This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Molly Dieni: My name is Molly Dieni.

[0:01] Lisa Hawkins: My name is Lisa Hawkins.

[0:02] Adriana Letonio: I'm Adriana Letonio. And we are Pipeline Vocal Project. And you are listening to The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales.

[0:11] Alan Seales: Everyone, welcome to a brand new episode of The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales. That's me. I'm your host. And our episode today is with Lisa, Adri, and Molly, three ladies who I had the pleasure of seeing perform a little while ago. They make up the professional a cappella group called Pipeline Vocal Project that was kind of born out of a necessity to be the change they wanted to see in the world. They get into that, which is an incredible story. And now, not even several years later, they are literally performing all over the world. They're teaching, they're doing cruise ships, they're headlining festivals. It's kind of insane, the success they found just by doing what makes them happy. So a quick shout out to all my Patreon people.

Of course, your constant support is what helps keep this podcast going. Find me online, Instagram, threads, Facebook, TikTok, all the places. Leave a rating, leave a review, wherever you're listening, whatever platform you're using to listen to this podcast. Tell your neighbor that you have a good podcast they need to listen to. Help spread the word, help it grow. Now, everybody, please enjoy this episode with Lisa, Adri, and Molly, aka Pipeline Vocal Project.

[1:35] Alan Seales: Oh my God, I'm so excited to nerd out in this episode. Our three guests make up an a cappella trio called Pipeline Vocal Project, Alaska's first professional vocal trio composed of a lead, bass, and vocal percussion. This all-female group puts a unique twist on well-known favorites from all eras, whether it's crossing decades or genres or even Disney, which we'll get into. They are invited to perform all over the world, resulting in the creation of a trail of aka nerds and viral videos, myself included. The aka nerd, not the viral video part. They just released their second full-length album titled Silver, which accompanies their debut album titled Bronze. I noticed a theme there. Adriana Letonio, Molly Dieni, and Lisa Hawkins, welcome to The Theatre Podcast.

[2:35] Guests: Hello.

[2:37] Alan Seales: Hi.

[2:38] Guests: Hello.

[2:39] Alan Seales: Bronze, Silver, your new album Silver, or sorry, new album Silver. First album was Bronze. Obviously, gold has got to be next, but then what are you doing, platinum and diamond? Do you have the five-album plan laid out?

[2:49] Molly Dieni: I feel like the goal was just to get to gold, and we haven't really... There's nothing strong about a trilogy, but we'll keep our options open.

[2:57] Lisa Hawkins: Yeah.

[2:58] Alan Seales: Well, after you get the trilogy, then you got to tap JJ Abrams to make it better and keep going past the trilogy. Add a lot of lens flares. It'll be good.

[3:04] Lisa Hawkins: Yeah, there you go.

[3:05] Alan Seales: You're joining us from Alaska, from Anchorage. For those who don't know, I was first exposed to you on the Disney Wonder when I was there taking a cruise of my own, and then it got me thinking, it's just incredible how all of these groups come together and perform all over the world, and then was researching the group Pipeline Vocal Project, and I'm fascinated to dive into this. So I guess we'll start with the questions that probably you've been asked a million bazillion times, but where did the idea even come from? I think, Lisa, you started the group, right? So where did the idea even originate?

[3:37] Lisa Hawkins: Well, like everyone else, I think I got exposed to a cappella in college and completely fell in love with it, and I was like, why isn't there a way to do this more professionally? So I started kind of auditioning for other groups, and so I worked for other groups for a while, and then life just kind of brought me back to Alaska eventually, and my hometown just did not have a whole lot of contemporary vocal music happening in the community, and I was doing some workshops here and there in schools to kind of try to cultivate that culture, but me doing workshops by myself is clearly just not enough. It's too little, too slow. So I thought, what better way to do it than to create a group of my own?

And I wanted it to be a group of women, and I wanted it to be small because of the nature of not having a whole lot of contemporary a cappella culture here, I thought keeping it small would be the most realistic, and I went to Facebook, and I knew Adriana from... We had the same voice coach when we were younger, and so we knew of each other, but we had never spoken or really interacted much other than seeing each other compete in the same competition. So I reached out to her. She was on board, and then Facebook, I just kind of put out a PSA, like, here's... I'm looking for singers, needs this, this, this, and this, and then people started tagging each other, and long story short, that's how I found Molly.

[5:19] Alan Seales: Oh, interesting. All right. So I thought you and Molly had the same voice teacher, but you and Adriana... Okay, so Molly... Interesting. All right, Molly, so then you reached out to... You were tagged in a Facebook post, and you're like, oh, cool. This is totally going to shape my life. This is my future, or are you like, fine, I'll show up and see what's going on?

[5:35] Molly Dieni: I mean, I don't think we knew fully how it was going to go, but I was in Anchorage. I'd done a cappella at the local university a little bit, and I've always been singing, but vocal music, choir, that kind of thing, and so then I was tagged in this, and I sent in the silliest audition video ever. If I look back, it's so cringe, but luckily, Lisa did her own research and saw that I could actually sing, and so then we met up. The first time we all sang together was in a parking garage. It was actually kind of sketch, but it sounded amazing, so we were like, okay, well, let's see where this takes us, and four years later, here we are.

