The sharpest shit in the fridge

This week, we got comfy with the talented Liz Aday to discuss her journey as a singer, musician, and producer. She talks about her battle with physical and mental health (including how she lost her voice to vocal cord paralysis) and how she copes with burnout. 

Liz discusses the devaluation of music, her experience with sexism in the industry over the years, and the importance of hope in her creative practice (which inspires us!).

Before the end of the show, we commiserate with Liz over the lack of Mexican food in Oz and Jamie gets pretty good at an Australian accent (kind of) (ok not really).

You can find Liz on:

Linktree: linktr.ee/LizAday
Instagram: @lizaday
TikTok: @lizadayvoice1
YouTube: youtube.com/@lizaday9374
Website: lizaday.com.au
Patreon: patreon.com/LizAday

Mentioned in this episode:

• Liz's singing range with vocal cord palsy
• Liz’s mom singing Mozart in the 80s
• Lily Oddsock (Liz's content for children)

Have a suggestion for our next episode? A burnout story to share? Send us a text!

Support the show

The Burnout Collective Podcast is hosted by Jamie Young and Rebecca McCracken. We’ve had every ounce of inspiration sucked out by years of startups and hustle culture, and we’re trying to reclaim our creativity. Join us and our guests as we explore how to restart and reenergize our brains. Every Thursday at 5pm PT, we stream live on twitch.tv/TheBurnoutCollective.

Join our Discord community: discord.gg/ZwBjbmVfAF
Follow us on Twitch and Subscribe: twitch.tv/theburnoutcollective
Follow us on our socials: linktr.ee/burnoutcollective

Music track: Snap Your Fingers by Aylex
Source: https://freetouse.com/music

Episode Transcript

Liz (00:00):
When I go to America, n the more y the more nri.

Jamie (00:06):
Rebecca hates her life right now.
She's like, oh God, you twoplease.
I am Jamie.
And I'm Rebecca.
Welcome to the BurnoutCollective.
Hello.
Rebecca's daughter.
MM if you're listening, I loveyou and you're amazing.

(00:29):
So she drew and made this littleraccoon for us.
Look at this shit.
Look at this cute raccoon.
She has a present.
That's you guys subscribing andgiving us money, Rob, talking to
you.
So today we have with us thelovely, the beautiful, the all

(00:55):
talented.
Liz, a day,

Liz (01:01):
hi.

Jamie (01:03):
this is

Liz (01:03):
Thank you for saying those nice things about me.
I appreciate.

Jamie (01:06):
all true.

Liz (01:08):
My goodness.

Rebecca (01:09):
We should say what she does.
She's a singer and a musician,and an all around talented lady,
and she gives a ton of goodhair.

Jamie (01:18):
Oh my God.
Look at this hair.
You guys.
I'm so jealous.

Liz (01:23):
nice to me.
My goodness.
I, I need to talk to peoplemore,

Jamie (01:27):
Yeah,

Rebecca (01:29):
That's, we definitely all need to, I think

Jamie (01:32):
just us.
Just talk to us more, I think isthe, that's what we

Liz (01:36):
Oh, I'm here for that.

Jamie (01:37):
Hashtag team, Liz.
Nice.
Tell us what you're up to thesedays.

Liz (01:42):
Oh my God.

Jamie (01:44):
What isn't she up to?
Ladies and gentlemen?

Liz (01:47):
I am, navigating burnout on the daily.
Right now I'm pulling myself outof a spiral of burnout and a bit
of depression and anxiety, whichI, navigate and I have my entire
life.
it's just been a, a long journeyof, a long road.
Maybe we'll talk about.
I'm open book if you wanna talkabout that today.

(02:07):
but I, I, I have I'm a producer.
I'm, I'm not just a singer.
I'm a singer that is a vocalwarrior.
I, I navigate vocal cordparalysis, if you can believe
that.
It's, something that I'm notcured from, I lost my voice
from, but I am highly trained.
And when I went in there with,even with the little tiny voice,

(02:29):
which was pretty much likeabout, as, as loud as I could
speak, as really small littleread voice, of course it, I, I
had to stop working.
And in my duo at that point, Icouldn't

Jamie (02:44):
How long was that that you had to stop

Liz (02:47):
Oh, that was a long time.
They said, stop singing.
I had to go on voice rest forweeks, which was quite a journey
for me as a very verbal person.
And, so that was challenging.
But then also, you said nosinging?
Yeah, just for at least a yearthat like we have to see,'cause
we, when you get vocal cordparalysis, they check for cancer

(03:10):
and all kinds of things thatcould be causing it.
And we looked me, I had a twohour MRI

Rebecca (03:15):
Oh my Lord.

Liz (03:16):
and that, revealed nothing.
I don't know how long it lasts.
I just know that, I could notstay silent and I was always,
working on what little notesthat I was ha having at any
given moment.
and I just, I listened to BarryWhite and Lou Rawls and stuff,

(03:36):
and sing along with these notesdown here, and I had about 1, 2,
3, and there's a video somewhereof me, demonstrating how,
limited my range was.
But, but it fluctuated and so itmade me, it also was painful
there.
and that's not part of the disthere was also muscle tension
stuff going on that'sundiagnosed.

(03:57):
We don't know that for sure.
But based on my self-advocacy,I, I, I had this, I was going
through an extreme.
amount of external madness thatwas giving me, a lot of anxiety
and, stress.
I, I had the, the onsen boa andmassage and, I walked out of
there being able to speak, notlike this, but much better

(04:19):
before I, I couldn't answer thecheckout.
I couldn't, like if I went to gobuy groceries and they'd be
like, how are you today?
I couldn't answer'cause Icouldn't speak over the din of
just people and sounds and themusic radio or anything like
that In a car, radio, people askme a question.
I'm like, it was reallydepressing.
So I just went into a hermitmode and, I just continued to

(04:42):
work on these little notes thatI had and I created a bunch of
trip hop, songs.
I drum loops and things, and I,started, I turned to my
community and second life, whichis where I met Joel and my
husband.
And, and, because they're soopen there and they're free, it
was just, it was a, a nice wayto flex muscles and, just get

(05:03):
back into performing because Ihad no pressure.
I was doing gentle, gentlevocalizing even, against doctors
orders.
'Cause this is really, how Icope with reality.
Singing and, and playing music.
And the, but the physical act ofsinging is a purge for me.
And it's important.
I have to give that energy.
I have to give those vibes out,or I just, believe me, I've

(05:27):
tried stopping music beforebecause it's a really popular
thing to get me to, in, incertain eras of my life, to get
me to stop doing it, to get intothis little mold, especially at
my age.
if it was gonna happen, it wouldbe happening by now.
You should be, rolling in it.
Because I, I've been a lifer, amusician since I was in my
teens.

(05:47):
I am 50, almost 56 years oldnow.
yeah, it, it comes up when I'm,I'm going through slumps like I
am right now, financially going,I'm facing some challenges at
the moment, but I'm investingand I'm, I'm not answering your
question either.
You, you have, sorry, I'mwondering.
I will quickly ans

Rebecca (06:07):
that's, that's what this is here for.
We are here

Jamie (06:10):
yeah.
You did an, you did answer it.

Liz (06:13):
Well, but, but yeah, I got back into second Life and then I
had, a trip to America to, spendtime with family, but also, my
voice mentor, Keely Whitney,who, is, she specializes in
healing.
So I spent about a month livingwith her, shadowing her, and
also I got her the gig that Ihad to, make ends meet in a show

(06:34):
called Wally in the Beavs in,it's like a Seattle, south
Seattle area show.
It's really a lot of fun.
Yeah.
It's a live music show and I, Iplayed a bunch of different
characters, but I got her thegig when I, left and, or I, I
recommended her, I should sayheavily for my position.
And, so she was still workingthe show.

(06:56):
and I came along and justshadowed her and I, I, I'd like,
I was like, I'd like to sing acouple of songs, no pressure.
But I used to play MarilynMonroe in that show and, and
that.
Character worked out great forvocal chord paralysis because I
had this little tiny voice, andI, I was just a kiss on the

Rebecca (07:17):
Yeah.

Jamie (07:18):
Sexy baby.

Liz (07:19):
Diamonds are girl best friend, just like really small.

Jamie (07:23):
I'm very turned on right now.
Continue.

Liz (07:26):
yay.
My job is finished.
Goodnight.

Jamie (07:29):
Bye everybody.

Rebecca (07:31):
when you were on vocal rest, did you, did you find like
it was a time where you reallytook care of yourself and
treated yourself?
Or were you impatient and angrywith yourself?

