May 16, 2024 • 48 mins
From the vibrant streets of Brazil to the charming coast near Brighton, UK, Karen Dió brings a fusion of cultures to our latest episode with stories that resonate with the soul. As an artist who's ridden the waves from metalcore bands to punk rock anthems, Karen's journey is a testament to the heart's resilience and music's power to bridge continents.
Striking a chord with music aficionados and dreamers alike, Karen reveals the behind-the-scenes of her viral success with "Sick Ride" and the punk rock essence that fuels her craft. She's candid about the challenges of starting afresh in the UK after leaving a mark in Brazil, and her vision of bringing her melodies to American audiences. Her story is one of relentless passion, reflecting the grind and glory of independent artistry and the cultural transitions that shape an artist's voice.
Rounding off our time together, we raise a toast to the inspiring female figures in the music industry, with Karen sharing her admiration for icons like Madonna. But it's not just about looking up to the stars; it's also about dreaming big ourselves. Karen muses on time-travel wishes, health and happiness over wealth, and the deep-seated yearning to appreciate every note in life's grand symphony. As always, brought to you by Sailor Jerry!
https://www.instagram.com/karendioxx/
https://sailorjerry.com
https://brazilfoundation.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey yo Karen Dio.
What's up, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm okay.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
I'm good.
I'm good.
It is awesome and a pleasure tohave you as a guest here on the
Sailor Jerry podcast.
So thank you very much fortaking the time.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Of course I'm very happy to be here.
Actually, it's an honor for me.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Well, I appreciate that.
I appreciate that.
Are you in?
You're in England right now,right?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yes, I'm in the UK, not in London.
I'm in St Denis, which is a bitclose to Brighton, very close
to the beach.
I feel a bit more home when Ihave a nature environment around
me.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I miss Brazil but yeah, I'm in the UK now.
Well, I kind of wanted to startbecause you are the first
Brazilian that we've had on thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I know it's awesome and you know what's not awesome
is the flooding that's going onright now in southern Brazil.
And you know I wanted to startthe episode off with just a
little bit of you know love forBrazil, a little background on
Brazilian culture, and to kindof give our of you know love for
Brazil, a little background onBrazilian culture and to kind of
give our audience you know thekinds of ins and outs of what
(01:11):
makes it such a special place.
You know, as a musicianfortunate enough to travel
mostly everywhere never been toSouth America, never been to
Brazil and it's such ahistorically incredible place
for music.
What is it about Brazilianculture that is so unique and so
(01:32):
cool and so special?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, first of all, thank you so much for mentioning
about what's happening in RioGrande do Sul.
Actually, that makes me a bitemotional about it.
I'm not from that area inspecific, but I do have friends
over there about it.
I'm not from that area anyspecific, but I do have friends
over there and you know Ithere's so many um, if you see
the situation right now, it'sit's very sad.
So I appreciate it mentionedthat and if anyone can stop and
(01:54):
have a look and also donatebecause, like, just like basic
things like fresh water, youknow, clean water, we, we don't
have that right now, and so also, people can understand the
dimension, like, oh, like thesize of Rio Grande do Sul is
kind of the same size as um UKin like more than 350 cities
were affected by that.
So it's like it's it's a hugething that's going on.
(02:17):
So, yeah, I appreciate youmentioning and anyone could who
can donate um to Brazil rightnow is going to be very
important.
And about culture, yes, I guess, like Brazil is such like an
amazing place.
It's very kind of hard forpeople to go to South America
and that's why it's such a hugething when we say, like, come to
(02:38):
Brazil because, like we lovemusic and we are very passionate
about it, all the bands, likewe really want them to come
because, like, we're ready andonce you're there and I hope,
like one day, you can go reallysoon, hopefully you will see,
like how passionate we areBecause, like, who knows, like
when the band will come backagain.
You know, I remember when I sawFoo Fighters for the first time
(03:00):
and that was like 2011.
And it took them like 2011 andit took them like 10 years, um
for them to come back.
Like they came 2001 and thentook them 10 years and they went
back 2011.
That was my first shows umscene and I was like, oh my god,
the whole crowd in sao paulowas just like was I think it was
lola palooza, the first lolapalooza as well like it was such
(03:22):
a massive thing, was so special.
And you know, for me that was aquite like teenager, like
getting young, um, still veryyoung as a such a huge thing.
Brazil is a very multi-diverse.
You have like um cultures, likefrom everywhere in in the whole
world, like we have like Asianum families, families, we have
(03:44):
italians families and the northand the south um, as um hugo
grande do so is like german andand I think from netherland as
well like it's so culturallydiverse and you know, and music
is one thing that kind ofconnects all of us and the whole
world, and even more in bra,and it's just like how we
(04:07):
communicate, I feel like, maybebecause we also like I guess I
can say like third world country, you know, and music is kind of
what makes us keep going andkeep working and pushing hard,
how we connect in the end of theday after working.
So much you know.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
So yeah, art in general is a huge thing for us
yeah, I, I hope to one day beable to come down there and and
play some shows and for peoplelistening, uh,
brazilfoundationorg is a spotthat you can donate.
Um, you can go there and donate.
Uh, you know, like karen'ssaying, anything helps, anything
(04:44):
helps.
And you mentioned Come toBrazil and that's one of the
greatest things.
It's like a little I don't knowhow inside of a joke it is at
this point in the music world,but for our listeners out there,
come to Brazil.
Is this kind of universalcomment that Brazilians make.
Is this kind of universalcomment that Brazilians make?
(05:05):
And especially now, in the daysof social media, where an
artist can post about anythingand everything, there's always a
comment that says come toBrazil.
It could be you know the artistposting, you know what they're
making for dinner.
They could be saying, hey guys,I just want to let you know my
dog died.
And the comments will say cometo Brazil.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, I think it was a person that I can't remember
right now, who I saw post.
That was basically like that.
Someone posted something veryrandom and not a Brazilian, like
an American person said come toBrazil.
And he wasn't even like inBrazil.
It's a huge thing and I love it.
I love the fact that people, umand I think I feel like it's
the word adopted this fromthemselves.
(05:49):
You know, like the fact thatit's still like people mention
it.
It's just so cool, like it'sour now we are we as a brazilian
, we have a such a great senseof humor and it's just fun to
see like now the whole world hasthis as well, like it's a our
inside joke with the whole world.
You know what I mean.
I just love that.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
That's awesome, yeah, and I know you know for for our
music listeners out there.
You know you know, like IronMaiden, for example, rock in Rio
, all these huge, a lot of these.
You know a lot of it's.
(06:27):
You know it's stuff that'llgive you chills over your whole
body, some of the moments thatyou can watch on YouTube.
Or you know bands have put outlive records and that whole
thing, so it's definitely asuper special place.
What about?
You know, I know you've doneyour time in in the local scenes
there.
(06:47):
What's it like on a local level?
How's, like you know, the thepunk scene, indie scene, like
from the street level, clublevel type stuff?
What's the music scene like inbrazil?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
um, well, I've been a lot in punk and hardcore scene
and you know, like, rock is not.
If you're not big unfortunatelyit's not it's not like people
don't give much attention.
They.
They will basically, um, youknow, I mean like the mainstream
right, the, the whole crowdthey will give you more
(07:18):
attention when you start to getlike big and get other other
people attention.
So it's I really like give a lotof value to all the the small
bands in the country becausethey're doing this, because they
love you know, like financiallyit's really heartbreaking and
if someone just can't do it andthey have to quit, I can't even
say like no, keep going, becausesometimes it's just too hard.
(07:41):
You know, like, but, um, fanbase, like those people that go
go, they are always in the shows.
I remember in my previous bandI would have the same fans going
and supporting us and it's justamazing when they're there
they're so supportive, theyappreciate so much, you know,
because it is hard.
(08:02):
So those people that make thescene actually happen, they like
they're very connected reallytogether.
So it is a very strong scene,for example, like the punk scene
, and there is like the verystrong crowd and those who are
there like really appreciate ityeah, it's really cool that you
know brazil champions punk andhardcore the way they do,
(08:25):
especially like you're saying.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
You know it's it's not just uh, the huge bands that
go over there and get uh get agreat response.
