Though only the test of time will tell if the term girldustrial coined by Amulet will become as worshipped as the infamous slogan INDUSTRIAL MUSIC FOR INDUSTRIAL PEOPLE popularized by Throbbing Gristle, I’m here for it. And the person behind that term is none other than musician Stephanie Stryker who heads electro-industrial / rock project Amulet. Thus Amulet was kind enough to stop by our humble little website and give us the breakdown of the band and all that they do in this edition of INTRODUCING. Check it out.
Give us a brief about your band. Who are you and what do you do?
Amulet is bass-driven electro-industrial rock featuring powerful female vocals, melodic hooks, and emotionally charged performances. We are based in Washington, D.C.. The band is comprised of songwriter and main vocalist Stephanie Stryker and collaborator, multi-instrumentalist and producer, MJ Phoenix. We also strive to deliver a polished, high-interest visual element to the band – the perfect marriage of sound and vision! Our live act adds Bobby Carr on guitar and stage production, and Anar “Fuego” Delgato on drums and percussion.
When did you first launch the project and how has it come along since?
We began recording music remotely in late 2020 as Amulet. We had previously been members of another band with Stephanie on vocals and Phoenix on bass, though we were not writing music then. When that act disbanded, we decided to stick together since we had great chemistry!
Since then, we have released two full length albums, two EPs, and several singles along with eight official music videos. In 2022, we signed with Distortion Productions with the release of our first remix EP, Perfect Fusion.
What bands and artists influenced you the most and why?
Stephanie is an OG (original goth) rivethead and likes Nine Inch Nails, aggrotech, all forms of darkwave, neofolk, and the classic goth rock catalog. Growing up on bands like Stabbing Westward, Marilyn Manson, and Type O Negative, she has a variety of mall goth flavors mixed into her more goth-industrial influences.
Phoenix was previously the bassist in a funk band and has played everything from top 40 to jazz. His first live concert experience was Led Zeppelin (!!!) and he has wide-ranging tastes and influences.
If you could pick a single song from your discography to explain your music, which song would you pick and why?
Our music is pretty genre fluid! From industrial to goth rock to synthpop, we love all the dark genres. But if we had to pick one song, “Dance of Duality” (from our album Katharsis) would be it. It was one of the first tracks we wrote that started with a keyboard hook. Our first album, House of Black + White, was virtually 100% analog dark rock. Stephanie always had designs on including more electronic and synth elements to our sound and this song began us in that direction!
The song concept started with Stephanie wanting a track that honors the magical connection between a man and a woman. We heard a downtempo dance groove in a goth club and decided to come up with something that was similar in vibe. Our tune evolved from a keyboard part that Phoenix started and Stephanie added to, then Phoenix added some guitar parts to round out the melody. Stephanie wrote most of the lyrics and we finished off the production with some piano parts, a guitar solo, and then “Drum Daddy” Dan Milligan of The Joy Thieves helped make the track come alive with his drum parts and production skills. Truly a magical connection! That’s what the band is about.
What is your most recent release and what is it about?
Purification is our latest release, dropped on November 28, 2025 with Distortion Productions. It is a seven track EP featuring remixes from our 2024 full-length release Katharsis.
We love a good remix EP, and this one has some real bangers on it! Phoenix did two completely new versions of “So Cold,” one for classic goth rock lovers (“So Cold (Frozen Phoenix)”) and one for synthpop fans (“So Cold (Rising Phoenix)”). He also created a progressive techno remix of Dirty Hard Beats with the help of Dan Milligan.
There are additional remixes done by some of our favorite scene artists and Distortion label mates Interface and Tragic Impulse. We were approached by Brett Branning of The Synthetic Dream Foundation who produced a massive symphonic remix of “Tear Me Apart.”
A final treat we wanted to add to this EP is the uncensored version of Dirty Hard Beats. This track was previously only featured on the physical CD version of Katharsis. We also released a music video for the track! That was fun to make – it was Phoenix’s first time performing vocals in a video!
Fun fact: the title of the EP comes from the lyrics of the last track on Katharsis: “Purification of emotion, such as sorrow or fear, primarily through art. This is Katharsis.”
Take us through your creative process. How do you compose a song from start to finish? Where do the ideas come from?
As hinted on in the creation of “Dance of Duality,” we have different approaches to writing. Phoenix creates a “sketch” of a track using whichever instruments spring to mind: an electric bass line, a guitar part, a synth hook, or a chord progression. He then jams over the sketch with guitar or bass or keys. He plays the mix on loop until lyric and melodic ideas appear out of the ether while stuck in traffic or in the shower! It is basically nonsense vocal jamming until ideas appear. This is a stress outlet for him, so as one might expect in 2025, he has written a LOT of songs!
Stephanie usually begins with a topical concept that feels expressive and is derived completely from her emotions. Though she was a “nice girl” to begin with, she’s become adamant about feeling emotionally connected to her lyrics, even if Phoenix writes them. He does a great job at channeling her mercurial emotions, ha ha. She is aware this may be annoying to him…but he is very gracious.
What’s your current favorite song, band, or album within your scene? And vice versa, what do you enjoy the most that’s completely opposite of what you make?
This is always such a tough question! We both really enjoy unicode:machine’s last album Critical Fault as well as Stabbing Westward’s last album Chasing Ghosts. Phoenix’s favorite scene song is “AOTDB” by Grendel and Stephanie’s is probably “The Great Depression” by Aesthetic Perfection (though she recently learned Daniel Graves doesn’t even like that song! Someone else’s trash…). Of course we like the classics like Sisters, Siouxie, New Order, Gary Numan, Eurythmics. You should also check out 11Grams on the electronic side. Rob Early is a master craftsman and well worth a listen!
Outside of the scene, Phoenix is a fan of Rush, Led Zepplin, Grace Jones, and some very esoteric British bands of the 80s. Stephanie mostly listens to one of the many branches of dark music, but also enjoys happy hardcore, trance, house, and anything you might hear at a 90s rave.
What is on the horizon for your project? Upcoming gigs, tours, merch, videos, etc. Name it, link it, show it off.
We are almost finished with the music production of our upcoming album called The Dark. The album is being produced by the incredible Christopher Hall of Stabbing Westward. We are so excited to drop this baby! It has a story arc, but we don’t want to give too much away…it does involve our ever-loved vampires! We have a ton of work ahead creating music videos, artwork, and merchandising for the album drop. We hope to launch it in the later part of 2026.
We just announced our first show of 2026 at Pie Shop here in Washington, D.C. on Friday, March 13. We haven’t actually played our hometown proper in over two years! We have invited our friends Dead Cool and HAEZL (of 2DCAT and AL1CE) and DJ Missguided. It will be an epic evening!
LINKS: Facebook event | Ticket link
We are also looking forward to playing at Dark Force Fest in May. If you have not been to DFF it is the best time. We hope to see you all there!
Also, Stephanie has been working on growing the #girldustrial movement she launched this year. The idea is to feature tracks and artists that showcase melodic, vocal-forward goth industrial influenced music. We found that it is actually pretty unique! There are plenty of amazing female-fronted acts in the scene, but not as many who have the #girldustrial sound. We have created a Spotify playlist that we curate based on our own findings and a lot of great suggestions from the community. We are planning to launch a suggestion box for anyone who can share new artists who would fit the bill. Keep an eye out for that! We also have made some cute #girldustrial merch that is currently only available at our live events…so come out to a show!
LINK: #girldustrial Spotify playlist
Finally, we will leave you with a few links to current videos and music we hope you will like. Thank you for inviting us to be interviewed!
