Photo Credits : Daniel Guzman @ricoh_kr5   

Guest Interviewer:  Ahron De Barra

Ouch! Magazine® is proud  during "PRIDE MONTH" today  to release a exclusive video premiere of "Tear Me Down" by Pain Behavior. We are honored to provide a space for emerging talents to shine.

Thanks ouch!, I appreciate you giving me the space to share what I’ve been working on :)

Can you share a background on how the artist Pain Behavior came to be?

For sure - Pain Behavior used to be dormant, buried deep in a pile of attributes and dreams I thought wouldn’t serve me. Tossed to the corner of my mind, it looked down on my soul and knew the comfort it would contribute if it were to just be aligned with my actions & allowed in my life. As the years and world developed around me I made a decision to be a purpose driven person and therefore engaged with what I loved about myself - mostly everything I mentioned I previously tossed aside, mainly Pain Behavior. And today, what I get to share with you as Pain Behavior are the treasures I develop from what had once been tossed as trash.

You are signed with Schubert Music Publishing. Can you share with us the feeling of when you get a publishing deal?

Schubert publishing was a gift and dream come true. My mentor Joanna Stevens, a wonderful voice coach, artist manager and inspiring business woman, guided me to recognize myself as a complete creative force. Her introduction to Bill Murphy & Schubert Music Publishing was a moment of validation and also of personal acceptance; to be someone who others could rely on and quite literally “bet on” as an artist. I know few people get to experience what has unfolded so far and since our partnership, Bill has been the champion I believe every artist needs. Schubert and I have a lot of goods to deliver for everyone over the next few years - literal industrial flames of insanity !!! 

As someone listening to Tear Me Down I loved how you push your vocals. You really are not afraid of hitting those high notes! What’s your process for warm up? Do you think it’s important to have a vocal coach? 

I think it’s important to practice. Whatever creative endeavor you pursue - even maintaining self esteem and a hopeful outlook - for it to be effective, is dependent on practice. I’m so grateful to have known and grown with Joanna (Stevens). Her patient guidance led me to connect with my body in a way that would support my voice and storytelling like never before. She has been invaluable to me. So, I believe it is important to surround yourself with people who support you and want you to be your best. And it's also important that you take the time to develop your craft and well-being in private, so that when you deliver your message to the public - it can be effective.

As an artist you are very much into the concept of visual albums. How important to you is it to share your vision of the visuals behind a song with your audience?

What is most important to me is to follow through with whatever I’m inspired to do for a song or story. It usually involves a visual component because I am very imaginative - but not every song (for example: SAVE YOUR PRAYERS) calls for a visual.

I really enjoy keeping space for people to identify with the songs on their own and sometimes I worry a visual might solidify a storyline … But visuals for me are basically physically articulated lyrics and will therefore hopefully inspire in a similar, personal way. My concern is to be full spectrum in all my expressions - if I can visualize it, I will share it.

As we touched on, you are a visual artist. You not only write, perform and produce your music but you also produce and direct your music videos. The Tear Me Down video has a very 90’s raw grunge feel. Can you tell us your process and share some references on what inspired the video?

You can’t always identify how the world is working in your favor and how things will align - but my experience has been that when I say yes to situations and follow my intuition; at some point things do fall into place.

TEAR ME DOWN VHS is an example of me feeling inspired to do individual tasks (renting a rehearsal space, running through a performance, following through with an “unnecessary” light production and saying yes to a friend offering to film on VHS). Every day, I gather my shitty brain and try to find peace as early as possible so I can move forward to deliver my best mind / body / art until its time to sleep again. Some days consist of shoot days and some days consists of Home Depot extension cords and furniture shopping for props to break. But eventually it comes together in ways even I am surprised by. It’s another reminder that I am just a vessel, here to articulate an experience and it’s my responsibility to show up and deliver it to the world. I do every task I’m inspired to do and what happens after that is just as exciting for me as I hope it is for you. This video is the result of many intuitive thoughts and ideas followed through over however many days.

Pain recently performed the main stage at Venice Pride. The Queer Moment Co. founders Miles Powers and Jay Long (who produced the main of Venice Pride) for comment. 

When asked how they found out about Pain Behavior?

They shared “Pain is part of the family of friends we have all become close with over the last 6 months in Los Angeles. An artist, a queer creative that has taken their art to another limit. A friend of a friend who is now family.” When we asked “What was the feed back you got from people watching the performance?” Their response was “We watched people all come towards the stage from all angles as Pain began their performance. Everyone was in awe! Lots of WOW moments for sure!” And added “It was a pleasure having them on our stage and would love to again in the near future!”

 

Pain it sounds like Venice Pride was a huge success. How does it make you feel performing on a main stage at an event like that?

I’m grateful Queer Moment provided a space for me to be myself and express my experience. Pride month, in general, is very worrisome for me. There seems to be global amnesia regarding racism, gatekeeping, exploitation and the needs of our most vulnerable communities during June. The rainbow flag, the progress flag - seems a literal sign for people to pause on their concern regarding black lives, trans rights, housing rights, indigenous rights, reproductive rights, accessibility for people with visible and invisible disabilities… the list continues. The platform Queer Moment provided gave me an opportunity to continue a conversation I feel falls short - and for that I’m really grateful.

 

What can we expect from Pain Behavior in the future and is there anything you would like to share?

The only constant that happens with Pain Behavior is content, so please stay tuned and check in. Consume me. Reach out / message / talk to me and help me expand my experience and perspective.

 

You can find Pain Behavior on:

Instagram @painbehavior

YouTube https://youtube.com/c/PainBehavior

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/2KXuR1NEFvt1IPNphHGngu

Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/album/tear-me-down-single/1629825365

iTunes Tear Me Down - Single by Pain Behavior

https://music.apple.com/us/album/tear-me-down-single/1629825365