You know there's there'ssmaller punk bands.
You know hardcore bands that Iknow personally uh, go over to
Brazil and it's a verygrassroots, diy type of
operation.
It's not like they're goingover there, you know, and to you
(08:46):
know, like when you, when youtour Japan, for example, like
it's super everything's donealready for you, it's super
organized and laid out.
And, like you know, I from whatI've yeah, from from what I've
heard of my friends going, goingand playing in Brazil, it's
much more kind of you know, it'smuch more loose, you know, but
(09:09):
it's incredible.
You know, but it's incredibleand I can imagine, you know that
it's dope.
So, you know, shout out toBrazil.
You know.
Again, if you want to donate tobrazilfoundationorg to help
what's going on down there inSouthern Brazil with the floods,
that would be amazing.
You know, hang in there.
(09:29):
All the people in Brazil we loveyou and you know, right on, I
wanted to kind of move on fromthat now and get into your
musical background andeverything, because it's kind of
crazy, it really is.
You know, like I, I didn't knowhow deep it went.
You know, I didn't really knowhow long you've been playing
(09:51):
music and I was so stoked tofind that out because it's
really cool when you see someonewho has dedicated their life to
music and you know all the ebbsand flows and ups and downs
that come along with that.
And if you want to get a littlebit of insight for people
(10:12):
watching listening out there,the so Funny video which is out,
right, that's out.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yes, it's out.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It's got a pretty rad .
You know little kind of videomontage of basically your whole
musical life.
And you're very much on to thisnew, awesome, incredible solo
phase of your career.
And we're not going to live inthe past here in the podcast,
(10:42):
but I do kind of want to justbrush through it so people
understand.
I mean, you grew up basicallywas it a musical family or was
just everyone into music?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
everyone was very into music in my family.
Like my grandpa, he used tolike be like little like dj not
professional dj in like I don'tknow 1940s or 1950s, but like he
was like he really liked musicand he would like have make
parties and play music and bethe DJ of the party and like, if
we do make a party, um, hewould probably put his vinyls on
(11:14):
and play some Frank Sinatra andBeatles and all this stuff.
Like he's he loved music and mywhole family really liked music
.
Yeah, so if I can like go alittle bit back and tell a bit
of my story, I've been makingmusic since I was 13 years old.
I know I look people say I looklike I'm 20, but I'm 33 years
old.
I'm going to be 34 at the endof the year, so I'm basically
(11:39):
more than 20 years now makingmusic.
You know, professionally Icould say a bit less, but like
I've been in band since I'mbasically more than 20 years now
making music.
You know, professionally Icould say a bit less, but like
I've been in bands since I'm 13years old.
So I've been in like schoolbands and like bands like that
play around pop punk, and then Iwent to like hard rock, which
is like I don't know Scorpiosand shit like that, and then I
(12:02):
crossed it and I went to.
Popstar the whole, you know thewhole.
When you're growing you don'tknow exactly what you actually
want to play, you know, andyou're kind of like exploring.
And I did that while I washaving all these bands and while
I was growing up, I playedeverything that I was liking at
the time.
So, oh, I like Ozzy Osbourne,let's play some Ozzy Osbourne.
(12:26):
And you know, I like metalcoreand I played metalcore, you know
.
But punk rock was kind ofalways there, you know, and I
always really loved it.
And so I was growing up I hadall these bands and in 2017, I
was like you know, I'm tired.
(12:48):
I think you know all bands worka little bit, and then it's
like it's a very strongrelationship, it's like you're
married to like loads of peopleand it's a lot of commitment and
sometimes it doesn't work.
So I was like I'm tired, likeof having been, so I'm gonna go
with my solo career.
(13:09):
I moved to Sao Paulo.
I said to my dad dad, I'm goingto Sao Paulo to study.
And I was actually lying.
I was going to just find a joband like record my like songs
and stuff like that.
I moved to to Sao Paulo.
I fired the first job, whichwas like in a shopping mall and
I saved money enough to recordmy first single, which was
(13:30):
Stuart, as a solo artist.
But then the person I waswriting the song with, which is
Murilo, you know like it was.
We were kind of writing loadsof really nice songs.
I would show some songs for himand he was like this is great,
but you could change this andthat and vice versa.
So he was like, why don't wemake a band?
I was like, ah, that's the last.
(13:52):
I literally just released mysolo career.
Why would I make a band?
But you know, um, in the end Iwas like you know what, let's
try.
It was literally my last breath, like, let would I make a band.
But you know, um, in the end Iwas like you know what, let's
try.
It was literally my last breath, like, let's try, make a band.
And I'm really glad that I did,because if I didn't have Violet
(14:13):
Soto, wouldn't, you know, Iwouldn't be here right now.
I wouldn't even met my husband,you know.
So it was an awesome four years.
It was very intense, veryintense.
As you know, like I wasmentioning, brazil in a rock
scene is very like.
It's really hard work and weworked a lot.
Um, we were doing everythingourselves, like literally
(14:35):
everything social media, becauseI'm a designer as well and he's
like, basically, he's um, howdo you say that?
Um word, he's a journalist, sohe would write stuff and I would
make the assets, and we weredoing like almost like a factory
, you know, like just doing likehe's very organized and stuff
like that.
And we did great For years.
We grew a lot.
(14:55):
I saw us playing to literallyno one for the like to the band
that played previously, you know, like four people on stage and
us to like playing to a thousandpeople and being hand in lining
shows, and that was super cool.
But then the pandemic happenedand that changed our whole
(15:16):
course.
I had to move to the UK.
My husband has a healthcondition that he was
hospitalized in 2021.
And I was like, if anythinghappened while I'm in Brazil, I
would never forgive myself.
So I said to the guys I have tomove to the UK and that was it.
(15:36):
They were okay.
I said, let's try.
They didn't want to try andthat was it.
That was fine.
I moved to the UK.
I, you know, I had to start itall over again.
So I took my first year toorganize, you know, find a job,
have money, settle in thecountry, you know, get used to
everything.
(15:56):
It's so crazy, like when you'rein a different country, like
even how people think,especially Portuguese, to
English we say the sentence likeall the way around.
So we would say just in theopposite way.
So it's so many things that youkind of have to get used to,
you know.
So that was it.
I took a whole year to settledown and just figure out myself,
figure out my shit, and afterthat, so, like you know, let's
(16:19):
do music again.
I my intention was just to goslow, like no one knows me in uk
, no one knows me anywhere.
So let's you know, break bybreak, just release a song and
go for it, and that's what I did.
But my first song was sick rideand then went viral and the
(16:39):
whole shit happened and I waslike holy moly, that was crazy
and very exciting.
And here we are.
So I released sick ride and Ireally it's so funny.
And now I have a bit um othersongs that I'm gonna drop very
soon, but this is where I am nowthat's so cool and and thank
you for sharing that it's.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
It's rad, it's rad to hear it from you and you know
there's.
You know, like you said, beingin a band is super, super tough.
There's so many things that gointo it and you know, having to
choose between your creativeheart and your human heart is,
you know, I mean, that's that's.
(17:18):
That's a tough choice.
You're obviously going to gohuman heart every time, normally
, I think, but still that's atough thing and I know COVID
played a big part in all thattoo.
And it's just one thing yousaid in one of your reels that
really struck with me was thatbeing an independent artist is
(17:42):
exhausting, oh my God.
And, like you're saying, youknow you've had a lot of
different kind of goes at itthroughout and it's all.
It's all just your story.
But you know there's momentswhere you know if you have a
certain project or a band, yourelease music, you get excited
and if that doesn't take off ordo what it wants to do, it hurts
(18:02):
you.
I mean, it takes a toll, youknow.
And then having to start allover and finding the creative
energy, finding the creativedirection you know finding, like
you're saying, moving to aplace, a new place getting
settled, because you knowthere's people who can create in
all sorts of circumstances.
For me personally, I kind ofneed to have, you know, like, at
(18:25):
least like a base, like youknow, like, okay, I got, you
know, I'm not living on thestreet, I know what I'm doing.
I have, like you know, in orderfor my kind of mind to be able
to kind of function properly andclearly creatively, I need to
kind of have some sort of likebase, of structure, you know.
