Chloe Kazmerzak (12) has been interested in music since a young age, and is now a songwriter and the lead singer of the alternative rock band, kid ok. Chloe works with guitarist and fellow songwriter, Lucas Herzog, and bass player, Toby Still.

Kazmerzak shared what sparked her interest in music and the start of her musical journey.

“I did a lot of choir and theater growing up,” Kazmerzak said. “My parents are both musicians, so … it’s kind of just … always been around the house, so I’ve kind of always … been interested in it.”

Kazmerzak talked about what inspired her to sing and write songs. Her mom, Cory Sipper, is also a singer and songwriter and has her own set of albums on Spotify. Through seeing her moms musical journey, Kazmerzak was inspired to begin her own.

“Probably just listening to my mom [play music] and also [writing songs] is just kind of like an outlet I guess,” Kazmerzak said

Kazmerzak’s theater teacher from Goleta Valley, Ms. Ross was another inspiration.

“I did theater there and I wrote this song,” Kazmerzak said. “And [Ms. Ross] was like, this is so good.”

Kazmerzak mainly works with Herzog, a guitarist and songwriter.

“He does most of the music stuff and I do … most of the melody stuff and the lyrics,” Kazmerzak said.

Kazmerzak went on to share what got her into alternative rock, the genre of music kid ok plays.

“I always kind of wrote sad songs,” Kazmerzak said. “Just … by myself. But Lucas would write these like really cool … rock-esk, like guitar parts. So, I was just like, this is sick because … I just … wasn’t as proficient on the guitar to be able to come up with those … really cool … melodies and stuff. So I was like this is sick I’ll just … write lyrics for this.”

Kid ok started producing their music last October with their main producer, Zach Madden.

“He’s teaching Lucas and I how to co-produce,” Kazmerzak said. “So we help produce … we sit there and we go through everything. We’re like this sounds good, this doesn’t. So we’re like part of … the whole process which is really cool.”

Kazmerzak and her band practice and record in their studio, Good Land Sound, located in Old Town Goleta. The band has performed many places including Roys in downtown Santa Barbara and Old Town Coffee in Goleta with plans to perform at more venues in the future.

“When we’re coming up to a show … [we] like try to practice every day,” Kazmerzak said. “But, I’m going into the studio … like four times or five times [per week].”

Kazmerzak shared her perspective on how successful she has been so far in her musical career.

“I mean I don’t really know how successful [we are],” Kazmerzak said. “I feel like on a small scale, we have a song out which is cool, but on a large scale we’ve literally done almost nothing … success is kind of a hard thing to … comprehend.”

She then shared her hopes for the future of the band as they continue to work on new songs.

“We hope to put out a new song and just keep putting out music and get a band together [so] we can start playing shows,” Kazmerzak said.

Moreover, she shared some honest advice Herzog once told her.

“[He said] that ‘you have to prepare for the worst and expect the worst, you can’t really get your hopes up,’” Kazmerzak said. “So hopefully it’ll go good.”

Follow kid ok on Instagram at @kidokmusic and on Spotify where you can stream their song “Haunt Me.”