Latest / The Scene Projects / Inside the Band: Bubba Startz and Monica on Music, Aspirations, and Future Plans
Transcript
- 0:02Well, welcome into another exciting episode of the scene.
- 0:04I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is Monica from the eldest daughter.
- 0:08Welcome to the show, Monica.
- 0:10Hello.
- 0:10Yeah.
- 0:10Good to be here.
- 0:11Yeah.
- 0:12Well, we're just chatting a little bit before we hit record about the band and about
- 0:17everything, but why don't you give us a little bit of backstory on the creation of it, and
- 0:21then we'll jump into what you're doing now.
- 0:24Yeah.
- 0:24Totally.
- 0:25So Bandstard as a duo between me and Austin Reed, my, our lead guitarist.
- 0:31And, we met for the first time in August of twenty twenty three.
- 0:36And prior to that, it really neither of us had really spent much time playing out at all, but
- 0:39my lovely fiance had heard I've been playing, writing songs for a long time, knew I wanted to
- 0:44be a band, and he was like, I am friends with this guy in Snapchat who posts a lot he plays
- 0:48guitar in his band.
- 0:49Like, maybe we should try that out.
- 0:51So Austin came over on a Wednesday, and we practiced every Wednesday since.
- 0:54And, that momentum got us to the point that in January, Sonya, our bass player, decided, that
- 1:01they would love to be a part of it.
- 1:02And then in April, a few months later of 2024, Isaac, our drummer, joined.
- 1:09Austin kind of recruited him from a terminal bar.
- 1:12So, yeah, it's been really fun.
- 1:14As a group, we've been playing together for almost coming up on a year now, which is
- 1:18awesome.
- 1:18And, yeah, been playing you know, we have a lot of good songs, but we just put out our first
- 1:23EP, on January twenty eighth of this last year, so feels really good to have a band with music
- 1:29out.
- 1:30It's definitely a step up from, you know, the, the the days of crawling.
- 1:36I think we're almost starting to walk now as a band.
- 1:38So
- 1:39Well, how exciting.
- 1:40So were you releasing music on your own and doing solo stuff or just kinda have the songs
- 1:47at home and in the notebooks?
- 1:48And
- 1:50Yeah.
- 1:50Very much just had the songs at home and in the notebooks.
- 1:52I have music's been a big part of my life from a young age.
- 1:55I I always say the best gift my parents ever gave me was piano lessons.
- 1:58So that was my primary instrument, and I spent hundreds of hours playing keys.
- 2:03But it was always something that I did, you know, alone in my office.
- 2:06And and then I went to a Twin Cities songwriter round that's hosted by Taylor James Donsky to
- 2:12go support a friend.
- 2:14And I went to that show, and I was like, this might be I could maybe do this.
- 2:19It's a real you know, songwriter format.
- 2:21It's one song at a time.
- 2:22You tell a little bit of a story, and you go around and around.
- 2:24You don't have to, like, put on a whole show by yourself if you're nervous.
- 2:27Like, you're just playing one song, and then it'll move on.
- 2:30And so, yeah, I played my I played my first show in, July of twenty twenty three.
- 2:36And, yeah, since then, it's been, like, a really quick ramp up.
- 2:39You you know, we just wrapped up a residency at The White Squirrel in January.
- 2:42We've got another, at three three one Club in April.
- 2:44And, yeah, definitely come a long way from those days of, I think I might break down
- 2:49crying on stage and not be able to get through the song till, like, I can put on a good show.
- 2:53So that's been really fun.
- 2:55The early years, you know, you grow really quickly, so that's been really fun.
- 2:59That's, like, the one thing I never trouble with.
- 3:02I'm a songwriter myself, and I've always had this unnatural confidence.
- 3:06Right?
- 3:06Like Yeah.
- 3:07Yeah.
- 3:07To just go out there and do it.
- 3:09And some really great mentors early on for me.
- 3:12I always played you know, I've been playing since I was a teenager.
- 3:15And pretty much from the time that I picked up a guitar, my dad had me out on stage.