So you know, you establishingthat for yourself first makes a
(18:46):
lot of sense to me and it had tofeel so rad, you know, to get
back on your feet slowly butsurely, and Sick Ride comes out
and it's just this super cool,catchy fucking song and it just
takes off because, you know, one, the song's great.
(19:06):
Two, the video and everythingthat came along with it was just
super cool.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
That was the most cheapest thing in the world.
Like, bless him.
Like Tom who helped me to dothe music video the lowest
budget as possible, bless him.
He was so nice.
Shout out to Tom.
I was like Tom Brooker, henailed it.
It was so good.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
It's rad and for people who haven't heard it yet,
you can obviously check it outon Spotify and all the streaming
platforms.
And then so funny came afterand congrats on your deal with
Hopeless.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Thank you, you know that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So let's kind of step into the present here.
What is you know what's goingon with your writing process
right now?
What's your goal?
Are you writing a record?
Are you just going to dosingles?
Where's your head at right now?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Everything is quite uncertain.
So like, thank you so much.
I just signed Hopeless andthere is a lot that we're
chatting seeing how it's goingto be the best next step, you
know.
So I feel like we will releasemore singles, not like a whole
record I'm pretty sure that willturn into a whole record, you
know but like.
So there's still like twosingles that I it's already
(20:21):
recorded and everything and Ican show you later.
Uh, there's two songs that isalready recorded and everything.
So I'm definitely gonna dropthat.
And I'm also organizing myselfto play gigs, which is like I
have already.
This is like no one knows that,only you and now, who is
watching as well.
I have already one show booked,not gonna tell anything more
(20:44):
than that, and but I'm pitchingloads of other gigs as well.
So it's really exciting and Idon't think I'm gonna uh play
gigs like in a in the summermight be like the end of summer,
but I'm so looking forward to.
We're already talking aboutamerica, which is gonna be
really awesome, but like, stillmore like focusing the uk and
(21:05):
here in europe.
But this is super cool, like I'mvery exciting organizing myself
, like figuring out how it'sgonna be the band, and, yeah, I
can't wait some, some like I'malso writing loads and loads of
song so I can also have, youknow, a really cool half an hour
gig.
The problem is like I'm makingsongs that last like 49 seconds.
(21:27):
People are so mad like I lovethis song but it's too short.
But, like man, it's punk rockmusic.
What are you expecting?
Like you know what I mean.
Yeah, I'm like, I'm trying.
I probably have to probablymake like 50 songs so I can have
a half an hour gig.
But it's very, very exciting.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like, yes, I'm organizing myself like gigs are
coming, making loads of musicsingles coming really soon punk
(22:05):
record I heard was uh, was thecrew by seven seconds and I was
so surprised like it because Igrew up on metal, you know.
So, like you know, like records, you know songs were like three
to five minutes.
You know, sometimes the epicswere, you know, into like seven,
eight minute type shit yeah,and so when I heard a song and
it was like 14 seconds long, itwas like it blew my whole mind.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
I was like you can do that.
I had no idea.
You know, and I love when asong is short, to the point and
gives you everything you want.
You know it's got good lyricsand melody.
You know, even if it's likejust an outro instead of a
chorus or however you do it song, structurally it's just about
what it makes you feel, ratherthan how long it is.
(22:49):
And sometimes, sometimes I findmyself like going listening to
a song and being like like thissong is too long.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I agree, I completely agree, I completely agree, and
you said everything like I don't.
We don't need exactly threeminutes to express what we want
to say.
You have to feel the vibe ofthe song, and sometimes 49
seconds is literally all youneed.
It's like enough to make youpump like fuck Maxi, you know,
like that's all you need.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
So let's talk about songwritingreal quick.
You know what?
What makes a good song to you?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Oh man, there's a thing that I always say I like
to add a little bit of anger anddanger in my songs and I call
it poison, and I stole that ideafrom a friend of mine called
Chucky Polito.
He always said like you, youneed poison in a song, and I
don't even know what that means,but for me, the poison of a
song when you have a little bitof like danger and anger, it's
(23:50):
that thing that you're like, mmm, you know like it's the spice,
you know it's the spiciness inthe song.
So I always feel like I can'tsay like I'm a very angry woman.
I feel like probably like whenyou say there's something with a
cause.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Rebel with a cause?
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
I always have that and I always bring that to my
songs.
I'm kind of like you see, I'malways angry.
Even if I'm being sarcastic orI'm being ironic, I always have
this element of angriness anddanger.
I feel like that's what bringsthe poison and what makes you
(24:30):
listen to it.
That's one of the things that Ido.
I think I also do very catchychorus when I'm writing the
songs.
I don't know, maybe it'sbecause I grew up listening to a
lot of pop music, you know, andthat's include, like Spice
Girls and, I don't know, avrilLavigne, you know, and all this
(24:51):
stuff.
So I feel like my, my choruswhen I'm writing is always like
very hook and get you, you know,like sometimes it's very
repetitive, which makes it evenmore exciting.
So, yeah, so those are thethings that sometimes, when I'm
writing songs, that I'm always,but you know, when I'm writing
songs, that's what can also makea bit different when I'm
(25:14):
writing my songs.
I'm writing my songs in aBrazilian perspective.
I know I'm still writing inEnglish, but sometimes the way
that I think in Portuguese iswhat makes it different when I'm
writing the song, and then Ithink that's also what makes it
even a bit more special, like myhusband, also called Matt, and
sometimes I'm speaking with himand I do say something that is
(25:37):
actually more Portuguese, evenin English, and he was like this
is so awesome, like can wewrite it down?
Just save it?
Like I have like a whole note,like we've just random ideas of
me saying things in English,portuguese, you know, and that's
why it's also very cool, Ithink, if, depending like it
doesn't matter if you're likeAmerican or not, who you are and
(26:00):
where it came from, you don'thave to change and adapt for as
necessary, that language youlike me.
Right now I'm pretty sure I'mnot speaking 100 english, but
you can understand, you know andthat's what.
Or you can use it and what canbe special when you're writing a
song if you're like asianperson, if you're south american
person, you know if you're fromum other countries in Europe.
(26:22):
So yeah, Awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Have you played in the States yet?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
No, I've never been like anywhere else but like UK
and Brazil now, so I'm reallyexcited to play in the US,
really excited.
Yes, it's my biggest fan basenow, at least on Instagram it's
my biggest fan base, so I'm likereally looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's cool, okay.
Fan base now, at least oninstagram, is my biggest fan
base.
I'm like really looking forwardto that's cool, okay.
So we're gonna move on to, uh,some pickems now, which is I'm
gonna basically, you know, namesome artists, some bands, some
places, some things, and you'regonna tell me which one you like
the best okay uh, so we'regonna start out with with
Madonna or Gwen Stefani.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Madonna.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Nice, nice, did you see the crowd she just had?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
That was insane, Honestly.
People from different countrieswere going to Rio de Janeiro
and that's like nuts, Likehonestly amazing shows.
You nail it and it's so cool tosee that she's very active and
doing her thing.
It's so cool.
But that blew my mind theamount of people that I would be
like I wouldn't go.
(27:27):
I was so scared.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
So many people, it's crazy yeah, absolutely crazy, uh
, green day or blink 182 greenday nice courtney love or brody
doll oh, that's a tricky one.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I will go with Brody.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Nice Uh lyrics or melody.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Lyrics.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Nice, uh, debbie, harry or Blondie or Joan Jett.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Joan Jett.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Badass.
All right, uh, friends orfollowers.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Friends.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
A hundred percent.
Some people.
Some people are like hey, I gotenough friends, Give me the
followers, Weezer or the Pixies.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Oh man, you come with the hard ones now Weezer.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Nice, hayley Williams or Lana Del Rey.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Oh, Hayley Williams.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's such a badass.
Uh, okay, this is, uh, this isa classic battle.
The karens, here we're going.
Karen o from the yayayas, orkaren carpenter, the drummer and
singer of the carpenters yes,oh my god, k's not fair, by the
way, I would go.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Oh my god, I would go with Cario Maps is just one of
the most beautiful songs In thewhole world.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
So it really is.
It really is Guitar or vocals.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Vocals, then Vocals.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
That's what I'm talking about.
