Interview: Billy & the Kidz
Interview by Dulce Naranjo // Photos by Sydnie Kobz
Who is Billy & the Kidz?
That is a great question! We actually just made stickers that say “who the fuck is Billy and the Kidz?” We are a female fronted rock and roll band from the west coast.
How would you introduce your band to people who’ve never heard of you?
We are a reminiscent, 1980s sunset strip scene band with a modern twist.
How was the band formed?
Billy started off making R&B music but a year and a half ago, she woke up one morning and said “I’m supposed to be a rockstar” Our now rockstar Billy says once she gets an idea, she won’t let it go! At the moment she was attending many house shows and mingling, She realized how lucky she was by having musician friends with similar dreams and decided to make her own band and pursue her dream of becoming a rockstar. Now her bandmates are like family.
Some of them are literally family, like the newest band member, her brother.
Billy’s favorite part of being in a band vs least favorite
“My favorite part is,I like, never being in it alone.” Billy says she has a solid support system and creativity circle. “That is an amazing feeling, I”m never worried, I never feel like I’m working through anything alone, or like I’m writing all of the music alone.” The singer says it’s nice to be surrounded by people that support her and she feels lucky that they’re all in it for similar reasons. “There’s so many bands, where one person wants a career, one person wants to play stadiums, and the rest of the people don’t care.” Billy & the Kidz are on the same page, chasing dreams together. “Having everyone working as hard as me is awesome.”
Least favorite thing…”oh man, I have like two answers. The first, content. it’d be so much easier if I only had to promote myself.” The singer states that unfortunately in today’s date, part of being a career musician is being an influencer. Billy is the one in charge of promoting the band and she runs all of their social media. Making content can be difficult because none of them live close together. Her second least favorite thing is being the only girl. “I have such a love hate relationship with being around all boys, every single day.”
What challenges does Billy face as a woman in the industry?
“The sexism is ridiculous! It’s so prevalent.” Billy opens up about the difficulties and challenges she faces as a woman in the industry. She states that it’s already hard being a woman in rock in general, when it’s a 95% male dominated genre. “The second you tell someone you’re a woman in a rock band, they’re either gonna be like “that is so dope” or “yeah okay, whatever.” Billy continues to say that it’s already hard enough to be in the genre that she’s in but the music industry itself is so crazy sexist. “9.8 out of 10 shows we go to, I’m the only female performer there at all, not even just a female singer, the only female performer.” Billy then mentions that with her name being gender neutral, a lot of sound guys at shows assume that her bandmates are Billy. Constantly people address one of the guys as Billy and completely overlook her presence, for the simple fact she is a woman. People also assume she is just one of the band's girlfriends and not a performer herself. “I’ve had people literally set their equipment on top of mine, as I’m setting it up.” With those challenges already being hard enough, Billy says that the worst part is social media. The singer is constantly exposed to sexist comments of people saying her bandmates are only in a band with her because they want to have sex with her, because why else would they be in her band? She is constantly bombarded with people asking which member she’s sleeping with. “You wouldn’t ask that to a guy. You wouldn’t ask that to a person in general. Oh which one of your male friends are you sleeping with?”
Who are Billy’s idols?
One of the reasons Billy is a female rock performer is because she was thinking of her own female idols and in terms of rock, she can literally count them on one hand. “And I was like okay there needs to be more space for women.” She then mentions her female rock idols in order. Joan Jeatt being number one. Followed by The Runaways who are Billy’s favorite band of all time. Miley Cyrus “I’m obsessed with Miley Cyrus, I think she is the greatest performer ever.” Hayley Williams is super up there. And last but not least, Amy Winehouse.
What would Billy like to change about the music industry?
“I want to change what it means for a woman to be seen as strong, successful and sexy.” Billy feels like we see so much girly sex appeal in pop culture traditionally aimed for the male gaze. ”And there’s nothing wrong with that, because I feel like women in any context are powerful.” But the reason Billy loves women like Joan, Miley, Suzi Quatro, Amy and Hayley is because they redefine what sexy means. “They get up onstage and they’re sweaty, screaming, rowdy, and they’re being vulgar. And that to me is being strong and confident and it’s so cool. I would love for it to be more acceptable and more space for women to be that way.”
