Latest / Spooky Butt / 1. Spooky Baby with Racquel Belmonte-Walker

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1. Spooky Baby with Racquel Belmonte-Walker · Spooky Butt

• speaker-0: Mm. Mm-hmm. hello, and welcome to SpookyButt. Today, in Spooky Butt Studio, I am joined by Raquel Belmonte Walker. Raquel Belmonte Walker is a seasoned voice actor, improviser, sketch comedian, and vocal coach. Originally hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, she now calls sunny Los Angeles her home. Raquel is renowned for her role in the Emmy Award winning animated series The Dragon Prince on Netflix. Beyond this acclaimed performance, her versatile voice can be heard in Monster Loving Maniacs, My Little Pony, Dragalia Lost, among other notable projects. Raquel is also the first motherfucking guest on motherfuckin' Spooky But. Raquel, my god, welcome to Spooky But. speaker-1: my god, thank you for having me. What an honor it is to be the guest, the first guest in this inaugural episode. Did I say that word right? Yeah, yeah. Inaugural. speaker-0: gonna use that too, be like inaugural episode of Spooky But. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you for having me. What a what a delicious time we're about to have. speaker-0: We're gonna live deliciously. Yeah. speaker-1: as Christ intended. speaker-0: Christ intended on this the week of America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. speaker-1: That's what it was. I'm and tomorrow is Canada's birthday. Don't you fucking forget. I great question. Ten. Canada's so young. No, I don't have no idea. Old enough. I don't know. Wait, can I look it up? Is that is that tacky? speaker-0: How old is Canada? Yeah. Maybe No, but it's we're on spooky, but we can do whatever we want. speaker-1: How old is Canada turning? How old is Canada this year? 159. Boo. speaker-0: Boo. Boo. I didn't know that was this close to Fourth of July. Yeah. speaker-1: July first. speaker-0: Is there first of July? The first of July. So is there a is there like fanfare? Is that like a bank holiday in Canada? speaker-1: It is. Yeah. That reminds me I need to text my family and ask if they want to FaceTime tomorrow because they're probably all off. Anyway, enough about those Italian cucks. Let's get to it. speaker-0: nice. Okay. Yeah. Let's get motherfucking to it. Okay, so you are a voice actor. You've been a voice actor since you were a teenager, which I recently learned. So you and I have been friends for quite some time now. and I had no idea. So when we met, we were doing comedy together in Chicago. And I didn't know that at the time you were a voice actor. And I didn't learn that until like five years later. Like, Raquel does voice acting. right? speaker-1: I it's because I think it's because th those five years later, that's when I actually started really booking stuff. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: I do remember being in Chicago though and I'm like, I could tell people I voice act, but what would I show them? What would I tell them? speaker-0: You would just start doing it in the moment. speaker-1: Like here's a here's a commercial I did for for looking glass the looking glass foundation. Is that maybe that's what it anyways, it was for like a bulimia podcast. Not podcast, it was for a bulimia commercial and I played the the sick the the person with blue anyways. That was one of the first ones I that's one of the only things I had under my belt at the time. So I wasn't like going around being like, you want to hear this? Anyway. speaker-0: did you start? Like did you start by like taking lessons or like how did that go? speaker-1: I kind of I started from just I think being bad at everything else. Like I kept trying different things. Okay. I I tried like sports and then that led to dance and I that led to I was so bad at all that and then that led to like musical theater. And then musical theater, I was like, I'm enjoying this. And the teacher of that, her name was Shelly, what an angel. She said, I think you should meet my friend who does voice acting. She's a voice actor and she does classes. and you seem like you really like acting, you should really get into that. So I did both of those things and I met my voiceover mentor, and her name is Marcy Goldberg. And she from there helped me get an agent. I was like 12 or 13 at the time. Wow. Yeah. And I got I I got very lucky. I'm still with the same agent today. so yeah, that was all very cool. But yeah, it was just like one thing failed. So I try another thing. I try another thing and I try another thing and now now I'm a voice actor. speaker-0: Wow. okay. 'Cause I thought like I was thinking about it. It like, do you I don't know that anybody in your family like is from the entertainment industry, right? speaker-1: Not a single goddamn person. No. We have like one cousin and everybody would always be like, You should go talk to him. But he's like a Vancouver actor who has a full-time job doing something else. And I'm like, Yeah, we're good. speaker-0: That's so cool though, because it's like something you started like not intending to re I don't know, you just were interested in it and it's like, Hey, now this like pays the bills and you've grown a career out of it. That's awesome. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, that's something I I I am quite proud of younger Raquel for doing that because I did a lot of that by myself. I got a job to pay for my own my own classes because that shit got expensive. Yeah, yeah, good for her. speaker-0: Yeah. Okay. Good for her. Yeah. We that's the best when it's like you there's like a flash of, my younger self actually did this right. Like it doesn't, yeah. For me too. I I don't think it does for anybody. speaker-1: And that doesn't happen often. Yeah, it should speaker-0: It sh how dare you. so like what does a typical day look like when you have to record? Like what can you like kind of walk me through, I guess, a day on the live? speaker-1: Yeah. my God. Yeah. well, I usually I start the day before and I drink a fuck ton of water, like a lot of water, because there are days where I forget, but I have a very raspy voice, as as you know. And it it's really easy for me to scratch it or just, you know, it's it's easy for me to lose it. So I just try and lubricate it as much as I can the night before. So that's where we start. I wake up. I don't eat. There are things I don't eat because it makes your mouth really watery. Like I won't have yogurt or I won't have anything really dairy heavy. I have my coffee right away because when you go to record, it makes your mouth really dry. It is, it's a really, you know, when I think of it, I chose the wrong profession. It's very