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[0:06] Robert Bannon: Well, welcome to the round table, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to some Broadway World over here on the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeartSpotify, wherever you listen to artists talking about art. If you love music, then you've definitely heard, you've definitely heard our guest. She is a maybe has been in a band in her group that has sold millions of records and has had big giant smash hits. You may have known her from her singles that are out right now. I think she's got four of them, including a Broadway homage with "Never Enough" with Mary Kate Morrissey from Wicked, including so much incredible work thanks to Joy Machine Records is coming out a whole entire album on the 22nd. Oh, she worked, she's out here working, people. She's here to tell us all about it. Neyla Pekarek.

[0:54] Neyla Pekarek: Maybe close.

[0:56] Robert Bannon: You nailed it.

[0:57] Neyla Pekarek: I was so nervous, Neyla.

[0:59] Robert Bannon: No need. I could talk to anybody in the world, but I just wanted to say their name right. That's my only fear.

[1:05] Neyla Pekarek: It's so kind. Thank you.

[1:07] Robert Bannon: So Neyla, before we get into the nitty-gritty of when did you discover you wanted to write music and be a singer and a songwriter?

[1:13] Neyla Pekarek: Oh, I mean, I have definitely been doing music my whole life. I didn't feel very good at most things in school, but it was always like a choir nerd and fell in love with musical theater in high school. Um, and was a performer for a long time, but didn't really start identifying as a songwriter until probably like 2013, 2014, um, after I'd been touring with the Lumineers for a bit, and I had some songs inside of me. Um, and yeah, just it was kind of a funny way to do this full circle moment of growing up as a theater kid, having this funny stint in this very successful band, and then kind of going back to my theater roots in the last few years.

[1:54] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. And um, you say you toured with the Lumineers and sung with the Lumineers for a long time. I'm from New Jersey, so I know that that was a big story because the Jersey folks connection to it all. Would you can I ask you a personal question?

[2:07] Neyla Pekarek: Please.

[2:09] Robert Bannon: Did you like that? Was that experience positive? Did you learn a lot? How do you sum up your time with something like living through that experience?

[2:17] Neyla Pekarek: Yeah, I mean, um, I did it for eight years. I was an original member of the band, and um, it was such a crazy thing to happen. I mean, it was like lightning in a bottle of I met them in 2010, like in their basement. We got in a minivan, like it was very much not a successful project when I joined. And then um, by 2012, like we were nominated for a Grammy and touring the world, and so it was a really fast success. Um, and I'm so lucky and grateful that I got to do it. Um, and I'm kind of glad I'm not doing it anymore. Um, it was super all you know, all consuming. I could you miss everything. I was on the tour like 300 days of the year, and it was an amazing thing to have happen, especially in my 20s when you're just kind of like yes to everything, and um I had some just incredible experiences with that.

Um, but again, like I kind of discovered I was ready to write my own songs. I really missed doing theater, and so um, yeah, I feel so grateful for the time I had and glad to move on to some other things.

[3:23] Robert Bannon: Let's go. Let's move on to some other so if I hear "Hey Ho" in the grocery store, I don't have to be angry. I could be smile and keep going.

[3:30] Neyla Pekarek: Yeah, I mean "Hey Ho" probably paid for my house, so perfect. It's good. Grateful for it.

[3:34] Robert Bannon: I would like a song to pay for my house too. I'm grateful for it too. What how do you describe your sound? How do you describe what this is? Because there's a theater element to this, and there's an original element to this and a pop indie element. What is yours? What is this record?

[3:50] Neyla Pekarek: I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, um, definitely musical theater inspired. They are songs from a musical, so they live in that world. Um, we're currently working on a musical called The Queen of Magic. Um, that's based on a woman named Adelaide Herman, who is from the Victorian period, and so I think like it lives a little bit in that vaudevillian world. Um, instrumentation wise, there's like clarinets and strings and things that kind of bring it into that time period. Um, I am also a major nerd for barbershop quartet music. Um, I sing in a barbershop quartet um in my spare time. We're called Clever Girl, and we're actually the 2025 world champions, international champions of women's barbershop quartets.

