listening to right now that inspiring you? What influencing you?
Ade: Everything! A life like this is so intense all the time that everything is inspiring. Watching a movie at home is not the same as watching it in the van on the road. It’s not the same. Everything is way more inspiring than anything at home.
SH: Any non-English acts that English listeners wouldn’t know about that you would recommend?
Ade: Los Nastys!
SH: Closing up! Any advice that you have just in general about anything and all?
Amber: Wash your hair three times a week?
Ade: Keep it real.
Amber: Stay irritated.
Leave Me Alone is out now on Mom + Pop, download a copy of it for your listening enjoyment here. Follow Hinds on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Tumblr. You can also catch Hinds on tour at one of the below dates.
Tour Dates
DEC 9 FRI Sala REM Murcia, Spain
DEC 10 SAT La 3 Valencia, Spain
DEC 15 THU Centro Cultural Provincial Mª Victoria Atencia Malaga, Spain
DEC 16 FRI Farándula Algeciras, Spain
DEC 17 SAT Sala X Sevilla, Spain
JAN 7 SAT La Riviera Madrid, Spain
All photos by the author.