annoying. No, but so I'll do all that. I bring my I fill my water bottle up, I go to the studio, I record. I have an amazing time and then I go home and that's that's that. Usually recording takes depending what I'm doing, but I'm either there for like four hours or I'm there for five minutes. It's kind of kind of great. speaker-0: so like for I guess for like huh let's talk like so Dragon Prince has wrapped up officially, right? Okay. speaker-1: Yes. They're trying to get picked up for another another season or so. and they have like a Kickstarter and stuff, which Yeah. speaker-0: okay. so like I guess like when you're when you were actively recording for Dragon Prince, was it kinda like a nine to five? Would you come in like Monday through Friday for that? speaker-1: Sometimes because they so the show's American. The show was actually like created by people in Los Angeles and they sourced all the voice actors or most of them from Vancouver. So they would fly to Vancouver and we kind of worked on their schedule. And the main actor in the show, he's also from here. so all all three or the whole whoever would fly to Vancouver. And they'd schedule us because we this was pre-COVID. We'd record all together. There was like 10 of us in the studio at once. wow. So we did Yeah, we would do like because we would bang it out. Sorry, I lost my train of thought. We would bang out like five or six episodes in like five hours kind of thing or four hours. Wow. Yeah, yeah. It was really cool. speaker-0: Way. speaker-1: Or they would do it like two days in a row, like coming for from like two to six this day, and then nine to four this day. Like it really depended. But then after that, when it was solo, like COVID and post-COVID, it was a lot shorter and it was a lot of like remote stuff. So I find I found that like once it went remote, it just tightened up timing for everything. And you're by yourself, so you don't have When you're with a bunch of people, you're like playing off of them and you're talking and you're, you know, I was a menace. I was a menace. I was always messing around. it no one liked it. It was very distracting for everybody, but that takes time. So if I'm not being a menace in the booth, you know, it just goes by so much quicker. Yeah. They'd be like, take 69, and I'd be like, speaker-0: Menace in the booth, fuck yeah. speaker-1: That's very true. And I was fooled for that back then. speaker-0: You were like, I'm old enough to know what sixty nine means, so I'm gonna make a joke about it. speaker-1: Just like Canada. speaker-0: Hell yeah. Anyway. so you've done quite a bit of Comic-Con appearances both in San Diego and New York. Yeah. Lost my train of thought there for a second. So like what what is that kind of like being? I don't know. It's like because I feel like being a voice actor maybe kind of affords you some anonymity, but then you get to see like, huh, all the fans in one room, like holy shit. Like, how is that? What's that like? speaker-1: It's cool. It's really cool. I I it's one thing that I you you don't really get used to people like gawking at you. it's nice, but it's very interesting. And also, I'm like, how do you know what I look like? How do you know it's me? Like, I'll be walking around like the artist alley, which is where all the artists, you know, sell stuff. And I People be like, my God, you're Raquel. And I'm like, how do you know? How do you how did you know? but yeah, it's it's cool. Fans typically are are pretty amazing. And like the the Dragon Prince fans specifically are really awesome. my little pony fans, too. It's crazy how many people love something so much that they can make. speaker-0: Huh. speaker-1: these conventions and they're huge. Like these Claire, these convention halls are fucking huge. And they're filled with people. I've never been to like a dead convention. and not even it not to see me, like for every show. Like I went to San Diego Comic Con a couple of years ago. And my God. Like the people are fans of you know just everything. I wish I loved something that much. You know. Yeah. speaker-0: Me too. that's that's so cool. Cause like you you were probably there with like Game of Thrones. That probably like my god, what was that like? speaker-1: That was it was cool, but they like they would be in sometimes they were in the same hall or sometimes they'd be in different halls. But it was just cool knowing like, I took a picture on these steps, and now the cast of like what we do in the shadows is taking a picture of steps. Or like the cast of Abbott Elementary is here and Burgers w is doing a table read in the same room. Not the same room, but the same like building. It's cool. speaker-0: Fuck yeah. It's that's so cool. speaker-1: It's cool. I've never stayed long enough at a Comic Con specif specifically the big San Diego Comic-Con. I've never been there long enough to to they have like vIP rooms or artist rooms where they have all the actors go in. But one day I'd love to, I'd love to go there and mingle and be like, who the fuck's here? Who wants to party? speaker-0: Party. I think Chris Pine was at Comic Con. Were you there at the same time? speaker-1: І was it a couple years ago? speaker-0: It was for dungeons and dragons. speaker-1: Yes, I was at that one. I was at the wait, the yeah, there was now I'm mixing up House of Dragon and Dungeons of Dragon. Dungeons and Dragons. speaker-0: Let me let me see what year that 'cause I think it came out like twenty twenty two. speaker-1: I think I went in twenty twenty two for sure because there were yeah, I think I did go twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. There were speaker-0: Okay. It's twenty twenty three. So speaker-1: Okay. I think it was 20, yeah. Cause there were buildings, like even the gas lamp district, I think that's what it's called, is very cool. like it's bumping and they have like the marketing people, I don't know where people get money like this, but building faces were plastered in Dungeons and Dragons and in my god, there was another show. I don't watch it. I can't remember what it is. It was another fantasy show that was all over the place. Yeah. I'll bring you to one. If they are like you want a plus one, I'll be like, Yeah, fuck my family. I'm bringing my I'm bringing my tozen family. My Italian cousin Claire. speaker-0: Okay. That's awesome. Yeah. Chiara? Is that yeah, Chiara is Italian. speaker-1: Yeah, I had a kiara in my school. speaker-0: Hell yeah. It was me. The whole fucking time. Hell yeah. So you mentioned okay, you mentioned live table read. So is that something like with voice actors, I guess at the top of a season, you guys would do a table read, right? At the beginning? speaker-1: It was it was you the whole