- 3:20We were playing open mics, and we were doing this.
- 3:21So I got a lot of that out, you know, when you're 13, 14 years old.
- 3:26And then, you know, once I graduated high school, I was off and running.
- 3:29I mean, I've bust on the streets of Venice Beach and anywhere anywhere I needed to make a
- 3:34buck, Monica.
- 3:35I I had a guitar on my back for several years, and I just throw it, you know, throw the case
- 3:40down.
- 3:40And when I needed money, I'd play, and the money would appear.
- 3:43And I was like, oh, this is a cool magic trick.
- 3:46Yeah.
- 3:46Totally.
- 3:47Yeah.
- 3:48And now I've grown that into, you know, playing shows and doing, you know, setting up my own
- 3:53songwriters rounds.
- 3:54We actually did one, back in December at the Midway Saloon where we featured, several, eight
- 4:01I think we had eight artists.
- 4:02Mark Joseph, who's pretty big up there in the Minnesota scene, joined us that day.
- 4:06But it's a very informal.
- 4:07Right?
- 4:08Three, four songs, twenty minutes on stage, and it's just me doing this, but then you get to
- 4:13share your songs.
- 4:13Right?
- 4:14So I love that kind of your journey came through that songwriter round, place because
- 4:20that's what it's all about.
- 4:21Right?
- 4:22I play a lot of four hour shows where I'm playing mostly cover music, but I've always
- 4:26been about songs.
- 4:27I'm trying to share who I am.
- 4:29And I'm sure for you that, you know, years and years of playing piano, like, you don't I don't
- 4:36think you play any instrument without writing something of your own, without being inspired
- 4:39to do your own thing.
- 4:40Anyone who just plays and says they don't write, I I don't wanna call bullshit, but, you
- 4:46know, like, you've come up with something original.
- 4:48You just don't have the confidence to own it.
- 4:51Right?
- 4:52To to go, no.
- 4:53This is mine, and I'm making this something.
- 4:55And it sounds like you kinda had that, but you'd never stepped out and taken those to the
- 5:00public before.
- 5:02And the that journey, that's why you're accelerating at the rate you are.
- 5:06You had all the fuel.
- 5:08Right?
- 5:08Yeah.
- 5:08You just didn't really know the direction.
- 5:10So how exciting.
- 5:12Yeah.
- 5:12And I knew I mean, I knew, yeah.
- 5:15I I had an interview a few months ago with, like, a magazine where I I said the same thing
- 5:19I'll say now, is, I knew I was a musician.
- 5:22Like, I I from a young age, I knew I was I knew I had something that drove me in a way that,
- 5:27like, it didn't you know, for my, like, peers in my class or whatever or, like, at piano
- 5:32recitals.
- 5:33Like, I knew I had a little bit of extra spunk.
- 5:36I think, you know, many people grow up being told all the reasons that, like, you shouldn't
- 5:42do it or it's not worth it.
- 5:43And then also just how do you break in?
- 5:45Like, how do you go from, like, living in a small town to, like, okay.
- 5:49Now I'm 21.
- 5:50I guess I can go to bars now.
- 5:51Like, where do I go?
- 5:53And then also just, yeah, not it's awesome to be playing guitar now because that is such a
- 5:57more mobile instrument, I think, as well.
- 6:00Like, piano, it's kind of a whole thing to, to lug around.
- 6:04So, yeah, I've always known, like you know, I think what I wasn't doing, and I was pretty
- 6:09aware, like, this I'm I'm letting myself down a little bit.
- 6:12It was just hard to know where to start.
- 6:13So once I, yeah, once I got a foot in the door, it was, like, nonstop after that.
- 6:17And, yeah, I'm really glad to, really glad to be where I am now.
- 6:21I think me two years ago would be so stoked to be sitting this
- 6:24Yeah.
- 6:25Well, it and would be so proud of you.
- 6:28Right?
- 6:28Like, the journey that you've been on, I'm proud of you.
- 6:30We just met today.
- 6:31And I'm like, oh, good for you.
