“This podcast exploring the relationship between gender, rage, and the power of music is like an unearthed time capsule containing a forgotten strain of teendom”
A Production of:
Dear young rocker season 4 Hosted by Nadia Marie Belvanson
“I was born and then I was born again at the age of 23”
Musician/Photographer Nadia Marie had her life severely interrupted, and inner world reset, when at 23 she was hit by a car while on her bike. As a result, she suffered a concussion and amnesia that nobody around her was able to help her understand. She was unable to remember much of who she was, or what the people around her had meant to her.
The instruments she loved were suddenly foreign, and even her musical taste was different. In this season you’ll get to hear the flashbacks to her early life and some twists and turns along the way, as her newly 23-year-old self navigates the world around her as she reestablishes and creates new connections within music and within herself
Nadia Marie on Instagram
This is a podcast for the weirdos. The loners. The ugly ducklings.
DEAR YOUNG ROCKER is an audio memoir.
Seasons 1 and 2 profiled Chelsea — a young teen seeking relief from the anxiety, body issues, and pent up aggression of adolescence and a way to connect to others through rock music. The audio memoir detailed the trials of being the only girl rock musician in her conservative hometown and shed light on the un-talked about issue of aggression in girls and the importance of providing outlets. The show is also a series of letters about everything we wish we could tell our young selves.
The podcast was born from an idea many of us share – a desire to go back and tell your younger self a lot of things. Chelsea says - “I want to talk to not only the kid me but every kid out there who wants to be invisible, who feels strange in their growing body, who might imagine everyone hates them or that they hate everyone else and feel like no one on earth would ever get it.”
In Season 3 Chelsea invited other musicians to tell their own stories in each episode and in Season 4 Nadia Marie is recounting her life with music.
Your first band is one of the most important things in your life.
Watch the trailer for season one of Dear Young Rocker ☝️
“I want to tell them that they actually aren’t alone. I want to tell them that the pressures put on them as a girl or a boy or whatever their gender identity or sexual orientation or race or class or culture aren’t always right or fair no matter what their parents say. And though this is my specific story, I hope it might help anyone who struggled or is struggling with those pressures. So this for the young me and the young you and if you’re currently young and feel weird and alone it’s for you too. Music, specifically rock music, is what got me through it all. And my dear young rocker it’s time for you to tell that story…”
SEASON 1
EPISODE 101 - STEAM
Get to know young Chelsea and experience first hand her struggles with anxiety, problems with being a girl, and why music is so important. Plus, older Chelsea delivers some knowledge and advice on gender and anxiety.
EPISODE 102 - BASS PLAYER
Young Chelsea brings us back to the strange landscape of middle school and recounts how she discovered and fell in love with her favorite band and playing bass. Old Chelsea provides some much-needed advice about making and keeping friends.
EPISODE 103 - Claw Marks and Blood
Highschool is when things start to get … messy… Chelsea attends her first big rock concert (Green Day) and sits in on a band practice, but not in the way she’d hoped. She tries to connect with people on the internet and wonders if she’ll ever find a band.
episode 104 - Battle of the Bands
Chelsea's long held dream comes true as she experiences the rush of joining her first band and playing her first live rock show. Everything seems to finally be lining up. Even a surprise appearance by the cop's can't get her down. Older Chelsea explains the difference between the right way and the wrong way to build one's self-esteem.
DYR 105 - KISS
A trip to the local fair for young Chelsea and her band ends up more a little more eventful than she had planned. Like with any group of high school friends, things can get sticky when relationships form. Older Chelsea explains the power of saying “no thank you.”
DYR 106 - Breaking up
Tensions in the band have been high. Young Chelsea makes some mistakes and tries to do her best to hold things together to keep the music going. Older Chelsea tells her to remember that when anxiety speeds you up that you must slow yourself down.
DYR 107 - Ache
Description: Junior year of high school is usually the time when kids have hit their stride and have found their crew. But things are still pretty complicated for young Chelsea. She's dealing with the urges of others and herself. The only thing keeping her grounded is the music. But is it enough?