time. Okay, so this is funny to me anyway. Not typically. I had never in my voice acting career done a table read for anything until Dragon Prince happened. They like brought us to a hotel, like a boardroom, not like a weird room, but like a boardroom. And it was like there was snacks and food and drinks, and we did a table read. And I was like, what the fuck? This is so this this is so professional. speaker-0: Okay. wow. speaker-1: Yeah, you know how like SNL posts like the table read pictures? It's it felt very that sitting around, it was great. but that's the only table read I've actually ever done. Usually you just like get the script sent to you the night before or a couple days before and you go in and you raw dog it. You speaker-0: Okay. Yeah. my god, you raw dog the shit out of that, I bet. That's wild. Okay, 'cause I so like how do you I I kinda get the like I the mechanics. So like, you know, drink room temperature water, do your warm-ups, etcetera. So like how do you get into character? Like 'cause it that would be kind of hard if they're like six PM the night before, like, hey, here's the script for tomorrow. Like, how much time do you spend on that, like getting into the character's mind? speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. I d I don't spend a lot of time. I don't. The short answer is I don't. But for me, it's all about how I sound and how I'm achieving that sound. So what works for me is listening to a snippet of let's say I did an episode, I don't know. a couple months ago and that's already aired or I've done something that is a similar character. I'll listen to it and I'll try and copy it. and then I just kind of let all the acting chips fall where they may. Like, okay, I found the tone and now I'm just gonna like act. I wish I had a I wish I had a better answer for you other than other than I just do it. No, I I don't I don't do much of speaker-0: No, that's kind of perfect though, because like I I'm so used to like, okay, acting like in a live theater, et cetera, et cetera. But it's just it I don't know, that's interesting because like as a voice actor, the most important thing is the voice. So that makes sense that you would have to like listen to a clip to be like, okay, this is how I nailed the tone of this character. And then also you can't get too like physical because you're like with the microphone. So for people listening, I'm swinging back and forth so that you can you can kind of feel what it's like to be a voice actor, those at home. Right. Exactly. That's exactly right. speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. You are so you've aced voice acting. You cannot have a a series. It's yours. Take it. No, moving is so it's so funny movie and you have to be careful with what you wear too. yeah. It's like it it it's so much more technical than than I I thought now that I'm saying this all out loud, I'm like like I can't wear overalls because they jingle or I can't like speaker-0: Fuck yeah. speaker-1: You gotta be careful if you're wearing jewelry. Like if they win. Are people wearing bangles still? Let's bring them back. Yeah. speaker-0: Breakers. We should. Anyway. That'd be cute. my god. That's that's so I don't know. That's just I don't know a lot about voice acting, obviously, even though I'm I'm an expert now, but that's just so interesting because it's like you have to really zoom in to this one thing instead of like Shakespeare in the park, blah blah blah blah blah, you know, like with all the shit and like stage combat. What is that what it's called? Stage combat? That's speaker-1: Yeah, that's a thing they do. speaker-0: But not in a not in a recording booth. speaker-1: No, no, we just beat the shit out of each other with our voices. Which is so awkward to do, by the way. Like they c they call it walla, where you have to make like fighting sounds or grunts. Wow. I've done a couple video games where I'm like, this this, if I were on the other end of this, I'd laugh. I'd giggle. Like she sounds like she's getting like railed or something like it's awful. Or it's like, did she vomit? Like what? What is that? I hate those. I hate it. speaker-0: I didn't know you did video games. Mm-hmm. speaker-1: Yeah. Have they made it to past the the recording phase? I don't know. I don't play video games, so I've I don't know, but I've done a couple. I've done a maybe maybe three. Yeah, something like that. How old am I? Where am I? speaker-0: America's two hundred and fifty. speaker-1: Exactly. So I must speaker-0: Yeah, one fifty nine. Okay, so with the video games, did you ever have to do the mo cap? speaker-1: No, I've never done that. I maybe I think they hate the way my body is because it's short and stubby and I'm totally kidding. I've only ever seen like tall, lanky dudes do it. So I I have opposite body type of that. So I I don't I've never been asked to do it. But I have seen a lot of tall, slender men do it. speaker-0: my god. Well Mm. For the tall, slender men listening. Get in a mocap suit. speaker-1: Yeah, I wish I knew more about mocap. That's funny. Someone I coach asked me, like, have you ever done that? And I'm like, girl, please. Like, what? And I had to ask, like, sorry, which what what what is mo cap again? Because I've never done it. I'm not familiar. speaker-0: I've s like I've seen clips of it and it's just like these people are getting like thrown around because it's a fucking video game and it's like God speaker-1: yeah. Yeah. I and I don't even know like people who do mo cap, right into the podcast, let us know. Are you doing the sounds while you're being mocapped? speaker-0: Yeah, let us know. I think it's like I've seen they have like the grids or whatever on their faces so they're like emoting like huge for it to be captured 'cause they'll like kind of plas they'll plaster that on the character's face or whatever. speaker-1: Interesting. Okay. Technology these days. speaker-0: Yeah, that's I don't know, that's cool. I've been I man, this is great. It took a podcast for me to ask you about this because I'm like, I should ask Raquel. I should ask Raquel. And then it's like, I'll just I'll do it all while we're recording. speaker-1: I'll ask Racal about MoCap and sh she will have a very disappointing answer. I'm gonna ask for Kell about technique and wow she is going to ruin how I see her. speaker-0: No, it's it's perfect. Cause I wonder with like actors getting literally thrown around for mo cap, I wonder if a lot of the people are they're not voice actors, they're like stunt people because it's so physical and it's crazy looking. speaker-1: You would think. And I think too, I've seen people's I've seen people's Instagrams where or videos on Instagram. I can't speak. What's