Former competitive surfer turned incredibly talented artist and badass Bloodboy (oka Lexie Papillion) has been making waves with her music. It’s easy to see why, as her vocals are heart breakingly deep, focused, and have a sense of intimacy about them that brings you in to the lyrics. Her most recent track, “Hey Kid”, is available to stream below. It’s raw, with a topic focusing on watching a loved one go through turmoil that you cannot help them out of. She just played Echo Park Rising in LA, and we were lucky enough to get to speak with her about the inspiration and vision for her work.
I am so curious, where did the moniker Bloodboy come from?
Epplantdick was taken and it seemed like the next logical option. But really, it came about during a drunken brainstorming session with the last band I was in. No one in the band was down for it and we decided on another name, but it stuck with me when it came time to choose a name for this project. I hate the whole one plural word trend and the all caps last name thing, so PAPILIONS was out lol. I wanted it to be something that was sort of funny, sort of bizarre, sort of true.
When I was a kid, I thought I wanted to be a doctor so my Uncle John let me scrub in and observe him performing reconstructive knee surgery- like, right over his shoulder. I think he even let me poke a finger in there. I remember being in awe of the complexity of the human body and I didn’t understand the disgust or fear that most people experience at the sight of seeing the body exposed in this way. Then I decided to become a vampire.
Tell me about your first track “Human Female”.
I’ve read a few different synopses on the meaning behind this song, almost none of which are true. It’s not a “tale of survival” or a “feminist anthem.” It’s about a person who happens to be a woman trying to figure out which type of life she wants to lead. She can’t find meaning in anything and she romanticizes a period in her life in which she perceived herself as less inhibited, when really she was just doing a lot of drugs and her reality was skewed. I called it “Human Female” because she has no way to identify herself other than that she’s human and she is a female. It’s not necessarily autobiographical, but I have definitely struggled at times in regards to whether or not I’m making the right decision in being a musician. Being an artist sucks a lot of times, but being a lawyer or an accountant would suck too so, ultimately, I chose the one with the type of suckiness I’m willing to endure for the less sucky parts that I love.
What’s your favorite part of being Bloodboy?
I mean, Bloodboy is the name of my musical project, not a persona. The way that I act, dress, the shit I Snapchat, etc., none of that is different from the way I am normally. But to answer the question in a less dickish way.. the writing and production is my favorite part. I love to perform, but I’d be content just writing and producing music forever if it afforded me a daily iced americano and hipster cigarettes.
How would you describe your music?
If Joe Strummer and Debbie Harry had a baby who was raised by Ezra Koenig.
What do you want people to take away from listening to your songs?
In a perfect world, I’d want people to say “Woah” in the same exact voice that Iggy Pop says “Woah” when he listens to Bowie. The respect and admiration those two had for one another is the sweetest thing.
Who is your biggest inspiration?
I don’t have a single person I could point to and say “he or she is ‘the one.’” There are so many people and so many things. My friends, my bandmates, Lou Reed, Annie Clark, Phillip K. Dick, The Twilight Zone, James Murphy, Kurt Vonnegut, Dolly Parton, David Byrne, teen skaters. With that said, I don’t think there’s a contemporary artist out there who wouldn’t claim Bowie as an inspiration in some regard. I cited his record, “Low,” as a sonic inspiration for this EP and I think it’s especially evidenced in tracks like “Hey Kid.”
If you were a donut, what kind would you be an why?
The kind you do in a car because I’m a little fun, a little dangerous, and obnoxiously loud.
Superheroes or villains? Why and which one is your favorite?
I just googled “concise list of popular superheroes and villains.” You might say I’m not a comic book buff… I pick Charlie Brown.
What’s next to come for you?
I’m releasing an EP in September and after that I’ll mainly be working on the full-length. I did much of the legwork in Louisiana last month, so now I’m in this phase of sorting through all the shit I wrote there and seeing what’s actually good, what I can expand on, etc. A lot of it sounds like “SyDHSOdsdUYDHOS&*D*^987DSfdsg HaHaHAhhaaha [Gilligan’s Island theme song rip off]” but there is some interesting stuff in there too, I think.