- 6:33That's so awesome to be on this journey.
- 6:35We got some good friends up up there, the North Star original review.
- 6:40Corey and AJ Stone up there, been doing a lot because it's this movement.
- 6:45We all feel it.
- 6:46It's the reason I started this podcast.
- 6:48I released some music last year around this time, and I I did the whole media tour for
- 6:54South Dakota in, like, a day.
- 6:56I went and hit my two friends podcast at the local news station, and then it was like, oh,
- 7:00that was it.
- 7:02And I don't have anyone else to talk to.
- 7:04And, my good friend Dave Holly, who I shout out a lot on the show, but he's the one who kinda
- 7:08got me started.
- 7:09I went to his home studio and was like, hey.
- 7:11I I have that, and I have that.
- 7:13And I should be doing a podcast, shouldn't I, Dave?
- 7:16And it was like, yeah.
- 7:17You definitely should.
- 7:18So it it just takes a little push sometimes.
- 7:21Even though you know all the things and you know this is what you should be doing,
- 7:25sometimes it takes a simple conversation or a song right around or something to go, oh, I see
- 7:30the way now.
- 7:31Or at least I have a beacon to follow.
- 7:33Yeah.
- 7:33Right?
- 7:34You know, I'm I might still be kinda stumbling through the fog a little bit, but I'm I'm
- 7:38following something, and I'm going in a direction.
- 7:41Mhmm.
- 7:41So what direction is that for the eldest daughter band now?
- 7:45Let's, let's talk about the future and what 2025 is gonna hold for you.
- 7:50Yeah.
- 7:50I think, like, kicking off 2025 with a bang, like the residency and releasing our EP, I just
- 7:55wanna continue that momentum, try and, you know, make eldest daughter band play every
- 8:00venue around the Twin Cities that we possibly can.
- 8:02We're we're looking to try and get some shows up north and some in in Skani in Wisconsin.
- 8:07But, yeah, goal right now is to keep releasing singles in, like, a waterfall release.
- 8:12Just put stuff out there.
- 8:13We've got, you know, so many songs that weren't included in our four song EP.
- 8:17So continuing in that direction and then just playing out as much as possible, like, saying
- 8:21yes to to every show, no matter how small, until we get to a place that we have options
- 8:28and we can choose.
- 8:29You know?
- 8:29I think right now, it's just about taking all the opportunities you you possibly can.
- 8:34And and I think another big piece for me too is collaborating with other musicians that I that
- 8:40I like and respect and getting together for a songwriting session or just, like, jam and play
- 8:45some covers because I think there's such a value in, that, like, that, like, mesh that you
- 8:54get with someone else and you grow and you learn from from them when it's not even you
- 8:58know, it's not a structured lesson or anything.
- 8:59I think just like playing with another musician can be really profound.
- 9:02And and, candidly, like, I haven't done a lot of that except for my band.
- 9:05So Right.
- 9:06That's a big piece for me too this year is making everyone aware of eldest daughter,
- 9:10putting out music.
- 9:11You know, I've got that other residency coming up at three three one club.
- 9:14And then, yeah, stay tuned because we are gonna be putting out singles through the rest of this
- 9:17year.
- 9:17So That's good.
- 9:19Awesome.
- 9:19Yeah.
- 9:19That the terminal bar, they got a pretty good open mic there, don't they?
- 9:23Sorry.
- 9:23I'm glancing through my notes because I'm like, I've heard that name before.
- 9:27And I wanna say my friend Robert Dixon, hangs out down around there and is part of that.
- 9:33It's it's about communities, Monica.
- 9:35And and once you find one, to really dig into it, like you said, jamming with other people
- 9:41and build Cause those are your biggest supporters.
- 9:43Right?
- 9:44Those are the people that you end up leaning on when the times get tough.
- 9:47Right?
- 9:47When you're not getting the gigs or you feel like you've plateaued or, you know, like,
- 9:51you're gonna go through a million things, and and riding that momentum is so important.
- 9:58Like, that's probably the single most, that's the driver.
