The Sailor Jerry Podcast
Inspired by Norman 'Sailor Jerry' Collins' Old Ironsides radio show on KTRG, we present THE SAILOR JERRY PODCAST! This is a wild homage to all our favorite things – Music, tattoos, travel, spiced rum, and more. Partnering up with our pal Matt Caughthran, the frontman of The Bronx, we're spilling these tales in our own damn style. Brace yourself for biweekly episodes, dishing out killer interviews with musicians who fuel our fire. Buckle up for The Sailor Jerry Podcast – where the coolest stories come to life.
The Sailor Jerry Podcast
80 - Jen Pop
Jen Pop is a punk rock singer-songwriter, best known as the vocalist for The Bombpops. Earlier this year, she made her solo debut with an incredible record titled East Side of Eden.
In this episode, Jen and I dive deep into ’90s punk rock, exploring the Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords sound that we both grew up on. We also discuss the challenges of following your creative intuition while balancing a band, a solo career, fans, touring, and everything else that comes with being a musician.
We also get some details on East Side of Eden and working with producer Will Yip, contemplate the Ramones vs. the Misfits, Lana Del Rey and her new alligator-wrangler husband, all-time sketchiness in the DMs, and so much more. As always, this episode is brought to you by Sailor Jerry!
https://www.instagram.com/jen_pop/
https://sailorjerry.com
So Jen Pop here at the Sailor Jerry podcast. This has been a long time coming, long overdue. It's great to have you on. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm well. Thank you so much for having me on. I love your podcast.
Speaker 1:Oh, right on, right on. We're stoked to have you. You know, I definitely want to dive in to your first solo record here East Side of Eden, awesome record. Thank you, solo record here, east Side of Eden, awesome record. Before we do that, I want to give our listeners a little bit of background on you. You know, do you have any sort of like musical history in the family? Where did you grow up and kind of how did music first, you know, make its impact on you?
Speaker 2:My dad played guitar, just like at home. You know he had a couple guitars so those were always around um. I'm definitely like a southern california born and raised suburban kid, so between los angeles, like diamond, I was born in san dimas so and I grew up in diamond bar, yeah, or the 10 to 10 meet, yeah, yeah, so I lived in diamond bar until I was 11 or 12 and then moved to Carlsbad in North San Diego.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just grew up, you know, discovered kind of like punk on my own, pop, pop, punk, punk through being, you know, growing up with Green Day and Offspring on the radio and Blink-182. And I remember I started playing guitar right when I moved to Carlsbad and like the same week that I really was like I want to play guitar and, you know, started messing around and that is the same. In the same week I went and saw my mom took me and my friend to see Blink 182 and Bad Religion was opening. Yeah, and that immediately changed my life. I was like this is it? There's like no questions, southern California. You know, it's just, it's, it's all around you. So kind of just a product of growing up here.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, Hell yeah. And the Bomb Pop started in what? 2007?
Speaker 2:2008, 2009.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So how was you know how, how did your first band come together? You know what I mean. What was the process there?
Speaker 2:Like when I was growing up, you didn't see girls playing guitar, you just didn't as much, and that has changed so significantly and it makes me so happy to see the amount of young women, young girls, just picking up guitars and bass drums, all everything and and starting bands. And how many bands have women, girls in them? And that was just um, I didn't see it like, especially on like a level like at my school. And there were, you know, battle of the bands at my school and I never saw one girl play any of them. I I tried to get a band together and no, but straight up, we don't want a girl in the band. You know was told that and so Idiots.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1:I have somebody.
Speaker 2:I knew whose older brother managed a band and I was like girls should stay in their room and play guitar. You know, I was that's. I grew up with that, hearing that, and I would just kind of play with whoever I could and there were definitely people that I played guitar with. And then I met the girl who started the band with at a music studio and kind of was like Okay, let's do this. And then so that was more or less like how we started. We were playing around anywhere we could at the time, a lot of dive bars just hitting it and being really hungry, for it is how the band kind of got so much traction early on and never really stopped doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, as a songwriter in the early days of just kind of learning your craft, so to speak, what do you kind of remember about your early songs and just you know, being in a band and writing stuff together and everything kind of coming to fruition? You know, it's such a crazy time, it's such a wild run of emotions and everything's happening so fast. When you kind of look back at the early days of your career, how do you feel about it?
Speaker 2:I definitely think it's something. When you're younger you really don't have as much fear or worry about whether you're good or not. I just remember, like thinking back, should we have been on stage, you?
