Three-piece queer band Kid Sistr knows all too well that the lessons you learn throughout your adolescence stay with you forever, aspects of girlhood bleed into adulthood. Their most recent release, “American Teenage Prophecy,” creates a world where love of all kinds exist without societal expectations. Playing charity concerts at Campchella for Amplify, their dedication to inspiring young girls continues. To learn more about Kid Sistr and their new music, read on.

Where are you based?
Sara: We’re all from the northeast area outside of NYC, but we’ve been in LA almost five years and we love it here.

What inspired you to come together and start making music?
Sabel: Sara and I met freshman year at college and I was always so impressed with her songwriting. It was very inspiring to me, and I was honestly envious of the freedom and vulnerability that she gave herself when writing. We started writing together for fun, bonding over our shared love for the same artists and once we started we never stopped. Eventually, when the three of us formed Kid Sistr, Becca became part of the writing process and we realized she was the secret sauce. She had never written before, but her instincts were spot on and we immediately put our full trust in her. When the two of us disagreed on something, we would turn to Becca. We call that “Becca swing vote”.

Congratulations on the release of your new single “American Teenage Prophecy.” The song is relatable in its idea of a messy infatuation from your youth that overtakes you, though my favorite aspect of the song is how it throws the political atmosphere surrounding queer love out of the window. What’s the story behind this song?
Sara: Thank you so much! The song was originally inspired by a late night rewatch of the 2010 Runaways biopic starring Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherie Curie. I found their relationship really tender and intense. It made me wonder what kind of love they might have shared if not for the insane pressures of the music industry and the expectations of the men surrounding them. It also got me thinking about my own adolescence and what experiences I might have had if I wasn’t so caught up in getting the attention of boys. Growing up I really didn’t know better — I didn’t realize there were any other possibilities for me. So the song is about that, about what could have been and what I hope will be for the next generation.

A lot of your music focuses on themes of girlhood and infatuation. When writing, how do you utilize the cliches of these themes while also creating something fresh?
Sara: Well, to us they aren’t cliches because they are the themes of our lives. The songs are about real things that we have experienced. Girlhood is such a tender time in life but girlhood permeates into womanhood, into adulthood forever. We’re not kids anymore, but the things you learn about yourself and the world as a young woman stay very potent over time.

You also recently released another single titled “Shitshow.” What was the inspiration for this song?
Sara: Being mentally ill. Lol but seriously, we’ve all struggled in different ways and we have also been very close to people struggling with their mental health. Mental illness is tough because there’s also an innate selfishness that comes along with it. And I say that as someone who has really made my loved one’s lives a living hell through my own mental problems. The pain calls for your attention, so you focus your attention on yourself, that creates more pain; it’s a vicious cycle. Shitshow is cool because it brings a little bit of comedy to that. Like what do you mean you’re crying again bro we are just playing Mario Kart? I learned early on that if I can laugh at myself instead of crying for another five hours, I maybe start to get better.

Sabel: We wanted to add some comedy and lightness to it because even the act of writing a song about our problems felt too narcissistic. Sitting down writing why you hate yourself or why you’re sad felt so boring and obnoxious. We tried to put a fun spin on it to get out of that mindset. Then we got Shitshow.

What do you hope listeners take away from your music?
Sara: We hope they have fun listening. Yes it’s art and we are telling stories but really it should just feel fun to sing along, dance along, mosh along. If you’re listening, we want you enjoy yourself.

How has your identity as a band grown and changed over the years? How has identifying as queer influenced your music?
Sabel: We all started the band when we were pretty young, Becca was still in high school. We grew as a band at the same time we grew as people, experiencing formative years together in our personal lives as well as professional, in person at shows and online on social media. As we’ve shaped the identity of our band over the years, we’ve really learned to trust ourselves and our gut instincts. We are always learning and there is still so much we don’t know, but I think the first breakthrough/ mind blowing/ eureka moment is realizing that we have good ideas and that only we know exactly how we want to be represented. We’ve learned to speak up, to say no, and to really put ourselves out there.

We’ve also learned that if you make insane sexual jokes on the internet, they might go viral and you might have to present them to your label in a meeting and those label people might be straight men who are older than you, but they’ll laugh and say they love it and that’s how you know you’ve surrounded yourself with the right team.

Our identity as queer people has influenced our music cause our songs are gay and we are gay.

You’ve done charity concerts at Campchella for Amplify. Can you tell us a bit about this event and how you got involved?
Sara: Matt Lamotte, our awesome GM at our label Giant Music put us in touch with this event. Basically a bunch of artists go out to a girl’s sleepaway camp in Ojai and put on a little festival on the campgrounds. It was honestly so incredibly sweet and the kids were lovely. We did accidentally say one f*ck in front of them though. It was to say “You guys are f*cking awesome” though, so I hope Amplify can forgive us.

You’re also passionate about helping young girls get involved in making music. What is one piece of advice you’d give to young girls that are interested in music?
Sara: Don’t get caught up in wanting to feel like one of the boys. As you develop your skillset, the men around you will start treating you as a member of the boys club of music. They might inadvertently pressure you to compete with or even put down other girls who are on the same path as you. At first it will make you feel special, but really all that’s happening if you are getting separated from your most important peers. Find your girls and stick by them, and find the boys who actually support that.

As queer artists, what changes do you hope to see regarding representation within the music industry in the future?
Sabel: Queer people have always paved the way in the music industry. Most of the top charting artists of all time are/were queer or had majority queer fanbases. We feel lucky that we live in a world now where we don’t have to hide anything, where being outwardly queer helps people connect to our music, but we realize that wasn’t always the case. We just hope that we can continue to represent ourselves in an authentic way while also honoring past queer icons who weren’t necessarily able to completely be their authentic selves.

What advice would you give to queer individuals who may be afraid to be fully themselves because of the current political climate in the U.S.?
Sabel: This is a tough one because every queer individual goes through life differently. Where you’re from, who you hang out with, who your parents are, what your healthcare is, etc. It feels naive to just say be yourself because it honestly is really tough right now and being yourself is a lot easier for some people over others. But one thing I will say is no matter where you are, you will find a community. In some places you have to work harder than others to find it, but it’s there. If you can build a community in person do that, and if your only option is the internet, that’s ok too! There are MANY people out there who will understand what you are going through, even if it doesn't feel like it.

Are there any upcoming projects you are currently working on that we should be on the lookout for?
Sabel: Our next song called Maniac drops March 31st. It’s a banger. We are releasing singles off of an upcoming project, details coming soon : D

It has been a crazy few years, and we expect at least three more. How have you been staying positive?
Sabel: Hanging out with friends and doing dumb sh*t. And writing songs.

What is your motto in life?
Sara: Never let the fear of striking out keep you from making a your mom joke.

To learn more about Kid Sistr, please check out the links below:
Instagram: @kid_sistr

Pre-save “Maniac” here

We are going on tour in the south/Midwest in April, get your tickets here

Kid Sistr on New Music & Queer Identity