DYR 108 - GRADUATION
Senior year and graduation is cracked up to be the pinnacle of high school, but Chelsea isn't feeling much school spirit. She just wants out, and is looking forward to college but her cello teacher doesn't think music school is for her. She makes a painful decision to give up what she loves most. Without music, life is even more confusing and scary but older Chelsea reassures her that high school isn't everything and that she has so much life left to live and time to be happy.
DYR 109 - Stick With it
Chelsea presses pause on her own story and passes the mic to five other rockers. Members of the bands Palehound (Ellen Kempner and Larz Brogan), Summer Cannibals (Jess Boudreaux and Cassi Blum), and Worriers (Lauren Denitzio) add their own experiences to the collective Dear Young Rocker story.
DYR 110 - FRESHMAN
Young Chelsea's first semester of college is an adjustment and she isn't sure about being a biology major. She finds one person who "gets it" though she can't say the same for her roommate. She wonders if once again she's just surrounded by the wrong people, or is it her? Older Chelsea gives a brief explanation on consent in response to the actions of a creepy guy from orientation. Songwriter Stef Chura talks about her own adolescent journey into music.
DYR 111 - MUSIC MAJOR
College is a time to try out different for yourself and Chelsea does just that with a 180 degree major switch from Biology to Music and Sound Recording Technology. Once again despite feeling in her heart that she's probably on the right path, outside factors threaten to scare her away from it before she even starts. Musician Ella Williams, known as Squirrel Flower (Polyvinyl Records) sends in a letter to her young musician self.
DYR 112 - AURAL SKILLS
In this final episode of season one, young Chelsea starts coming up against some obstacles in her new chosen major of music and sound recording. She is feeling inadequate in her musical ability once again and it hinders her bonding with her classmates. Against her own instincts, she continues an internet-based relationship. Musician and poet Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz chimes in with a guest letter describing her own early songwriting experiences and influences.
SEASON 2
DYR 201 - STUDIO TIME
In the Season 2 premiere of Dear Young Rocker, we find young Chelsea where we left her - in college as a sound recording technology major. She falls in love with editing tape but starts getting distracted by self-comparison and ‘extra-curricular activities.’ She wants to make only perfect choices, but older Chelsea lets her know that’s just not realistic
DYR 202 - NO MORE JAZZ
Choosing a major, or sticking with one, can be pretty stressful. Chelsea decides to take a break from thinking about it and joins a new yoga class instead. She feels great for the first time in a while, and more importantly, feels like she knows exactly where she wants to be for once. Older Chelsea reminds her again that there is no perfect choice and that the belief in one existing is what’s causing her existential dread in the first place.
DYR 203 - TRUE SELF
With no music in her life for the foreseeable future, Chelsea has found a way to fill the hole in her life by getting more deeply involved with the yoga classes she’s been attending. She has a life altering emotional experience at an intensive workshop, but upon reflection realizes how scary it really was.
DYR 204 - GUITAR CENTER
A teacher takes an interest in Chelsea and gives her some feedback that rocks her world. She also does some jamming: by herself, with a new potential band, and with her friend at the world headquarters of noodling - Guitar Center. Old Chelsea doles out some advice about making it through the ‘boring parts’ of life.
DYR 205 - WRITER
A teacher takes an interest in Chelsea and gives her some feedback that rocks her world. She also does some jamming: by herself, with a new potential band, and with her friend at the world headquarters of noodling - Guitar Center. Old Chelsea doles out some advice about making it through the ‘boring parts’ of life.
DYR 206 - THE ISLAND
Sometimes running away from your problems is actually the right thing to do. Chelsea spends a summer living on the beach on Martha’s Vineyard in a cottage with no TV, internet, or cell service. She gets an inside look at how the other half lives by becoming a maid for billionaires in their summer homes and parties with their kids at night. Part healing journey and part distraction, it’s both a summer to remember and a way to forget the controlling influences she escaped.