Speaker 2:know, and one thing that we've gotten, you know, as we grew and even just getting on to fat records and like people who had seen us, for you know, back from back in the day were like you guys just continue to get better and better. So I I do say that we like learned how to tour, learn how to play, learn how to be in a band, learn how to fight as a band, learn how to, you know, get through it as a band before we really kind of became the band that people knew on a bigger scale, like just being on fat record.
Speaker 2:So we had this longer history before we were really kind of like a known band yeah I just feel so incredibly rich in experiences and hangs and stories and friends and travel Like not monetarily from playing music. I've always had jobs to support my music habit, but I wouldn't trade any of it. Like. Everything I do have is from that journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We share the same richness. What was it like getting signed for you guys to Fat Records, epitaph and Fat bands like Pennywise, no Effects, lagwagon, no Use For A Name, all those bands. They were so huge for me. How was that experience and what does that label kind of mean to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it actually is just the definition of a dream come true and it sounds so cheesy to say, but I was the same, exactly the same as you.
Speaker 2:Bands like Alkaline, trio and no Use For A Name, no Effects, lagwagon, bad Religion style stuff, and at the same time just peripherally, but really at the same time was a huge fan of a lot of emo and um, taking back sunday brand new, all that stuff as well as like laurence arms and dylan deforest. So I mean I I just always it's gonna sound so arrogant to say, but I just always knew that it would be on fat records yeah there was no other option.
Speaker 2:I had a little button, you know like just like a fat records pin, and I would wear it on my, I would move it to whatever I was wearing, like I wore that thing every single day and it wasn't like I got up in the morning, was like fat records or what do I have to do today to get like? It just was so like, without a doubt, and I think there's a little bit of like be like yeah, I don't know just delirious, but also that in the background, always on, was doing something, and so you know it's funny because we ended up getting having a relationship with all these bands on fat pretty early on. We would just like harass people. It's like follow fat mike around and bug them and um, so we were always on shows. We got. We got to play a lot of shows with no effects and a lot of fat records bands, especially in san diego and orange county and la.
Speaker 2:Then, uh, you know fat mike being like you guys are cool kids, but you need to write better songs, you know, and we're like okay, and actually he, uh, in 2012, tony sly approached us and was like well, fat mike says he likes you guys, but he thinks you need to work with a producer and so he was set to produce us. Actually, um, and mike was, you know, like you guys will be on fat records, so he's gonna produce you. And we just had a few talks with tony sly. You know, like you guys will be on Fat Records, tony Sly is going to produce you and we had a few talks with Tony Sly about, you know, the direction we would kind of had for us. He was like female bad religion, you know, like style, harmonies and riffs and we're like okay.
Speaker 2:And, um, you know, and then he tragically passed away um later that year, and so we all we never got to work with him, but that did get us in our brain, you know, to all right, maybe we should consider working with a producer and just go in that route. So we did an EP and we worked with Lawrence Katz from the Mighty, mighty Boss Stones and then we sent that to Fat and he said this is good, but it's not great. You know, listen. You know you always say listen to the beatles that tells everyone like okay, and then so we did.
Speaker 2:He wants everyone to listen to the beatles and learn all the beatles chords.
Speaker 2:Um, didn't honestly like I love the beatles but I didn't really go and like learn a bunch of beatles songs or anything. But I know what he meant by that, you know. And then we went and just recorded a full length album and we chose a producer, chris Fogle from the band the Gamuts just one of my favorite bands, favorite lyricists and we'd become friends with him. We met him on a tour when we were in Paris, oddly enough, like they're an American band but we'd never seen, they don't play that often so and he had a studio in Denver, colorado, and so we flew out there and like there was no talk with fat, like you know, cause Mike just said that was good, but it's not great.
Speaker 2:You know, sorry, that is my impression of fat Mike and it's pretty spot on. It's just how I hear it and he um, so we went and we just did our own thing and it was kind of like we had shown Mike so many things. And then that wonderful opportunity to potentially work with Tony Sly was just really great.
Speaker 2:We were grateful for all of it, Even to send something to Fat Mike and have him listen to it and give you an answer, an honest answer, felt like such a leg up and we were grateful for that and in the end we were like playing shows and doing stuff with them. So, um, we just did it on our own. And then, you know, mix had it mixed and mastered by chris fogel as well, and then we sent it to fat records, just finished product. And I remember when we like got the email and it was months later because he hadn't listened to it, because he just didn't open the email. But he, he did eventually and, um, he was like, congrats, let's be, this is a perfect record, it'd be my honor to put it out on fat records. And. But he wanted to do the sequencing and you know I was like, yeah, let's do it so, um, yeah, it was really.
Speaker 2:It was very surreal. And then, um, yeah, the next record um, you know he wanted to produce it but we said no. But then he did suggest that we work with another producer, yo Tom from useless ID. So we ended up co-producing the next record with Chris Vogel and, um, yo Tom, and really really was such a wonderful production team. Like love both of those guys together.