[4:37] Neyla Pekarek: Um as you do. And so um, there's always a lot of barbershop influence in my music in terms of chord structure, in terms of harmonies. Um, that always makes its way into my stuff. Um, and then yeah, I think a lot of folk element, of course, there's storytelling in it being from a musical. Um, and just I come from um being a cellist, and so I think there's a lot of like foliness to a lot of the music I make.

[5:04] Robert Bannon: Oh, I think you're muted, my love.

[5:06] Neyla Pekarek: I'm professional.

[5:08] Robert Bannon: This is a professional show. This you are a cellist and and a singer and a songwriter, and then you do you're on the world champion female barbershop quartet. So you just do everything.

[5:21] Neyla Pekarek: I mean, nothing practical, but yeah, lots of lots of things.

[5:21] Robert Bannon: How many cellos? A cello's a big instrument? So do you have one or do you have multiple cellos?

[5:30] Neyla Pekarek: I have a couple. I have one main one that I use. I call her Gertrude. She is part of my family.

[5:36] Robert Bannon: Um, Gertrude is the number one girl.

[5:39] Neyla Pekarek: Yeah, but I grew up like playing cello as a kid, and so I'd have to lug that thing to school. And I feel like it built some good skills in me.

[5:46] Robert Bannon: So I get a yeah. Tiny person with a big cello.

[5:51] Neyla Pekarek: I so what I'm amazed at about the barbershop thing, which I guess we're gonna hear it in the layered and in all the music that you've done if you listen to your singles that are out, or if we listen to the album or other music that you've done, we hear a lot of harmony. There's a lot of layering vocals of harmony.

[6:05] Robert Bannon: I had the worst summer of my life being in the barbershop quartet in The Music Man in Connecticut, and I was the baritone, and I couldn't hear those weird. I used to write notes on my music, like creepy sound, haunted house, because it's a weird, I was always in the weird spot. And I would listen to it. I could some people have a natural gift for it. They just hear it and they could stay on their part. I just I need to be the star and just sing my own the melody.

[6:32] Neyla Pekarek: Yes, the baritone is the unsung hero of the quartet because it's the weird counter melody. Like if you're singing happy birthday on baritone, it's like um happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. So it's all the like counter melody, and then no one can hear the part because it's buried in there, but it's the thing that makes it all work, and the key to a great barbershop quartet is an amazing baritone.

[6:55] Robert Bannon: Um, but if you want to be the star, it's not the path.

[6:58] Neyla Pekarek: No, you gotta say, I was I don't think I was an amazing baritone, and I definitely needed therapy because I would be in the middle of the rehearsal, they would say, Robert, can you sing your line? No way.

[7:11] Neyla Pekarek: Yes, Neyla. This is terrible. It was an equity show. I'm gonna grieve this show, but that's besides the point.

[7:17] Robert Bannon: The point is this influence is in your music. So how did you come up with the idea for this album? Is there a story? Is it just independent songs on its own? Should we listen to it from beginning to end? Obviously. What do you recommend we do?

[7:29] Neyla Pekarek: Yes, you gotta listen to it beginning to end. Um and it is five songs. So it's a little EP, a little mini album, and it's five songs from a show that I'm currently writing with Gabrielle Mirabella, who is the exact person who should write a magic musical because her name sounds like a magic spell. But we are working on a musical also called The Queen of Magic, um, about Adelaide Herman, who is just this like firecracker of a woman, um, a real person that lived around the turn of the century, and she uh was married to a man named Alexander Herman. And when we think of the quintessential magician like little mustache, coat and tails, top hat, he kind of like coined that look. So he was like the OJ magician, and they had this amazing touring act.

And she when she met him, he was kind of doing these like sleight of hand parlor tricks, really small scale, and she was like, Okay, but what if we add storylines and costumes and music, and kind of like informed a lot of what musical theater today is?

[8:25] Neyla Pekarek: Um, and they toured the world, which like in the early 1900s, I can't imagine touring like what that looked like. You're on trains and ships and all kinds of things. Um, and she was just kind of a boss. Like, I always am inspired by a brave woman, by an ambitious woman, kind of trying to give myself permission to be those things when I read those stories, especially from the past. Um, so yeah, working on a fun magic musical, and all uh all five songs of this um EP are in the show.