And last question here Brazilor the UK?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Brazil A hundred percent Brazil, a hundred
percent Brazil.
Gosh, living here, I love theUK, don't get me wrong.
I love the UK, I love thepeople and it's crazy to see the
difference between thosecountries, but your home is your
home.
You know what I mean.
Like it's, it's I am who I ambecause of my country.
So yeah, brazil, come to Brazilguys.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Awesome, all right, uh, a couple of questions from
the internet.
Here we got it.
We got a lot of questions fromthe internet, so it was.
It was really cool.
What was the first guitar thatyou owned, and do you still have
it?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
My first guitar.
I think it's a Brazilian bandcalled.
Is it Tajima?
I think it's Tajima, I can'tremember.
It's a Supersonic Tajima and Istill own.
I gave to my friend in Brazilwhen I moved to the UK.
Didn't bring the guitar.
I gave to him and he's takingcare of her and, yeah, I, I so,
but I basically still own theguitar.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, Nice, nice.
What is the definitive sickride?
Any car, any era.
You know what do you think itis?
Or it didn't have to be a car,it could be a motorcycle, it
could be a goddamn scooter.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Exactly Whatever you think is right.
If you want to stay away, justgo for it.
If you want a scooter, just gofor it.
It's so nice because I seeloads of people using sick ride
as a background of their videosand it's everything like people
is skating, um, like, skating,um, like um, bikers and cars and
(30:42):
everything.
So I feel like whatevertransport you want to go, even
if it is a bus, and you want tohave a sick ride because you're
going to that gig or you knowyou're going to that interview,
a sick ride is, you know,empowerment while you're going
to somewhere is the way is whenyou go into that place and you
have to pump yourself.
Sick ride is basically thatjust have like, be yourself.
Get the inside the car, getyour skate and have your freedom
(31:03):
.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Just be yourself hell , yeah, I like that.
Um, do you still find yourselffighting?
Uh, you know some of the samebattles as a female in the music
industry, or have things gottenbetter?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
um, I feel like things got better, but I'm still
finding it definitely big, bigtime.
Uh, I don't want to say shitabout men, so sorry, but
sometimes the flag, you know,even like trying to get um, our,
you know, the feminist flag asa covering up, but they still in
(31:38):
a lot of the same way, in ashit way, we now have to be
twice as clever as we should be.
I'm definitely getting better,but it's still not there.
It's a progress, it's a sickride.
It's a sick ride.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Who, in your opinion, is the greatest female artist
of all time?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
oh, my god, that's a big question.
Um, there's so many amazingwomen out there, but we
mentioned one very important andand I'm pretty sure she's and
not just like a rock artist likeeverybody else, like Madonna,
you know, she's so important,just like, not the woman, but
(32:27):
like the queer community, youknow, and she was so supportive
and very supportive to the blackcommunity.
I feel like Madonna right nowis one of the biggest, for sure.
Yeah, I kind of think you isone of the biggest, for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, I kind of think you got to give the goat to
Madonna.
I I really do.
I was fortunate enough to, youknow, to grow up.
You know I was still a littleyoung when she was first coming
on, but I saw the majority ofher career and what she was
fighting against, you know, when, like the like a prayer video
(33:01):
came out and her music is sogood, it's so good.
I have like a.
I have a bunch of Madonna vinylsingles and it's just you can
just sit there.
you can sit there all night andjust play Madonna songs and it's
so it's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah, she's a hero.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
It's weird too, because and that's why I was so
hyped on that Rio thing becauseI feel like she's old now and,
granted, she's still just 100%her and a lot of people like to
harp on that and I feel like thetotality of her career is kind
of not getting the respect itdeserves right now.
I think more people are like,more like, look at, you know,
(33:40):
she's got like a bbl or whatever, and they're like it's like
dude, just let her do her thing.
Like her, you know, like her,her career, like she is such a
badass yes, she is completely,and you said everything like.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
It's so amazing the fact that, like, like you said,
she's still like going through alot now, like she's older, like
people commenting about that,about her body or about what
she's doing, or she do in thestage, you know, and like a lot
of conservatives especially likegoing like and send some
comments.
So, yeah, she's still fighting,you know, as a, as a woman for
(34:14):
sure, shout out, madonna, welove you, yes um a couple, a
couple hypotheticals here.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I won't take up too much more of your time but uh
have you seen bill and ted'sexcellent adventure?
Have you seen?
You ever seen that movie?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
they have like a time machine that comes down oh yeah
, I don't think I have to watchit, but I know which one it is.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
yes, Okay, so let's just basically I'm talking about
time travel here, karen okay.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
No problem, yes.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Say, a time machine shows up right outside your
doorstep.
You can open it up.
You can go anywhere anytime inthe history of the world.
Where would you go first andwhy?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Oh my God, I guess where would I go.
I guess I would see theprobably loads of people
probably talk about that, but Iwould see, um, uh, nirvana
playing in brazil.
Not necessarily people mentionabout go to brazil and see
(35:14):
nirvana, but that apparently wassuch a huge thing, like when
they play like I can't rememberexactly but it was a whole
confusion and they stopped, butlike just seeing them live, you
know, that would be a huge thing.
So, yeah, I think I would gothere and I think it was 1992
something, so I was two yearsold at the time, so I would
(35:36):
definitely go back and see themplaying live.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Awesome, awesome and okay.
You come back from your timemachine journey, you walk into
your apartment, you grabyourself a drink and out of the
drink comes the genie.
Okay, the genie comes out ofthe bottle and it says what's up
, karen, I'm here.
You got one wish and it'll cometrue.
(36:02):
What's your wish?
Speaker 2 (36:06):
My wish.
It would sound silly and I justkind of like it's just one wish
.
So I just want to have a reallybe a very healthy life.
I don't need much money, I justwant to, like, make sure my
healthy.
You know it's okay, Cause if mybody is okay, everything is
(36:27):
going to be okay, and not justme.
If I can ask for my husband aswell, include him in the list.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I would ask We'll allow it, we'll allow it.
We'll allow it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
I, we'll allow it, we'll allow it, we'll allow it.
Yeah, I guess my family shouldbe healthy, and that's the only
thing that I actually wish.
That's the only thing.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Awesome, awesome.
Yeah, it seems like you're in aspot right now, creatively and
just in life in general, whereyou know you feel revitalized,
music is fun again and life isgood, you know.
So congrats to you, because youdefinitely deserve that.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Thank you, man, that's really sweet.
Thank you Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem.
Okay, so this is the SailorJerry podcast, and Norman
Collins was one of the pioneersof traditional tattooing.
I know you've got some tattooson you.
What was your first tattoo?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
on you.
What was your first tattoo?
My first tattoo is actually anaxe, because that was when I
moved to santos, which is whereI used to live in brazil.
Uh, it's like a.
Is that a greek number?
Is that how you say greeknumber?
An axe like means 10 yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Roman numeral yeah, exactly so Imade an axe on my uncle and
just because that means that Iwas living for 10 years and
centers in, that was like a lotof meaning for me.
(37:43):
That city basically like shapedme also, especially musically,
like that's when I went moreinto like hardcore scene and
punk stuff.
So that was very meaningful soI decided to make an axe.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Awesome.
What was the?
What was your last tattoo thatyou got?
I think it make an X.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Awesome.
What was the uh?
What was your last tattoo thatyou got?
I think it was this one.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
I nice how long ago was that?
Have you gotten one recently orare you done getting tattoos?
No, I'm not done.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
I'm actually desperate to make more tattoos.
I'm like man, I need to find atime.
Like me, and Matt has so manytattoos ideas, yeah it just
needed a little money, but Ithink that was like five, six
years ago, so I do need to makesome more tattoos, definitely,
(38:26):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Awesome.
Well, uh, Karen, it's been apleasure talking with you here
on the Sailor Jerry podcast.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Oh, thank you so much .
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Of course.
Of course, I got one lastquestion for you.
It's a little bit of a doozy,but I think you got it.
What to you is the meaning oflife?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
The meaning of life is enjoy the journey, is the
sick ride.
Like so many times I've been,especially with music, I ignored
and I was negligent to myselfbecause I want to succeed in
music and I was doing, I waspushing myself so hard and I
didn't watch what was goingaround me, you know.
