Photo Credit: Sydney Tate

We got to do an email interview with Allison Becker who is the vocalist for Wetsuit that is currently based out of Brooklyn, NY! If you love indie music make sure you check out this band because Becker’s vocals are powerful that’s filled with so much raw emotion that absolutely deserves recognition! In my opinion; she’s almost like mid-west princess that’s finally able to express herself through music and she has easily became one of my favorite female artist in a short time frame! Becker is very vulnerable in the way she expresses herself musically which allows listeners to relate to her as an artist!

Interviewer: Tell us about yourself as an individual! Give us insight about who you are as a person!

Allison: I was born in St. Louis but I’ve lived in NYC for 15 years, and in Ridgewood, Queens for the past 9. I work full time at an AI tech startup so my life lately is very much corporate baddie by day, indie rock musician by night. In between you can find me practicing yoga, watching the Bachelor religiously, listening to my favorite Bachelor podcast Game of Roses religiously, taking care of my senior rescue chihuahua Bernie, at ceramics class, and I’m getting married in October so we’re wedding planning too!

Before I started Wetsuit my main creative outlet was running a handmade knits business called Muddy River Knits, I would sell on Etsy and at craft markets around NYC. I also got my yoga teacher certification recently but I’m just a practitioner now, because with all the above plus the band I can only do so much!

Interviewer: I sat down and listened to Midwest Dream and I am absolutely obsessed with it and the video as well; can you tell us a little more about it? And the meaning behind it?

Allison: “Midwest Dream” is a song for my mom. Growing up, I’ll admit I was kind of a brat and didn’t always appreciate everything she did for me. This song is my way of saying thank you. Now that she’s retired, I wanted to celebrate this new season of her life—one where she finally gets to focus on herself and spend time doing the things she loves. We’ve grown so much closer as I’ve gotten older, and I have a deep respect for her.

I grew up in St. Louis, where there’s a saying: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” As a true Midwest girl, I can confirm it’s accurate—but it’s also a metaphor that stuck with me. Life is full of unpredictable shifts, and sometimes all you can do is embrace the changes, savor the little joys, and ride out the storm.

That spirit inspired the music video concept, where I play a very exasperated newscaster. We filmed it in a single take to create the feeling that the viewer is my mom, sitting in her living room with her “mom juice,” about to start her workout—only to stumble across her daughter on the screen.

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Interviewer:  Your band is called “Wetsuit” ;  can you explain the meaning behind the name? And what are the core values of the band?

Allison: The summer I started the band, my fiance Anders (who is also my bandmate) and I went white water rafting in Colorado with my family and had to wear wetsuits. So when we were brainstorming band name ideas, Wetsuit was one of them. I like band names that are a specific thing that kind of lose their meaning in a different context, so Wetsuit just stuck.

For core values I’d say integrity is a big one. I’m almost always writing about a lived experience and trying to tease out an honest truth about myself or a memory. It also manifests in the way we move within the Brooklyn music scene. When we play a show we’re always front row cheering on the other bands, and sharing knowledge with other musicians is also really important to me. After we put out our first record with Substitute Scene Records I posted on my IG saying whoever wants to talk about working with a record label DM me, I’m an open book, and I chatted with a lot of musician friends about it and sent them my spreadsheets and whatnot. People can be so cagey with industry knowledge and it’s like we should be lifting each other up, especially other female artists since it’s not a zero sum game.

Interviewer: As a female musician in this industry; what’s your biggest accomplishments and hardships that you’ve faced?

Allison: I booked a midwest tour to support our first record “Sugar, I’m Tired” and every band I booked to play with us in each city was female fronted. That was huge for me.

The Brooklyn music scene has transformed a lot since I started going to shows when I first moved here. I used to go see my boyfriend’s band play shows and they had a female drummer but the rest of the bands on the bill were always all dudes. Something shifted post Covid lockdown where all these female fronted bands emerged and I’m pretty honored to just be a part of that.

Interviewer: You told us that you are releasing an album soon, can you tell us more about the album and what it means to you?

Allison: We went to Asheville to record a full length last year and “Midwest Dream” is the first single of many before we release the album later this year. We worked with Alex Farrar who has produced some of my favorite records so sonically it’s just so much bigger than anything we’ve made before. 

There are songs about growing up in St. Louis, moving to NYC, nostalgia, and personal growth. There’s a song about my wonderfully complicated feelings about being a Jewish woman, another about how all I want to do is go to IKEA, and eat bagels and watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia with my long term partner. It’s definitely the most personal and oddly specific material I’ve ever written.

Interviewer: If you could give advice to an upcoming female artist; what would you tell them?

Allison: My biggest piece of advice would be to go to as many local shows as you can, find a community of similar artists and support each other. Share stories, lift each other up, and ask for help when you need it. 

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Make sure you go support Wetsuit at their upcoming show on Friday April 11th at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY! Click here for tickets!

Keep Up With Wetsuit Online: Youtube / Instagram / Website / Spotify