by chelsey johnstone
PHOTO BY CHRIS R PHOTO
Fresh, all-women indie band Kid Sistr has taken 2020 to unite young women worldwide using relatable lyricism and detail-oriented music in their first, self-titled EP.
The New York trio composed of 22-year-old Sara Keden (bassist), 22-year-old Sabel (guitarist), and 19-year-old Rebecca Webster (drummer), combine the quirky, experimental sounds of late new aged music, the infectious flow of current pop sounds and the rough-edged, rawness of early punk to create an entirely new genre specific to their unique band.
Before Kid Sistr became the band they are today, all three members spent their childhood surrounded by music in some way, shape or form. Keden says, “[Webster] and I did an after school program together called School of Rock… [Webster] was 10 and I must have been 14 at the time... We were a couple of the few female instrumentalists there at the time so we got really close.” She continues, “We tried to form bands a couple of times during high school and nothing really stuck until I graduated and I went to college at The University of Miami for music. That’s where I met Sabel.”
Sabel adds jokingly, “That’s where the story ends.” To some extent, that statement is true. They met, they vibed and Kid Sistr became Kid Sistr.
Luckily for the group, both Sabel and Keden have experience producing and releasing music. Both women are solo artists as well as a member of the band and have been for quite some time. However, joining a band brought an unexpected sense of freedom to the artists.
During the process of writing their first track, “Little Sister Song”, Sabel says, “I feel like (Keden and I) both had each other to say, ‘yeah, this is fine’. We didn’t really judge anything so we did it without any anxieties about how we were going to be represented [like] if it was our own solo stuff. So it was nice to kind of go down that route and not be scared.”
“Little Sister Song” is not only the first song the group wrote together, but it is also their second most listened to track at over 51,000 streams on Spotify. According to the band, the track has a similar style to the infamous 80s rock group Cheap Trick and promotes an easy-listening atmosphere.
Accompanying Kid Sistr’s alternative rock style in “Little Sister Song” are lyrics that are tied directly with the band’s personal life and experiences. Webster, Sabel, and Keden are all older sisters to younger sisters. In other words, they each have at least one “kid sister.” The bond Kid Sistr shares with each other being the older sisters within their families became the foundation in which the band was formed; creating what Sabel calls, “the sisterhood orb.”
At the time of “Little Sister Song’s” creation, Sabel says, “Our sisters were kind of going through that feisty period of life where you still have braces and dye your hair at the same time... we kind of just wanted to write about that.” She continues, “That really kind of set the page for what was to come for our marketing and our name and the whole idea of who we are.”
You can hear the specific mentions of one of Keden’s younger sisters, Mary, as well as one of Sabel’s little sisters, Piper, throughout this track.
“Piper takes the train to school with a mirror and a chapstick in hand.”
“Mary puts her lipstick on; she’s praying for a midnight kiss”
On May 19th of this year, Kid Sistr released their first lyric video to the track “Little Sister Song”. The video contains an array of short, vintage clips of younger women smiling, laughing, and doing normal pre-teen activities. When asked where all this random footage came from, each member of the band drew a smirk on their face and Keden said, “Get ready for a rockin’ ride! No one has asked me this question and I’m so excited to share it with you.”
The band paired up with Sabel’s boyfriend, Carter, who helps produce a lot of their album. He had the idea of searching through a video footage domain to find old, accessible, uncopywritten content. “I kind of poked around the Prelinger Film Archives and I came across these amazing puberty PSA’s. So basically all of that footage is from vintage videos of girls learning about their periods,” Keden explains.
She continues to explain that Maragret ‘Marlo’ Thomas, famous actress notorious for her role in the television show It Girl as well as playing Sandra Green, Jennifer Aniston's mother on the television show Friends, made a surprise appearance in one the archived films they found. “In one of the films, (Thomas) was in it and she was talking to the girls and she was like, ‘When I’m on my period, I can still go for a run’. All the girls had like their feathered hair and were laughing... So I chopped up all that footage and put it together and it’s like super cute,” says Keden.
Whether it is visual stories told within lyric videos or detailed storylines between the words of their songs, Kid Sistr always brings a complete visualization of their music to their listeners.
Another song on their EP that shares a personal story with their fans is “Please Dump Him”. A little bit more of an edgy track with elements of garage punk, Kid Sistr initially wrote this track as a funny way of telling Keden’s sister that her boyfriend is no good and has got to go.
“[Keden’s] sister was dating someone that her family was not quite fond of and basically they really wanted her to break up with him,” Sabel explains. She continues, “There were all these really specific high school, teeny-bop movie, shitty boy things that he was doing.” As all great artists do, they took this situation and set it music.
At first, the group sent the song to Keden’s mom as a joke. “Then Mary [Keden’s sister] found it and broke up with him upon request,” Sabel says. Quickly, Mary’s friends heard it and the song slowly became known. At that point, the group decided to record it and release it.
Although the track is filled with the loud, upbeat attack sounds of punk guitar and drums as well as funny lines about the boyfriend needing gluten free pizza for no apparent reason, Keden believes the track has an underlying importance. She says, “It’s kind of secretly important. The song is hilarious, it's ridiculous, it’s like stupid and funny, but every girl that I know has been in some sort of abusive relationship.”
She continues, “That song makes light of it, but what that kid was doing to my little sister left a severe emotional impact on her because he really manipulated her and just really shit on her all of the time. I’ve been in that place so many times and it’s an important experience to capture and to talk about.” Webster summarizes the track by saying, “It’s a very universal narrative presented in a very universal way.”
For Kid Sistr’s music as a whole, it is important to them for their music to highlight the common experiences of women and all types of individuals that are left unspoken. “Our whole goal is to create music by women for women,” says Keden.
She continues, “For us, It’s definitely about the music and about the art we make, but it’s also about what we can do to create a community that’s accepting of every kind of person and that highlights the experience of people who feel like they are underrepresented.”
One way Kid Sistr shares their influential music with their primary audience is through the app TikTok. Webster states, “I think it’s definitely the mentality of like we are all here for each other; women helping women. I feel like we’ve definitely seen that on TikTok.”
Despite the overwhelming amount of success and praise Kid Sistr gets on TikTok and other social media platforms, they do, as most artists do, experience some types of backlash or questionable comments. Keden says, “We’ve gotten so many comments on our TikTok that are like, ‘oh my god, so happy to see girls walking out and not wearing bikinis and throwing it back’ and like, I can do both!” Sabel interjects, “I took a bikini pic today. I fucking took a butt pic in the mirror today!”
PHOTO BY CHRIS R PHOTO
There is often controversy in society about the sexualization of women. Although Kid Sistr may not have outwardly sexualized content in their music (thus far), the band fully supports women and their right to expression. “I think that it's important to represent all women and the sexual experience of women... it’s something that we need to talk about and we need to stop, first of all, using the sexuality of women to appease the male gaze and also to displease the male gaze; because it’s either ‘you are doing it for me and I like it’ or ‘you’re doing it for me and I hate you’,” says Keden. For Kid Sistr, it is all about representing those unrepresented.
Kid Sistr is quickly gaining a fan base through their inspiring and relatable music. When you combine the instrumental artistry the band creates with the satisfyingly new outlook the group takes on the power of lyricism, you get a strong, impactful trio unlike any other artist currently on the radio. Keden says, “I think that music is such a salient and a powering medium for so much great work that a lot of great work could be on our horizon.” We should all be on the lookout.
Stay up to date with all things Kid Sistr by following their TikTok @kidsistrband and their instagram @kid_sistr. Streaming of their self-titled EP, Kid Sistr, is available on all major streaming services.