DYR 207 - DESTINY
Chelsea experiences what feels like destiny when she runs into a crush in the most romantic way possible. An intense relationship develops between the pair, who happen to have a large age difference between them. The new boyfriend makes it clear that for Chelsea, playing music still won’t be on the table in the near future.
DYR 208 - CRAIGSLIST
In this installment, Chelsea deals with a lot of change at once. The confusion and pain of her first major heartbreak is followed by an ambivalent graduation from college. But she experiences some good change too, and it all starts with a Craigslist ad. Older Chelsea’s advice centers on bands, moms, and what it means to be wild - but fragile.
DYR 209 - ROCK CAMP PT. 1
Chelsea has a transformative experience as a mentor and music teacher at a week of Girls Rock Camp. Her band of high schoolers causes her to feel protective and to show up for them in ways she didn’t think she could. There is a challenge, though, with the vocalist of her band - a shy kid who reminds her of herself and seems like she might not be able to work up the courage to sing before the big performance at the end of the week. How do you give someone else self-confidence? To learn more about Girls Rock Camp visit: http://www.girlsrockcampfoundation.org/
DYR 210 - ROCK CAMP PT. 2
The story of the young band at rock camp continues. Chelsea helps them finish their new song and get ready to perform. In the process she realizes she might actually be what’s blocking their progress. The concert goes well … mostly. An unexpected attendee punctures the safe bubble of rock camp and leaves Chelsea feeling like she’s taken a step backwards. To learn more about Girls Rock Camp visit: http://www.girlsrockcampfoundation.org/
DYR 211 - SWEDEN
This episode of Dear Young Rocker finds our heroine in Scandinavia for the summer to volunteer at another rock camp. Being so far from home is certainly different, but people are the same everywhere. Chelsea learns what it’s like to be really, really on her own for the first time. It’s both freeing and scary, and she learns that no matter where you go, you’re still you.
DYR 212 - PURPOSE
In the season two finale of Dear Young Rocker, Chelsea feels an intense desire to make noise and tell stories. For the first time she fronts her own band. By writing her own songs and stepping up to the microphone, she starts to feel that she’s living her purpose. The final piece of the puzzle is writing her memoir and discovering the power of talking to her younger self.
SEASON 3
DYR 301 - PRELUDE
Chelsea tells us the origin story of Dear Young Rocker and makes the case for creating the work you want to rather than waiting for someone else to hand you the keys to the life you dream of. This will be the last episode of DYR devoted to Chelsea's story. Season three will continue as a series of heartfelt personal letters written by musicians to their own young rocker selves about their own musical beginnings.
DYR 302 - NERD CAMP FEAT AMY HOFFMAN OF FUTURE TEENS
Amy Hoffman of the band Future Teens has a transformative high school summer at an academic camp in Missouri. When a teacher encourages the students to find their calling, Amy realizes their calling is playing emo rock just like their favorite bands - Taking Back Sunday, Say Anything and The Rocket Summer. Away from the pressures of family for the first time, Amy gets up the nerve to perform a song in front of the whole camp and starts to feel like their true self. Check out Future Teens and their new record, Deliberately Alive on Bandcamp.
DYR 303 - CRYING IN H MART FEATURING MICHELLE ZAUNER OF JAPANESE BREAKFAST
Michelle Zauner joins Chelsea to read a selection from and discuss her new book Crying in H Mart (Knopf). Chelsea asks Michelle about her writing process, her teenage relationship with her mother who passed away when Michelle was 25, and her early musical influences (including Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Michelle also delivers a short Dear Young Rocker letter to her younger self about how not peaking in high school is a very good thing.
DYR 304 - DOC MARTENS FEAT. MIA BERRIN OF POM POM SQUAD
Mia Berrin, frontwoman of Pom Pom Squad, tells the story of a difficult freshman year of high school in Florida. She endured racially-motivated bullying, exclusion and depression, but started to find her own path when she put on pair of Doc Martens and discovered the music of Riot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Hole and Heavens to Betsy. Soon she started writing her own songs and going to shows and even met an important musical partner. Mia gives some advice to her younger self about the importance of practice and patience. Be sure to check out Mia's rad band Pom Pom Squad.