- 10:03Like, you create a wave.
- 10:04Right?
- 10:05You make a splash, whether it's a a single or it's a show or it's something, but you have to
- 10:10learn how to kind of keep that going.
- 10:13Because when you stop, it's really hard to start everything up again and get that buzz
- 10:17going and to build that momentum.
- 10:19So, yeah, I think you're you're on it to just keep keep pushing music out there, keep doing
- 10:24what you're doing, and and finding those people that are gonna, you know, pick you up when
- 10:29you're feeling a little down because those those times come too.
- 10:32There's there's gonna be plenty of moments where you're like, you know what?
- 10:36Why are we doing this still?
- 10:37But, they're they're fleeting.
- 10:40They are fleeting moments because, like you said, you're you're a musician at heart.
- 10:44And if you have that, I think that's a big, that's a big difference in, like, today's music
- 10:49scene rather than maybe, like, forty or fifty years ago, right, where a lot of kids in the
- 10:55eighties wanted to play guitar because they wanted to be a rock star, not because they
- 10:59wanted to be a musician.
- 11:00Right?
- 11:01And a lot of those people got famous, to be perfectly honest.
- 11:04A lot of people got famous, just because that was the way the music industry was.
- 11:09The music industry is so much different now.
- 11:11I would say the industry as a whole is pretty much kaput as far as like the big what it used
- 11:16to be, But the rise of the independent musician and people who are motivated by the music and
- 11:23have this you know, whether you're releasing it or not, it's coming out of you.
- 11:27Right?
- 11:28But it's how you express yourself.
- 11:30So really beautiful to see that you've Sounds like you got a great team around you.
- 11:36Bands that form organically like that and everybody buys in, I think that's some of the
- 11:41best, that's some of the best groups because everybody is buying into that.
- 11:47He kind of shouted out everybody, that's in the band now, and obviously, it's still new.
- 11:53Are you starting to write together?
- 11:55Obviously, bringing you know, starting out, you're playing your songs.
- 11:59Right?
- 11:59And you're bringing in all this stuff.
- 12:01But is it now starting to evolve where you are writing music together and things are coming
- 12:06out in jam sessions?
- 12:08Yeah.
- 12:08I would say that, so on our EP, the last song, again, one of my favorite songs, I wrote that
- 12:15with Austin.
- 12:17Austin is very much part of that writing process.
- 12:19And I think, for we've got four other songs that it's been me and Austin writing together.
- 12:26And then last summer, we wrote our first song as, like, a full band that I also love.
- 12:31That song is called you get high.
- 12:32I think it is a really excellent song.
- 12:34But How did you know?
- 12:38Yeah.
- 12:38Really.
- 12:39But I think it is, like, I think it is a really nice format for me to come with fully fledged
- 12:45ideas.
- 12:46It's just easier to bake in and then have everyone be in, like, a make better seat.
- 12:53I think we all are working with, you know, with passion and inspiration and limited time.
- 13:03And so, I think it, like, ebbs and flows, like, those times where we're able to just, have a
- 13:07jam session.
- 13:07But, usually, we're practicing or recording for a very specific reason.
- 13:11It's like, we have a show next week.
- 13:13What's the lineup we need?
- 13:14Or, hey.
- 13:14We're recording next week.
- 13:15We really need to, like, nail on this one song.
- 13:17So it's been really interesting because we've only been playing together as a foursome for
- 13:20just under a year now.
- 13:22So it's been interesting to see that, like, ebb and flow of where there's, like, cognitive
- 13:26space for the whole band to, like, show up and write a new song together.
- 13:30It's worked well, at times.
- 13:33And at times, it's worked really well for for me to bring novel.
- 13:36So because I'm I'm writing a new song every day.
- 13:39They just start happening.
- 13:39So I pick the best ones and bring them to the team.
- 13:43Yeah.
- 13:43And I see I feel I I I've gotten in the habit now.
- 13:47Every time I touch touch my guitar, right, like, to practice, it's a new song.
- 13:52It's some it's something new coming from somewhere.