Billy’s dream collab and dream tour
Rockstar Billy would love to collaborate musically with Joan Jeatt and Miley Cyrus. “I would like shit myself, to be real, it would be so cool.” Billy then gets very excited and talks about how much she would love to tour with Poison. “I feel like it would be so fun.” She has been to their concerts and Billy expresses how they like to have fun. “Opening for them would be awesome!’
Billy talks about performing at The Viper Room in Hollywood
“Truly the best night of my entire life and I’m not being hyperbolic.” Portland origin rockstar Billy says that playing The Viper Room was very refreshing and cool. She says Portland is more about indie or straight up punk but Hollywood loves rock and roll. The singer believes that Hollywood truly appreciates the rock and roll vibes and the message and to Billy it was like being in the room where it happens. “That was the first time in my life where I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be and doing exactly what I’m supposed to do.”
What is a moment in your career you will think “WOW we made it”
“The moment in my career when I know we’ve made it, is when I’m singing onstage to an arena sized audience and they are all singing back.” In Billy’s experience as a fan of music, she finds it amazing being in a room with thousands of people and they’re all singing the words to the same song together. It makes her emotional and she can only imagine how the performer feels. So the moment our rockstar Billy finds herself performing in an arena with her band and she hears thousands of people singing Billy & the Kidz lyrics back to her, she’ll know she made it.
What does Billy hope to inspire fans or potential listeners?
“Being original and doing what you want to do.” Billy thinks being original and pursuing whatever makes you happy is the most important thing. She says as cliche as it sounds, not caring how others perceive you and doing what you love, while being yourself is the best feeling. Billy opens up and mentions being an actress for 15 years. During her time as an actress she didn’t have much freedom of self expression. “I left acting, because I couldn’t really get tattoos, I couldn’t dye my hair, I couldn’t be exactly who I wanted to be.” Billy continues to say she couldn’t express herself in all the ways she wanted to. With music she gets to be a performer, a character sometimes and most importantly herself “I get to be me, in every little way that I want to be.” This is why Billy hopes that today or ten years from now when they are playing stadiums, her fans will feel this way with their music and at their shows. Free to be themselves, free to be whoever they want to be. “I hope they feel true to selfness and inspired.”
What advice would Billy give to aspiring artists?
“Literally do it, stop waiting, just do it.” In the beginning, Billy had no idea how to sing rock music or play instruments proficiently. She began by looking for a vocal coach and now here she is doing something she really loves. Learning and growing as an artist everyday. “I feel like all musicians should stop waiting until you’ve written the perfect song or have the perfect outfit and you’ve taken all of the music lessons.” Even if nothing is perfect, all that matters is that you feel ready to start. Billy says she didn’t know she was bad, but she was putting herself out there and having fun. That’s what got her here, starting. “Stop making excuses and just start.”
Does Billy prefer the creative process or performing?
“Performing, honestly, that is where I am happiest in life and my truest version.” If Billy had to pick one of the two it would be performing. She’s a rockstar and belongs on the stage.
What can we expect from Billy & the Kidz in the future?
The band is currently on a show hiatus. They are finishing recording their first full length album, which we can expect to come out later this year, around September or October. They plan on doing a small West Coast tour once that is released. Billy gets very excited and mentions that there is so much more fun stuff coming next year. The singer can’t give us many spoilers but be on the lookout and get very excited because there is something national coming up!
And if you didn't know who the fuck Billy & the Kidz are, now you have a little idea of who they are. You now have a new female fronted rock and roll band to listen to and gatekeep. Their latest release is their single Hit & Run and their most popular song is Fool’s Gold. Be sure to check them out on all music platforms and follow them on social media.
BILLY & THE KIDZ (billyandthekidz.com)
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1t5WP8AHsBPwmZdOGSr9EL?si=3c94438898b34c60
https://instagram.com/billyandthekidz?igshid=MTIyMzRjYmRlZg==