Speaker 1:Awesome, was that death in venice or?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's what that death in venice beach that came out. March 13th of 2020 canceled our tour the day the record came out perfect, perfect timing.
Speaker 1:yeah, you know, I remember that record coming out, I remember the singles, uh, and yeah, I mean fuck that sucks, I'm sorry, sorry, you know everything weirdly.
Speaker 2:you know, I don't know it. It it's so weird. Things would have been a lot different. But also, things are exactly the way they're supposed to be and, um, I will say that was a very good. A lot of people have said they liked that record of, said that was a good, lonely, uh kind of fit the mood and, um, I do agree with that. So I'm glad it was a companion record for a lot of people in a time when they needed it. So yeah.
Speaker 1:So when were you, when did you start writing songs that you kind of had a feeling you know we're going to go in a different direction and you know how was that inner struggle being in a band and then kind of knowing you wanted to maybe do something outside of the band you know how did stepping into becoming a solo artist, how, how was that process for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that honestly the pandemic like really, yeah, I'm like really the pandemic was good, like quarantine was really great for me, like I know, it wasn't for everybody, but I had a job.
Speaker 2:I got a puppy like I just it was so nice. I spent all pandemic playing guitar and training um, a puppy. And so you know, I hadn't ever really like played acoustic or like even written on acoustic until writing Death in Venice Beach I started writing on an acoustic and then I got invited to go on my first acoustic tour with Jenny and Stacey from Bad Cop, bad Cop and they all I was like just really admired them playing acoustic because they just like look like they had so much fun doing it. And I remember them inviting me to go on a tour with them and I was like that sounds terrifying. But also I really want to do that and if you guys can do it, I think I could do it too. And I immediately was addicted to that. But also what I found that I loved about it was how terrifying it was. It's absolutely terrifying and I don't know what about me liked that. But because there's no one else to back you and you kind of have to lean into the vulnerability of it and you get to kind of talk and tell stories and express that with the crowd, and then I found that I just had my voice. I didn't even know that I had these things in my voice because I'm so used to fighting over the band. I've never been a huge projecting person anyways so I'm using like a softer part of my voice. But also having that softer part be very strong was really cool to me.
Speaker 2:So when I started writing for Death and Venice Beach, I just found myself writing on acoustic. And then when the pandemic hit, man, I just loved playing acoustic. I'd never played with a capo before, didn't understand it until then. And I started putting in a capo I was like, oh, I want to write everything with like open cowboy chords, cause it's so beautiful but so transcribing, bomb pop songs, learning covers. I started a Patreon and I just got obsessed with learning songs and covers. I mean, the intention wasn't ever to do a solo project, but it was that I wanted to play more acoustic and so I kind of was like okay, I kind of need some music to go with it.
Speaker 2:which is the funny thing is, when I did make my solo album I it none of its acoustic yeah but I what I wanted to do was be like, how can I make this as different as it can be? And I was seeking out somebody that I could work with, that could, I could trust fully to um, like I don't need to get in there, like I want their opinion. And I ended up working with will yip and um, just an incredible um person, and felt really lucky to even be able to get time with him, because he's very busy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've never. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about their experience working with Will Yip. Just it seems like an incredible producer. East side of Eden comes out Awesome record Bender, I think, is my favorite song thank you on the album um my favorite you know, yeah, cool, awesome. So how was the process of making the record? Um, you know, did you use like a lot of like midi stuff, like software stuff for for instrumentation, or was there? Was there a band going on? What? What was the deal there?
Speaker 2:so when I knew that I wanted to do a record and had kind of collected enough songs and um, I had also like locked in will yip, I really was kind of um on a journey to again work with other people like producers is is one and and outside of the sphere of like my band and so I ended up befriending somebody on uh instagram, ben lapidus, and he was just does these funny. I found him actually Juliette Lewis like reposted something that he did and they're like really funny, like songs, and he ended up being getting on America's Got Talent but and it's really goofy, but he it's all. It was very like poppy, like pop punk, but kind of like the shiny kind.
Speaker 2:Anyways, I just wrote him. I was like, can we write some songs together? And so him and I actually got together before I went in and like four of the songs on the record I co-wrote with him. Basically, I went in with a batch of 24 songs A few of those that I had like at the last minute got together, um, with Ben and shout out to Ben Lapidus, definitely, um, I think it's just Ben Lapidus music on, like all the things he's hilarious and like some of it's super unhinged in like a really funny way, but he, uh, so yeah. So yeah, I had this batch of 24 songs, 24 songs. A few of them are like you know, there's a handful of them in there that Ben and I had worked on and I took them into Will and you know we just spent a day like sifting through them and, you know, like landing on like I think, 12 that he was interested in. Will played almost everything, um, I played, um some guitar on it, but I really wasn't concerned, you know, with when it's the bomb pops or anything else.