- 13:54Right?
- 13:55And I've made a point of just capturing those.
- 13:57But just capturing a demo and me humming a melody or something.
- 14:01And, okay.
- 14:03I don't have time to craft this right now.
- 14:05We're so busy growing this network and doing all these other things, but I can put it on
- 14:10tape real quick, and I can come back to that, and I can find that moment.
- 14:14And for me now, realizing that is like, oh, you can compartmentalize that, come back to it
- 14:21where who knows how many songs I've lost that came through me and then it was gone and I
- 14:26didn't, you know, I didn't sit with it and fully fledge that out.
- 14:30Right?
- 14:31So really interesting.
- 14:33I I love your take on the kind of creative process as well.
- 14:36And I I've never had I've never had a ban I've always had a band.
- 14:40Right?
- 14:40I've had guys around me or gals that have played in the band, but never the, like,
- 14:46consistent group that we were writing together.
- 14:49We were hanging out all the time and we were in like one of that is location.
- 14:54Right?
- 14:54I'm I'm in a town of a thousand people working with people that are up to that professional
- 15:02level.
- 15:02Right?
- 15:02I've been doing this for twenty five years.
- 15:04There there's a level that I expect things to be played to.
- 15:07Well, I found last year that it's it's just easier to hire professionals in the places that
- 15:13I'm going because not everybody can travel five hours to go stay for three, four days, and then
- 15:17come back.
- 15:18Right?
- 15:18So last summer while we were on tour, we just kind of tapped our network for other players.
- 15:24And while that was great to play all the covers and and, you know, to do all those things, I
- 15:29really didn't get to play much of my original music because of that.
- 15:32Because, you know, while I can send some of them ahead and you know it, I'm not gonna be
- 15:36confident kinda laying out the whole catalog with people who, I've had one or two rehearsals
- 15:41with in the year.
- 15:43Right?
- 15:43Yeah.
- 15:44So I'm a little envious.
- 15:46I'm a little jealous of people that get to gel with a a consistent group of players, and and
- 15:51to to share that experience with someone is so powerful too, and I I'm sure that's, been a
- 15:56great joy for you to to watch other people get excited about your music.
- 16:01Right?
- 16:02Yeah.
- 16:02Yeah.
- 16:03It is.
- 16:03And we also like, just by nature of, like, the way that the background that each of us have,
- 16:08like, Austin had played in a couple bands, in Duluth or played with friends a few times, but,
- 16:14like, for him as well, this is, like, the most seriously that, you know, we've taken a music
- 16:21project in terms of really trying to make it go somewhere.
- 16:23And Sonya has had past band experiences, but it's been a while.
- 16:27So, also, for them, it's like getting back in and, like, this is it's like a, you know,
- 16:32turning of the for all of us, this is our main thing, and it's so cool to have that energy of,
- 16:39like, let's see how far we can take it.
- 16:43Let's see, like, how tight we can get, how good we can make our shows, you know, how much work
- 16:48we can put into promoting an EP and and making it good.
- 16:50And and we've done that independently too.
- 16:53Sonya played a big role in, like, our EP while it was mastered professionally by, Minnie Hawk
- 16:58Recording Studios, which was awesome.
- 17:00Tony is great there.
- 17:01We recorded and mixed that all ourselves, which I just think I think is incredibly impressive
- 17:06for a band that, like, has never released music before.
- 17:09We've been playing together for under a year.
- 17:11Like, these songs are all original.
- 17:15And, yeah, I I'm really so the other piece of it that I would say is it is so cool to watch
- 17:22the people in the band grow with me.
- 17:25Like, rising tides lift all boats.
- 17:27And as I get better, it helps everyone else.
- 17:29And as Austin gets better, it helps everyone else.
- 17:31And as Sonya gets better at recording, it helps everyone else.
- 17:33As Isaac gets more inspired with drumming, like, we all feel that.
- 17:36So that is a really cool thing.
- 17:39Now the the flip side of that is when someone is having a tough time, it does impact
- 17:43everyone, but that's community.
