Wheelchair Sports Camp’s Kalyn Heffernan joins Bruce Trujillo to discuss the band’s upcoming album, O Imperfecta, and the creative journey behind its punk-inspired sound. They talk about embracing imperfection, signing with the legendary Alternative Tentacles label, collaborating with Jello Biafra, and what audiences can expect from the band’s album release show at Meow Wolf. The interview also features the KGNU-exclusive debut of the new single “Make It Make Sense,” along with “Eat Meat,” the album’s first single. (Air Date 4/9/26).
Listen to the interview here:
Transcript:
Bruce Trujillo: I am Bruce Trujillo, and I have a very special guest here with me. Denver royalty, I feel like.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Stop it.
Bruce Trujillo: You know it’s true. Cailyn Heffernan from Wheelchair Sports Camp. Thank you so much for being here.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Thanks for having me.
Bruce Trujillo: I feel like there’s a lot going on in the Wheelchair Sports Camp world over the past few years. You’ve got a new label.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: New label.
Bruce Trujillo: New album. Old label.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Very old label.
Bruce Trujillo: New old label. And some new tunes, so we’re going to hear a couple this afternoon, including…
Wheelchair Sports Camp: An exclusive.
Bruce Trujillo: I’m so excited for this exclusive. I feel like you debuted this persona, Punk Little, in 2024. Can you tell me about that switch and what it’s been doing for you musically and artistically?
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Yeah, totally. Wheelchair Sports Camp came back from quarantine, and it was a messy comeback. I think for everybody, but especially being in a band, which is already hard and messy. It just felt like things weren’t working the way I wanted them to, and the chaos didn’t feel as worth it as it used to in my twenties. We were already in a transitional period.
Then Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys saw “Yes I’m a Mess” and asked to put it out on a seven-inch. That really picked me up out of a slump, and it picked Greg up too. Greg grew up idolizing that sound, that era, that legacy. I’m just an outside rapper who was like, “Oh, cool. This is exciting.”
The idea of punk, for me, wasn’t really about the genre because I was obsessed with rap my whole life. Spiritually, punk says it doesn’t matter if you know how to play perfectly. I’m such a perfectionist, and as a rapper I feel like I can’t do anything unless it’s better than everything else. That’s a lot of pressure, and it sucks.
Punk was like, “Oh, short songs. I don’t need a 24-bar verse. The first take might be enough.” Greg and I were practicing in his garage one Tuesday, joking that maybe we should have a drum battle on stage. I hadn’t played drums since middle school.
Bruce Trujillo: Right. And Greg is in several bands and plays drums professionally.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: He’s such a good drummer. It’s so annoying. I could picture myself on his toddler drum kit thinking, “Screw you, Greg. I’m way better.”
He suggested we just play around. There was a dusty guitar nearby, so I got on the drums, he picked up the guitar, and we wrote “Eat Meat.” It was the fastest and most fun song we’d ever created. It wasn’t about perfection. It was about energy, and it was the most fun we’d had making music together in almost 15 years.
It was silly, imperfect, raw, out of tune, and unquantized. That was really the beginning of Punk Little. Then, two years ago, we went on a small tour—our first since COVID. Being back on the road got us writing and finishing these songs, and here we are.
Bruce Trujillo: Punk Little. I remember at UMS 2024 you brought out the drum kit, and it felt like the debut of this new direction. We’re going to listen to “Eat Meat,” then talk about signing with Alternative Tentacles, your relationship with Jello, and the new album.
[“Eat Meat” plays]
Bruce Trujillo: That was “Eat Meat,” the first single off O Imperfecta, out May 15. I’ve got Cailyn Heffernan here in the studio. You said this was the quickest song you’ve ever made. Tell me about creating O Imperfecta.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: There are songs on the album I’ve been perfecting for close to a decade, and then there are these newer punk songs that came together so much more freely than I’m used to. That made me think about my relationship with perfectionism, something I talk about with my therapist.
My disability is osteogenesis imperfecta, and it dawned on me that maybe I’ve always been overcompensating because I’ve been told I’m genetically imperfect. My body has always been described that way, so it’s no wonder I feel like I have to be the funniest, the flyest, the best rapper. I’m trying to make up for the ways I’m told I’m not enough.
Bruce Trujillo: Just by existing.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Exactly. That’s where O Imperfecta came from. “Eat Meat” is a very imperfect song, and I think it’s one of our best because we captured the feeling, the energy, and the rawness. That’s something I haven’t always been able to do in my rap career.
Bruce Trujillo: In rap, you can go so deep with production and beats. In punk, putting together a two-minute song in a couple of hours is impressive. You mentioned moving from hip-hop into punk, but I feel like they’re cousins. The message hasn’t changed.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Totally. As a rapper, I’m incredibly wordy. I don’t stop talking. I’m always trying to flex lyrically. But with punk—and especially playing drums while singing—I physically can’t say as much. It’s freeing because it forces me to get to the point.
I could have written a long political rap about eco-guilt and recycling, but instead I’m just being an idiot on the mic. It’s so much more fun.
Bruce Trujillo: Straight to the point.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Exactly.
Bruce Trujillo: Of all people to discover this side of Wheelchair Sports Camp, Jello Biafra did. Many of us grew up listening to the Dead Kennedys, so when you first told me Jello wanted to sign you to Alternative Tentacles, I could hardly believe it. How did that relationship come together?
Wheelchair Sports Camp: I’ve always had some connection to him because my best friend, Mark Bliesner—Radio Pete—actually named the Dead Kennedys when Jello was a teenager in Boulder. Mark has been my best friend, manager, and spiritual advisor forever, and I know he’d sent Jello our music over the years.