Speaker 2:I've ever done in the past like I'm playing guitar on. Every I want I want to play guitar. There are times when it's like we're learning something or writing something in the studio and I'm like love that you just do it. Time is money. I'll yeah, I'll relearn it later. And you know, chris Fogel and Yo Tom did like some of that, especially with some sparkle, like guitar layers and stuff. But in this case I was like I'm paying for the Williams experience, like I'm out here. This is like a huge pilgrimage for me, so let's go, and so we would basically. Then I had a giant reference like Spotify list of all songs I just loved, and so each day we'd pick a song and we'd go through like the structure of it, and then we'd kind of go through and like I'm like you know what, like I love this vibe. You know there was like that Kavinsky Night Call from like yeah, yeah, yeah it's like okay, let's what like.
Speaker 2:And then will kind of like I don't know how. It's a really great way of like identifying. It's like the cool thing about that song that I don't have the brain to pick out.
Speaker 2:You know whether it's a chord progression or it's like a transition, and then we kind of build it, and so he would uh, I would get the chords down and a lot of times just strum acoustic chords and then he'd build it out and he played drums and he played bass and then Ben Walsh from Tiger's Jaw ended up playing guitar. All of those beautiful guitar work on the album and a lot of that is Ben Walsh and I really wanted somebody else that has. I play guitar in my wheelhouse is. You know, I consider myself a good guitar player, but I was like I don't, I want it to be outside of my sphere of play.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Yeah, the record is is really cool. It's great, congratulations. I know that has to be such a great feeling for you to kind of get that out. Feeling for you to kind of get that out. Where is your heart now creatively towards what's next is was, was this record kind of like something that, um, you just felt like maybe you needed to get out and then it's maybe back to, uh, bomb pops or onto something new. Or is this kind of the start of, you know, a kind of whole new musical journey for you? Like where, where are you kind of leaning, you know?
Speaker 2:that's a great question, because I've kind of like, for the past few months, have been a little unsure because like I want all of it and that's like a problem. Uh, so this album I didn't even know it was going to come out. The other end all I know was, like I want to go do something different lyrically and you know, like the substance of that record. It was a very sad girl record which I'm a big fan of.
Speaker 2:Like sad songs so I wanted to do that there's nothing like a sad song and somehow it can put you in a better mood. So I wanted to do that. But also it was a very personal one and there was a trifecta of really sad things that happened in my life while those songs were getting like kind of put together before I even like went in and so definitely was cathartic like getting it out like it.
Speaker 2:just it always is so cathartic and it and it's not ever like my goal is like I want to get these out. It just happens that way. That being said, while we were getting out of the pandemic and all of that and getting back to doing Bomb Pop stuff, bomb Pops did like three really great, the biggest tours we've ever done in our career, where, after the pandemic, we did direct support for dropkick murphy's on the st patrick's day tour with um bayside, which is one of my favorite bands of all time.
Speaker 2:Um bayside, hot thorn, heights and senses fail. And then we did the second time that we've done europe punk and jublet festival. This one was no effects and me first, pennywise, face to face, get dead. So that's just a little context to like. Why I kind of wanted to I don't didn't know what to do next but because I love playing acoustic and you know, like Bender is one of my favorite songs, but it translates completely different to me when I play it acoustic it's just like, really like more gritty and you can feel the emotion more. And I that's not to say I, I love the version that I did with will yip. But um, I just recorded a few songs, but I want to record a few more where they are very raw, like I want to capture the thing that I'm doing on stage when playing a piece and people that have fallen in love with it but have a bit of subtle production.
Speaker 2:So my friend um simon short, he's two, we did two songs and I'd like to do a few more in that style where some will live like very raw, like I do, though still want to like add some maybe like ambient, kind of like things behind them so that there is production, but it is first and foremost like a raw acoustic um recording. So that's that's like my immediate thing that I'm working on. That has been like so fulfilling to me and, um, I do want to do some like something weird.
Speaker 1:I yeah, I like it. I like it. You got a weird record. You got a weird record in you. I like it. It A weird record.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and then the bomb pops, like, um, japan was like the most, one of the most beautiful experiences I've had touring in my entire life and it meant a lot to me. I have family there. Um, like, my uncle lives there and he's the first person like that gave me a guitar and he's getting very old and so he came and saw us and then I played an acoustic show with him and his, the band and, uh, my cousin, his daughter, came with us. Yo tom from useless id is playing with us now and, um, japan's such a beautiful place and the people are so beautiful and kind and um, I'm like this is what?