DYR 305 - THE BLAZER FEAT LIRA MONDAL OF SWEEPING PROMISES
Lira Mondal of the band Sweeping Promises shares her story of growing up in Arkansas as a nerdy choir kid longing to fit into an alternative rock subculture that she isn't sure she's cool enough for. As an only child of a single Bangladeshi mom, she doesn't feel like she blends in with her mostly white peers. She finds confidence in her voice but dreams of playing guitar or bass in a band and getting to rock out to the kind of music she loves the most - especially her favorite band Interpol. Lira provides some loving advice to her younger self and then talks with Chelsea about shared experiences as only children of single moms. She also recommends listeners check out the organization Trust Tree which holds music and arts camps for girls in Arkansas to help them bring their creative visions to life.
DYR 306 - FOLK PUNK FEAT KATIE LAU OF PAINTED ZEROS
Katie Lau takes the mic on this episode and tells her story of adolescent self-discovery as a kid that withdrew after some harsh bullying but came out of her shell when she fell in love with punk music. Katie's band is called Painted Zeros. In this episode she recommends the following organizations: Red Canary Song, AAPI Women Lead, and Stop AAPI Hate.
DYR 307 - ANXIOUS BUT OKAY FEAT ELISE OKUSAMI OF OCEANATOR
Elise Okusami of the band Oceanator started playing guitar and listening to Green Day pretty young at nine years old, and her first band wasn't long after that. On this episode of DYR, she tells the story of attending an Against Me! show and finding the musical community that really inspired her to dream big about her own musical career. She gives some advice to her younger self about living as an anxious person. Elise recommends listeners check out two organizations: the Black Trans Travel Fund and Crown Heights Mutual Aid.
DYR 308 - STOMPHIA FEAT WENDY EISENBERG
Wendy Eisenberg went through a best friend transition in middle school that led to playing in their first band and some insight about what it means to be yourself. In this beautifully written story and letter to their younger self, Wendy talks about a fateful pool party and the importance of letting people see your many sides. Wendy releases music under their full name Wendy Eisenberg as well as with the band Editrix and various other collaborations. Two organizations Wendy has fundraised for and recommends are GLITS and Black and Pink - as well as looking up your local community fridge and how to support them. Check out freedge.org to learn more.
DYR 309 - GAY ROCKER FEAT LG OF THELMA AND THE SLEZE
LG of the band Thelma and the Sleaze brings us all the way back to her early adolescence in Kankakee Illinois. Surviving a childhood marked by head lice, fights, all kinds of trouble making and being the stinky kid in school LG is pulled more and more toward her own desire to play rock music especially when she hears songs by female fronted bands like Belly and the Cranberries. She also knows right away that she doesn't want to play with any boys. A run-in with some missionaries grants her some guitar lessons and the unusual experience of becoming accidentally Mormon, and the rest is history.
You might not feel it but you are loved, you are safe, and you are on the path you are meant to be on. what’s more — you are not alone.
Chelsea ursin - Creator/Writer/nerd/musician.
Chelsea created, wrote, produced and narrated Seasons 1--3 and is executive producing Season 4.
She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her master’s thesis, a memoir titled Bass Player was intended to be published as a book — but she fell in love with audio storytelling and decided to combine the memoir with her audio engineering and music composition skills and create the podcast Dear Young Rocker. She’s been playing bass and guitar since she was 12, but only had the confidence to write songs and start her own band at 26. She lives in Boston with her cat Alaska and performs around the northeast with her ‘grunge-pop’ band Banana. She was formerly the Associate Producer for Not Sorry Productions (Harry Potter and the Sacred Text), has worked for NPR’s Wow in the World, and volunteers as a bass instructor for Girls Rock Campaign Boston.
CONTACT FOR PRESS INQUIRIES: Brittany Marya - Brittany.Marya@beckmedia.com