- 17:45Like, that's the nature
- 17:46community.
- 17:47And that's where having the other band members to kind of cradle you in that moment.
- 17:51And, you know, most of us, it's not it's usually not a musical thing.
- 17:55It it's a personal life thing that's happening that's kind of bringing you down.
- 17:59So having a family like a band to kind of pick you up when you're when you're down and to
- 18:04bring you back.
- 18:05And, it's like I said, I'm very envious of it.
- 18:09I've had a lot of a lot of players over the years that I play and people that I'm still
- 18:13friends with, but it's never it's never felt like the family.
- 18:17Right?
- 18:17Yeah.
- 18:17And that unit.
- 18:19And and how courageous of you to to all jump in and say, hey.
- 18:22We're gonna record this ourself.
- 18:24We feel pretty good about it, and we're just gonna put it out there.
- 18:27Like, I record at home, but I would never put any of that stuff out into the world.
- 18:31You know, I pay my friends who are much better at it to do it in their studio and even down to
- 18:36some of the playing.
- 18:37Right?
- 18:38Like, my friend, Tom Freer, Cottonwood Studios out in Rapid City, he, he's done all my stuff
- 18:44because it's like, man, you're a better guitar player than me.
- 18:47You're better you're you're the drummer on this thing.
- 18:49You found the bass player, or you probably could have played that too.
- 18:52And it's like, why would I spend all of my time and beat my head against the wall to try and
- 18:57get it to sound like like this when you did it in essentially one take through on all of these
- 19:03things.
- 19:04Right?
- 19:04So I'm very fortunate to have a a broad network that that contributes to that.
- 19:09We're working on a new EP ourselves, so I'm pretty excited to have these people on.
- 19:14But, yeah, South Dakota is just such a big it's such a big state, and it's so spread out.
- 19:19I grew up in the Black Hills on the other side of the Right?
- 19:22So all of my connections up until five years ago when my wife and I bought a place here in
- 19:27Eastern South Dakota that, you know, all my friends were out there.
- 19:31All the music people I knew were five hours away now, and I've slowly had to kind of
- 19:36rebuild the network in this area, and it's led to this.
- 19:39Right?
- 19:40It's led to being connected up to the cities a little bit more and and getting to meet people
- 19:44like you, Monica, and your band, and then, you know, linking up with you when I come into
- 19:49town.
- 19:50Right?
- 19:50And that's kind of the the evolution of what we're doing, and, it sounds like you are
- 19:55evolving right alongside of us as well.
- 19:57Mhmm.
- 19:58Yeah.
- 19:58Absolutely.
- 19:59Yep.
- 20:00Monica, what do you got, what do you got coming up here in the next month or so?
- 20:03Why don't you go ahead and plug everything here, and I'll let you get out?
- 20:07Yeah.
- 20:07I would say, definitely, to anyone who's listening, come out to the three three one club
- 20:11in April for a Tuesday.
- 20:12It's late, but it is cool.
- 20:14I am so excited about those shows.
- 20:16We are joined by, putting together a lineup now, and I'm so excited about some of the
- 20:20artists who said yes to that.
- 20:21So, yeah, that's really what I would love to plug.
- 20:25And then follow us anywhere you get your music, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music.
- 20:29Follow us on Instagram at eldest daughter band.
- 20:32You can visit eldestdaughterband.com to see all of our upcoming shows.
- 20:35I've got some show solo shows coming up these next couple months as, band works on recording
- 20:41more stuff and then getting ready for the April residency.
- 20:44So, watch out for that.
- 20:45I'd say come down to the three three one club in April and stream our music.
- 20:48I'm really proud of it.
- 20:50Yeah.
- 20:51And, that's that.
- 20:53Yeah.
- 20:53Well, I'm gonna have to come check you out when I'm in town in April.
- 20:56I got a free day, I think, while I'm there, so I'll have to come by and check you out.
- 21:01Monica and the eldest daughter band, thanks for being part of the scene.
- 21:06Yeah.
- 21:07Thank you.