Speaker 2:because I, you know, I was like there's a lot of friction with the band, like getting going and always kind of has been like stopping and starting to wind up changes and all this but, at the end of the day, like that band, my band has brought me everything that's like wonderful and so um, I've actually have like a great desire to write for the bomb pops too and figure out what that is. So the answer is I'm gonna do it all yeah, that's good, that's good.
Speaker 1:I mean that's you know, that's that's the way with with us and with the mariachi band. You know, you, you go back and forth and you're kind of you know, we're fortunate enough to be able to go back and forth and kind of feed off of you know what's inspiring you and where you want to go, and it's the coolest thing for you to be able to be like. You know what's inspiring you and where you want to go and it's the coolest thing for you to be able to be like. Hey, you know, like cause I'm sure you get the questions all the time If you're doing a solo record what's going on with the bomb pops, the bomb pops done, or this, that, and it's like to be able to, you know, appreciate the bomb pops for what it is and be, uh, you know, creatively inspired and challenged by writing songs by yourself.
Speaker 1:And that whole journey and to be able to bounce back and forth as you navigate the rest of your creative life is awesome. That's kind of like a dream scenario. You should be able to make the music you want to make, and because you start something else doesn't necessarily mean that it's the end of something or you know, it's like, it's just cool. I like that you aren't saying that you have to do one or the other, that you can do both and you can even do something new if it comes down the pipeline and inspires you. You know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you can exist in in more than one space, which is really fun. And I don't know, do you feel like like? One thing I kind of want to do with the weird stuff is, like you know, with music, especially something like east side of eden um, I think that is very like it's raw and personal. And with bomb pops I do like there's a bit more of like uh, there's like more motifs in there and I think that that's something that I'd love to like play and like hi, like not hide behind. But you, I feel like there's more of a like I can have.
Speaker 1:there's a bomb pops persona a bit, and then I kind of create like there's a bit more of like a persona with my acoustic stuff and I've just want to kind of like get weird and have this other lens when you discover how much music and how much stuff you can create and you realize how short life is, it's just like fuck it, you know, like I'm going to do whatever I want to do and make everything I can while I'm here on the earth, and you know it's. It seems like you're kind of in that mode, which is awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like I have a trying to figure out you know kind of what's next. A lot of different things are on the table for me, just like in life generally lately, and all of it's really exciting and I have a couple like core key points. So I keep like, wow, they, all these things tie in together to just, you know, like on a whiteboard. And the first one is like make good art. You know, and I just want to make you know, and with the band you do have a box that you have to stay in to a certain degree to keep fans happy. You know, if I was to make East Side of Eden and hey guys, like let's make this record, they would be down because everyone else in the band is also into a lot of other things. But it's that we are a fat records band and we love being a fat records band and we intend to be a fat records band and that is also like that's my punk outlet.
Speaker 2:Like that's my punk outlet and we can go. We can get harder, we can get more rock, we could get more ramones core, we could get more pop punk and we and we can do that all in one album. We can um, I love like lo-fi marksman stuff.
Speaker 2:I'm like it'd be fun if, like we did, something like that a little bit in there and that would all like check out, right. But if I go make this like insanely weird album or just bomb pops you know acoustic album I don't think that that's like um, you do want to make your fans happy and you do want people to like uh, but and at the same time grow and um, so I'm I'm excited for that outlet and I'm excited for that outlet and like cause that's there and.
Speaker 2:I'm always going to be there and we all, like the rest of the band, neil and Josh and Yotam are like just that's what we do. So like making good art and at this point it's so fun and I love collaborating with other people. I've done a lot of like collab stuff lately. I did a couple of songs with Moscow Death Brigade, so really love collabs and like guesting on stuff. It's super cool and I like producing stuff. So, yeah, just like working with other people, let's do something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's cool and it all ends up feeding into each other. I think creatively which I don't think maybe a lot of fans understand is like what you're doing now in some way shape or form is gonna find its way to creating a better Bomb P bomb pops record or a better bomb pop song and vice versa. You know, it's like everything feeds into each other and that is how you grow as an artist and it's just really cool. But, um, let's get into some questions from the internet here, because I don't want to keep you too long.
Speaker 2:I know you're busy, all right I love talking, so I'm fine, keep me in check okay.
Speaker 1:So jen, on a scale of one to ten, how sketchy are your dms ten? Yeah, I'll say not.
Speaker 2:not, I'm gonna say eight because like there's a lot, a lot of dms and I like they get to 10 and sketchy, but but there's also just such wonderful like people in there and um, really cute and encouraging comments and like fun, we people are funny.