(39:04):
So now, especially with COVID,I really slowed down and I, you
know, and I actually started topay attention in life and was
around me and I appreciate everyday, like my life and my little
family, my husband and my twocats.
I think the meaning of life isactually live, you know, day by
(39:24):
day, which is sometimes it'svery hard, but you know there is
always the next day.
If today is too hard, justcarry on.
The day after is definitelygoing to be better and I feel
like that's the meaning Justenjoy your sick ride.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Hell yeah, Karen.
Thank you so much for being aguest on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Thank you.
Hey yo Karen Dio.
What's up, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm okay.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
I'm good.
I'm good.
It is awesome and a pleasure tohave you as a guest here on the
Sailor Jerry podcast.
So thank you very much fortaking the time.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Of course I'm very happy to be here.
Actually, it's an honor for me.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Well, I appreciate that.
I appreciate that.
Are you in?
You're in England right now,right?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yes, I'm in the UK, not in London.
I'm in St Denis, which is a bitclose to Brighton, very close
to the beach.
I feel a bit more home when Ihave a nature environment around
me.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I miss Brazil but yeah, I'm in the UK now.
Well, I kind of wanted to startbecause you are the first
Brazilian that we've had on thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I know it's awesome and you know what's not awesome
is the flooding that's going onright now in southern Brazil.
And you know I wanted to startthe episode off with just a
little bit of you know love forBrazil, a little background on
Brazilian culture, and to kindof give our of you know love for
Brazil, a little background onBrazilian culture and to kind of
give our audience you know thekinds of ins and outs of what
(01:11):
makes it such a special place.
You know, as a musicianfortunate enough to travel
mostly everywhere never been toSouth America, never been to
Brazil and it's such ahistorically incredible place
for music.
What is it about Brazilianculture that is so unique and so
(01:32):
cool and so special?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, first of all, thank you so much for mentioning
about what's happening in RioGrande do Sul.
Actually, that makes me a bitemotional about it.
I'm not from that area inspecific, but I do have friends
over there about it.
I'm not from that area anyspecific, but I do have friends
over there and you know Ithere's so many um, if you see
the situation right now, it'sit's very sad.
So I appreciate it mentionedthat and if anyone can stop and
(01:54):
have a look and also donatebecause, like, just like basic
things like fresh water, youknow, clean water, we, we don't
have that right now, and so also, people can understand the
dimension, like, oh, like thesize of Rio Grande do Sul is
kind of the same size as um UKin like more than 350 cities
were affected by that.
So it's like it's it's a hugething that's going on.
(02:17):
So, yeah, I appreciate youmentioning and anyone could who
can donate um to Brazil rightnow is going to be very
important.
And about culture, yes, I guess, like Brazil is such like an
amazing place.
It's very kind of hard forpeople to go to South America
and that's why it's such a hugething when we say, like, come to
(02:38):
Brazil because, like we lovemusic and we are very passionate
about it, all the bands, likewe really want them to come
because, like, we're ready andonce you're there and I hope,
like one day, you can go reallysoon, hopefully you will see,
like how passionate we areBecause, like, who knows, like
when the band will come backagain.
You know, I remember when I sawFoo Fighters for the first time
(03:00):
and that was like 2011.
And it took them like 2011 andit took them like 10 years, um
for them to come back.
Like they came 2001 and thentook them 10 years and they went
back 2011.
That was my first shows umscene and I was like, oh my god,
the whole crowd in sao paulowas just like was I think it was
lola palooza, the first lolapalooza as well like it was such
(03:22):
a massive thing, was so special.
And you know, for me that was aquite like teenager, like
getting young, um, still veryyoung as a such a huge thing.
Brazil is a very multi-diverse.
You have like um cultures, likefrom everywhere in in the whole
world, like we have like Asianum families, families, we have
(03:44):
italians families and the northand the south um, as um hugo
grande do so is like german andand I think from netherland as
well like it's so culturallydiverse and you know, and music
is one thing that kind ofconnects all of us and the whole
world, and even more in bra,and it's just like how we
(04:07):
communicate, I feel like, maybebecause we also like I guess I
can say like third world country, you know, and music is kind of
what makes us keep going andkeep working and pushing hard,
how we connect in the end of theday after working.
So much you know.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
So yeah, art in general is a huge thing for us
yeah, I, I hope to one day beable to come down there and and
play some shows and for peoplelistening, uh,
brazilfoundationorg is a spotthat you can donate.
Um, you can go there and donate.
Uh, you know, like karen'ssaying, anything helps, anything
(04:44):
helps.
And you mentioned Come toBrazil and that's one of the
greatest things.
It's like a little I don't knowhow inside of a joke it is at
this point in the music world,but for our listeners out there,
come to Brazil.
Is this kind of universalcomment that Brazilians make.
Is this kind of universalcomment that Brazilians make?
(05:05):
And especially now, in the daysof social media, where an
artist can post about anythingand everything, there's always a
comment that says come toBrazil.
It could be you know the artistposting, you know what they're
making for dinner.
They could be saying, hey guys,I just want to let you know my
dog died.
And the comments will say cometo Brazil.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, I think it was a person that I can't remember
right now, who I saw post.
That was basically like that.
Someone posted something veryrandom and not a Brazilian, like
an American person said come toBrazil.
And he wasn't even like inBrazil.
It's a huge thing and I love it.
I love the fact that people, umand I think I feel like it's
the word adopted this fromthemselves.
(05:49):
You know, like the fact thatit's still like people mention
it.
It's just so cool, like it'sour now we are we as a brazilian
, we have a such a great senseof humor and it's just fun to
see like now the whole world hasthis as well, like it's a our
inside joke with the whole world.
You know what I mean.
I just love that.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
That's awesome, yeah, and I know you know for for our
music listeners out there.
You know you know, like IronMaiden, for example, rock in Rio
, all these huge, a lot of these.
You know a lot of it's.
(06:27):
You know it's stuff that'llgive you chills over your whole
body, some of the moments thatyou can watch on YouTube.
Or you know bands have put outlive records and that whole
thing, so it's definitely asuper special place.
What about?
You know, I know you've doneyour time in in the local scenes
there.
(06:47):
What's it like on a local level?
How's, like you know, the thepunk scene, indie scene, like
from the street level, clublevel type stuff?
What's the music scene like inbrazil?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
um, well, I've been a lot in punk and hardcore scene
and you know, like, rock is not.
If you're not big unfortunatelyit's not it's not like people
don't give much attention.
They.
They will basically, um, youknow, I mean like the mainstream
right, the, the whole crowdthey will give you more
(07:18):
attention when you start to getlike big and get other other
people attention.
So it's I really like give a lotof value to all the the small
bands in the country becausethey're doing this, because they
love you know, like financiallyit's really heartbreaking and
if someone just can't do it andthey have to quit, I can't even
say like no, keep going, becausesometimes it's just too hard.
(07:41):
You know, like, but, um, fanbase, like those people that go
go, they are always in the shows.
I remember in my previous bandI would have the same fans going
and supporting us and it's justamazing when they're there
they're so supportive, theyappreciate so much, you know,
because it is hard.
(08:02):
So those people that make thescene actually happen, they like
they're very connected reallytogether.
So it is a very strong scene,for example, like the punk scene
, and there is like the verystrong crowd and those who are
there like really appreciate ityeah, it's really cool that you
know brazil champions punk andhardcore the way they do,
(08:25):
especially like you're saying.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
You know it's it's not just uh, the huge bands that
go over there and get uh get agreat response.
You know there's there'ssmaller punk bands.
You know hardcore bands that Iknow personally uh, go over to
Brazil and it's a verygrassroots, diy type of
operation.
It's not like they're goingover there, you know, and to you
(08:46):
know, like when you, when youtour Japan, for example, like
it's super everything's donealready for you, it's super
organized and laid out.
And, like you know, I from whatI've yeah, from from what I've
heard of my friends going, goingand playing in Brazil, it's
much more kind of you know, it'smuch more loose, you know, but
(09:09):
it's incredible.
You know, but it's incredibleand I can imagine, you know that
it's dope.
So, you know, shout out toBrazil.
