Meet Kathleen Pierard | Indie Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kathleen Pierard aka Miss Pirate, who moved here from Germany. We’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kathleen, why did you pursue a creative career?
Since I can remember, art was always a very important part of my life. Even as a child, I have always been drawing and singing. I tried to play notes on my parent’s instruments. When I was six years old, I started playing violin for ten years, so music always was present throughout my whole life.

When I got older, art, especially music, became the only way to flee from reality.
I grew up with a bipolar and alcoholic father, and making music helped me cope with this situation.

For hours I played guitar in my room and wrote my own songs. This helped me forget about all the bad things going on at home. Also, writing lyrics was a way to process all my fears, sorrows, and thoughts, which helped my mind a lot.
Actually, I feel like music saved my life. I don’t know how I should have made it through all the difficult times without music.

It got me through trauma, depression, anxiety, heartbreaks, and daily struggles.

So music always was my therapy and still is to this day. Making music is what I love the most in this world, so in 2020 I decided to share it with others and pursue this kind of creative career.
We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I think what makes my music special is the honesty and vulnerability in my songs. I have always written very personal songs about difficult subjects. My years of experience with depression, anxiety, social anxiety, and also growing up with a bipolar alcoholic father have shaped my music from the very beginning. The story behind the songs is, in my opinion, what makes all musicians unique. We all have different experiences, good and bad, that we process in our art.

Only I can tell my story the way I tell it in my songs. That’s what makes it so special.

That’s the ingredient that sets each musician and their songs apart from others.

I record my songs at home in my apartment, so I’m a DIY musician. Until now, I had the support of a friend who mixed some of my music, but now I want to do that part myself too.

Right now, I’m learning how to mix my songs myself to be even more independent. I want to be able to decide how my music sounds, and it’s also so much fun to produce your own songs.

So the thing I’m most excited about right now is producing and releasing new music. My next songs will be different from my previous music, and I can’t wait to share them. And being on stage, playing live, I’m enormously looking forward to that as well.

My path was not easy. Through my experiences as a child and as a teenager in my family, I always had intense self-doubt and never felt good enough. Of course, this also transferred to my music because nothing is as personal and makes you as vulnerable as art.

A few years ago, I would never have thought I would ever find the courage to release my songs and play live on stage.

I sat in my room dreaming of overcoming my depression and social anxiety and finally sharing my music with others.

But I lacked the courage. The fear of never being good enough was too big.

Today I know that was just my mindset that developed that way through my trauma, and my self-worth has dramatically improved.

I am incredibly proud that I, at least partly, overcame these mindset obstacles and now share my music with people. And most importantly, I play my music live because I love it more than anything.

What I’ve learned along the way is that passion will always win if it’s big enough. It can conquer fears, doubts, and self-loathing, and when you finally do what you love, you grow a little bit every day.

Personally, what helped me the most was getting over myself, releasing my music, and taking myself seriously as a musician.

It’s all a question of self-respect and self-worth; everything can fail because of this point.

As for my music, I hope people realize how important it is to believe in yourself.
This point can decide everything. Today I wish that I had found the courage earlier to take my music and myself seriously. But I’m incredibly happy that I started doing this in 2020, and I’m full of gratitude for every step I take forward.
In the end, passion wins if it is strong enough. It alone can conquer fears and self-doubt.

Since I also want to create awareness for (adult) children from addiction families, the following point is also very important to me: How a child grows up, how it is treated by his family, whether it gets help or not, all this can strongly influence the very fragile self-worth…which leads to it judging itself, never believing in its dreams, and holding itself back for life.

I want to point out that no matter how young, every child notices when something goes completely wrong at home. Every child will suffer consequences, and every child who has problems at home needs help and someone to talk to.

At least in Germany, where I come from, this topic is a taboo subject. But everyone should and is allowed to talk about it, and everyone is worth getting help. There is silence; the children suffer in silence. And when they grow up, they continue to suffer from the trauma and the learned patterns.

And, if you are going through or have gone through something like this:You are not alone.

You just might feel alone because no one talks about it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There are so many great, creative places and people here in Phoenix that it’s hard to choose.

If my best friend was here, the first thing I would do is take her out for coffee or Boba Milk tea at Cafe Mollie. My absolute favorite coffee place and a fantastic location for concerts. After that, I would probably take her to Downtown Phoenix for a bite to eat. Which is hard to choose from; you can find everything! Whether we want tacos, sushi, steak, pizza, sandwiches…everything is possible here in Phoenix.

In the evening, we would go to one of the many great open mics, such as El Charro on Thursdays, Chop Shop in Tempe on Wednesdays, or see the Wednesday Wednesday show at the Crescent Ballroom.

On the first Friday of the month, we would go to Art Night or the First Friday event downtown.

If we want to go a little further afield, I would take her to one of the great lakes here, Lake Pleasant or Lake Bartlett, spend the day there in the beautiful outdoors.

As I said, there are incredibly many great places and options here; it’s hard to choose.

As someone who lived in Germany in a village and near small towns, the offer is sometimes almost overwhelming, but I love living here.

It never gets boring, there is always something going on in Phoenix, and I am very grateful to live here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Many people in my life deserve a shoutout.
I am very grateful to my parents for being musicians themselves. We always had instruments at home, so I always found something to play around with. I’m thankful that my father taught me how to play the guitar. That he supported me, taught me the chords.

I give the biggest shoutout ever to my husband for believing in me and giving me so much support. For encouraging me to make my musical dreams come true, pushing me forward, and helping me to believe in myself more.

I am thankful for a former band colleague and friend with whom I made music for years, even though I was too scared to share that music with others at that time. This is how it all started, hours in the rehearsal room, jamming, working on songs together. I will never forget these precious times.

I am thankful for the music coaching I did in 2020 that helped me take my music and myself seriously and led to the release of my first single.

I give a big shoutout to my manager for helping me so many times, getting my confused brain back in order, and supporting me with my plans.

The people who helped me mix and master my songs, who helped me where I got stuck, deserve a shoutout.

Also, I want to thank the Phoenix Music community, all these wonderful people who regularly share their music and are so great at supporting each other. And everyone who lets me play on their stage.

I moved here a year ago and felt welcomed and at home immediately.
I can’t say how thankful I am.

Of course, role models can’t be missing from shoutouts, so shoutout to my absolute music idol, Hayley Williams. Paramore is the band that has influenced me and my music the most.

Until now, the music I released is very different from their genre, but my new songs will be very influenced by Paramore and my big love for Pop Rock & Punk Rock Music.

Many people deserve a big shoutout, and I wouldn’t be where I am now without them.

Even though I’m a solo artist, I can’t do it all by myself, so I am unbelievably thankful for every person who helps me.

Last but not least, I want to give Shoutout AZ a shoutout for giving me the chance to share my story here. This means so much to me.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/miss.pirate.music

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEVnZ9VgyyefxOymwcIu3vA

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6UdU3IlnnCuenCHfvAJICw?si=2cw8JouKTvWknKVl1yUPnA

Image Credits
Benjamin Kessel