[8:53] Neyla Pekarek: So, do you feel inspired by the story and the story you found? Because you are, is it the magic? It's the, is it the boss lady? Is it the time period? Like what about this story? And but you could pick anything in the world. So what about this story made you be like, this is the one I'm gonna spend my time writing about? Yeah, I think it's mostly the like boss lady energy committed to her craft. Um, I as I've said, I'm kind of a nerd about all these music things that I do, and you really sub, you know, whether it's singing or art or visual art or you know, even like an athlete or something running, I I think that I'm always inspired by someone that is just a total nut about whatever they're interested in and like the passion that comes through.

And um, I didn't know that much about the magic world before working on this, but I think it's very closely related to something like Barbershop that's like super niche. People who are into it are into it, and um, yeah, and just her commitment to like being really ambitious and having these big grand plans. I'm a person that like never does anything halfway. Um, and so I I really related to that, and um, yeah, and kind of her like she's not interested in being nice. Um, you know, she's not a people pleaser, and as a recovering people pleaser, I feel like you know, leading with what's best for the show, what's best for the art, um, while also being a kind person, of course. But um, I think a lot of women lead with like people pleasing.

Yes, women. I'm just gonna do my thing, and it it might ruffle some feathers, and that's okay. I'm I get all of that. Women are people, and this gay boy is a people pleaser. I will got on this interview and apologize and said thank you. I'm sorry. When I graduated high school, Neyla, my music teacher, um, I won an award for music, and he said Robert's favorite words are thank you, I'm sorry. I knew then I needed therapy. It took me then. Um, so I get it. And I love and I also love magic. And I I laugh really hard about this because I was watching TV the other day, and uh there's a storyline in the TV show Hacks about uh uh she dates uh a man of the night, but he's also a magician. And the man of the night part doesn't bother her, but the magician part gives the ick.

I love magic, like magic is so cool to me. I grew up taking I even took clown classes because I think it's such an incredible art form. It is an art. Yes, this is the show for you. All the things okay. I'm in. Now, when you say you don't do things halfway on May 22nd, when this album comes out, you're doing a vaudevillian extravaganza, which sounds like it is definitely not half done. You are putting on a party.

[11:29] Neyla Pekarek: That is correct. And for better or for worse, it's gonna it's gonna be a spectacle. Um, I'm of course gonna share my five songs from the show with a band, a string quartet, a choir. I've got a clarinet player, a trombone player. Um, but it's gonna feel very vaudevillian, very variety show-esque. I have a wonderful local magician in Denver here. Her name's Erica Sodos. Uh, she's gonna do some magic. We have a contortionist, we have a juggler, we have a barbershop quartet, of course. I would not expect anything else, Neyla. Definitely not halfway. And I'm gonna also bring this a similar show to New York and LA at some point uh in this summer. There'll be a window soon.

[12:10] Robert Bannon: Are you in Denver?

[12:11] Neyla Pekarek: I'm in Denver, that's where I live.

[12:13] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[12:14] Neyla Pekarek: So you stay, and then you're gonna come.

[12:16] Robert Bannon: I was gonna ask you, are you planning on going on the road? Are you gonna do some shows? Are you gonna bring this around?

[12:20] Neyla Pekarek: Yes.

[12:25] Robert Bannon: We'll do the vaudevillian extravaganza in New York and LA, maybe Chicago, if I find myself there. Um, and then in the meantime, we are working away on this musical, so you'll see that somewhere someday. They just take forever and you gotta find really wealthy people that believe in it.

[12:41] Robert Bannon: Yeah, yeah. So what is your plan? So you is the musical written? Is it completed? Is it workshopping? Is it you're still in the process of it? What is the story?

[12:48] Neyla Pekarek: Yes, we had our first draft done um at the end of last year. So we did our first Zoom reading in December, which felt like great progress. Um, and actually this week, my writing partner, as I said, Gabrielle Mirabella, she's in Denver with me to do a writing retreat. So we are hoping to have our second draft done by the end of this month. Um, and from there we'll get uh reading going and yeah, start to pitch to some places that hopefully like this as much as we do.