Speaker 1:I mean like but 10, but 10. Yeah, even even just putting you know the questionnaire out on on my end, my DMS got sketchy.
Speaker 2:Please send me some screenshots of some, because, like I really want to do. You know we did a slide into the DMs before, so I was reading them aloud in the van and our friend Chris Growl was on tour with us and he like films. He does did all like our Bomb Pops music videos.
Speaker 2:He brought them on a tour and I was just reading them aloud I was like dude, this is so crazy. And I started reading them and he like lost his shit. And then I kept going he's like you have more. And I was like I have more folder I've screenshotted. I have like, and so he filmed it Cause he's like wait, let's get this. And then he's like wait, I'm going to stop. This is a serious like we're doing this.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's so fun. I mean they weren't. There was nothing too crazy. You know nothing too crazy, but yeah, I got a little glimpse, I got a peek into the world that I could only imagine. Hell, yeah, okay, ooh. What advice might you have for the next generation of songwriters?
Speaker 2:Take advice from people, but be careful who you take that advice from when it comes to like a lot of things but like being your, your art.
Speaker 2:And then the other thing is like I'm a huge advocate, like I wish I could expedite this specifically for, like young female um artists, songwriters, on just anybody that is like and it has that entrepreneurial spirit or any. Just anything honestly is trust the intuition, because a lot of times and I know this from experience you are going to have a lot of people telling you what you should do and should not do. It's easy to kind of just second guess yourself and like not believe that you should. You're you're taking up too much space, you know, and just so it's a really big um, it's a. It's a mixed thing. So like, know your intuition and the good thing is women have fantastic intuition. So trust like what you're feeling and then open yourself up to like you know getting advice and working with other people, but like, let sit with it. Close your eyes, take a couple of days, like if you really don't know. Close your eyes, take a couple of days, like if you really don't know, then maybe get another opinion.
Speaker 2:But I think it's really trusting yourself and being open to working with other people. But, at the end of the day, trust yourself and I wish I could like expedite that for people. Or like, if women like the no, I just met so many women that are like I don't know, and it's like you do know, you just don't think that. You think you're taking up space. I'll give you one example just real quick. I know, um, but like we.
Speaker 2:But there was a punk and jubilic we played recently and you know we flew to denver to play it and it was hell getting there. Every single flight, every band had a hard time getting there. It was like terrible weather, um, you know, two days of travel, just awful. And we get there and we had done everything we're supposed to do. We're the second band, I think. So you know, we're not like the big dogs, but we're paid to be there and we're a needed band there. You know, like, and we had suggested the amps that we want from the back line. It's like we want to use the two 900s, you want to use the two marshall cabs. This is our stage plot and we get and we're on time, we're there and you know they're setting up. We don't get a sound check but we get a line check. The stage hands it was, you know, to, not anyone like with the festival, but the stage hands that were working the and it wasn't some of the usual guys.
Speaker 2:Sometimes there's a great team of punk and drug like. People that like are always there and um we love them, you know, like the greg teals and all them like shout out greg teal but it was like a different like set of people which sometimes you get at these things.
Speaker 2:And, um, the stage hand was like I was like, yeah, we, you know we need the 900 and this cab and it needs to be here. And he's like well, the band after before he was using this, the band after you, so you have to use that. And I just accepted that for a second and then I was like, oh no, like, like I came and didn't say it in a rude way, I said no, we've submitted, it's on our tech writer and the gear is there. So, like I can get my guys to move it, I can move it myself, like, but I'm sure you'd prefer it to be done, so can you please put that there? And then they did. But it's like you.
Speaker 2:Just I really clocked that as my first intuition was to not take up space yeah, but I'm I'm just I get to be there just as much as anybody else is there that day, and actually that those people are working for the festival that paid us to be there so long winded answer, but I do feel very passionately about it and would love to do work in that field and like speak about it more, because I feel very strongly that it should be taught, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I think you know just double that you know someone a young artist. I think you know it just on a double that you know someone a young artist is. You know kind of it takes a long time to trust your instincts, at least for most people. You know being a female artist and you know what at most times can be a male dominated kind of genre or realm and you know run into experiences like especially touring little stage things like that, where you don't even notice sometimes that you're not stepping into your power, that you rightfully deserve it's a great way to put it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a very awesome point and stoked you were able to let people know that. A couple of pick-ems here for bands and artists. I'm going to say two bands. You tell me which one you like better. Okay, and we got. You know some people we do this. They get all nervous, they freak out I don't like nervous.