going on? Videos on Instagram of people doing mocap together. So it's not just a solo thing. Like I get it for a solo thing and they're throwing themselves into walls or on the ground, whatever. But if there's two people, yeah, it must be like they must be stunt. performers in a sense or they must be like, I don't know. I'm sure they sign a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot of what are those things called? Waivers. speaker-0: Waivers, yeah. That's yeah. I don't know. It's crazy. It's hey, voice acting's one of the most dangerous jobs that I do. speaker-1: That yeah. Exactly. Yeah. speaker-0: Can you describe it to speaker-1: Maybe I am doing God's work. This is my army. No, I don't know. Got that. Sorry, I interrupted you. What were you saying? speaker-0: Can you describe a time where you felt so unsafe in a booth? speaker-1: I popped a pee. Only I hear it all the time in my sleep. speaker-0: Sleep You didn't have the plosive cover or whatever the fuck it's called. speaker-1: That pop cover. I yeah, the po I call it the pop thing. I think I told you about that too, where I was like, the thing you put over your mic and so it doesn't pop and you're like a pop cover. I like, that's the one. You you teach me every day. speaker-0: Well. Yeah. This is why we're friends. So much learning. So like what advice would you give to someone who wants to get into voice acting? speaker-1: That's why we're friends. great question. I my biggest piece of advice would be just keep doing it. I think that I've gotten to the level I've gotten to because I started when I was like 12. And now I'm 10. No, I I'm in my 30s now. So I've been doing it for a long time. But I I wasn't necessarily working the entire time, but I was practicing. The whole time. I was auditioning the whole time. I was like doing workshops. I think you really need to just learn to work your voice, and that takes a lot of time. So I would say keep doing it, stick with it. You're not gonna book something right away. That's just that's the reality of it. so get really good. Be undeniable in that you can do anything because you know how your voice works. Does that make sense? speaker-0: Yeah. that's awesome. That's like that's perfect. So like, do you think that your I mean, granted, you're more kinda in the comedy space, but do you think that like your experience with sketch and then improv as well has, I guess, kind of helped elevate your voice acting? speaker-1: Yes, especially improv. I tell everyone I coach when they ask me like what else should I be doing? I'm like, take an improv class. You gotta take an improv class because I think with voice acting, things do start to feel really technical, which can lead to it feeling really stale. And you don't know how you sound, right? You're just doing it like a director's giving you all these notes and you're just like you're trying to follow it. And things start to sound really I I use the word already, but things feel really stale. And it's hard to kind of move on and feel like you're doing a good job. But when you're when you've taken improv or when you when you're, you know, using those improv muscles while you're recording, I sound so fucking lame. When you're using those muscles, it kind of allows you to be looser and have more fun and discovery. Happens. does that make sense before I move to my next thought. I also think too, like improv helps a lot, like a line of dialogue. Improv can help a line of written dialogue. it can help it kind of become more three-dimensional, like adding different sounds to it, like adding a big sigh or like playing with a sigh. I I love playing with sighs, kind of like. Let's play with a sigh. Like, huh. Like you could just like you don't think, you just like, I don't know, make a bunch of stupid sounds and get into it. And that makes it more more fun. I have lost. I've lost the plot. Have you followed? Have you kept up? speaker-0: I have. Yeah, no, that's Okay, so you talk about coaching. So when did you start coaching? Like when was it when you were like, Okay, I have enough skin in the game, I can be a voice coach now. speaker-1: That's a good question. I don't think I've ever, I've never sat down and thought about when I became a coach. I the first memory that's popping up to me is I had friends and family ask me for advice. And I always my my rule is if you and I are friends, I will always give you free advice. Like, you know, like if you're a good friend, like you're a good friend, I will always give you whatever. So then from there, I thought, well, why don't I start charging people? Because this is pretty good advice. And I noticed, not to not to brag, I noticed some success with people that I was coaching, like with friends booking things or with cousins booking things, whatever. Like I've it was it was cool to see. And I was like, well, maybe I'm not terrible at this. And then I got lucky too when I lived in Toronto. I had friends at different comedy schools who wanted me to teach. And they're like, why don't you teach this? And I got paid to do it. And I was like, this is great. I can meet people and they can, you know, eventually use me for private coaching if they want, or they could tell their friends. And then I taught at an improv camp and I taught voice acting there. And I teach a lot, I coach a lot of those kids still. I guess they're not kids anymore. They're like full almost adults. But yeah, it just it snowballed from just helping friends to fuck you guys. I wanna get my bag. Never that term before. Get that bag. speaker-0: That's awesome. Cause we did a voice session together, which was great because for those listening at home, there like there is we're talking about a lot of technical things here, but there is an art and a technique to talking into a condenser microphone. And it's so much that I was like, I didn't think of that. wait. okay. Like this is how you warm up. This is how many inches you should be from the mic, et cetera, et cetera. So that was fantastic because not only do you coach people who are like comedians, actors, and that sort of thing. You also coach podcasters. Alert to anybody listening to this who wants to start a podcast. Raquel can coach you. speaker-1: Yes I can And I'll work you to the bone speaker-0: And I might fall in love with you. speaker-1: Yeah, that's just part of the deal. You have to let me marry you at some point. Can you imagine? Like I'll coach you and you'll do so well, but you have to kiss me. God. Yeah, no, I thank you, Claire. That means so much to me. I love that you got a lot out of our session because I did. Can I tell the microphone story? speaker-0: My God, yes, I would I I wish you would. speaker-1: Do do like the you're gonna slice my