Liz (07:42):
Yes.
All of the above.
It was so much, it was soconfronting.
I learned that I had taken myvoice for granted all my life.
'cause I always had it, it wasmy superpower.
I was in, I was a painfully shychild.
My mother is a brilliantsoprano, opera singer.
I would, I'm going, remind me toshare with you her doing Mozart

(08:06):
in 1982.
I've got this, a recording ofher, this bootleg.
Anyway, it's,

Rebecca (08:12):
of Mozart.
Love it.

Liz (08:15):
Yeah, love her.
Love her.
I, I don't know,

Jamie (08:18):
mom.
We don't know you, but we loveyou.

Liz (08:21):
she'll eventually hear this.
I doubt she'll be watching.

Rebecca (08:23):
Were you, were you able to connect with your mom over
any of this?
had she gone through anythingsimilar or was she able to help
you through this time?

Liz (08:32):
I, well, yeah, she, she's, it's really rare to have, more
than, I was told that it'sunusual to have a sibling or
somebody in your family have thesame thing happen as far as a
vocal cord paralysis.
but I, my sister has it andshe's had surgery, so yeah, it's

(08:52):
really strange.
That's a strange thing.
My ENT was like, what?
So they're like, well, that's astrange, that's a, it was just
another funny piece of evidenceto a big giant mystery that they
can't really figure out.
But I think there's a lot, formy case, it's, connected with
physical and mental wellness andtension and stress and oh,
that's, that's another fork thatI never finished, was that the,

(09:16):
when I saw the ENT and he said,yeah, we don't know why, but
you've got this and we don'tknow how to fix it.
So maybe then, the sugar, thecaffeine and everything.
I, I learned on my own.
And then he said, manage yourstress.
And as soon as, not long,really, not long after I left,
and I was like managing that, myhusband had a brain aneurysm
and, a six hour craniotomy andwe nearly lost him.

(09:39):
And, it was like, I'm gonna be acaregiver if he, if he survives
this, because I lost anotherpartner to the same thing.
He actually died.
I never, yeah, there was no.
Saving him.
yeah.
but so I knew what I was facingwhen, when I got the news that
Rob had the, my robot had a, ananeurysm.

(10:01):
so I'm like, that's, that's thenext time I saw the ENT.
I'm like, well, he's like, how'syour stress?
I'm like, what?
Well, yeah.
But Rob's, just so you know,Rob's, in the 5% club that comes
out of this with, the cognitiveYeah, he's, he's amazing.
when he woke up, and I think Itold you girls about this, that
it was, it was October, so I waslike, oh, he, he looked like a

(10:24):
cross between a light bulb andlike Frankenstein.
He had this side of his head wasshaved and he had stitches along

Jamie (10:31):
super punk rock.
Basically

Liz (10:33):
skull flap together.
Yeah.
Well, he did a selfie.
He eventually, it was still inthe brain water and he did a
selfie, but with a filter thatmade it worse.
So he posted that he didn't wantanybody knowing what had
happened.
So he posted that on his socialsthinking, I'm being really
festive for Halloween here.
I'm bringing Halloween toAustralia, yeah.
But, but yeah.

(10:54):
So my ENT kinda laughed.
I'm like, yeah, no, I didn't, Iwasn't, I had to navigate some
pretty heavy shit.

Jamie (11:01):
I just think the moment that the ENT was like even
before that, the first time whenthe ET is yeah, just manage your
stress.
just saying that makes meanxious and stressed out if

Liz (11:14):
Yeah,

Jamie (11:14):
have you ever, have you ever been on like an update,
ladies were like, you're notdepressed.
Like you're feeling okay.
And then somebody in your lifeis are you okay?
Are you feeling depressed today?
And I'm like, I wasn't.
Now I, I don't know.
Am I perhaps?

Rebecca (11:33):
of tired.

Jamie (11:34):
Yeah.
You looked tired.

Liz (11:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know exactly what you mean.
It's maybe,

Jamie (11:44):
You're like, of course I'm

Rebecca (11:45):
you also, you were also saying yesterday, which I found
really fascinating, that youwere finding ways to get around
the paralysis.
Like you said, you would contortyour mouth to make the sounds
you needed to to make, which isjust, I

Liz (11:59):
Yeah.
That's, yeah.
It, that, that, that it, it, itwas, it's not a conscious thing
necessarily.
It's something that my body justdoes because it's have you ever
had chickens?

Jamie (12:12):
I'm sorry.

Liz (12:14):
I know it's a, it's, it's such a really weird little turn,
but it has

Jamie (12:17):
Now you truly sound like you're from Oregon, by the way.

Rebecca (12:21):
Yeah.
No,

Liz (12:22):
Okay, well, down here they're called the, I never had
chickens until, living inAustralia.
And, they, they're chooks downhere.
We have chooks and we don'tanymore, but a chook will hide.
It could be like on death'sdoor, but it'll fucking hide it,
And, and, and I've just, I've,I've spent my career doing that,
like masking and hiding, butit's a, it is a necessity as a

(12:45):
showgirl to, know, suck it up,buttercup, get out there, the
show must go on.
I have to say I'm a bettersinger now than before.
even despite my, ups and downsand the days that it's harder to
hold my tone solid.
and, if I'm having a bad day,I'll have to do several takes.
It's sometimes it's so bad thatit's just I'm just gonna have to

(13:06):
hide that in a cacophony ofvoices and make, when I'm
producing music recording, tosay so.

Rebecca (13:12):
This happen during the pandemic?
did you, when, when exactly didthis happen?
Was it before the pandemic orwas it, was it during

Liz (13:19):
my voice.
Oh my goodness.
No, my voice went, it startedpre presenting in, I wanna say
late, or God, I wanna say 2017.

Rebecca (13:32):
Oh, wow.
So it's been that long.
I.

Liz (13:34):
Yeah, I, I had to quit.
I think my last gig was aChristmas show, and those were
really painful.
physically painful, and alsoemotionally just stripping,
because I just was like, what'sgoing on?
And the doctors couldn't tellme.
I was still not quite diagnosed.
And then, then I got thediagnosis and after seeing a
bunch and, and if anybody's haddysphonia or like any kind of

(13:57):
invisible kind of illness, Idon't know.
It's just, it's, so my, I've hadexperiences with, on that
journey where they were like,you're fine, you're hysterical.
Nobody could sing while beinghysterical.
I'm, I, I'm, I'm hystericalbecause can't fucking sing,

Jamie (14:14):
Let me ask you,

Liz (14:15):
And

Jamie (14:16):
did a man, perhaps a white man tell you that

Liz (14:20):
bingo, yes.
Come to think of it.
It was,

Rebecca (14:24):
They strike

Liz (14:25):
yeah.

Jamie (14:26):
They drink again.
They're everywhere.

Liz (14:28):
yeah.
And but, but then there was awoman who was actually in the
industry who suggested that Iwas just too old,

Rebecca (14:35):
Oh, fuck

Liz (14:36):
I should just maybe, yeah, just maybe, maybe just hang it
up because those days are gone.

Rebecca (14:41):
wow.

Jamie (14:43):
Oh,

Rebecca (14:43):
A girl's girl.
A true girl's girl.

Liz (14:46):
yeah, yeah, no, there was a lot of rage involved.
And I got to, really get intouch with those emotions during
that challenge.
And, Oh, let's talk about thatfor a minute.
The challenge and the rage ofbeing a female musician in a
male dominated industry.
I am a guitar player thatthat's, I, I play other

(15:06):
instruments and, whatnot, butthat's my main acts that I
really gravitated towards.
I'd say I really decided, Ipicked it up late.
I always tried to play, I wasnot encouraged to play guitar.
I was interested as little as Ican remember.
I must have been before sevenyears old because my sister
wasn't born yet.

(15:27):
We're seven years apart.
yeah, I just remember being alittle tiny girl wanting to
touch it, I wanted to play that,but I wasn't allowed.
it took until my late teensbefore I was able to get one for
myself after hanging out with,a, a bunch of musos and artists
and stuff like that and, can Iborrow that or play that?

(15:48):
And,

Jamie (15:48):
Yeah.

Liz (15:49):
just having a keen interest in garage bands and whatnot.
And, but I, I, lost my train ofthought I was talking about.
Yeah.

Rebecca (15:57):
guitar.
You were a teenager, you weresuppressed, not

Liz (16:01):
Being a female and, and, and they were very, and it was
all dudes of course, but theywere, very supportive.
But, long story short, I I, Ieventually got a gig.
I hadn't even been reallyplaying, on my own guitar for
long.
It had been about a year, and Igot a gig in a, cover band.
I wasn't even old enough to bein lounges at that time.

