‘Tampon Rock’: A Rock and Roll Podcast About Dating And Surviving Your 20s Centered Around Characters From the LGBTQ Community
When was the last time you heard of a show that features characters and creators from the LGBTQ community? I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume many of you have not in a while. Shows created by and for queer people are infrequently produced and continually underfunded. In response to this gap in the industry, Alysia Brown, Sarah Aument, and Sophie Dinicol decided to create Tampon Rock, a scripted podcast that follows the dating life of two young lesbian women in Oakland, Deja and Chloe. Deja and Chloe are also in a band called The G.O.A.L (The Greatest Of All Lesbians), making the show equal parts comedy and music. Throughout the podcast we hear about the failures and victories in Chloe and Deja’s personal lives as well as that of their band’s.
Alysia, Sophie, and Sarah met while working at audio creative agency Jingle Punks. Alysia recalls that they all “just kind of bonded because we worked in the same office and one day I was just like, ‘I'm gay.’ And [Sarah] was like, ‘oh, me too!’” From then on, the three of them had an instant connection and formed not just a strong working relationship, but also a close friendship: “It's almost like we're sisters, we have the same kind of opinion on a lot of things. It’s been great.”
Tampon Rock has now been a year in the making. While continuing their daily job responsibilities, Alysia, Sophie, and Sarah would get together for hours and write the show, Sophie describes working on the show as “sort of like a nice break from other things we were doing.” However, just as they were beginning the production of the show, COVID-19 started to spread rapidly in the United States, forcing them to write, produce, and record the podcast from home rather than in the traditional studio fashion. Alysia recalls that one day they said “well, we'll just write the rest of the season I guess, and see what happens.” She continues, “It just kind of kept us going through COVID, at least at the start.” Soon after, they sent recording equipment to the homes of their actors and began recording the season remotely.
Tampon Rock remains relatable while being completely novel in its storyline. Despite the fact that Alysia, Sophie, and Sarah come from similar backgrounds career wise they have found ways to tap into each of their unique expertises to create this show. Sophie and Alysia are both comedians with experience in writing and creating shows. Sophie has “always kind of been drawn to comedy writing and that kind of thing,” while Alysia has always known that she wanted to be a comedian and that she loved stand up. She says, “I liked being the center of attention but also liked making people laugh.” On the other hand, there’s Sarah who comes from a music background: “I've been doing music for most of my adult life and I always imagined myself as being a funny person, but, you know, maybe that was just wishful thinking.” The coming together of Sophie and Alysia’s writing experience and comedic wit and Sarah’s musical expertise makes them the perfect trifecta.
Left to right: Jules Forsberg-Lary (Chloe) and Renita Lewis (Deja) record a scene for episode 1
All in all, it is important to note that a very small percentage of TV, films, and podcasts tell stories about queer women, and even less so that is actually created by queer women. A lot of the content that has LGBTQ characters still feature predominantly heteronormative stories, which often times neglect the stories of BIPOC queer folk. Alysia says, “Or it's from the male gaze. Like okay, fine, you're creating a lesbian movie, a man wrote it. Does [he know] any lesbians? It's like exhausting.” Alysia, Sophie, and Sarah wanted to instead tell stories that they knew their audience could relate to and learn from.
Drawing upon their personal experiences, Alysia, Sophie, and Sarah were set on telling Deja and Chloe’s story in an effort to diversify the type of narratives that the media often shares about lesbian women. Sarah says, “We're telling stories that are about dating and talking about issues, mental health, and LGBT and Black stories. I mean, as a viewer, it's something we crave in the media. We don't see this kind of stuff all over, and a lot of these stories happen to be rooted in tragedy or trauma, so I think it's nice to have this story not be like that.” Tampon Rock is joyful and funny, an opportunity for us to finally see queer characters thriving. Deja and Chloe are queer women who are making their own rules for themselves and defying the boundaries that society has set for them. Sarah thinks that the show will be particularly relatable to young, queer people, who are “asking more of themselves and are more self-aware at a younger age.” Sarah continues, “So maybe that's kind of something that [Deja and Chloe] represent, like fumbling through that [process of discovering who you are] a little bit.” Alysia and Sarah voice the resident lesbian narrators, referred to as “Resbians” on the podcast. They provide the content for Chloe and Deja’s story, “We're like their godparents, right? Or fairy gay mothers! I think that is our way of putting ourselves in it. It's almost like, you know, I'm 30 now, but like if I were 20 having that 30-year-old me in my ear.”
Left to right: Jules Forsberg-Lary (Chloe) and Renita Lewis (Deja) receive direction from Alysia Brown and Sarah Aument
In addition, the show features original music created by the cast. For Sarah, the process of creating music for the show has been particularly enjoyable. Used to working mostly with men and having to take a backseat in producing, she finally got the opportunity to take charge of the sound of the show. “As a woman in music, I was always the person that was sitting next to the computer, never the person sitting in front of the computer. No shade to the people that I've worked with... it is just where they thought I was supposed to be.” It was through working with Sophie and Alysia that Sarah was able to explore new genres and experiment with sounds she would have never thought to use. “It's like, instead of a seat at the table, it's a seat at the computer,” Sarah says.
On what they hope Tampon Rock becomes for listeners, Alysia says, “I just want it to be like The L Word of podcasts.” All in all, Sarah, Alysia and Sophie have created a one of a kind podcast. Finally, lesbian women can listen to a show that was created for and by people like them. Tampon Rock is sure to pave the way for a whole new generation of LGBTQ centered content that is much desired and has long been missing. Be sure to check out Tampon Rock, which was just released today and is available on any and all platforms where you can listen to podcasts.
STORY ANA SANDOVAL
PHOTOS SYDNEY GOODWIN
COVER IMAGE DESIGN JANICE KIM