You know.
Again, if you want to donate tobrazilfoundationorg to help
what's going on down there inSouthern Brazil with the floods,
that would be amazing.
You know, hang in there.
(09:29):
All the people in Brazil we loveyou and you know, right on, I
wanted to kind of move on fromthat now and get into your
musical background andeverything, because it's kind of
crazy, it really is.
You know, like I, I didn't knowhow deep it went.
You know, I didn't really knowhow long you've been playing
(09:51):
music and I was so stoked tofind that out because it's
really cool when you see someonewho has dedicated their life to
music and you know all the ebbsand flows and ups and downs
that come along with that.
And if you want to get a littlebit of insight for people
(10:12):
watching listening out there,the so Funny video which is out,
right, that's out.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yes, it's out.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It's got a pretty rad .
You know little kind of videomontage of basically your whole
musical life.
And you're very much on to thisnew, awesome, incredible solo
phase of your career.
And we're not going to live inthe past here in the podcast,
(10:42):
but I do kind of want to justbrush through it so people
understand.
I mean, you grew up basicallywas it a musical family or was
just everyone into music?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
everyone was very into music in my family.
Like my grandpa, he used tolike be like little like dj not
professional dj in like I don'tknow 1940s or 1950s, but like he
was like he really liked musicand he would like have make
parties and play music and bethe DJ of the party and like, if
we do make a party, um, hewould probably put his vinyls on
(11:14):
and play some Frank Sinatra andBeatles and all this stuff.
Like he's he loved music and mywhole family really liked music
.
Yeah, so if I can like go alittle bit back and tell a bit
of my story, I've been makingmusic since I was 13 years old.
I know I look people say I looklike I'm 20, but I'm 33 years
old.
I'm going to be 34 at the endof the year, so I'm basically
(11:39):
more than 20 years now makingmusic.
You know, professionally Icould say a bit less, but like
I've been in band since I'mbasically more than 20 years now
making music.
You know, professionally Icould say a bit less, but like
I've been in bands since I'm 13years old.
So I've been in like schoolbands and like bands like that
play around pop punk, and then Iwent to like hard rock, which
is like I don't know Scorpiosand shit like that, and then I
(12:02):
crossed it and I went to.
Popstar the whole, you know thewhole.
When you're growing you don'tknow exactly what you actually
want to play, you know, andyou're kind of like exploring.
And I did that while I washaving all these bands and while
I was growing up, I playedeverything that I was liking at
the time.
So, oh, I like Ozzy Osbourne,let's play some Ozzy Osbourne.
(12:26):
And you know, I like metalcoreand I played metalcore, you know
.
But punk rock was kind ofalways there, you know, and I
always really loved it.
And so I was growing up I hadall these bands and in 2017, I
was like you know, I'm tired.
(12:48):
I think you know all bands worka little bit, and then it's
like it's a very strongrelationship, it's like you're
married to like loads of peopleand it's a lot of commitment and
sometimes it doesn't work.
So I was like I'm tired, likeof having been, so I'm gonna go
with my solo career.
(13:09):
I moved to Sao Paulo.
I said to my dad dad, I'm goingto Sao Paulo to study.
And I was actually lying.
I was going to just find a joband like record my like songs
and stuff like that.
I moved to to Sao Paulo.
I fired the first job, whichwas like in a shopping mall and
I saved money enough to recordmy first single, which was
(13:30):
Stuart, as a solo artist.
But then the person I waswriting the song with, which is
Murilo, you know like it was.
We were kind of writing loadsof really nice songs.
I would show some songs for himand he was like this is great,
but you could change this andthat and vice versa.
So he was like, why don't wemake a band?
I was like, ah, that's the last.
(13:52):
I literally just released mysolo career.
Why would I make a band?
But you know, um, in the end Iwas like you know what, let's
try.
It was literally my last breath, like, let would I make a band.
But you know, um, in the end Iwas like you know what, let's
try.
It was literally my last breath, like, let's try, make a band.
And I'm really glad that I did,because if I didn't have Violet
(14:13):
Soto, wouldn't, you know, Iwouldn't be here right now.
I wouldn't even met my husband,you know.
So it was an awesome four years.
It was very intense, veryintense.
As you know, like I wasmentioning, brazil in a rock
scene is very like.
It's really hard work and weworked a lot.
Um, we were doing everythingourselves, like literally
(14:35):
everything social media, becauseI'm a designer as well and he's
like, basically, he's um, howdo you say that?
Um word, he's a journalist, sohe would write stuff and I would
make the assets, and we weredoing like almost like a factory
, you know, like just doing likehe's very organized and stuff
like that.
And we did great For years.
We grew a lot.
(14:55):
I saw us playing to literallyno one for the like to the band
that played previously, you know, like four people on stage and
us to like playing to a thousandpeople and being hand in lining
shows, and that was super cool.
But then the pandemic happenedand that changed our whole
(15:16):
course.
I had to move to the UK.
My husband has a healthcondition that he was
hospitalized in 2021.
And I was like, if anythinghappened while I'm in Brazil, I
would never forgive myself.
So I said to the guys I have tomove to the UK and that was it.
(15:36):
They were okay.
I said, let's try.
They didn't want to try andthat was it.
That was fine.
I moved to the UK.
I, you know, I had to start itall over again.
So I took my first year toorganize, you know, find a job,
have money, settle in thecountry, you know, get used to
everything.
(15:56):
It's so crazy, like when you'rein a different country, like
even how people think,especially Portuguese, to
English we say the sentence likeall the way around.
So we would say just in theopposite way.
So it's so many things that youkind of have to get used to,
you know.
So that was it.
I took a whole year to settledown and just figure out myself,
figure out my shit, and afterthat, so, like you know, let's
(16:19):
do music again.
I my intention was just to goslow, like no one knows me in uk
, no one knows me anywhere.
So let's you know, break bybreak, just release a song and
go for it, and that's what I did.
But my first song was sick rideand then went viral and the
(16:39):
whole shit happened and I waslike holy moly, that was crazy
and very exciting.
And here we are.
So I released sick ride and Ireally it's so funny.
And now I have a bit um othersongs that I'm gonna drop very
soon, but this is where I am nowthat's so cool and and thank
you for sharing that it's.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
It's rad, it's rad to hear it from you and you know
there's.
You know, like you said, beingin a band is super, super tough.
There's so many things that gointo it and you know, having to
choose between your creativeheart and your human heart is,
you know, I mean, that's that's.
(17:18):
That's a tough choice.
You're obviously going to gohuman heart every time, normally
, I think, but still that's atough thing and I know COVID
played a big part in all thattoo.
And it's just one thing yousaid in one of your reels that
really struck with me was thatbeing an independent artist is
(17:42):
exhausting, oh my God.
And, like you're saying, youknow you've had a lot of
different kind of goes at itthroughout and it's all.
It's all just your story.
But you know there's momentswhere you know if you have a
certain project or a band, yourelease music, you get excited
and if that doesn't take off ordo what it wants to do, it hurts
(18:02):
you.
I mean, it takes a toll, youknow.
And then having to start allover and finding the creative
energy, finding the creativedirection you know finding, like
you're saying, moving to aplace, a new place getting
settled, because you knowthere's people who can create in
all sorts of circumstances.
For me personally, I kind ofneed to have, you know, like, at
(18:25):
least like a base, like youknow, like, okay, I got, you
know, I'm not living on thestreet, I know what I'm doing.
I have, like you know, in orderfor my kind of mind to be able
to kind of function properly andclearly creatively, I need to
kind of have some sort of likebase, of structure, you know.
So you know, you establishingthat for yourself first makes a
(18:46):
lot of sense to me and it had tofeel so rad, you know, to get
back on your feet slowly butsurely, and Sick Ride comes out
and it's just this super cool,catchy fucking song and it just
takes off because, you know, one, the song's great.
(19:06):
Two, the video and everythingthat came along with it was just
super cool.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
That was the most cheapest thing in the world.
Like, bless him.
Like Tom who helped me to dothe music video the lowest
budget as possible, bless him.
He was so nice.
Shout out to Tom.
I was like Tom Brooker, henailed it.
