EPR Chronicles: Sedona
It's approximately 7:20PM on Saturday as I start heading towards a house a couple blocks down from Sticky Rice Echo Park - a neighborhood staple, and one of the largest stages for Echo Park Rising. I'm meeting up with Sedona before her linecheck. The heat, thankfully, has subsided as the moon replaces the sun. When the hand strikes 8 o'clock, she will be center stage and I will be front row. Sedona is seemingly everywhere all at once, although I've not yet had the opportunity to see her perform before tonight. Admittedly, her set is what I've been most looking forward from this year's EPR festival lineup. But until then, I have some questions for LA's favorite pageant rock frontwoman. Our conversation touched on her recent tour around the US, her inspirations, and which Echo Lake creature she resonates with most. Read it for yourself below.
Text/interview by Alec Manning
Photography by Priscilla Mars
Sedona
(Artist/Musician/Proud Valley Girl)
From: Chatsworth, California
Pookie: Last time we talked, you said you were about to go on tour. How was it?
Sedona: "It was amazing. I did a US run with another band that I sing in called Drugdealer, so I opened and then I sang in that band, so I did double duty which was so fun and is my favorite thing ever. And yeah, I think I played one of my favorite shows ever. It was in Washington [DC]. And I don’t remember the venue."
What made it your favorite?
“I don’t know, for some reason I just feel like I sang really well. I was wearing my mom’s suit from the 80s, I felt like her spirit was around me. I think I was just in good spirits."
So now that we're basically three quarters of the way through 2026, can we expect another release from you by the end of the year? Or are you building anticipation for 2027?
"You know what, I don’t know the answer to that. I've been wanting to release music all year but the universe had other plans for me. I have so much material that’s very close to being done, and I have enough songs to release a song every month, but timing is everything. So I’m feeling it out. If I do release something it would just be one song before the end of the year. But I’m gearing up for an EP in 2027."
Have you performed at Echo Park Rising before?
"I've never performed at Echo Park Rising! I'm excited but also overwhelmed because it’s very chaotic, and I’m glad we got the 8pm slot because it’s perfect weather. Echo Park Rising is something that I didn’t really know about, until last year when I saw one of my good friends Dagger [Polyester] play. And then once I saw him play, when this year rolled around my friend Jeffrey who runs makeoutmusic, he was programming this year so he said 'Do you want to perform?' and I said 'This is my time, the stars are aligning'."
What's inspiring you currently?
"I mean, I’m pretty set in my ways. I feel like the things that inspire me are the things that have always inspired me, which are the classics. The Cars, Lou Reed, Prince, The Replacements, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, dare I say. I’m a sucker for the classics."
You asked a question on your instagram that I found very interesting and multi-layered. I'd like to know more about this subject. Tell me, are you a hot dog, cookie mouse, or pony boy? And what do each of these titles mean to you?
"I’m a cookie mouse, very very much so. I feel like Hot Dogs are people who are really extroverted, sort of life of the party people are Hot Dogs. Cookie Mouse is more coy, but still has a fire deep within, that she reveals to a select few. And then there’s the Pony Boy, which is, I feel like, someone whose just more of a passenger princess, and is along for the ride. And is just as important as Hot Dog or Cookie Mouse, but is just a bit more mellow."
If you could be any of the animals in Echo Lake for a day which would you be?
"I would be one of the turtles. Because they run that lake, and they’ve been there, and they’re sacred creatures of the lake. They know the secrets of the lake, and as do I."
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