(16:22):
I was about 18, 17, I don't

Jamie (16:25):
exciting.

Liz (16:26):
Yeah.
And, I, was really excited.
I'm like, I'm making money.
I don't have to work at thedress shop or the earring shop.
I can do this.
And, it really, in retrospect, Iwas getting paid very little, A
very small wage.
But, the band leader was reallygenerous with allowing me to use
his equipment.

(16:47):
So I used the, his back line andhis guitar was better than mine,
so I used his.
And, he taught me, this stuffthat I couldn't work out by ear.
He sat down and taught me, heshowed me, I think he was the
first guy to show me, God, whatwas it?
The word escapes me.
I'm freezing right now.
Anyway, it doesn't matter.
He was,

Jamie (17:06):
I knew.
Music words don't.

Liz (17:10):
oh, now wanna say triads, but, no, no, no.
I, I had those, but he wasshowing me different voicings of
chords that were used in popmusic at the time.
We were playing covers in theeight, in the late, mid, mid to
late eighties sometime, aroundthere.
I don't know.

Jamie (17:23):
What sort of what, which sort of bands did you cover?

Liz (17:28):
prince, which was great 'cause I was big into, that, and
funk and stuff.
I, at the time, I, I was on, ohgoodness, a long journey of only
listening to three things.
Kate Bush, Jimi Hendrix.
Yeah, Kate Bush, Jimi Hendrixand King Crimson and that's it.
Nothing else.
But then, it was like Hughes hispop, thing.

(17:50):
So I, I knew about Prince andstuff like that.
So we were doing, that and then,Jody Whatley and Pebbles and
whatever was popular, soul tosoul, stuff like that.
which I quite enjoyed.
So it was funky, which is rightup my alley.
And, and, and so I worked that,but as a young guitar player
girl, I was only met withsexism.

(18:14):
When I would go into the musicstore to buy strings, I loathed
to do it because it was like,oh, is this for your acoustic so
you

Jamie (18:21):
Is this for your boyfriend?

Liz (18:24):
It was really just condescending.
Like it was either thinly veiledor like open, just for your
boyfriend all the time.
All the time.
I, I bought so, so many of thosecry baby wall pedals, those big
chunky ones.
I, because I, I, I am a, aNeanderthal, I'm a really,
really aggressive musician onstage.

(18:44):
I, I, I just am really, I can behard on gear too,

Jamie (18:47):
You're

Rebecca (18:48):
I was about, I was about to, I was about to ask,
and this was also in the time ofJoan Jett and the Gogos, And
where it was.
But then I was like, no, that'sa stupid question.
'cause even they got a bunch ofshit for it too.

Liz (18:57):
yeah, well it was, it was on the heels of that, that was
not.
maybe Joan had a, I don't know.
It was

Rebecca (19:04):
and he had Hart too who played the guitars, right?
Like she,

Liz (19:07):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's just, it, it wasn't, andthen, and then in the, in the,
in the late nineties, we hadMeredith Brooks come out and
she, she was the, one of thefirst musician females on the
cover.
One of them, on the cover, ifnot the first on Guitar Player
Magazine, I

Jamie (19:27):
Meredith Brooks of all people.

Liz (19:29):
yeah, yeah.
Well, she's, she's a badass.
she totally

Jamie (19:33):
Yeah,

Liz (19:34):
Yeah.
yeah.
Yeah.
So it's taken

Rebecca (19:37):
let a girl on the cover or that it was Meredith Brooks?

Jamie (19:41):
me.
Oh,

Rebecca (19:43):
Yeah.

Jamie (19:44):
I'm surprised that like she was like the first

Rebecca (19:47):
Oh, okay.

Jamie (19:48):
cover.
Yeah.
Thank you

Liz (19:49):
don't know if, if she's the first or one of the first, I
wanna say the first, but my, my,my facts get mixed

Jamie (19:55):
okay.
We fact,

Liz (19:55):
But I know,

Jamie (19:56):
We'll fact check.
We'll fact check later.

Rebecca (19:58):
Were, you were given shit for doing what you do, and
then I'm guessing there wasn't acommunity of female guitarist or
musicians to find support ineither.
Right.

Liz (20:08):
I didn't, I didn't really meet, in person, another peer
that was like me as far as oneof the guys.
And I had this big chip on myshoulder too, by the way.
This is what I'm building uptowards the big chip on my
shoulder about being, I, I, Igot really bitchy about it.
I'd go into the music store,what was it, even Guitar Center

(20:30):
and be like, just I went in withmy booking agent once, and he
said, you scared me.
You, you, you frightened theshit outta that, that, that,
that clerk.
I've never seen the side of you.
And I'm like,

Jamie (20:42):
What'd you do?

Liz (20:43):
I, I don't, I don't remember because I just, I like,
I just get really, I just put onmy armor and I'm like, I want
this.
No, not that.
No, I want this.
I just get really assertive andthat's, I'm a very sweet person
and a very soft, gentle person.
But when I go in, maybe not nowso much, but back then I was
very pissed off about all theseyears of that shit.

(21:04):
And, and,

Jamie (21:05):
You're like, and know this isn't for my boyfriend,
it's for my fucking vagina.
that's what I would've said.

Rebecca (21:10):
If it helps Liz, there is a woman on TikTok who is a
master guitarist.
She's a master guitar player,and one of the things she does
is she will take her camera to aguitar center with her, and then
she'll just plug in her guitarand then play like the opening
bridge of a really popular song,like Smoke on the Water.
But she gets a couple noteswrong and then just men flock to
her.

(21:30):
Yes.
And it's the

Liz (21:31):
That's not the way it

Rebecca (21:32):
thing.
Yeah.
They get so mad about it andthey have to immediately correct
her, and they have no idea whoshe is.
It is the funniest thing.

Liz (21:40):
Oh,

Rebecca (21:41):
it's like she's taking that rage and just like turning
it

Liz (21:45):
I love that.
I love that so much.

Jamie (21:49):
Do you know

Liz (21:50):
but my,

Rebecca (21:52):
I will find it and we'll

Jamie (21:53):
Okay.

Liz (21:55):
okay, my, my first real, p well, I met Lizzie Daymond, who
is a wicked musician.
the other Lizzie, I used to callher the other white Lizzie, when
I met her, she was, a bassplayer.
But I, and then I learned abouther guitar chops, which are,
she's great.
She's a big heart fan.

(22:15):
And now she's playing in a, aheart band called Heart to
Heart.
And, playing the part of.
Nancy Wilson, but not, theydon't do the costuming and stuff
like that.
They do have a, an Anne Wilsonup up front who's quite, quite
nails it.
it's really, really un uncanny.
She's great singer, great band,but they have two of the

(22:38):
original members in that band,so it's more than a tribute
band.
It is a, I don't know what youwould even call that.
but, but that, she's doing thatnow.
so she was one of the first, andthen I met Stephanie Smith, who
is the closest thing to MichellePfeiffer that you've ever seen.
And she plays guitar by herbehind her back, she's just,

(22:59):
she's a, she's a dream.
Yeah.
So those were my two women, andthen I, I hired them both into a
show that, we worked in for, I,I wanna say several years.
Like it was a different eraanyway, but it's, it's still an
entity.
Stephanie's still in that band,but Lizzie's gone off to do the
heart reviewed.
So

Jamie (23:19):
Nice.

Liz (23:20):
anyway.

Jamie (23:21):
I love that.
I know you and I were talking alittle bit about, if you don't
wanna get into this, we don'thave to, but we were talking
about you doing shows.
Remember we were talking about,don't, people should not comment
on other people's bodies.
Do you remember thatconversation we had?

Liz (23:37):
I, I do, and I'm happy to talk about the body shaming of,
and the, the standard for.
For women in this industry.
Yes.
So ask away.

Jamie (23:49):
I, we tell, tell away.
You had told me a specific, aspecific story when you were

Liz (23:56):
Yeah.
Sick.
I was sick.
I was anxious.
I was, in emotional crisis and Iwas unable to keep food down, or
sleep.
I was going through a really bademotionally turbulent time, and
I was facing, external stressthat was just triggering me.

(24:17):
and I lost weight, of course.
and I've always been, curvy.
even when I was, let's back thisup, even when I was a child and
I went to, agencies to, get intoshow business and get, get some
money working, they'd be like,yeah, but you need to lose about
10 pounds.
And I'm looking at pictures ofme back then, and I was not a, a

(24:40):
chug chubby girl, but they'relike, yep, you're chubby.
You need to, lose like 10 to 15pounds.
I would've been sick.
I was sick at this point in thestory.
I was, working in music anddoing shows and stuff like that,
and I was sick.
And, the, my boss from that showsaid, Hey, whatever you're
doing, don't stop.
don't stop.
You look great.