[13:14] Robert Bannon: She's on a writing retreat, so don't bother her, everybody.

[13:17] Neyla Pekarek: Don't bother me.

[13:18] Robert Bannon: But you could listen to the singles are out and you could listen and you could pre-save and and be ready for when this this comes out and you can get a jump start on this musical. I know musicals take a long time, and I feel musicals are a labor of love because it's not like people are paying you a paycheck every week to get this done. You're doing this for to get this up and running. What motivates you to keep going when it feels hard or feels long or it feels like uh impossible or uh or you have writers, but how do you keep yourself motivated and inspired?

[13:47] Neyla Pekarek: Yeah, I mean, I think part of releasing the EP was a little bit of that because musicals do take forever and it can feel really daunting if you're like, oh my gosh, this may never even see the light of day. They're hard to get made. And so um, yeah, I I kind of can't help but write songs when I feel inspired by something. And um, I really I feel like I you know, for anyone who's an artist, as you know, it's almost it's not really a choice at times. You just feel like I have to make this thing. And so um I'm always striving to make something that I love and care about. And I always tell young people who are like, you know, trying to figure out the algorithms and whatever. It's like if you don't like it though, I feel like everybody sees that. And so I I can't help but make this stuff that I make.

[14:32] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[14:33] Neyla Pekarek: Make it it's in you. If when it's in you, it's in you. So everybody, your homework assignment is the new single, "Never Enough" featuring Mary Kate Morrissey, as you know from Wicked Who Sings Her Teeth Out, is going to be available now, right this second. You can be streaming this right this second. And then on May 22nd, wherever you stream your music, The Queen of Magic, which is a the new musical about pioneering magician Adelaide Herman, is going to be out and about and you need to check it out with our new friend Neyla, who you know, her voice and her songs, and shout out to Joy Machine Records because they're incredible.

[15:08] Robert Bannon: How was it finding a home there and and how they let you be an artist to get your pure work out?

[15:13] Neyla Pekarek: Oh my goodness, it was like Kismet that it just I I released um a record, a uh concept album in my debut album, Rattlesnake. Yeah that also became a musical. And at that time I was shopping around to all these labels who just like they didn't quite understand what I was trying to do. And um through kind of some strange circumstances, I I knew Ian Kage, who's a member of Joy Machine Records, um, from an old friend. I used to sleep on their couch early days of Lumineers in New York when we had uh residencies there, and I s um happened to come across Ian doing great work in New York to come record that session with Mary Kate Morrissey. And I reached out and I was like, remember me, Arya Stark that used to sleep on your couch because I look like Arya Stark from Game of Thrones.

And um so he agreed to record the session and we were just kind of chatting about my album coming out and he was like, well you know I I have this label Joy Machine and they do exactly what I was trying to do in terms of making musical theater adjacent records. Um so it's been a great home so far and they're all just wonderful and smart and good at their jobs and uh kind of a dream collab.

[16:20] Robert Bannon: I love it. I can't wait to listen to this I'm excited. I'm gonna find it I'm gonna save it. I'm gonna be ready for it to be out and you can stream that that other the album you were just talking about I mean you could stream about Rattlesnake Kate and all her 140 snakes and all her if you love storytelling and if you love something original and new and you haven't heard before these are the kinds of things that are for you these storyteller albums to sit down listen to it and enjoy this Neyla I had so much fun with you I can't I want to see your show thank you so much this has been a treat.

[16:49] Neyla Pekarek: You're a treat and I love your music and I love your work and I say thank you and if you ever need someone to be a baritone in a barbershop I'm not a female.

[16:57] Robert Bannon: That's but I have experience yeah I have two months of bad experience well I'm all about vibes over taking the baritone part perfectly so I think you're in.

[17:09] Neyla Pekarek: I'm ready all you gotta do I just I'm cheap and I I don't I don't eat a lot well I do eat a lot but I but I can bring my own food I'm ready.

[17:20] Robert Bannon: Sounds great. Your website is below when people are watching the link to your Instagram is below and the link to listen to this is below as well my show is your show anytime thank you for being here come on back.

[17:28] Neyla Pekarek: Thank you Robert you're the best.