Today we’d like to introduce you to DINERGirl.
Hi DINERGirl, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was two and my sister was six months old, my parents moved from Chicago to Portland, OR… My mom picked up a waitressing job at this small diner in Multonomah Village that was not well taken care of. One day she showed up to get her paycheck and the owner was laying on the floor drunk and said “the next person that can buy this place can have it” my mom ran to my dad and said “we can do this” and that was the beginning of Fat City Cafe… We were raised there and started pouring coffee at as young as five. We were raised by the community and the regulars and we especially wouldn’t have made it through COVID-19 without the community. My mom was a punk rock star in the 80’s, she was the lead singer of The Wrecks from Reno, NV and they were pretty much the first all girl punk rock band… They toured with Black Flag she got in a tussle with Courtney Love and their Drummer (Mom’s best friend) Lynn Perko (who learned how to drum on buckets) went on to be a touring drummer who even played backup for Nirvana and is still touring with “imperial teen” today. My mom is a huge musical influence for me and stages presence influenced for me and everything I have now is because of her support.
I started singing before I could walk but really started making original music when I was 15. I sang for the Village often and my sister (dancer) and I always dreamed of moving to LA. I’ve been through several weird music situations and was flown out to LA often but they all ended terribly… I finally met the right group of people out in LA and we call ourselves “The Cafeteria Line” I met Tiron & Ayomari and I’ve been working with them and The Cafeteria Line on my album for the past two years. My sister and I moved to LA 5 months ago.. the day of our last shift at the Diner… My single “Babysitter” came out three weeks ago and is doing better than I can imagine and I’m super grateful and I’m really looking forward to my album being out next year.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The music journey has been pretty terrible, I have been through maybe six deals that ended terribly. Especially being a young female in this industry, it’s not the easiest. I even had a manager that caused a three statewide fraud cases and we had to get the district attorney involved because he made a fake LLC under my name and was taking money from regular people as investors and putting it in his personal bank account.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Most of my music is live instruments, my music is like a mix of everything. It’s hard to put it in a specific genre, I would have to say if it’s anything it’s alternative pop but also Americana. My influences are, No doubt, Queen, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Broadway musicals, The Zombies, Lauryn Hill. My music is different because it’s a collective group of talented people apart of “The Cafeteria Line” who all have a touch on a lot of the records in my catalog and a lot of my records came to exist when we are all in a room together during a writing camp that we call “Camp Lunchbox”.. we do a couple of them a year usually in a secluded house in Big Bear where we turn each room into a studio and jump around working on different records all day long and putting work into each others albums/projects.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Moving to LA was something that I knew I needed to do but it was terrifying. I love the hustle, I love the diversity. I think a lot of people get the ick about LA thinking it’s all Hollywood. If you’re going to the Hollywood parties, you’re going to get that… If you spend the time to actually go to small business and cool artist communities, you’ll find incredible people and real talent and people who live for what they do and do it for the right reasons. There are a lot of incredible restaurants out here too. LA is what you make of it and there are a lot of incredible people to surround yourself with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dinergirl.fanlink.to/babysitter?fbclid=IwAR1EPNrfRNtIsnO2d8s53KIm7rEQYCkLIPwzIbAEIBDwhL5507DpmDYfXSE
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/localdinergirl/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x7Os8Rw1cs
Image Credits:
Blue image headshot (Ed Canas)