(25:00):
And even other guys in the showwere like.
Thank you.
You are so fun to look at.
I'm like, wow, wow.

Rebecca (25:07):
that's what I'm here for is for you to fucking look
at

Jamie (25:11):
Yeah.

Liz (25:11):
yeah.
But, but that's a part of it,It's a part of, the, the, the
whole thing is like yeah, young,young and skinny and, and weak,
is the, you need.
And I, I remember when I turnedabout 20, when I turned, when I
turned about 25, I wasencouraged to lie immediately.
start lying about your age.
Say you could pass for, 20.
say you're 20, don't don't, or19 even don't say you're 25 and

(25:36):
as you get closer to the dreaded30, you're done.
but never let them know.
I just, but I wouldn't do that.
I didn't, I didn't, I justdidn't, Ugh, don't ask, don't
tell.
It's like the age thing.
It was a big deal.
It was a big, big deal.
But I was discouraged frombeing, upfront about my times
around the sun.
Um hmm.

(25:57):
Yeah.

Jamie (25:58):
That's so fucked up.
Yeah.
I'm sorry you went through thatand I'm sorry I made you tell it
twice, but I just,

Liz (26:04):
Oh, I don't mind.
It's, it's like therapy.
Thank you.

Jamie (26:08):
Yeah.
I just think that's a big thingwith me is like never comment on
somebody's body and Yeah.

Rebecca (26:16):
You said something yesterday.
'cause I was like the, you know,with everything that's going on
right now.
I was thinking the answers wasgonna be like, it's really hard
to find creativity and makework, but you're like, no, it's
just pouring out of me.
I think you called yourself likea conduit.
You're like, it's

Liz (26:30):
Yeah, it's,

Rebecca (26:32):
in the face of that.

Liz (26:33):
it's a challenge.
It's exhausting to keep up withmy ideas.
Sometimes I get up in the middleof the night and I'll, I'll send
myself a message when I'm verynearsighted.
So I'm like, I can't find myglasses.
I, if I had the migraine pillowon my head, a weighted thing on
my head, my eyes are all extrasquished and I can't see.
So I'm like, just doing it bybraille, and sending myself

(26:53):
messages is sometimes it comesout what?
other times I'm like, ah, that'sa really good idea.
But, but even the weird things.
So I'm like, what?
Is that what

Jamie (27:02):
It's like writing down, like writing in a dream journal
when you first wake up.
it's probably very similar.
I started doing, if I had ideas,I would just,'cause I wear an
eye mask to bed too, to no lightplease.
Just darkness.
and I just grab my phone and Ido like the, the like voice
memos.
I'll just be like, remind me.

(27:22):
And then I'll be like, about themonkey with the purple butt and
the,

Liz (27:26):
Yes.

Jamie (27:28):
and it's so good.
I don't have to see anything.
But then I wake up and I'm like,what the fuck is this?
I may have even sent Rebecca onewhen we were just starting the
podcast where it was like avoice message to her.
I don't know, maybe

Rebecca (27:40):
I think there was one.
I I was like, Jamie, what areyou?
Yeah, it was, it was, it,

Jamie (27:46):
it seemed very important at the time.

Rebecca (27:48):
it wa I, what was it?
It was, it was very important.
I was like.

Jamie (27:51):
3:00 AM 3:30 AM Yeah.

Liz (27:54):
Yep.
Yep.
I, in fact, I've done itrecently.
Why?
Let's see what I did.
I'm just curious.
Now we could talk

Jamie (28:01):
I love

Liz (28:01):
while I look.
Yeah.
Sorry, I'm opening my Gmail.
I, I know I sent myselfsomething.
Oh, I'm going to go, where isit?
let's find it.
Liz.
Where's Liz?
Where?
Liz To Liz.
I email.
Okay.
Misunderstanding.
That's one of them.
Cool song about, that's adifferent thing.
We've lost a universal languageof ourselves.

(28:23):
The people lived with a communallanguage and it, but it came out
communist.
That's interesting.
'cause I've been post, I'vebeen, anyway, I've been
correcting people on the word,communism and socialism and,
other things.
on social media.
It's like pissing in the window.

(28:43):
sorry, mom.
the, the people lived with.
Communal language, but it waslost to greed and pride, a
costly mistake.
This is a biblical thing.
And it just had come up somehow,and then I dreamt about it.
that's another thing is I'm, I'mtrying to find, this is another
fork in the road, but I'mwriting a music thing, a live

(29:05):
music immersive art.
Thing.
It's an experience.
It's, I'm applying for grantsand I'm writing, writing,
writing.
But, the, the idea is there's somuch division and it hurts my
heart.
People are angry and rightfullypeople are, but, but they're
being hateful.
And that concerns me because Ifeel like it's

(29:26):
counterproductive, the, for thesolution.
I know it's, look, I've been inthe place where it's it'll never
fix.
It's just, it's, it's ruinedfor, well, I'm gonna burn the
dog.
I've been that guy too.
I'm like, but, but part of me isjust, I, I get up and I chant
and pray and, and, meditate andvisualize and everything.

(29:46):
I can think of the same thing Idid when my husband was in ICU.
I'm doing it for humanity rightnow.
I cry buckets of tears everyday.
And then I imagine I, my heartfill up with love and I see it's
like visually as rose petals andI collect it and I just shoot it
outta my hands to the sky.
And I just do.

(30:07):
And I'm just like, come on,planet Earth.
Truth, love,

Jamie (30:10):
you guys.
I love you.

Liz (30:13):
I know exactly.
This is a punk way of doing it,but this is what, what I'm doing
is, I'm finding ways that peoplecan connect on these, on these
really fundamental things.
I don't know, let's just, peopleare trying to argue me on
Webster's dictionary,definitions of things.
Well, that's this a part of thedeep, and I'm like, whoa, okay.

(30:34):
there's only so much you can do,but if you can bring,

Jamie (30:37):
on the internet.
Who knew?
Who knew?

Liz (30:40):
Christianity is being used as a political

Jamie (30:44):
Mm-hmm.

Liz (30:46):
and these values aren't being, I'm just, I'm just asking
questions about these valuesand, and that, and, but I'm
doing it in a pal.
I'm working the wrong camera.
I'm doing it in a palatable way.
that's my goal.
it's going to make, it's gonnapiss people off no matter what.
I wrote a Christmas song acouple years ago that I never
shared with anybody, but myPatreons and welcome along by

(31:09):
the way.
I love you.
but,

Jamie (31:12):
everyone please, join Liz's Patreon.
I'll get a link.
I'll get a link to it while shecontinues.

Liz (31:18):
It's, it's cheap as chips really.
Or you can spend, I, I've, Iwent in there and, from the law
of attraction and all thesedifferent kinds of, ideas on how
to turn my ship around so that Ican, continue my work.
I, I, I added some tears thatare pretty extravagant.
everybody gets the same thing,but if you feel like you wanna
join for a couple grand, well goon.

(31:40):
go for your life.
I made it available, in casesomebody does.
And that would be life changing.
But you can also get on for fiveAustralian dollars for, I'm
thinking a lot of us are inAmerica here.
I know we have Canada and you'reabout in the same as

Rebecca (31:57):
yeah.
Well, Canada's gonna be the 51stdate in, soon anyway, so that's
fine.
It's pretty much America

Jamie (32:01):
God.
Oh God.
Oh God.

Liz (32:03):
I just threw up a little,

Jamie (32:07):
It sounded so real.
Are you okay?

Liz (32:11):
sorry.

Jamie (32:11):
No, you're fine.

Liz (32:13):
that was a, that was a, that was a, a fork in the road
where I've lo I've lo Oh yeah,because I found that the, the
latest email that I sent myself,in the night.
But I've done things like, don'tforget you have to report this
week.
So I made myself a little mess,alert alarm to remind me that I
need to report in, in, in themorning.

(32:34):
And it didn't say report.
It said, oo.
And, and, and I kept it becauseit's so good.
Oo.

Jamie (32:42):
Liz, I have done this exact same thing, but it's
usually I do like voice to talk,but it like thinks I said
something else and it'll

Liz (32:51):
Yeah.

Jamie (32:51):
in my reminders as like the wrong word, but it makes me
laugh, so I keep it.
I love that.

