Inspired #461 - Energy Whores
Energy Whores is the electrifying avant-electro/art-pop project led by New York-based artist Carrie Schoenfeld, who has just unveiled their latest album ‘Arsenal of Democracy’.
Urgent, tense, and unapologetically political, the record confronts democratic erosion, manufactured fear, and public disengagement in an era shaped by instability and distraction.
It’s a bold, high-voltage work that fuses experimental sound design with sharp, unflinching commentary. When we spoke with Schoenfeld, she highlighted a wide spectrum of inspirations, all feeding into the project’s confrontational edge. She also spoke about her aspirations, at its core, Energy Whores isn’t just a musical project; it’s a call to attention, urging audiences to question, engage, and resist complacency.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
David Bowie, because he refused categories. He treated identity as fluid, theatrical, and conceptual. Bowie wasn’t just writing songs, he was building new images and entire worlds. That permission to reinvent, to merge sound, fashion, art, and philosophy is deeply embedded in what I do. Talking Heads, their ability to make intellectual anxiety danceable changed everything for me. They combined art school thinking with rhythm and groove. That tension between the cerebral and the physical is exactly where my music lives, and of course Burning Down the House! Patti Smith, fearless truth. Poetry as protest. She showed that you can stand on a stage and speak uncomfortable truths without apology.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
Blade Runner. It’s visually hypnotic, but beyond that it questions humanity in a technological world. What is real, what is constructed, what makes someone “human”? As someone blending electronic sound with emotional urgency, I’m very drawn to that tension between machine and soul. A lot of my work lives right there inside that friction. I also love their outfits, and the soundtrack is amazing.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
New York City. I was born and grew up in Manhattan. It’s chaotic, layered, contradictory, relentless, and wonderful. You can walk down one block and hear five languages, see wealth and poverty collide, eat food from all over the world, hear music from everywhere, know people from every corner of the planet, and feel like you are at the centre of the world. New York doesn’t let you sleepwalk through life, especially not on the subway. It demands awareness. That urgency feeds my writing constantly.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
My parents. I grew up in a house where art, theatre, and photography were part of everyday life. My father was Chairman of the Shubert Organization and produced many successful Broadway plays, so the world of theatre, storytelling, and live performance was always around me. I spent many Saturdays doing “the rounds” with my father. This meant everything from going into dressing rooms before shows and just hanging out with performers, to talking with people backstage or the musicians. A few times I even sat in on rehearsals, listening to directors and actors interact, change scenes, or sometimes remove entire scenes. My mother, Patricia Schoenfeld, helped found the International Center of Photography and has been deeply involved in the arts throughout her life. Through her work I saw how visual art and photography can shape culture and change the way people see the world. Growing up between theatre and visual art taught me that creativity isn’t just personal expression, it is part of how a society thinks, questions itself, and evolves. That idea has stayed with me and absolutely influences what I do with Energy Whores today.
What were your inspirations when writing your new track?
Frustration, information overload, watching democracy strain under misinformation and spectacle. But also resilience. If I am willing to tell the story, then hopefully somebody else is ready to do something about it. I was thinking about how ordinary people navigate systems that feel overwhelming. How do we stay human inside the noise, how do we keep dancing while the world feels unstable? When I write songs, music becomes a kind of sonic pressure chamber, a whole spectrum of emotions set to rhythm.
How would you like to inspire people?
I want to inspire awareness and independent thought. If someone hears my music and feels less alone in their questioning, or feels empowered to challenge something that feels wrong, then I have done my job.