Chris Bagley, who’s made a lot of our videos, also made the Wesley Willis documentary, so there were these connections. It just took Jello a long time to actually hear the music.
The first time I really met him was at Wax Trax while he was in town buying records. I gave him a CD, a cassette, a headband, and some other merch. I didn’t hear anything for about a year.
Eventually he saw the “Yes I’m a Mess” video and said, “This is amazing. Let’s put it out on a seven-inch.” Greg and I immediately thought, “If we do this right, maybe we can make a full-length record with Alternative Tentacles.” The seven-inch did really well, and now here we are with the album.
Bruce Trujillo: Now you’re planning his birthday parties.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: I do his birthday parties. I check in on him.
Bruce Trujillo: Last time I was doing Afternoon Sound Alternative was around when he had his stroke. But he’s recovering?
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Yeah. I got to see him recently in San Francisco while he was still in the hospital. He’s out now, and all things considered, he’s doing okay.
It’s been meaningful to have such a close relationship with him. I know he trusts and respects me. As someone who’s lived with a disability my whole life, I understand what it’s like when your body does things you didn’t choose. I don’t know strokes personally, but I know grief around your body changing.
I was grateful to see him because it’s hard to know how someone is really doing until you’re with them. He’s still sharp as a tack and still talks a million miles an hour. He’s going to be okay.
Bruce Trujillo: He’s tentatively supposed to perform with you at the album release show.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Hopefully. We’ve still got some time. It would be amazing to have him there.
The funny thing is, he’d joked before about wanting to be in a wheelchair at one of our shows. I told him, “You didn’t have to do it like this.” I’d love for him to make it, but I’m not going to push him. Traveling during recovery isn’t easy. It’s probably unlikely, but I still have a little hope.
Bruce Trujillo: We’re wishing Jello a speedy recovery.
Do you remember when we first met? I was interviewing Sage Francis while you were opening for him at The Oriental Theater. That interview turned into a conversation about why Wheelchair Sports Camp belonged on Strange Famous.
Now, years later, you’ve got an album on Alternative Tentacles. What’s it like joining these iconic labels?
Wheelchair Sports Camp: It’s weird. The universe just kind of does its thing, and I feel really lucky.
Sage and Jello are both people I’ve always respected, but I wasn’t part of those cult followings growing up. That actually helps because I admire them without putting them on impossible pedestals. I get to interact with them like real people.
This move into the punk world definitely wasn’t on my bingo card, but it’s been incredible. Everyone has been so supportive and accommodating. In rap I always felt like I had to prove myself or beg for opportunities. The punk community has just rolled out the red carpet and asked, “What do you need?”
Bruce Trujillo: That’s one of the best things about punk. Everybody belongs.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: I love it.
Bruce Trujillo: O Imperfecta comes out May 15. Besides “Eat Meat,” what can people expect?
Wheelchair Sports Camp: It’s all over the place. It’s really a collage of sounds. The cover art was created by Winston Smith, who did the classic Dead Kennedys collages, so visually it’s a collage, and sonically it’s a collage too.
Genre-wise, it’s everywhere, and that feels right. Jello and Machete Moth even helped reorder the album.
The real Easter egg is my mom. She’s wild, and over the years I’ve secretly collected recordings of her. Those clips connect the whole album. It’s basically a day in my chaotic life—jazzy, punky, rappy, heartbreaking, joyful. Just an emotional roller coaster with my mom calling me ten times a day.
Bruce Trujillo: We’ve got another brand-new track. Tell me about this next single.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: It’s called “Make It Make Sense.” Greg started making beats. I’m pretty picky about beats, but he’s such a great drummer that even the way he samples records is unique.
I’d had the phrase “make it make sense” written in my notebook for a while, originally imagining it over a more traditional hip-hop beat. During our 2024 tour we started listening to Greg’s productions, and suddenly it clicked.
The legendary Jello Biafra is on the track, but what’s also special is that Mark Bliesner, also known as Radio Pete, is on it too. He’s known Jello for more than 50 years, and this is the first time they’ve ever made music together.
Bruce Trujillo: That’s incredible. So this is the worldwide debut of “Make It Make Sense” by Wheelchair Sports Camp on KGNU.
[“Make It Make Sense” plays]
Bruce Trujillo: That was the brand-new Wheelchair Sports Camp single, “Make It Make Sense.” When does it officially come out?
Wheelchair Sports Camp: April 17.
Bruce Trujillo: An exclusive sneak preview right here on KGNU.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Bruce Trujillo only.
Bruce Trujillo: I feel honored.
O Imperfecta comes out May 15. What else are you excited about for the release show?
Wheelchair Sports Camp: It’s going to be a huge show. We’re going to celebrate Jello whether he’s there in person or not.
It’s at Meow Wolf, which is meaningful because Greg and I built a permanent installation there, and we’ve never headlined the big room. It sounds incredible, the stage is accessible, it’s all ages, and we’ll have projections.
Dressy Bessy and Bruja’s are playing, and Raeanne is opening the night. She’s a former youth of mine and incredibly talented.
It’s going to be genre-bending, visually exciting, sonically exciting, and it’s our first full-length album in ten years.
Bruce Trujillo: That’s amazing. Cailyn, thank you so much for joining me this afternoon and bringing the new music.
Wheelchair Sports Camp: Thank you for having me. Love you.
Bruce Trujillo: Love you too. Do you remember when we went to San Francisco right before the pandemic and saw Combo Chimbita?
Wheelchair Sports Camp: I do. And I love their new single.
Bruce Trujillo: Perfect. We’re going to hear it now. This is “Perdón Divino” with Nick Hakim on KGNU.