Liz (32:57):
No, no.
Love that so much.
And that, that's a great segueinto, I told you about, the,
because when you are anindependent artist, you gotta
come up with a, a label, yougotta come up with a vanity
label name.
And I, I didn't think about ituntil, I was faced with it when
I was, releasing music again,which started in 2023.

(33:18):
Thanks, Joel.
Thanks, drew.
Thanks Allison.
Thank you.
My, zoom group for saving mylife.
Anyway, I, I was looking for aname for the, the label, and I
was, what am I gonna call it?
and then I remembered when myhusband was, recovering.
Well, he's, yeah, from, from hissurgery, every now and then, he

(33:39):
still struggles.
He just, can't do mouths in hishead as brilliantly as he did.
as it turns out, my robot is,brilliant brain too.
I seem to go for those.

Jamie (33:47):
Yeah.

Liz (33:48):
I kind of, I I've, I'm attracted to brains really.
I, I like, I like brains.
It's just, I think that smart issexy and, that's just those are
my turn ons being smart.

Jamie (34:00):
like being smart and being sexy.
That's what I'm turned on

Liz (34:03):
And yeah, being kind to, to animals, children and people.
And that's also really sexy.
But, so Robert, my Robert was,trying, we had just gone in to a
funeral for a young man who was,my stepson's best friend, and he
was a lovely guy, and he waskilled in a car accident.
I know.
It was just gutting.

(34:25):
And, so we had gone to that andvery emotional day.
And the whole family was justlike, just buckets of tears.
We were really, really sad.
And we had all gathered back atthe family home and we were
sitting there and, having cupsof tea and biscuits as you do.
And, and then Robert was liketalking about how lovely Logan
was.
And, and then maybe some otherkids weren't he want, he was

(34:48):
trying to say the sharpest, the

Jamie (34:51):
tool in the

Liz (34:51):
sharpest tool and the tool.
Yeah.
Or, or however, but he had saidinstead, oh, that's a different
one.
I'll get there.
He had said, not the sharpestshit in the fridge.
And I never forgot.
We laughed and laughed.
The whole family just broke intojust peels of laughter.
We all, all needed.

Jamie (35:09):
Why is there shit in the fridge?

Liz (35:12):
I know it's just he does nons, sequitous like that, that
just, outta the blue.
And he, and then he just laughedand we all laughed and he said,
oh, it's fun, it is fun, beingold with brain damage, or
whatever.
And I'm like,

Jamie (35:21):
with

Rebecca (35:22):
to be saying that now.
So he, he's onto something.

Liz (35:26):
yeah, it's fun getting old.
so he finds just what we findjoy in, But then we got, to, to
help him along in his healing.
We got, some kayaks.
'cause we lived right on thisbeautiful lake, so we managed to
get these beautiful kayaks and,we needed, it is so close, we

(35:46):
could just roll them there if wehad a trolley to do But at the
time, we didn't have a trolley.
And then, I was shopping forlittle trolleys for our kayaks.
before we got the trolleys, wejust load'em up in the car and
then park the car and then dumpthe kayaks and then you'd go
back and, so it was a hassle.
so I found these trolleys duringlockdown and, I'm like, look at
these.
And and he was talking aboutthem and he wanted to say

(36:09):
trolleys, kayak trolleys, but hesaid Jo w and Kka Wackers.

Jamie (36:16):
Wait, why have I heard?
Why have I heard that?
Did you say that to us before?

Liz (36:19):
yeah, I, I, I told you that there was the name of my, vanity

Jamie (36:23):
Oh, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Liz (36:24):
KAA Studios, so yeah.
Jo Joly, Walker, KAA

Jamie (36:28):
You didn't tell me the story though.
You were like, that's a storyfor

Rebecca (36:32):
we literally were just like, it's an Australian, we
literally thought it was just

Jamie (36:35):
Yeah.
Well, I don't know about that,but

Liz (36:38):
Yeah.

Rebecca (36:39):
oh, okay.
I did.
I thought it.

Liz (36:43):
I, I, I just, I was just giving a friend some co I was
just giving a, a young man inAmerica, some, some pointers on
how to talk to an Australianthat's coming to his shop.
And I, I just gave him a fewpointers as far as a few
colloquialisms.
and, I just said, let's, what's,what's the first thing?

(37:04):
Oh, yeah.
Yaka

Jamie (37:05):
What's

Liz (37:06):
means work a hard yaka like you are hardworking, hard

Jamie (37:10):
I'm a hard yacker according to Joel.
So

Liz (37:13):
hard

Jamie (37:14):
Ha.
Yakka

Liz (37:16):
hard yaka.
And, to take a break is smoko.
So if you're gonna take a break,I'm gonna go have a smoke.

Jamie (37:22):
Even if you're not smoking.
I love that.

Liz (37:25):
Like it, you could be having a Smokeout having a
Sanger, which is a sandwich, sothat's a smokeout.
Yeah.
So you could just be sittingdown having a smokeout, you're
having a break.
and, and the list goes on.
There's so many good ones.
But my favorite, I think, isfair Dinkum, which means legit
or authentic.

Jamie (37:43):
Fair dinkum.

Liz (37:46):
Fair, fair, fair.
Dinkum.
Yeah.
I'm trying to say fair.
Fair.
I know it's weird.
I I speak weird.
It's, it's weird.

Rebecca (37:54):
You're

Liz (37:55):
what is that a pet peeve

Jamie (37:57):
no, I, she was laughing at us.
I just pick on her.
I pick on her.
What'd I do?

Liz (38:03):
by the way?
It's winter here and it's chillyin my studio, so I'm like rugged
Up in fluffy.
Yeah.
Whew.

Jamie (38:11):
Also, your companion is missing ahead, so I just thought
you should know.

Liz (38:16):
My companion is

Jamie (38:20):
Oh, there it is.
Excellent.

Rebecca (38:23):
Perfect.
It's perfect.

Liz (38:25):
you, yeah, you can always find, my Dark Veda antics on
YouTube.
If you do a deep dive, you'regonna find some really

Jamie (38:33):
we'll, we'll put it in the show notes so you guys can
find it immediately.
Don't you worry?

Liz (38:38):
I actually have a playlist from this dumb, like lockdown
show series that I did calledThe Interview.
And, it started with MarilynMonroe ish, meeting Elizabeth
Taylor ish, who was running anagency.
And, the, her boss, what was hisname, Mr.
Monkey Down.

(38:58):
And, the, it just ridiculous.
And then I was the receptionist.
Sylvia.
Sylvia, and

Rebecca (39:06):
we gotta get you on TikTok.
We gotta get you on TikTok likeyesterday,

Jamie (39:09):
Are you on TikTok?

Liz (39:10):
yeah.
Yeah.
I just am not, I'm look the, sowell, yeah, I've done things.
Even my, my child alias is alsoon TikTok.
I've just, I've got socials.
I just am not very active.
I get, see, I get burnt out andI find it, tedious.
And one of my favorite times insocial media when, was when Drew
suggested that I just do artfulweird videos, which, that and

(39:34):
then don't say anything.
Just do like maybe one, tag andjust say something, not like I
have a new single coming out.
Just be like something that,like a lyric from the song or
something that people might go,what, what is, and click.
That I like doing that.
Okay.
But even that, I'm like, oh, Igot, I got a song in my head.
I gotta go, I'm, I'm working on,I'm chasing music right now.

(39:55):
I am mixing an EP for a syncassignment is, and

Jamie (39:59):
Tell tell everybody what a sync assignment is.

Liz (40:02):
oh yeah, sync, sync licensing is like what, the
music that you hear on thecommercials and the music that
you hear on those reality shows,that's a lot of sync
opportunities on those realityshows because they use a crap
load of music, and films and, TVand whatnot, video games,
YouTube, the TikTok and, and,and everything.

(40:24):
sync licensing is the, thatprocess, they license the music
to sync into their thing,

Jamie (40:31):
Have, have you ever done music, oh, sorry, go ahead.
Sorry.

Liz (40:35):
No, I was, I was gonna say, I, I, I used to make a nice
living out of it in the, mid tolate nineties.
and that even afforded me that,that paid me a living wage.
I would, it was good.
And I lived like a middle classperson as a musician, and it was
amazing.
That was a really fun, creativetime in my life.
but then things changed.