Speaker 1:It's not personal. Okay, this is not personal. You probably know some of these bands. It doesn't mean you like one or don't like one, it's just what, musically, what do you listen to more? Okay, bad religion or no effects?
Speaker 2:Bad religion. First of all, Ryan Baker is like just such an icon. So when I say I'm part Gwen Stefani, part Rick Nielsen, part Ryan Baker, I just think he has like such an influence on my aesthetics for guitars, gear, playing and just so, undeniably so cool and the whole entire band and songwriting responsible for such a political awakening for an entire generation, but in the coolest way possible. I never miss a chance to see them. I've seen them hundreds of times. Still get goosebumps.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, they're one of my favorite bands, definitely Probably the punk band that I listened to most and the band that's probably had an impact on me the most. Uh, in in the punk genre.
Speaker 2:No effects. Are just like my weird uncles.
Speaker 1:Straight up, all right. What about uh Lana Del Rey or Phoebe Bridgers?
Speaker 2:Phoebe Bridgers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's a. She's a badass, she's a badass.
Speaker 2:I wish I could be Lana Del Rey. Lana Del Rey or Phoebe Bridgers. Phoebe Bridgers, yeah, she's a badass. She's a badass. I wish I could be Lana Del Rey. Lana Del Rey is just so sultry. I'm like you, just are that? No use trying, but yeah, phoebe.
Speaker 1:Bridgers. I love Lana Del Rey's new dude. He's like an alligator. I don't know. It hit the internet by storm.
Speaker 2:A couple of days ago. I need to see that I love that. She's like with a Chuck Reagan, yeah.
Speaker 1:She's like with this alligator wrangler guy. It's amazing. It's amazing. Okay, joan Jett or Debbie Harry.
Speaker 2:Joan Jett.
Speaker 1:No use for a name or Lagwagon.
Speaker 2:No use for a name.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rip Tony Sly. That's so crazy about him almost producing the record. I had no idea. That's wild.
Speaker 2:It's the most incredible thing just to have that opportunity and those conversations with him. He's like, eh, mike?
Speaker 1:wants me to do this.
Speaker 2:He was definitely into it and it was a time like, yeah, man, I'm so sad he's not here, like you just would be thriving, like all those bands are having such a like a nice renaissance right now, and yeah, for sure I do love lag wagon, I do love me yeah, I love lag wagon too. Uh, let's go madonna or whitney houston I'm gonna say madonna, just like, just because iconic, like style pop culture, stevie nicks or amy winehouse amy winehouse jimmy world or weezer.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to say weezer, because I have a question if you could be in any band uh, I, I'd probably say the ramones.
Speaker 1:Uh, just because it would be so sick. Um, being in the misfits would be pretty badass too so ramones are misfits I feel like I would have to say ramones, like because joey, ramone, I think, is my favorite voice of all time. But you know, glenn danzig is obviously, uh, you know, another one of my favorite voices too.
Speaker 2:So see, I'd say misfits more because, like I've listened to Misfits so much, but like Ramones is like a they I, it's like everything that is so much of who I am. But like, come on, like the first time you ever heard bullet, how fucking are you like, uh, this is so bad.
Speaker 2:And I love it so much and like you don't want to get caught listening to it. Or like singing the lyrics. And like you don't want to get caught listening to it, or like singing the lyrics, and like my parents didn't even care what I listened to. But it's like yeah that's that.
Speaker 1:That is true. That's a good point, cause I think about, like what band between those two had like a bigger impact on me when I first heard it. Definitely the misfits.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cause I was just like this is so cool and strange and awesome. And then, like the evil live record. When I heard that record, like how horrible it sounded and just like how chaotic it just the the gig felt, and just the in-between song, banter, and just it just felt like so insane to me. I was like I remember listening to that record being like what the fuck is this?
Speaker 2:I feel like that could translate to like to bronx too, because you guys are one band, it's just like you watch it undeniable, like oh, thank you, thank you you know the energy, you feel it and it's just like that, that's like what you're saying to hearing an album like how do I feel like the chaos in this room.
Speaker 2:Another like I I say I've been saying this lately because I've been covering a lot of uh misfits acoustic and it's like how strange is it that? Like to some because, like the teenage brain of glenn dandig, like we want to be here. Like to some degree, if without the insane, like new jersey beef kid yeah, no like it's, it's insane and you think about.
Speaker 1:I know you did some tours at the, at the punk rock museum and and when I did a couple and when I was doing them, like you look at the early aesthetic of like the misfits, when they're like he's wearing like catcher's gear and they have like these, like you know, home-drawn skulls and all this stuff and it's just so, it's so rad and you realize what like a rarity it is for all that to like come together and happen and create what it did and like it's just, it's so cool and to be to be. I've always felt like there's such a. You know there's people like when Nirvana broke and there's always people who are like they. They think simplicity and skill is like something that belongs to everyone, like, oh, I can just pick up a guitar, I can play that song, there's nothing to that, I could write that, I could do it, and it isn't.
