A part of the LA backyard, teen music scene, Kim Theory is an emerging punk group featuring Audrey Cymone (vocals), Lucy Fraser (bass), Lula Seifert (guitar), and Zoey Su (drums). On March 6th, KSPC 88.7 FM Claremont hosted them at the Scripps College coffeehouse The Motley for a night of energetic, local music. DJ Syd of KSPC sat down with them to hear about their start in music, what they’re currently listening to, and their experiences as female instrumentalists.
Syd: How did you get into music and the punk scene?
Seifert: Me and Zoe, in middle school, neither of us really played instruments, but we both were interested in learning and starting a band. So, we started a band before we could really play our instruments, and we would practice many times a week after school. And me and Audrey have been friends for, like, ever.
Cymone: Since birth.
Seifert: And she was like the only singer I knew, so we were like, obviously Audrey’s our singer.
Fraser: For me, I feel like I got my interest in music through my dad; my genre preferences (like learning how to play rock and stuff) comes a lot from him and partially from the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, which he introduced to me. And I’m very inspired by his love for music and I’m very glad I got to meet these people and express that love.
Cymone: I’ve been singing since I was like six, and I’m a huge theater kid which is not expected with this music, but I love it all so it’s so fun.
Seifert: For this genre, I was listening to Marky Ramone’s Punk Rock Blitzkrieg, which is a channel on Sirius XM and… what my dad would always play in his car, so that’s how I fell in love with punk music. And then from there I branched out to Riot Grrrl Music; I heard it, and I was like, “ I wanna do that.”
Su: I feel like even though we’re technically an alternative rock/Riot Grrrl adjacent band, I feel like – I mean we say this every interview – we all have different music tastes.
Seifert: I like punk, Riot Grrrl, that kind of stuff.
Cymone: Lula’s music taste is the closest to what we play. She pretty much introduced me to the kind of music we play. But…[looks at Fraser] you like dad rock, right?
Fraser: I listen to a lot of dad rock (like I said I’m very influenced by my dad), but also a lot of the stuff that Lula said. I listen to a lot of punk.
Su: I feel like I listen to punk the least; I have like the most far removed music taste. I really like electronic music.
When asked about what they are currently listening to on-repeat, Cymone said Elliott Smith’s Either/Or. Fraser has been listening to a lot of The Clearing by Wolf Alice and Villains by Queens of the Stone Age; Seifert has been listening to Pacer by the Amps, Grage by Doll Riot, ALMOST FAMOUS by SLUTEVER, and No Gods / No Managers by Choking Victim; and Su has been listening to This is my first heist by my point of you, Clay Birds, and The Most Dear and The Future by ear.
Syd: What’s it like being not only a female-fronted band, but a band of all female instrumentalists?
Fraser: I think about this a lot. Because I really hate it when bands are highlighted for being female-fronted, but that’s not that unique. Like it’s great, but there’s definitely way more men in this industry than there are women… What’s even more uncommon is seeing women in music that aren’t singers. It’s such an underrepresented part of the industry, and it always bums me out when people are like, “the future is female” but it’s like, no, the future is male; the females are outnumbered here. And it’s such a bummer. So I like being in an all female group cause it makes me feel like there’s an actual difference being made.
Su: I feel like, for me as a drummer, this is really relevant to me. Cause… I never see female drummers… most shows we go to, I’m the only female drummer. And also, not to bring race into this, but the only Asian female drummer too. I don’t see a lot of girl drummers out there. And once this girl went up to my mom at a show and was like, “Oh my God, is your daughter the drummer?! That’s so cool! Hashtag Asians! Yeah!” (cause she was Asian). And I heard that and was like oh, yes; that’s really nice cause I don’t see a lot of people playing drums, especially girls, so it’s nice that people are… looking up to that and being happy about it too.
Seifert: For me, I definitely feel like when I’m playing guitar, I’m like, “oh, I’m okay at guitar, I could get better, I’m okay.” And I feel as though part of that is related to gender because I’m seeing all these really good guitar players play, and a lot of them are guys, and I’m like “oh, they’re so good,” and it’s me and it feels like we’re on different levels. But I feel like part of that is just imposter syndrome, and I just need to get that out of my head.
Su: I know I’m not the best drummer; there’s a lot of better drummers out there…. But I feel like when I play I compare myself to other drummers. And I’m worried that if I mess up, people are not just gonna see me messing up as a drummer, but also as a girl. They’re gonna be like, “oh she’s bad at drumming cause she’s a girl,” not just “oh she’s a bad drummer.”
Seifert: There’s always that gender factor related to it.
Cymone: I just think it’s so fun to be in an all-female group as a singer ([even though] most vocalists are [women] I fear a lot of the time). So I definitely am on the more common side. But I think it’s so fun to be
surrounded by all girls and have this awesome female energy. I think it’s so fun to just be surrounded by like-minded thinking people. I think it’s cool.
At the Motley, Kim Theory performed all of their songs off of their EP Bitch Scene (“He Said She Said,” “Child Star Teenybopper,” “Wish You Were,” and “Growing Pains”), their new song “Which Way to Go,” as well as some covers such as “Last Friday Night” by Katy Perry and “My Kink is Karma” by Chappell Roan. There was palpable excitement from the crowd of Claremont Colleges students with moshing, shouting of lyrics, and even (attempted) crowdsurfing. Kim Theory brought an extremely energetic performance with a commanding stage presence well beyond their years to KSPC.