It was so good.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
It's rad and for people who haven't heard it yet,
you can obviously check it outon Spotify and all the streaming
platforms.
And then so funny came afterand congrats on your deal with
Hopeless.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Thank you, you know that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So let's kind of step into the present here.
What is you know what's goingon with your writing process
right now?
What's your goal?
Are you writing a record?
Are you just going to dosingles?
Where's your head at right now?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Everything is quite uncertain.
So like, thank you so much.
I just signed Hopeless andthere is a lot that we're
chatting seeing how it's goingto be the best next step, you
know.
So I feel like we will releasemore singles, not like a whole
record I'm pretty sure that willturn into a whole record, you
know but like.
So there's still like twosingles that I it's already
(20:21):
recorded and everything and Ican show you later.
Uh, there's two songs that isalready recorded and everything.
So I'm definitely gonna dropthat.
And I'm also organizing myselfto play gigs, which is like I
have already.
This is like no one knows that,only you and now, who is
watching as well.
I have already one show booked,not gonna tell anything more
(20:44):
than that, and but I'm pitchingloads of other gigs as well.
So it's really exciting and Idon't think I'm gonna uh play
gigs like in a in the summermight be like the end of summer,
but I'm so looking forward to.
We're already talking aboutamerica, which is gonna be
really awesome, but like, stillmore like focusing the uk and
(21:05):
here in europe.
But this is super cool, like I'mvery exciting organizing myself
, like figuring out how it'sgonna be the band, and, yeah, I
can't wait some, some like I'malso writing loads and loads of
song so I can also have, youknow, a really cool half an hour
gig.
The problem is like I'm makingsongs that last like 49 seconds.
(21:27):
People are so mad like I lovethis song but it's too short.
But, like man, it's punk rockmusic.
What are you expecting?
Like you know what I mean.
Yeah, I'm like, I'm trying.
I probably have to probablymake like 50 songs so I can have
a half an hour gig.
But it's very, very exciting.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like, yes, I'm organizing myself like gigs are
coming, making loads of musicsingles coming really soon punk
(22:05):
record I heard was uh, was thecrew by seven seconds and I was
so surprised like it because Igrew up on metal, you know.
So, like you know, like records, you know songs were like three
to five minutes.
You know, sometimes the epicswere, you know, into like seven,
eight minute type shit yeah,and so when I heard a song and
it was like 14 seconds long, itwas like it blew my whole mind.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
I was like you can do that.
I had no idea.
You know, and I love when asong is short, to the point and
gives you everything you want.
You know it's got good lyricsand melody.
You know, even if it's likejust an outro instead of a
chorus or however you do it song, structurally it's just about
what it makes you feel, ratherthan how long it is.
(22:49):
And sometimes, sometimes I findmyself like going listening to
a song and being like like thissong is too long.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I agree, I completely agree, I completely agree, and
you said everything like I don't.
We don't need exactly threeminutes to express what we want
to say.
You have to feel the vibe ofthe song, and sometimes 49
seconds is literally all youneed.
It's like enough to make youpump like fuck Maxi, you know,
like that's all you need.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
So let's talk about songwritingreal quick.
You know what?
What makes a good song to you?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Oh man, there's a thing that I always say I like
to add a little bit of anger anddanger in my songs and I call
it poison, and I stole that ideafrom a friend of mine called
Chucky Polito.
He always said like you, youneed poison in a song, and I
don't even know what that means,but for me, the poison of a
song when you have a little bitof like danger and anger, it's
(23:50):
that thing that you're like, mmm, you know like it's the spice,
you know it's the spiciness inthe song.
So I always feel like I can'tsay like I'm a very angry woman.
I feel like probably like whenyou say there's something with a
cause.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Rebel with a cause?
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
I always have that and I always bring that to my
songs.
I'm kind of like you see, I'malways angry.
Even if I'm being sarcastic orI'm being ironic, I always have
this element of angriness anddanger.
I feel like that's what bringsthe poison and what makes you
(24:30):
listen to it.
That's one of the things that Ido.
I think I also do very catchychorus when I'm writing the
songs.
I don't know, maybe it'sbecause I grew up listening to a
lot of pop music, you know, andthat's include, like Spice
Girls and, I don't know, avrilLavigne, you know, and all this
(24:51):
stuff.
So I feel like my, my choruswhen I'm writing is always like
very hook and get you, you know,like sometimes it's very
repetitive, which makes it evenmore exciting.
So, yeah, so those are thethings that sometimes, when I'm
writing songs, that I'm always,but you know, when I'm writing
songs, that's what can also makea bit different when I'm
(25:14):
writing my songs.
I'm writing my songs in aBrazilian perspective.
I know I'm still writing inEnglish, but sometimes the way
that I think in Portuguese iswhat makes it different when I'm
writing the song, and then Ithink that's also what makes it
even a bit more special, like myhusband, also called Matt, and
sometimes I'm speaking with himand I do say something that is
(25:37):
actually more Portuguese, evenin English, and he was like this
is so awesome, like can wewrite it down?
Just save it?
Like I have like a whole note,like we've just random ideas of
me saying things in English,portuguese, you know, and that's
why it's also very cool, Ithink, if, depending like it
doesn't matter if you're likeAmerican or not, who you are and
(26:00):
where it came from, you don'thave to change and adapt for as
necessary, that language youlike me.
Right now I'm pretty sure I'mnot speaking 100 english, but
you can understand, you know andthat's what.
Or you can use it and what canbe special when you're writing a
song if you're like asianperson, if you're south american
person, you know if you're fromum other countries in Europe.
(26:22):
So yeah, Awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Have you played in the States yet?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
No, I've never been like anywhere else but like UK
and Brazil now, so I'm reallyexcited to play in the US,
really excited.
Yes, it's my biggest fan basenow, at least on Instagram it's
my biggest fan base, so I'm likereally looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's cool, okay.
Fan base now, at least oninstagram, is my biggest fan
base.
I'm like really looking forwardto that's cool, okay.
So we're gonna move on to, uh,some pickems now, which is I'm
gonna basically, you know, namesome artists, some bands, some
places, some things, and you'regonna tell me which one you like
the best okay uh, so we'regonna start out with with
Madonna or Gwen Stefani.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Madonna.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Nice, nice, did you see the crowd she just had?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
That was insane, Honestly.
People from different countrieswere going to Rio de Janeiro
and that's like nuts, Likehonestly amazing shows.
You nail it and it's so cool tosee that she's very active and
doing her thing.
It's so cool.
But that blew my mind theamount of people that I would be
like I wouldn't go.
(27:27):
I was so scared.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
So many people, it's crazy yeah, absolutely crazy, uh
, green day or blink 182 greenday nice courtney love or brody
doll oh, that's a tricky one.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I will go with Brody.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Nice Uh lyrics or melody.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Lyrics.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Nice, uh, debbie, harry or Blondie or Joan Jett.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Joan Jett.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Badass.
All right, uh, friends orfollowers.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Friends.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
A hundred percent.
Some people.
Some people are like hey, I gotenough friends, Give me the
followers, Weezer or the Pixies.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Oh man, you come with the hard ones now Weezer.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Nice, hayley Williams or Lana Del Rey.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Oh, Hayley Williams.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's such a badass.
Uh, okay, this is, uh, this isa classic battle.
The karens, here we're going.
Karen o from the yayayas, orkaren carpenter, the drummer and
singer of the carpenters yes,oh my god, k's not fair, by the
way, I would go.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Oh my god, I would go with Cario Maps is just one of
the most beautiful songs In thewhole world.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
So it really is.
It really is Guitar or vocals.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Vocals, then Vocals.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
That's what I'm talking about.
And last question here Brazilor the UK?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Brazil A hundred percent Brazil, a hundred
percent Brazil.
Gosh, living here, I love theUK, don't get me wrong.
I love the UK, I love thepeople and it's crazy to see the
difference between thosecountries, but your home is your
home.
You know what I mean.
Like it's, it's I am who I ambecause of my country.
So yeah, brazil, come to Brazilguys.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Awesome, all right, uh, a couple of questions from
the internet.
Here we got it.
We got a lot of questions fromthe internet, so it was.
It was really cool.
What was the first guitar thatyou owned, and do you still have
it?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
My first guitar.