neck with your finger if you if you want me to stop. That was good. People at home, that was good. So the entire hour, I think it was more than an hour that we were like shooting the shit and and I was helping you figure out, you know, where to place your voice and all that. I didn't know Claire's microphone was backwards. I had no and I have the exact same microphone. I had no idea her mic was backwards. speaker-0: This is audio only. speaker-1: That whole time when I kept being like, You sound amazing. And she did. She sounds great now. Can we get a round of applause for Claire, please? speaker-0: Thank you. speaker-1: You're welcome. I I had no idea. And I when you texted me that and I opened it, I laughed out loud. I was like, what? How did we let that how did we let that pass for so long? speaker-0: my God. So to those listening, if you get like if you're gaming or if you want to do a podcast and you get the blue Yeti microphone, which is fantastic, you need to have the blue logo facing you. So it's I'm looking at my mic now, it's blue logo, mute button volume. Every single YouTube video, because hey, a lot of the podcasting information is just on the internet. Every single YouTube video, the person had it facing. the other way. So I was like, this is like it's supposed to be logo out, et cetera, et cetera. That's how it's supposed to work. And I was just like doing take after take, like, God, why does this sound so bad? And it's like, it's because this is this is the wrong way. I didn't know I thought it would pick up I didn't know you could you can only work with half a microphone, you know? speaker-1: Blue Yeti's just that good. speaker-0: That's good. But yeah, have the logo facing it. speaker-1: Sponsorship commercial shout out would be for Blue Yeti to kind of get their shit together and reach out to you and have a little part here in the podcast being like Blue Yeti the blue emblem needs to face out. speaker-0: Right. Like I don't even think it says I don't even think it has instructions like in the packaging. I mean, I didn't read the instructions. So I'm just like assuming things here. Yeah. It's that was and it's just like every picture of like, you know, there's like promotional pictures of people like in a podcast space and it's just like, the logo's facing away from them. That's how I should talk into it. And it's like, no, it needs to face you. So that's my that's my spiel. Very frustrating, but anyway. speaker-1: Right. Glad I'm glad we got there. I'm glad I'm glad we thrive now. Now we thrive. speaker-0: Can you imagine if I recorded like five fucking episodes with the mic backwards? speaker-1: That would have been so funny. I wouldn't even I if I were you, I wouldn't even re record them. I would just be like, This is who I am. This is who I will be. speaker-0: Accept me as I am. speaker-1: Mad respect. speaker-0: Matter spec. Okay, I think we've gotten to the point in the episode where we want to get into the ooky spookies and we wanted we want to embrace the title spooky butt. So what I know you've you have countless stories. Maybe we'll get through a couple today, but what what can you tell me to be so spooky? speaker-1: Well, I wanna say the spooky stuff started when I started dating my now husband, who you know him well. He's my best friend. Y your best friend, Julian. He I'm gonna use his name of Julian. I started dating him, and that's when I started seeing stuff. That's when weird things started happening, and I was like, is this your fault? So I and I don't know if it's because he's very spiritual, his family's very spiritual, not in like a weird way, but in a way where they're like, yes, we're being protected by he's Cuban, so his family, they're protected by the brothers, which I I can't even really explain what it is, but we're protected by them. and there's a lot of of that in his family. And when do you remember? Okay, so Claire and I, for some context, we went to a Harry Styles concert. Shout out to Harry Styles, dream guest. We went to Harry's Harry Styles concert and we stayed at Julian's place. And that's where Julian and I got together. But on that trip, he told us about a woman who used to live in his place, who owned it, who died. And he brought up a couple of times that she died in the apartment. And clearly remember we were like, what the fuck? speaker-0: Like. I thought she died at the hospital. speaker-1: She didn't die like here. She died in the hospital. But he said it too many times where I was like, okay, do you know something? I don't know. Did she actually die in this house? Consensus is she did not. but but he still brings it up in a way where I'm like, I don't know. Something's weird. It would make sense if she died in the house by how haunting her presence is. so I saw her name. speaker-0: Mm-hmm. speaker-1: sh maybe I don't say her name. I don't know. Is that like bad luck or maybe I won't say it, but yeah. my god, what's a fun what's a fun fake name? Clara Clara Chiara speaker-0: Just like a fake name. Okay, Kiara. Hell yeah. speaker-1: Kiara used to live there, was best friends with our neighbor who is no longer living there, like a big deal in our complex, passes away. Julian moves in. While Julian is living there with someone else who was not me. I know, root. Jail, literally jail. he saw her. He saw her. Bedside. Now I thought that was crazy. I was like, that's no thank you. I don't like that spooky stuff. keep the ghosts away from me. Keep like I don't I don't have time for it. It's none of my business. I saw that same person he saw bedside on one of our one of my trips to visit him because we were long distance for a bit. And that Was something else? Kiara shows up bedside, and it was it was the middle of the night, and I kind of opened my eyes. I don't know if I was dreaming. Something happened where I woke up and there is this woman, an old woman, white hair, like visibly old wrinkles, like pale clothing staring at me. And I screamed. I s I screamed. And Julian woke up and I was like, I just fucking saw an old woman. There was an old woman. I hate your house. I never want to come here again. God. speaker-0: We should break up. Yeah. We're done. We're done. speaker-1: And and he was like, No, I saw her too. And I was like, just now? And he's like, No, in the past I've seen her. I've seen her. I've I guess the the person he used to date was psychic. And she this is when he told me that, like, yeah, she's she still Chiara still like lives in the house. And that's terrifying to me. I'm like, why is Kiara still here? Like there are other places to go, like go somewhere else. So now she lives in my daughter's room, which was I'm positive. She You have. You have. I'm pretty sure she she hides out in