(40:56):
in the early knots, I'm gonnasay I really noticed my royalty
checks looking like bad andunlivable around 2006 or seven.
it has something to do with, BMIand ascap.
the pros, oh my God, so manyacronyms.
Sorry.
the en the entities that handleyour royalties and everything

(41:17):
like that, that keeps track ofthat.
And, they, they just, music gotdevalued, we'll just put it that
way.
Deeply devalued, devalued to thepoint where, you know, your,
your big, big stars or whatever,your Beyonces and whatnot might
have a little dip, like going,oh, just a, but people like me
devastated,'cause I couldn'tlive off of those checks

(41:37):
anymore.
They went from being like, a fewgrand a quarter to, A, a few
hundred or less, a quarter fordomestic and international
royalties.
but anyway, why am I talkingabout this sink, my sink
assignment that I'm on rightnow?
I'm, I'm, I am, I've beenobsessed with, and I'm learning

(41:58):
about, and preparing myself tobe a producer of music for syn
licensing as a sustainable act,because I no longer wanna play
pubs.

Rebecca (42:09):
Ask Liz, I'm gonna ask a really silly question.
and if you've told us already,I'm sorry, I don't remember
with, with what you're doing,are you making songs like, are
you figuring out where to insertyour existing songs or are they
just we need a song that soundslike this and you're like, here
I have one.
Or do you have to write it likeon the fly?

Liz (42:27):
Yeah, yeah.
This, this, yes to both.
this, this assignment right nowis, particular.
Opportunity to get in with areally heavy hidden industry.
It would be a big leg up, for,for, for me.
and they, they are looking for aspecific sound, and I've been

(42:49):
given a six song playlist toemulate these six songs in a way
that is still uniquely mine.
And that's one of my gifts andtalents.
I, I, I enjoy that.
I, that is a fun thing.
But then also, change the lyricsaround to be sync friendly,
which is, there's a huge list ofsync friendly themes.

(43:12):
I'll just give you a littleexample, like resilience and,
achievement and platonic love,like friendship and family.
there's just so many love songsout there to pick from.
just, there's just like areally, long list of, of things
like that.
So I keep it in that,

Rebecca (43:29):
and if you switch words up close enough, then it can be
also Christian gospel worshipmusic too.
It just depends.
You just gotta switch a couplewords in those love songs, and
then it's like a whole othergenre.

Jamie (43:40):
Now we're singing about God.
Now we love God.

Rebecca (43:43):
Right?

Liz (43:44):
are talking about South Park?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I know that that's a greatepisode.
and it's funny that you mentionthat because from my, music,
live immersive experience that Iam going to have manifest that
I'm working on really, really,hard, it is cool because the
sync assignments are bleedingover into that, because it's

(44:06):
positive.
And that's part of my message isunity and positivity.
One of my songs, on the, that,EP is, Odette OTA from 1970, a
song called Cut and Dry, or I, Ican't remember, but the, it's
about being an individual.
So I went there, I was like, yoube you.

(44:27):
I'll be me.
We could respect each other'sindividuality.
It's called individuality.
So I'm using that for the show,but I'm also using it to pitch
for whatever sync I can get,and, and to get in with this
entity by my, a peer that wellappear.
He's, he's, he's another mentor,I think.

(44:48):
Drew's my mentor, but this guy'sbecoming a sync mentor

Jamie (44:52):
But Drew's your favorite mentor.
Drew's your favorite.
Drew's your favorite.

Rebecca (44:56):
Oh, she didn't say yes.
Okay.

Liz (44:59):
I'm going to, I'm, I'm gonna say I, yeah, like of
course he is.
Of course he is.
He's brilliant.
He's brilliant and funny.
He's funny as hell.
the thing that, one of thethings that I love that, drew
and I connect on is this darksense of humor and, yeah.
So anyway, yeah.

Jamie (45:16):
I

Rebecca (45:16):
What I find really interesting, Liz, is that, so I
would imagine with creativework, having like a proverbial
gun to your head on like, okay,you have to write these songs in
this amount of time for thisspecific thing.
I feel like that would hamperthe creativity process.
And then I would just be like,well, then I don't wanna do it.
'cause it's not art.
But as an editor, like if youhave to write something on the

(45:40):
fly, it is an assignment.
Well just get it done.
And you can't be precious aboutit.
do you, is it like, do you justpour all of yourself in there or
do you feel like you're holdingback at all?

Liz (45:50):
I absolutely stand behind the music that I make.
Yeah.
And be, like I said, I'm usingit in the show.
It's not, this is music that Iwould be, I'm not writing about,
I don't know if you ever watchedBeverly Hills 9 0 2 1 oh.
But there was this one scenewhere David, the musician was
really butt hurt because he gota gig doing.

(46:11):
Some sink licensing, and itturned out to be armpit music.
It's for a deodorant commercial,and he was really just angry
about that.
so I'm, it's not like I'm,writing about, things that I
don't stand behind.
Yeah.
So I get to write aboutempowering things.
Now I'm full stop against

Rebecca (46:30):
and, and they don't, they don't own the music.
you still get to retain therights to your own music too.

Liz (46:35):
Yeah.
That's what the pros are about.
That's what ASCAP does.

Rebecca (46:38):
Really interesting.
'cause like with what we do,Liz, we don't own it anymore.
Like the publication we write,like, or we, they own it.
And so a lot of writers andeditors have their own like side
projects that they're working onthat's all their own.
And so we're used to likecreating in the dark.
It's, it's fascinating that youjust get to put it all out there
and you still own it.
And

Jamie (46:58):
that's great.

Liz (46:59):
Well, yeah, don't get me, don't get me wrong.
I have pieces that are not adfriendly.
but the thing is ad friendly iswhat gets your foot in the door.
I want, I've got pieces thatwould be great for a movie.

Jamie (47:10):
Or just

Liz (47:11):
really good for a film.
Yeah.

Jamie (47:13):
open up more opportunities for you?
if you have this connection,this new connection now for what
you're, like the sink you'redoing now?

Liz (47:22):
Potentially.
I'm having a difficult timewrapping my head around what
just happened.
I went from I want, I want, Iwant, I need, I need, I need to
take charge of my career.
I, I always wanted to get backinto sync and I've never done it
alone.
I've never, I've only ever, likethe sync that I did in, in the
nineties was, collaboration.
And I didn't do any of thatpaper.
I just signed the papers, and,and put it into my PRO.

(47:44):
I didn't do any of the, theheavy lifting when it came to,
like what I'm having, what I'mdoing now.
and, and not only that, but,drew has been mentoring me and,
honing my production skills tothe point where, the, the idea
is to get me to the point whereI can do it by myself, myself,
but,

Jamie (48:02):
it by yourself,

Liz (48:04):
well, yeah, eventually, it's, I still get stuck in the
weeds.
Oh, I remember what I wanted tosay.
We were talking about churchesand faith plus one, or wasn't
that what I was, that episodefrom South Park, I am writing
uplifting music that I am doing.
I'm, I'm creating choir chartsfor, and I'm going to, because I

(48:26):
really want, I know it soundskooky, but when Robert was in
ICU and I was going there on thefull unicorn, like I was praying
and Shannon, and imagining andlistening to manifestations that
he would survive.
I was seeing him climbing atree.
I was just like, looking at himlaughing in my head and I was
just like, don't kill him.

(48:47):
let's, let's keep him alive.
And, I'm doing that now for, forI mean it for humanity.
I'm not trying to bloat.
As we say in Australia, I'm nottrying to piss in my pocket.
I'm not trying to pretend likeI'm some, like I don't have a
God complex.
I just want to do whatever I canwith my superpower.
and it's coming so quickly thatas far as like the art is making

(49:10):
itself, I feel like a conduit.
but I, I'm writing songs likeCarry On.
I co-wrote that with Allison.
That's like probably my latestsingle, I think.
And, it's, it's, it's like justuplifting music and I'm going to
give that to churches andcommunity churches and,
community choirs and, schoolsand all.
I'm just, not just in Australia,but like digitally they can have

(49:33):
it for free, the music, the, thetrack to sing along to if they
need it, or, like anaccompaniment.
I'm just like an acoustic guitaror a piano or something like
that.

Jamie (49:42):
Mm-hmm.

Liz (49:43):
and, and I'm gonna distribute that worldwide.
That's my goal.

Jamie (49:47):
That's awesome.

Liz (49:47):
that's a part of my

Jamie (49:48):
That's great.

Liz (49:49):
yeah, because I just, I would like to see people singing
hopeful things and, yeah.
One of the ti recent times I, Iwent, into the bottom of the
well of despair and depressionand anxiety and feeling like my
life was outta control.
And it comes and goes.
And there are things that I cando lately that prevent me from

(50:12):
being in it as long or maybe asdeep it seems.
and I'm just, I'm not talkingabout medicine.
I'm resistant to all meds.
I, I do, have, I am a cardcarrying, THC person here.
literal card carrying.
I have medical exemp.
I'm allowed to, to have mytincture and edibles here.
And then I'm, I'm resistant tomedicine.