I think it's a Brazilian bandcalled.
Is it Tajima?
I think it's Tajima, I can'tremember.
It's a Supersonic Tajima and Istill own.
I gave to my friend in Brazilwhen I moved to the UK.
Didn't bring the guitar.
I gave to him and he's takingcare of her and, yeah, I, I so,
but I basically still own theguitar.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, Nice, nice.
What is the definitive sickride?
Any car, any era.
You know what do you think itis?
Or it didn't have to be a car,it could be a motorcycle, it
could be a goddamn scooter.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Exactly Whatever you think is right.
If you want to stay away, justgo for it.
If you want a scooter, just gofor it.
It's so nice because I seeloads of people using sick ride
as a background of their videosand it's everything like people
is skating, um, like, skating,um, like um, bikers and cars and
(30:42):
everything.
So I feel like whatevertransport you want to go, even
if it is a bus, and you want tohave a sick ride because you're
going to that gig or you knowyou're going to that interview,
a sick ride is, you know,empowerment while you're going
to somewhere is the way is whenyou go into that place and you
have to pump yourself.
Sick ride is basically thatjust have like, be yourself.
Get the inside the car, getyour skate and have your freedom
(31:03):
.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Just be yourself hell , yeah, I like that.
Um, do you still find yourselffighting?
Uh, you know some of the samebattles as a female in the music
industry, or have things gottenbetter?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
um, I feel like things got better, but I'm still
finding it definitely big, bigtime.
Uh, I don't want to say shitabout men, so sorry, but
sometimes the flag, you know,even like trying to get um, our,
you know, the feminist flag asa covering up, but they still in
(31:38):
a lot of the same way, in ashit way, we now have to be
twice as clever as we should be.
I'm definitely getting better,but it's still not there.
It's a progress, it's a sickride.
It's a sick ride.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Who, in your opinion, is the greatest female artist
of all time?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
oh, my god, that's a big question.
Um, there's so many amazingwomen out there, but we
mentioned one very important andand I'm pretty sure she's and
not just like a rock artist likeeverybody else, like Madonna,
you know, she's so important,just like, not the woman, but
(32:27):
like the queer community, youknow, and she was so supportive
and very supportive to the blackcommunity.
I feel like Madonna right nowis one of the biggest, for sure.
Yeah, I kind of think you isone of the biggest, for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, I kind of think you got to give the goat to
Madonna.
I I really do.
I was fortunate enough to, youknow, to grow up.
You know I was still a littleyoung when she was first coming
on, but I saw the majority ofher career and what she was
fighting against, you know, when, like the like a prayer video
(33:01):
came out and her music is sogood, it's so good.
I have like a.
I have a bunch of Madonna vinylsingles and it's just you can
just sit there.
you can sit there all night andjust play Madonna songs and it's
so it's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah, she's a hero.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
It's weird too, because and that's why I was so
hyped on that Rio thing becauseI feel like she's old now and,
granted, she's still just 100%her and a lot of people like to
harp on that and I feel like thetotality of her career is kind
of not getting the respect itdeserves right now.
I think more people are like,more like, look at, you know,
(33:40):
she's got like a bbl or whatever, and they're like it's like
dude, just let her do her thing.
Like her, you know, like her,her career, like she is such a
badass yes, she is completely,and you said everything like.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
It's so amazing the fact that, like, like you said,
she's still like going through alot now, like she's older, like
people commenting about that,about her body or about what
she's doing, or she do in thestage, you know, and like a lot
of conservatives especially likegoing like and send some
comments.
So, yeah, she's still fighting,you know, as a, as a woman for
(34:14):
sure, shout out, madonna, welove you, yes um a couple, a
couple hypotheticals here.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I won't take up too much more of your time but uh
have you seen bill and ted'sexcellent adventure?
Have you seen?
You ever seen that movie?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
they have like a time machine that comes down oh yeah
, I don't think I have to watchit, but I know which one it is.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
yes, Okay, so let's just basically I'm talking about
time travel here, karen okay.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
No problem, yes.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Say, a time machine shows up right outside your
doorstep.
You can open it up.
You can go anywhere anytime inthe history of the world.
Where would you go first andwhy?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Oh my God, I guess where would I go.
I guess I would see theprobably loads of people
probably talk about that, but Iwould see, um, uh, nirvana
playing in brazil.
Not necessarily people mentionabout go to brazil and see
(35:14):
nirvana, but that apparently wassuch a huge thing, like when
they play like I can't rememberexactly but it was a whole
confusion and they stopped, butlike just seeing them live, you
know, that would be a huge thing.
So, yeah, I think I would gothere and I think it was 1992
something, so I was two yearsold at the time, so I would
(35:36):
definitely go back and see themplaying live.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Awesome, awesome and okay.
You come back from your timemachine journey, you walk into
your apartment, you grabyourself a drink and out of the
drink comes the genie.
Okay, the genie comes out ofthe bottle and it says what's up
, karen, I'm here.
You got one wish and it'll cometrue.
(36:02):
What's your wish?
Speaker 2 (36:06):
My wish.
It would sound silly and I justkind of like it's just one wish
.
So I just want to have a reallybe a very healthy life.
I don't need much money, I justwant to, like, make sure my
healthy.
You know it's okay, Cause if mybody is okay, everything is
(36:27):
going to be okay, and not justme.
If I can ask for my husband aswell, include him in the list.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I would ask We'll allow it, we'll allow it.
We'll allow it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
I, we'll allow it, we'll allow it, we'll allow it.
Yeah, I guess my family shouldbe healthy, and that's the only
thing that I actually wish.
That's the only thing.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Awesome, awesome.
Yeah, it seems like you're in aspot right now, creatively and
just in life in general, whereyou know you feel revitalized,
music is fun again and life isgood, you know.
So congrats to you, because youdefinitely deserve that.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Thank you, man, that's really sweet.
Thank you Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem.
Okay, so this is the SailorJerry podcast, and Norman
Collins was one of the pioneersof traditional tattooing.
I know you've got some tattooson you.
What was your first tattoo?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
on you.
What was your first tattoo?
My first tattoo is actually anaxe, because that was when I
moved to santos, which is whereI used to live in brazil.
Uh, it's like a.
Is that a greek number?
Is that how you say greeknumber?
An axe like means 10 yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Roman numeral yeah, exactly so Imade an axe on my uncle and
just because that means that Iwas living for 10 years and
centers in, that was like a lotof meaning for me.
(37:43):
That city basically like shapedme also, especially musically,
like that's when I went moreinto like hardcore scene and
punk stuff.
So that was very meaningful soI decided to make an axe.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Awesome.
What was the?
What was your last tattoo thatyou got?
I think it make an X.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Awesome.
What was the uh?
What was your last tattoo thatyou got?
I think it was this one.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
I nice how long ago was that?
Have you gotten one recently orare you done getting tattoos?
No, I'm not done.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
I'm actually desperate to make more tattoos.
I'm like man, I need to find atime.
Like me, and Matt has so manytattoos ideas, yeah it just
needed a little money, but Ithink that was like five, six
years ago, so I do need to makesome more tattoos, definitely,
(38:26):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Awesome.
Well, uh, Karen, it's been apleasure talking with you here
on the Sailor Jerry podcast.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Oh, thank you so much .
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Of course.
Of course, I got one lastquestion for you.
It's a little bit of a doozy,but I think you got it.
What to you is the meaning oflife?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
The meaning of life is enjoy the journey, is the
sick ride.
Like so many times I've been,especially with music, I ignored
and I was negligent to myselfbecause I want to succeed in
music and I was doing, I waspushing myself so hard and I
didn't watch what was goingaround me, you know.
(39:04):
So now, especially with COVID,I really slowed down and I, you
know, and I actually started topay attention in life and was
around me and I appreciate everyday, like my life and my little
family, my husband and my twocats.
I think the meaning of life isactually live, you know, day by
(39:24):
day, which is sometimes it'svery hard, but you know there is
always the next day.
If today is too hard, justcarry on.
The day after is definitelygoing to be better and I feel
like that's the meaning Justenjoy your sick ride.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Hell yeah, Karen.
Thank you so much for being aguest on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Thank you.
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