there. I'm almost positive. There, or I think she hangs out down, you know where our stairs are? Yes. where the closet is? I or there, because my dog and my baby are. speaker-0: She's in that room? Yeah. speaker-1: are always looking there and smiling and I'm like, I don't like this. This is some fucking conjuring bullshit that I don't need to be a part of. I don't know. I didn't see the conjuring. I'm not sure if that speaker-0: Don't watch it. It's very scary because there like an old there's an old woman. Like it's very scary. Great first movie, but it's very scary. speaker-1: Ugh, I can't do it. I can't do it. I, anyways, that I talked so much. I apologize. But that has been my experience to this day with Kiara. Now, is she listening to me? I don't know. Is she gonna like climb on top of me tonight? Maybe she's I know, I don't know. What is she doing? I'm constantly looking at my baby's monitor. Being like, I'm gonna see. I'm gonna see something. You want my god, I forgot. My parents' baby sat Lennon. fuck, my daughter's name is Lennon. My parents. speaker-0: Yeah. So what's I didn't read her bio, I'm sorry. I didn't read her bio, I'm sorry. at the top of the episode. She's gonna be so mad. speaker-1: gonna slap you the you yeah she's a baby influencer no but my my parents were babysitting Lennon and they were watching her on the the nanit the thing they that we watch her on the monitor and they told us when we came back from vacation they told us like we'd see orbs floating around her room and I was speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Okay. What kind of orbs? They're like, I don't know. Like she's she was sleeping, so we didn't go in there. I'm like, you guys are awful ghost hunters. You suck. but that I I that room freaks me out because I put her to sleep in there every night and lately I've noticed the door will shut on its own and I fucking hate it. I thought my god. I texted my husband the other day and was like, Did you just slam our door? Like, was that you? And he goes, No, I thought it was you. And I was like, I hate this house. I hate this house. I'm really bad with scary things. And like the B speaker-0: my god. Two, even though I have podcast about it, but whatever. speaker-1: They d they say do something that scares you and you're really like you took that to heart. speaker-0: Yes. Thank you. Yes. speaker-1: Anyways, any questions, concerns, probably a lot of concerns. You're like, I never want to stay at your house again. speaker-0: So I've stayed in that room. And I was thinking, like, once you started talking, like that room, it's on the second floor. And there's like you can it has an ensuite bathroom. So you can open the window in the bathroom and the window in the bedroom. And it you get this like nice cross breeze. And it's like nice California well, I mean, it's Los Angeles, but it's still like drier, kind of nice temper temperate, excuse me, air flow through. And that's like the kind of the sensation I get from that room is just like every time I've stayed over, I've slept great in that room. And I never I don't know, because like Julian had kind of talked about like some spooky stuff in the times that I visited, but I never felt anything. I just felt I think I was just maybe so like excited to be visiting you guys and to have a free pr place to stay in Los Angeles. But fuck yeah. But I never I have never gotten weird vibes from that because my God. my God. Cause I remember you guys said or was it I think it was after Maybe one of the sightings, one of the apparition sightings, you guys had the Feng Shui practitioner come in. speaker-1: One of his sightings. Okay. I this was before me. speaker-0: Okay. Yeah. So she this was a woman who came in, she's like knows Feng Shui and she did some, I guess, energy cleansing and then she would play like a it was like a specific type of yoga music. Yes. While Julian was traveling for work and that actually helped get shit out of the house. But I guess maybe this needs to happen again. Or I don't know how to speaker-1: Was it the Kundal Kundalini? Is that what it was? I might be saying it so wrong. Kundalini. It might be something else, but I I I remember this. Yeah, the the yoga music. yeah, maybe we need to play it again. I don't know. That here's the thing though, Chiara's not doing anything bad. She's not. She's not like hiding our shit, which maybe, but she She's not like harming our baby, like the baby's not crying. That's you know, like the baby's not. I also think my daughter is a go, not a ghost, but like a witch or something. Like she's there's something fucked up about her where she's like, I think she sees dead people. I I do, I truly do. I'm not even trying to be funny. I think she sees the beyond. I think maybe she can communicate with her, and that's why it's been at bay. But maybe Kiara fucking hates me and that's why she's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna make your I'm gonna scare your mom and she'll slam the door. speaker-0: Man. Well we'll try to get Lennon on the podcast. speaker-1: She says, she says dada, she says the beginning of Mama, and that's all you need. All you need. Yeah. That's gonna be a riveting conversation for speaker-0: That's like yeah. Cause I know we've kind of talked about like Lennon having sensitivities and we thought that it was just family members, but like this, I can't believe this chick is still in the fucking house. Cause didn't Julian buy the house in like 2019? speaker-1: Yeah, feels kinda too new for it to be haunted. So speaker-0: Yeah. She's she passed away almost 10 years ago. And I I don't know, that surprises me because she was we kind of looked her up, I feel like. Yes. And she was on the older side, I believe she died of like a long-term illness. Yeah. But it's just kind of weird because it's like she it's just weird that she's still kind of connected to that house because she and this is We feel completely fine with this. She never married and had kids. But she did get married and she got divorced, but she she was like a child free queen, et cetera, et cetera. So it's just kinda interesting. It's like, hey, wouldn't you wanna after like suffering from a long term illness, wouldn't you wanna like move into the light? Like, why would you wanna I don't I don't know. speaker-1: I hear you. No, I hear you. There's so many more. Like, you don't have, you don't have to stay here. I wish I knew more about spirits in that sense. Like, what does it take for them to cross into the afterlife? Why get stuck? Because she wasn't a bad person from what we know. Like, she had friends, she was, you know, doing her thing. And I think she was like a pretty big part of the speaker-0: You don't, yeah. speaker-1: