Humilitarian is an alt-rock band from Philadelphia, formed in 2018, when Kira Cappello (vocals), Brendan Clarke (guitar), Tucker Pendleton (bass), Elijah Glovas (drums), and their former guitarist Noah met through mutual music-loving friends near Temple University—many of them connecting through an A Cappella group. What started as casual jamming turned into something more when they were invited to open for a friend’s band, prompting them to officially form, choose a name, and get serious about writing and performing. After Noah’s move to Austin in 2021, Charlie D’Ardenne joined the band, impressively arriving at their first rehearsal with every part already memorized.

They’ve become an important part of the Philadelphia music scene—consistently playing live shows, releasing new music, and supporting fellow bands at their performances. Riding the wave of their recent release “God, & Other Drugs”, we reached out to chat about their music, origins, and what’s next.

What does the name mean and how did you decide on it?

Kira: We had a group chat where we spit out tons of names trying to decide on one we could all get behind. I kind of just came up with the name one day... Since we were a super collaborative band from the beginning (vs. being one person’s project), I wanted something that was a collective noun, I didn’t want it to be plural, and I didn’t want to use “The” at the beginning. So here we are!

The meaning behind “Humilitarian” meaning wasn’t revealed to me (by myself? lol) until a little bit later on after we wrote more songs, and I learned more about myself through the lyrics that seemed to pour out of me. It ended up meaning something akin to; Putting the humiliation or shame I was experiencing from feeling vulnerable or rejected to a use… using our songs as a place to put all of the huge feelings I was having. This project has been a huge outlet for me, and a way to explore or sometimes marinate in.

Your latest release “God, & Other Drugs” is a rocker. What inspired you to write that song?

Kira: That song began when Brendan brought us the riff that you hear over the intro and first verse of the song - he wrote that in his bedroom when we were all at Temple and it was an immediate hit with the rest of us and we built off it real quick. That song is about a not-so-great relationship I was in that spanned large parts of high school and college, on-and-off. Over time I sort of realized that, just as much as it is about being wronged or manipulated by someone who was very willing to walk all over me - It was also about reckoning that I stooped to a new level and did a bunch of pretty shitty things, too. I wasn’t a “perfect victim” by any means. It’s a funny thing to reckon with. The last line of that song is, “It’s all gone wrong, but it’s just what I expected” — I’m definitely not a pessimist in everyday life, but we were really doomed from the start. The ending wasn’t surprising at all.

Brendan: My own interpretation of the song name has changed constantly over time, which is kind of how I intended it to be. I used to write a lot of very short sentences that could have different meanings depending on one’s perspective. This one was one of my favorites. About 7 years ago when I first wrote it, it came from a place of anger and fear regarding my relationship with religion and drugs - I avoided both like the plague. Then, when I first wrote the song around the same time, it seemed incredibly obvious to me to attach that title to it. I don't know exactly why I thought that, but the calming & almost melancholy first half, followed by the anxious and angry second half, just made sense to me. I liked that the title made people think - and the guitar part I wrote seemed to tell a story on its own, so in that way they felt like a great combination. Years later when we first jammed on it together, - without even telling Kira the title idea - I was blown away at how much her lyrics seemed to fit the theme so well (I don’t think that is necessarily an accident!). Around that time my own view of its meaning was very fluid.

I specifically remember learning more about philosophy and came across the famous Marx quote “Religion is the opium of the masses” which felt very comforting knowing that other people have had these thoughts and observations, too. Now, (in part because of Kira’s lyrics) I view the subjects of the title as tools. I don't think either are inherently good or bad. Drugs, for example, can do a lot of harm, but they can also relieve people of pain; they can cure diseases; they can improve the material conditions of your life! But ultimately, like religion or really any other thing in life, it’s how we choose to use them that will determine the effect they have on us. Going back to a theme from her lyrics: they are tools that we reach for when we are at our most vulnerable, which can be a very scary situation to be in. That to me is where it circles back to my original intention of writing something that can have many interpretations. When you feel stuck in that vulnerable position there isn’t always an obvious right or wrong way to get out of it, just like I don't want there to be an obvious meaning to the sentence “God, & Other Drugs.” How someone chooses to interpret the meaning of the title is up to them, & how they choose to allow that meaning to affect their relationship with the song is also their choice. That concept is ultimately what I am most proud of; trying to create something that the reader/listener feels like they can mold to fit their own experiences, leading to the ability to change the effect it has on you. I hope I was able to achieve that.

How does God, & Other Drugs differ from your previous releases? What inspired that change?

Kira: “God, & Other Drugs” has actually been around, in slightly different forms, since shortly after we formed in 2019. We feel it’s actually pretty definitive to the sound we’ve become known for: the emo influences that we often lean into that you can hear on our songs “She Said”, “Romantic”, and others. Many of the lyrics I write for our songs are composites of several experiences and several people in my life… mosaics, collages, whatever. But this song is one of the only ones that’s pretty much just about one person and one relationship. A couple other things about it that are different from other releases is that it’s like 2.5 minutes long, where most of our songs sit close to 4 or 5 minutes. I think it’s also the only song off of our new album “Intra” that uses a slide guitar!

What can readers look forward to from Humilitarian this year?

Kira: Come out to West Philly Porchfest on Saturday May 31 to experience what we feel is one of the best days of the year - and maybe the biggest, best day of free music in the city. Something like 300 bands come out to play on dozens of those classic, big West Philly porches on the old Victorian homes that the area is known for, on a beautiful summer day. We’ll be there - follow us on Instagram or Facebook @humilitarianphl for more details about when and where we’ll be playing that day.

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Interview: “God, & Other Drugs” with Humilitarian

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