(50:33):
They, we've tried, oh mygoodness.
I've been diagnosed, diagnosed,diagnosed with, like over and
over and over.
Ah, you're just depressed.
Oh, you're just anxious.
Oh, take this, take this, takethis.
These medicines make me worse.
the last one they put me on,they put me on a, some kind of a
mood stabilizer.
and, and that was a disaster.

(50:54):
that, yeah, that was not, well,it made me really suicidal.
and that's always been a part ofmy journey.
Now I'm just gonna say it.
I've had that little passengerin my brain as long as I
remember.
my first suicide note, I wasvery, very small.
I was just a, a little, littlekid.
But, so I, I, I found it.

(51:18):
yeah, so medicines don't workfor me because I feel like, and
my, my wellness journey, it's apopular theory that I might be
neuro neurodivergent, but Idon't have, the funds to be
tested for that.
It's really expensive here.

Rebecca (51:35):
So Dr.
Pre, who we had on a coupleweeks ago, she said that so many
women are diagnosed incorrectly.
And she said they'reaccidentally doing harm by
giving you these medicationsbecause they're not testing for
Neurodivergence.
So they're just like, well, youneed X, Y, and Z, and then the
medicine's fucking you upbecause you shouldn't be on it.
And so I'm wondering if that'smaybe something that's to

(51:56):
consider that's happened to youlike

Liz (51:58):
I do.
I, I, I, my GP and I, who isjust about to retire, oh God,
I'm auditioning GPS right now,so I'm really freaked out
because she is fantastic.

Jamie (52:11):
I hate losing.

Liz (52:13):
Yeah, she's, yeah.
Yeah.
It's really weird.
I'm, I don't like change from mylittle thing, my little routine,
my team, I'm like, oh, no.
Yeah.
Anyway, but I'm just trustingthe process.
I'm moving forward, but I, I dohave meltdowns about it.
But, so she, she thinks, it'svery likely, that that's what's
what with me.

(52:34):
And then I also have a great,clinical psychologist who is
trauma informed, and we aredoing a lot of work, and that's
been great.
I'm really happy to have her,but

Jamie (52:44):
love therapy here.
We love therapy.

Liz (52:46):
yeah, no, oh, we were talking about bad therapy.
That's, that's why I'm talkingabout this.
because you fired a therapistand I, I fired a therapist too a
few years back before COVID.
it was intense.
I, it, because I've always beena peacekeeping, people pleaser.
I'll turn myself into a pretzelso long as I don't have to say
no.

(53:06):
And, and I, no, no.
yeah, like this isn't workingfor me.
I'm trying, I'm trying.
No, I'm not, I'm not going intothat pretzel box again, not
doing it.
but this, this one.
I fired her and it was hard, butit was, it, that was big growth
for me because she was really,she had a big, big personality

(53:26):
and she just knew everything.
And I went in there and I hadlike, it was just a little off,
you know?
And, and she was pushing me.
I'm like, well, she's justpushing me.
She's you need to, wonder Womanand own your space.
She's you're making yourselfsmall when you talk about that.
And like, you know, she's likethis and she's spread your legs
out and out, sit like a man and,and do this power stuff.
And I'm like, right, okay at thetime, I, I was getting, I was

(53:49):
getting, Assist surgery.
I was getting ready for that andI was very, and I was going
through the vocal cord paralysisthing, that journey.
And one of the things that canhappen to you when you have
surgeries, they put the tubedown you, for the, anesthesia
and, and, and they and I wasscared and I was crying about

(54:09):
that and I'm like, I am a singerwith Dysphonia already.
I already have vocal chordparalysis and I am, struggling
to get around.
And I, I'm like, I'm singingagain.

Jamie (54:20):
You're like, don't fuck this up more.

Liz (54:23):
yeah, and I'm like, I know I'm not rich.
I, no, I'm not Adele.
That doesn't mean I, my voicedoesn't fucking matter.
It matters.
And it's, it's amazing andincredible.
You don't even know who I am,but that doesn't mean I'm not
somebody, And, so that wasempowering on my own.
but this therapist was like, whyare they even doing that?

(54:46):
You should be getting a And thenshe was talking about the spine
thing or whatever, like theyshould be doing that instead,
and she was really adamant aboutit and very hateful about it.
And, and it, it made me veryuncomfortable.
That was really weird and itmade me feel really weird.
'Cause I went in there anxiousand I came out a wreck, and, and
so I fired her.

Rebecca (55:05):
Good.

Jamie (55:06):
Excellent.

Rebecca (55:07):
Good.

Liz (55:09):
It was a big deal.

Rebecca (55:10):
What a bitch.
Thing though, Liz, that wetalked about yesterday, like
that you're struggling with thatreally struck me, especially
living in Australia, is the lackof me good Mexican restaurants.

Liz (55:20):
oh, it hurts.

Rebecca (55:23):
yeah.
I can't wait for this to be donebecause I have Mexican food
coming and I'm so fuckingexcited to eat it and I can't
imagine not getting to feel thatfor months on

Jamie (55:32):
Wow.
A way to just like twist theknife in Rebecca.
You're like, I'm gonna eat, youdon't have Mexican.
I'm gonna eat Mexican food.

Liz (55:40):
just put some Chipotle on the

Rebecca (55:42):
No, I'm genuinely sad for her.
'cause like they have this greensalt set.
I'm like, oh my God, theyprobably, this probably doesn't
get green salt.
I just am genuinely

Jamie (55:50):
She's always

Rebecca (55:51):
mournful for you.
I am genuinely sad for you.

Jamie (55:54):
Yeah.
She's

Rebecca (55:54):
I'm like sad for you.
Like genuinely that you don'tget that.
It's awful.

Liz (56:00):
I love tamal enchiladas and, I, I love all that stuff.
I love the, I love the trashyfried beans that you get in then
the toto salsa.
I, I, I,

Rebecca (56:10):
Home Depot tamales.
You don't even get Home Depottamales.
Those are the best tamales.

Liz (56:16):
No, there's no Home Depot here, yet, you never know.
Things do come.
I, I, yeah.
but, we have, look, my firstAmer my, my first Mexican
Australian, experience was inSydney.
There was a Mexican joint, andthe fellow looked like he, I
mean he spoke, yeah, he wasauthentic.

(56:36):
He had a, a Mexican accent and,yeah, but, the restaurant was
delicious.
It was great, but you pay foryour chips and salsa.
You don't get like side of guac.
And it was just like different.
It really, really, reallyexpensive.
And, it was, it was deliciousand lovely, but, I never went
back because I, that's the bigcity, the big smoke.

(56:58):
I don't, I go there to go topretty much, I only ever go
there to catch a flight toAmerica.
the traffic there is justbeyond, I've been through LA
traffic too, by the way.
I toured through, LA, Californiaand whatnot, in the nineties and
early knots and a, a, a, that'sbad traffic.
But this is, I, I'm dare sayworse.

(57:19):
Maybe not.
I don't know.
Maybe I'm just like overt,traumatized by cars and traffic.
You know how I feel about that.
Yuck.

Jamie (57:25):
yeah, I do.
I just remembered.
So I think I told you a whileago, Liz, that one of my old
coworkers, had, she's fromAustralia, came to the States, I
think, I don't remember whereshe met her husband, but
actually moved to Seattle to bewith her husband, which isn't
that the opposite for you?
Weren't you in the Seattle areaand you moved to Yeah.

(57:48):
and every day we were like, oh,you have to teach us, an
australianism.
And the only one I remember is,oh, now you've thrown a spanner
in the works.

Liz (58:01):
Yep.
Spanner in the works.
Yeah.
I was just, telling somebodyabout the spanner.
It's a re wrench.
It's a wrench.
It's like throwing a wrench inthe works.
We call it a spanner.
Australia is really good at,picking, nicknames for people,
like, uh, nicknames for publicfigures.
And one of my, sorry, mom, butone of my favorite was, what was

(58:21):
it?
I don't remember.
Had something to do with theplatypus and, twat.
The, the use of the word twat.
And it was like,

Jamie (58:29):
a.

Rebecca (58:29):
That's a good one.

Liz (58:30):
like a, a, a tt build platypus.

Jamie (58:32):
I'm writing all these down as band names.
I'm like, twat, build platypus.

Liz (58:39):
yeah.
Gosh.
And that was just

Jamie (58:40):
I'm just like band names.