Buildings, community, like whatever. What from what I understand. And I I think she has some family. but like, why here? Why this house? Maybe it's just something she was so proud of. because I would be fucking proud of that if I owned something. If I could afford a townhouse, I'd be like, yeah, I'm not leaving. You know how much I paid for this shit. speaker-0: okay. Well, you mentioned she was part of the HOA, so I think that's the answer. Like, even if even in death, the HOA will fucking find you. Mm-hmm. speaker-1: That's America, baby. Happy T speaker-0: 50. Baby. my god. That's wild. So like have you consulted, like I guess since Lennon's been bored and there's been some more activity, have you consulted any like mediums or whatnot for just I guess advice or like, hey, who the fuck is this? speaker-1: We've come across mediums accidentally. not on purpose by any means, but we've never talked about Chiara. It's always been about who's around my my daughter. Who's around her, and she's very well protected. we have a chiropractor we go to, and the receptionist is awesome. Like she's fucking amazing. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: She said to me while Julian's getting adjusted and I'm sitting with Lennon, she goes, and and at the time I was like, huh. She goes, you have a lot of relatives that pass, huh? At first I was like, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. And then I really thought about it. I'm like, yeah, no, we've got a lot of like dead relatives. And she goes, on both sides. And I was like, yeah, maybe him. I don't know much about his dead relatives, but I mean, we both have big families, so that's possi that's a possibility. And she opened up and said, just so you know, I am I see, I see beyond. I see, I see dead beyond. She should have said it like that. But she didn't. No, she said, I see, I see spirits, and your daughter has like a huge crew. speaker-0: Bye. Yeah. speaker-1: And they're all family. She goes, it's very loud and like a fun, like they're having fun. It's okay. And I was like, must be all those Italians. And you know, like, what are they? I asked exactly. I was like, what are they doing? Like, they're playing with her, they're making her laugh. If you ever see her. Because Lennon used to laugh by herself or she'd smile out of nowhere. And we were like, Okay, the wall's not that funny. but she said if you ever see her doing that, they're playing with her. They're they're they're protecting her. When when Lennon was born, we took a Polaroid picture because I have a stupid little Polaroid camera and I thought, let's let's commemorate this painful day of giving birth. Let's take photos. And we took this picture of Lennon, and in the background, there's a spirit. There's a full fucking body. You can see it. Me and Julian tried to, we thought maybe it was the light. So we tried to recreate it. No, it was a person. So I brought that up to her. I said, There was a person in this picture. And I I should get Julian to show you it. And she goes, yeah, that's my God. She didn't say who it was. She didn't say who it was, but she goes, That's a family member. I know that. And then she brought up, she's like, There's a woman standing. A few spots behind Lennon who's saying she's an aunt. And I was like, an aunt, an aunt, an aunt. and I was like, I I don't I couldn't think of at the time an aunt who had passed away that would be, you know, close with Lennon. Cause, you know, I don't know. Anyways, and she goes, This woman died of smoking, like she smoked. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: she's making it very clear to me she is not a grandparent. She she is not a grandparent, and you might know her from that. And I was like, my God, it's one of my Zias who passed away when I was a child. And I was like, my God, she's there. She's she's here right now. That's cool. And so when it's family related, yeah, I like it. speaker-0: Wow. Yeah, that's awesome. speaker-1: I it feels like a nice warm hug, but when it's somebody I don't know Stranger Danger applies to ghosts as well. speaker-0: Exactly. And like I guess 'cause I would have thought that's just so crazy because I kinda knew about like the Kiara aspect of it. Yeah. But I didn't know that she was still fucking there. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it could be that Kiara met Lennon's squad of ghosts and they're all like besties. Or maybe she's like hooking up with an old grandparent now. That's that makes it all easier for me to kind of process that this shit's happening in my home. like maybe they're like, I don't know who's hooking up. I don't know. is she married in the afterlife still? Yeah. Maybe, yeah, I don't know. I don't know. speaker-0: I just don't understand like why close so like if you want the door open while she's napping in case like you need to hear her or whatever, it's like, can this ghost just not fucking close this door? Can this door stay open? I'm like pissed about this. speaker-1: Keep it open. And what's interesting too is our bedroom door, if it's not locked, it will always and it's closed, it'll always open. And I hate that. I hate it. I hate it. And I'd rather I'd rather the door stuff just stop. Like let's stop with the door stuff, Chiara. speaker-0: So the door the door to your bedroom will latch. But speaker-1: No, sorry, it'll open. If it's closed, it pops open unless it's locked. Yeah. And we're not locking it right now because like the baby's across the way. I wanna g if something happens, knock on wood, I wanna get there as fast as I can. I'm not gonna take like however many seconds to do the do the lock. I don't know. Yeah. It's all very interesting. speaker-0: Okay. Yeah, that's that's fucking crazy. Have you had any like really recent experiences like in the house or like have any like interactions with that receptionist? Any like recent ooky spookies? speaker-1: Just the doors. The doors are the most recent. It's shutting while I'm rocking her to sleep in the dark. Never, never a nice feeling. no, I besides that, one of the cool I have a kind of a cool one. So the receptionist said to me, because I I have a grandmother who passed away when I was like 12. And She like raised me. I we were there all the time. We're very close. And she died suddenly. And that death was like so hard for our entire family. Like, I don't think anybody, like any of her kids, ever fully recovered. Yeah. Because it was so sudden and so like, what the fuck? So the receptionist, when she was telling me about Lennon Squad, I was like, is my Nona there? And she was like, Yeah, but she mostly follows you around. Like she's and I was like, okay. And I've had exactly. And I've gone to psychics before who have