Speaker 1:It's like the complex stuff is just as much of a big bang as beauty and simplicity. As an artist, it it's not something that belongs to everybody, like there's only a few people that can just nail it to the point where it just changes the game, you know, and it's like the misfits, uh, were one of those things for me, one of those bands, one of those artists that I look at. That was, like you know, sure, there's a lot of really basic crappy punk bands out there, but there's a, but there's only one misfits.
Speaker 1:There's only one misfits. And the funny thing is you go see them now. They still kind of suck. They still kind of suck and it's like this is amazing, how are they?
Speaker 2:not better. It's everything you want it to be and like. So I saw them with a. We played the palladium and it was like when they didn't see the original, like riot fest return. But it was like around that time and we had tickets. We played like we've got like some nice tickets and like the seat that in the section there was.
Speaker 2:You know, like shepherd fairy was there and julia lewis was in the section and, um, you just want them because, like, all the songs are so short and they're so bangers. I'm like, do it ramon style and just bang, do not stop. But they stopped after every song. It's like, clearly, people that didn't know how to be on a stage together in a very long time it's just, it's still, it's just.
Speaker 1:It sounds like absolute dog shit. It's just like what is happening, and it's so. It's so great, though, because it's like it's so, it's just. Yeah, the misfits are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is uh, well, just real quick, soon. He said jimmy world or oh, yeah, yeah, I was asked that question because I was like weezer, because I would love to play in weezer. It's just like how cool, like so cool, so fun. Every song is a hit when you see them live, the funnest, like stage production. I've cried watching weasel like this, you're like this is so good it is.
Speaker 1:What about? What about vandals or pennywise? But how do you feel on that?
Speaker 2:pennywise, huge pennywise fan. I love jim bloomberg, I love fletcher and uh, and yeah, love the vandals too. Um, man can't.
Speaker 1:Vandals. Vandals are insane.
Speaker 2:You can't miss either of those bands, for different reasons. No.
Speaker 1:What about Descendants or Bouncing Souls?
Speaker 2:Oh, descendants, I am just, my soul is Descendants. And yeah, huge Descendants fan through and through Another band you just can't miss ever. Yeah.
Speaker 1:What about All American Rejects? Or Alkaline Trio? Fan through and through another band you just can't miss ever, yeah, um, what about all american rejects? Or alkaline trio?
Speaker 2:alkaline trio through the roof. You know, we know what band is your favorite band because, like I, still will listen to that stuff it just doesn't get old. And also, like you hear different things, like like oh, the lyric that was so clever is also clever in this other way. 15 years later, you know Love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Okay. Classic time machine, hypothetical, okay Okay. Time machine shows up outside of your place, door opens Someone awesome steps out, Anywhere in history, any time in history where are you going to go first and why?
Speaker 2:well, it's really hard, because I think about this a lot as a woman. If we go back to the 70s, you can't even get a credit oh, that's true, that's true, yeah, so it's so funny because I am like a huge history buff. It's really hard because, like there's so many places that I'd want to go but it's just like in the reality, like am I stuck there? Do I get to come back?
Speaker 1:you, you stay, you get to check it out as a as a you know kind of a voyeur. You get to just check out the scene and you get to bounce whenever you want, you know probably 1920s Los Angeles like to see this town.
Speaker 2:Boom, I think about it so often. How gorgeous is the coastline. I'm in East Los Angeles or Northeast LA and it's like seeing these hills and just the roaring beautiful hills, and then all the way out to the sea, and then all the way out to the sea. I always think of that scene in there Will Be Blood when he goes out to the coast, and I don't know if that's like. I forget where it's supposed to take place, not in Los Angeles, but I'm like it just looked like that. I think I'd love to see that and see the excitement of Los Angeles as it's really coming into itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's dope, I like that. All right. Last question here, Jen, thank you very much for your time here on the Sailor Jerry podcast by the way.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, it's been awesome talking to you.
Speaker 1:What, to you, is the meaning of life?
Speaker 2:To be present and to really slow down and to be quiet, feel the sun on your skin. Got into transcendental meditation in the last few years and it's just completely life-changing because I did not know how to slow down and be present and that also with the pandemic and also people close to me passing away, there's like a big. All those things like taught me it is just about being alive and feeling alive. It's not about what you're doing or your status. The point is to just be alive.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, I get that loud and clear. That's fucking awesome, Jen. Thank you so much for this. Thank you.