Feature Friday - Jackki Harrt
Name
Jackki Harrt
Pronouns
She/Her
Bio
Jackki Harrt doesn’t write pretty songs — they write real ones. Their music lives in the underbelly of life, where heartbreak, addiction, chaos, and self-destruction blur into something human and holy. Every song feels like a secret someone’s been dying to tell — raw, unfiltered, and trembling between collapse and clarity.
“Most of what we write about are the things people hide,” I would say. “We drag that darkness into the light — not to glamorize it, but to show there’s power in surviving it.”
Drawing influence from The Distillers, Rancid, Bikini Kill, and the rougher edges of punk’s lineage, Jackki Harrt turns pain into power chords and confession into connection. Their shows are equal parts riot and release — a place where punks, old and new, scream their secrets back in unison.
At its core, Jackki Harrt is about survival — the kind that’s messy, loud, and real. Because in the noise, there’s truth. And in the truth, there’s freedom.
Instagram
@jackki.harrtband
Where in Montreal are you located?
Downtown BAY BAY, I live amongst the McGill students and i feel bad to be the noisy musician that lives beside you haha. I try to be respectful by practicing at Cite 2000 but at least I play within the noise law so I can't get in trouble.
What do you love about your neighborhood?
I love cheap rent, I love being in the middle of all the venues since I spend most of my time at them. I love my shitty hole in the wall so it's ok that my bunny bites the floor boards and no one will care and since I’m off the main road, it's surprisingly quiet....except all the kiddos getting shit faced coming back home on weekend but it's a fair trade for me being loud sometimes. I actually do feel safe in my neighborhood, that's also an add on and positive thing. Being beside Mont Royal is nice too , since i don't have a balcony or back yard. Overall no complaints, it's good for where I'm at right now though I feel like an imposter and old living in a student housing area haha
What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why?
I like Foufounnes on Saint Catherines because you can smell the decades of blood sweat tears and legends passing through. It's gritty and punk. They put on small conferences for the scene sometimes/quarterly punk rock markets/POUZZA Fest rolls through. They are so supportive of the scene and it's a nice balance of feeling a bit in danger but ultimately knowing that's because the crowd and the place packs a bunch of attitude. I love the look, it just resonates with me inside and out. They are real, no bullshit and the more I get to know the people running it, the more i love it. LOVE YOU FOUFS!!
Describe your art in your own words.
My art is vulnerability wrapped in barb wire that won't hurt you if you pick it up to examine it closer, its pain into power, it's subjects that probably wont get you radio play but are topics of the underbelly that almost seem weird to write but are begging to be heard.
What have you been working on recently?
RECENTLY, me and my producer/lead guitarist Dro have been wrapping our first debut album with 8 songs on it. This is the most exciting and final step of "building the bands foundation" we are so excited to drop it next spring and the feedback at shows have been positive. The goal is to connect to people and have them say "Hey this needs to be heard, thank you", and it has been doing that. I really looked at what music is out there and thought "ok cool a lot of bands are making music about light topics, love, funny or shallow topics to which THE WORLD DOES NEED AND IS APPRECIATED, but, this specific "Jackki Harrt" project always had one mission in mind and that is: talking about the hard stuff in an empowering way. That's why I mention a lot of "We talk about the under belly of life" such as, "Fighting 4 Our Lives" when the system seems to want to keep you down in the mud: tired, powerless, divided - "MY WISH 4 U" death of an overdose (day in the life an addict and how the world actually see's them when in actuality its a cry for help/slow suicide) - "Last Cocaine Kiss" two addicts falling in love and the struggle that comes with that when one fears the other to sabotage their sobriety they worked hard for and the other isn't on the same page but you love each other deeply - "#M00D$" is about my 3 month substance abuse psychosis and the struggle/depression/isolation it takes to figure out what is real and what is only a psychosis dream......the other topics you'll see when the time comes but I just wanted to paint the theme for you as to what I meant by underbelly of life.
What sparked your passion for music?
Honestly this might sound weird, but until I was 26 years old (when my biggest downfall/3 month substance abuse psychosis was about to change my life forever) I had a very impressive way to cope with life. Repression of emotions/memories. Since I can remember I would swallow and not deal with bad emotions. Until I was 26 years old, I was brought up incredibly emotionally immature (in the sense that I didn't know what the feeling anger or shame was - I didn’t allow myself to be sad) I would swallow all those feelings because I had no idea what to do with them and all my life just tucking it inside and being the bubbliest person in the room was my job.
I became so good at this that I would literally forget memories, and music was my connection to these feelings. It sounds weird but even though I didn't know how to explain how I felt most of the time, I could send you a song that did. Music was my only form of communication these feelings/going to shows and losing myself in music was the only time I felt heard and seen while living inside my own head. I wouldn't let ANYONE in, I didn't know how until 26, but music was my friend and we would keep secrets and connect with each other because I grew up with a lot of turbulence, instability and abandonment.
My passion for music was feeling as if I could - no matter what - find the exact song that could make my insides feel seen and heard. I was always addicted/exploring and reading up on it. I listen to so much variety, and in a way i felt music was the only safe place to be myself because I was taught that real people will hurt you if you let them in and that it's unsafe to be yourself.
I actually was incredibly insecure that I never fully played/committed to music until 27, and that was a really vulnerable and beautiful moment for me. If my music can be that secret keeper for someone else to listen to on repeat and feel seen and heard at the deepest level, I can't tell you how much that would mean to me in the most authentic way.
Describe your sound.
Jackki Harrt sounds like if heartbreak learned to scream. It’s melodic punk scarred with emotion — raw guitars, desperate beauty, and vocals that bleed honesty. Think Bikini Kill attitude with Rancid swagger and a streak of underground punk vulnerability.
What does your creative process look like?
My creative process is like a kid playing with her toys. It goes without judgment and no limits but usually I have a topic in mind and mess around on my guitar until I find a melody and then I unjudgmentally write lyrics (even if I don't think I’ll use them) which usually I start humming and slowly adding words that pop up in my head and just have a page of scribbles, and then I think "OK how do I condense all this with the exact message I want to relay" and then I refine until I get a straight forward song. I'm lucky I've been writing a lot of poetry so I am able to write on demand, it's actually such a pleasure for me and my biggest rule is to start what I finish.
Who are your biggest musical influences?
The 90’s is a big influence with me. Rancid, Offspring, Green Day, Distillers, Bikini Kill. I like a lot of the OG punk too: Agent Orange, Misfits. I basically like anything with attitude and hip hop/rap especially from the 90’s had "protest art" in mind so I am influenced by that. I also have a playful pop music side that I find weaves into my art. Like Britney Spears, Michael Jackson - I believe that's where I adopt some playfulness in my art. ALL IN ALL, I like music with attitude.
What do you love about playing live?
Connecting with community, having fun, and most of all getting everyone's middle fingers in the air and yelling out "FUCK THE BROKEN SYSTEM THAT KEEPS US SICK" with us. All in all me and the band have a fun time just going ape shit on stage haha, I'm told the energy is high and I don't plan on dimming that anytime soon.