been like, your Nona's here. And I'm like, she she must not trust me. I love that she's here and it makes me so happy. And again, like I mentioned, it kind of just feels like this nice warm embrace like, I'm speaker-0: T. speaker-1: I'm being watched by someone who used to watch me and who loves me and I love them. And I know that. one of the cool things, though, the lady said was she pops up in little trinkets, like little objects, like feathers. She said feathers, and I was like, that's insane. Because our I I see little feathers everywhere, but I I thought it was like, we have a shitty couch. So maybe the the down's coming out. When we were leaving the office that day that the reception and I had that conversation, I was like, What the fuck is this? And I pulled out a tiny little feather out of Lennon's sock and she goes, See? And I was like, So a cool thing that's been happening recently is I will find little tiny feathers. just kind of like stuck in my clothes or stuck on Lennon. At one time Lennon had one in her hair. I was like, Come on, no, no, she eats those. She'll speaker-0: Which come on. speaker-1: I know. But yeah, those are my two most recent things. I'm hoping I'm hoping Kiara, you know, doesn't listen to this podcast and goes, I'm gonna up my shit. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I'm gonna take a ghost shit on her while she's asleep. I don't know. speaker-0: Like I was thinking like, I'm recording a paranormal podcast. What if I pick up like EVP shit? speaker-1: What's E B P. speaker-0: it's electronic voice phenomena? Sorry. It's like or something voice phenomena. But it's like they use it on like ghost hunting. They like have like recorders out trying to catch shit. And I'm like, what if what if like all this weird technical shit happens and it's like I hear, I don't know. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but it's like, that's maybe one of the things to consider when doing like a paranormal podcast or like content creation. So speaker-1: O V. No, that's my God. speaker-0: my I know. speaker-1: This is a great, I I I I want that for you. speaker-0: But that's do what I don't. Yeah. That's my God, that's so funny. man, that's yeah, that's crazy. I do love like an uplifting like signs from the other side. That's so nice. And that's cool because she she passed some time ago, but it's it's just nice to have that energy come back and come back like very, very strongly, you know. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. Right. I think it kind of evens out like how scary spirits and ghosts and all that are to me. Then I'll have that come in and I'm like, maybe it's not so bad. But then the door shuts and I'm like, fuck you. speaker-0: You just jump out of your chair. what was I gonna say? I can't I'm surprised. So I thought you always kinda had weird ghost shit happening around you. I cannot believe that it wasn't until you started dating Julian. It's wild. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's because I started sort of opening up. speaker-0: okay. speaker-1: but I have had like, you know, I've gone to psychics before and they, you know, most of all of it has come true or made sense to me in a way where I was like, Yeah, I believe in this, but I never made it my whole personality. Like he does kind of thing. So I think once I started kind of opening up to that and I started accepting that that's who he is, then that's when I don't know. Maybe that's what it is too, is like once you start to believe it, it happens. I don't know. I don't know. but I definitely now feel like a softer energy toward all that instead of like a full off. I still think it's terrifying. I think it's so scary. I hate being scared. I hate being scared. I I cannot watch scary movies. I want to, but I can't like I just that's all I think about I have OCD like actually have OCD medicated and everything and I just I the thoughts of like I won't forget a scary movie for if I watch it if I watch a scary movie I will be thinking about it for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and I'm like my God I'm gonna die like that or my god I'm haunted by a ghost like that it's medication doesn't work I don't know but speaker-0: It's a good way to test. speaker-1: That's a thing. I'm be Hey, I can't watch scary movies, fix it. speaker-0: No, that's yeah, that's true. Like I now that I'm an adult in the spooky, scary adult world, I don't really I used to watch scary movies when I like lived in a peaceful house and I had parents who took care of me. Yeah. And didn't have to work and all this stuff. And it's like now the it's yeah, it's it's too much. But yeah. Anyway. so I think we're about ready to wrap up. Okay. Any parting words, any like if you want to give like parting words for like spooky stuff or the voice acting or like anything at all that you want to kind of end on. speaker-1: I wanna end on happy first podcast day. I wanna end on that high note. May only the best ghosts visit you today, Claire. The best and sexiest. Someone, sexy ghost, if you're listening, you visit that spooky butt. I I am so proud of you. I'm so happy that you're doing this, and I'm so honored to be your very first guest. speaker-0: Hell yeah. The firstest guest. speaker-1: Firstest guest in the entire world. no. I I hey, my name's Raquel. You wanna you wanna hang out? No, don't, don't, I won't plug that, but it's like when people are like, you have anything to plug? It's like, yeah, friendship. speaker-0: Ha ha ha. Do you want me to ask where can people do you want followers on Instagram? 'Cause I can do that. Like where can people follow speaker-1: yeah. You can find me on Instagram. What is my Instagram? Rack City5. speaker-0: Rack City Five. Hell yeah. And then you have your website where people can book coaching lessons. speaker-1: Yes. you can book through there. You could, you know, on Instagram. you I don't think people can DM me actually. Never mind. No, you could just go to the website. Go to the website. Go to the website. I think it's Raquelbalmonte at dot com. Raquelbalmonte.com. Fuck yeah. It's a hot pink website. It's perfect. My best friend Carla made it. It's great. yeah. Yeah. speaker-0: I think yeah, that sounds right. Hell yeah. Yeah. And on on that note, goodbye. speaker-1: Hi boo I'm sorry. Fuck me, I'm sorry. speaker-0: Thank you for listening to this episode of SpookyButt. Music by Drew Mantia, artwork by Lauren Seely. Listen to Spooky Butt on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Please be sure to like, rate, and subscribe. Follow SpookyButt on Instagram at Spookybut Podcast. Need to make contact? Send us an email at spookybuttpodcast at gmail.com. We'll see you on the other side. Goodbye.