Liz (58:44):
that was just something that came across my social media
a long time ago, but, I don'tremember.
I'll, I'll remember it at threein the morning and after like
stock bill, platypus, swa wafflesandwich.
I don't know, I don't rememberwhat it was,

Jamie (58:58):
sounds best in dialects outside of North America.
Very true.
Platy, tty, puss.
Beautiful.

Liz (59:05):
but, but it is a, it is a thing.
when I, when I come to Americaand I add her words, Especially
like fresh off the flight.
I, I get this

Jamie (59:14):
Mm-hmm.

Liz (59:15):
you know, and I'm like, oh fuck.
That's just that's a cockneyaccent firstly, It's just, yeah.
but, but yeah, it's, it's athing.
It's a thing.
And, and you're not doing that.
It's, I When you say na, don'tforget the why.
The longer the why, the biggerthe NN there's a show you should

(59:35):
watch if you like Australia.
Australia.
if you like, you should checkout C and Kim, that that's a
comedy show.
It has a lot.
it's really a lot of stuff thatwill probably go over your head,
but it's, it's quite clever.
Very funny.

Jamie (59:49):
you calling me dumb?

Liz (59:51):
Yeah.
There's just a lot of, Aussiestuff in there, but, it's, it's,
it's, it's really funny.
and, one of the, one of thecharacters or a couple of the
characters are these kind ofbougie, kinda, posh have
themselves on thinking that theyare, really, really posh, these
store clerks at this store wherethings are

Jamie (01:00:09):
I think I've seen that.
No, I might be thinking ofsomething else.
Actually.
I think I'm thinking of aBritish show where they worked
in a,

Liz (01:00:19):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That with the lady with thewacky hair.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

Rebecca (01:00:25):
AB Fab.

Liz (01:00:27):
No, that's, that's a good one though.
Yeah.
No, the, the, the clerks thereare clerks in a, in a store,
like a mall, and they, they haddifferent levels going up.
It had the sixties theme songgoing up, like the elevator.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, that's, yeah.
But this, this, this was justlike, inside of the show, it was

(01:00:48):
two of the main characters, themom and the daughter.
And they would dress up withthese like silver, like Karen
style wigs, and they'd be like,and, and they'd be looking down
their nose at, the othercharacters and, and just

Jamie (01:01:01):
And they just say, NA

Liz (01:01:05):
no,

Jamie (01:01:07):
na.

Liz (01:01:08):
you wanna, one of the popular, one of the only things
I can remember was, you wannathrow for your car.
And she's what you wanna throw

Jamie (01:01:18):
I have no idea what you just said

Liz (01:01:20):
Neither, neither did Kim.
She didn't understand.
And, but it, she was trying tosay, do you have, do you wanna
throw for your couch, which is athrow blanket for your couch?
Would you like a throw for yourcouch?
And then she's what?
So anyway,

Jamie (01:01:36):
Manic says

Liz (01:01:37):
a thing.

Jamie (01:01:38):
every vowel into No is sorcery.
It does sound like every vowelis in there.

Liz (01:01:44):
No, there is a R There's an r and a y.
Yeah, that, yeah.
It's weird, but, mm.
It's strange.
It's a strange thing having a,as Australian accent.
And my husband has it too,because I'm the only person he
hangs out with.
so it was

Jamie (01:02:00):
rubbed off on him.
You're like, you moved toAustralia, but he's getting your
accent a little bit.

Liz (01:02:06):
he, yeah, he lived in America for about a year.
but when he was fresh off theplane, it was just like, whoa,
what you're gonna do is go, he'sasking for directions and, and,
and it was just, it wassomething to watch.
But, he always laughed becausethey were like, what you're
gonna do is take a lept onMeeker.
And he is Mika, and he is Take aleft on Meeker, it's Okay.

(01:02:28):
But, and then, and then we go tothe, the pub to get a a, a
Sanger and, and the girl servingus, Rob's, in Australia, we
don't use pickles as much as weused pickled beet root on, on
burgers.
I know you're a vegetarian.
I was a vegetarian at the time.
I, before I moved to Australia,I was a vegetarian, but I moved
here and I was just like, Ireally wanna try that.

(01:02:49):
I really wanna try that.
So I had to had, yeah, so I'm anomnivore now, but I, I really
mostly eat plant-based.
but for many reasons.
But anyway, so the girl, he wasasking for beet root, for his
burger.
And, and she was just like,looked at me and she's I,

Jamie (01:03:07):
She's what?

Liz (01:03:08):
European.
She, she said, I don't speakEuropean to, to him.
yeah, I didn't look at him andshe was like, what's he saying?
I don't speak European.
And he was just like, what?
What did, did she just say that?
What?
No.
What?

Jamie (01:03:22):
She's oh, you're not European.
And he is N

Liz (01:03:25):
no, it wasn't even that she had no concept.
yeah, no, sorry.

Rebecca (01:03:32):
I

Liz (01:03:32):
It's cute I guess.
Hello Gump?
Nah.
Yeah.

Jamie (01:03:35):
awful.
That's so sorry.
Well, I think we have, this is,I feel like this is like our
longest episode, but it doesn't,didn't even feel that long.

Liz (01:03:44):
Doesn't, doesn't feel like it's been long at all.

Jamie (01:03:48):
We've been doing this for two hours.
See how like comfortable, howcomfortable and cozy we are
together.
All three of us like

Liz (01:03:56):
well, can I just point out that when we were doing the AV
check that was supposed to topstake an hour, if there was like
technical problems wound upbeing like about two hours of
talking, right?

Rebecca (01:04:08):
two ended up being two hours of talk.

Liz (01:04:11):
Yeah.
I know you had to go.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
I know.
But for me, I was just like,well, in and out.
Usually an Navy check.
That's it with me.
I'm like in and out.
Okay.
I'll click there.
Okay.
Okay.
See ya.
but no, you're just a fun hangand I, yeah, no, I, I, I, I'm so

Rebecca (01:04:26):
there are two wolves in you.
Like my w my first Wolf likemeetings need to be seven
minutes.
And then the second wolf has todo a podcast.
And so I am two wolves.

Jamie (01:04:38):
But this isn't a meeting.

Liz (01:04:39):
Oh.

Rebecca (01:04:40):
No, I know.
That's what I mean.
It's like I have to remindmyself, no, this is a podcast,
so it's fine if it's two hours'cause it doesn't count.
It's not a real meeting.

Jamie (01:04:47):
Mm-hmm.
It doesn't, it doesn't count.
And you know what else?
We're not getting paid for it,

Rebecca (01:04:52):
I know that's true.
Liz, do you, do you wanna, asidefrom your lovely Patreon, or is
there anywhere else that youwant people to find you?
Or is there anything that you'reworking on that you wanna plug
to keep an eye out for?

Liz (01:05:04):
Yeah, well, I'm looking for funding for my, project.
I've, I've applied for twogrants for the project.
I've just started, I, I put apage on my website about it just
recently.
It's, it's still in the earlyphases.
so I'm like, I, like I said, I,I've just put in two big, giant
massive grants.
If they come through, I'm gonnabe able to do this thing.

(01:05:24):
Liz aday.com au That's mywebsite.
But also there's Link Tree.
I don't know if, if you're savvywith Link Tree, it's link The
link Tree.
L-I-N-K-T Ee slash Liz Aday.
But I'm like, it's not hard tofind me.
really?
just Google it.

Rebecca (01:05:45):
Thank you genuinely for doing this.
We really, really appreciatethis.
This was so much fun and it's solovely to talk to you because
we, we have a lot of people whowe work with, but we haven't had
a lot of creatives and it'sjust, it's fascinating and I
love it.

Jamie (01:05:59):
to just hear how it just like pours out of you too is
like me who, I actually thoughtI was like, I'm not a creative
person.
but I was just, I was so burntout that I wasn't even dabbling
in anything else but work, work.
So of course I didn't feelcreative and

Liz (01:06:15):
Oh no, of course.

Jamie (01:06:16):
that started flowing outta me as soon as we just
started with this and figuringout what we were gonna do and,
to just see somebody that just,I don't know, just it flows out
of you constantly, every whichway.
that's so awesome.
that's so cool.
I know it can probably be alittle frustrating, but I just,
Everyone please, subscribe to

Rebecca (01:06:35):
her Patreon.

Jamie (01:06:37):
please.
Patreon.
that would be great., Love youladies.
Thank you everybody

Liz (01:06:42):
Love you.

Rebecca (01:06:43):
Thank you guys.
Bye.