[6:28] Alan Seales: Okay, so it was four years ago, but so Adriana, when Lisa reached out, obviously, you knew of each other, but Lisa reached out. Did you... Again, did you have one of these things where you thought it was something that was going to be serious or just kind of like a hobby thing, because, I mean, we're getting into this, but literally, all three of you are performing all over the world now.

[6:45] Adriana Letonio: Yeah, honestly, I had no exposure to a cappella prior to Pipeline, and so it was kind of like, okay, maybe I can test this out, and it'll be more of like a hobby thing because I was still in school at the time, at the university, so yeah, at the time, I was just like, let's try it because it has to do with singing, and that's basically all I know, so.

[7:08] Alan Seales: So, okay, I was reading, too, about you. You were a female top 10 in season 12 of American Idol, which...

[7:14] Adriana Letonio: Yeezer.

[7:15] Alan Seales: A yeezer. I don't have... Okay, this is me showing my age and my ignorance, but I don't know what season we're in now, so I don't know how long ago season 12 was.

[7:25] Adriana Letonio: No clue. No, season 12 was 2012, 2013.

[7:32] Alan Seales: Okay, okay, so we're talking about 10 years ago, right? So you were in school doing, and then at some point, Idol, and then four years ago, you start with PVP, Pipeline Vocal Project. I'll just call it PVP because I love that.

[7:45] Molly Dieni: You got the lingo.

[7:46] Alan Seales: That's right. See, I'm not as old as I thought I was. PVP, right, and you guys are going out there, especially right now, in the world of... Well, I was gonna say the age of social media, right? But everyone can just auto-tune their voice and everyone can pick up a computer and orchestrate a full song without knowing much about music theory or whatever the case is, right? So the three of you together are like, let's do this at its rawest form, because you're not auto-tuning. You're legitimately blending and singing some of the best solo lines that I've heard sung live at a very long time, just putting that out there anyway, but was there ever talk of maybe we should add a fourth member? Maybe we should add one instrument? Maybe we should do something like that?

[8:38] Lisa Hawkins: A fifth gig, yes.

[8:41] Molly Dieni: Oh my gosh.

[8:42] Lisa Hawkins: Get in there.

[8:46] Molly Dieni: So the parking garage meetup we told you about earlier, that was the first time all three of us had been in the same room or even really introduced ourselves to each other. And the first thing Molly says to me, so we get through introductions, hi, I'm Lisa, blah, blah, blah. She's like, yeah, so how about adding a fourth? And I'm like, we haven't even sang a single note yet. Give me a chance here.

[9:07] Molly Dieni: I just came in a little hot on that one.

[9:11] Lisa Hawkins: I didn't see the scope of the vision. And the a cappella group I was in in college was like 20 people or something. So I'm used to such a bigger sound that I just didn't know how little I knew about how the professional a cappella groups worked and that three is enough. So yeah, it's a funny story now.

[9:33] Molly Dieni: It's funny. At the time, I felt strongly with very little information.

[9:46] Alan Seales: Well, so then Lisa, when you're putting the group together, were you already into the percussion world anyway, the vocal percussion? Because I'm a baritone slash percussionist and to find, yeah, I guess just to be good at it in the first place, but be like, that's what I want to do professionally. And aside the fact that you could fucking sing anyway, right? Like all three of you alone have amazing voices. And then Lisa add on the percussion part as well. But I guess were you looking for specifically like, as Molly calls herself, the lady bass, right? Were you looking for the lady bass knowing that Adriana was a soprano or were you just kind of seeing what's out there and seeing who could sing and who wanted to do this?

[10:35] Lisa Hawkins: Yeah, I think I was kind of looking for who could sing and who wanted to do this. I was looking for a wide vocal range because of the nature of just only being three. Each person kind of has to be diverse in what they can do. But something I don't always talk about is that I actually didn't do any vocal percussion prior to Pipeline. I was just a singer that wanted to do a cappella. But I also knew that if I wanted to create a group here in Anchorage, finding a vocal percussionist that was a woman, first of all, the chances were slim to none. So I was like, okay, I'm going to have to teach myself how to do this. So the first time I actually beatbox in front of anybody was our first gig. So I just kind of speed taught myself. I had some friends in the a cappella community that helped me out and kind of gave me some pointers. But yeah, I guess that's a story I don't always share.

[11:34] Alan Seales: That's really cool and highly respectable too because I'm one of the same sort of ilk in that if it's not there and I want it, then why not just create it? And it's one of those things where in hindsight, if you knew how hard it was, you wouldn't have done it. But once you're in it, you got to continue, right?

[11:48] Lisa Hawkins: Right, right. And I like it. I was always into rhythms more than I was pitches. So I think in the end, it kind of just worked out.

[12:01] Alan Seales: So my pitches, okay. Now she's the one.

[12:12] Alan Seales: Well, then how do the three of you choose what to sing and just how to arrange it in the first place? And I guess, well, I'll stop there first, but I want to get into the Disney side of it as well because obviously you want to sort of with the, I saw you on a Disney cruise and then you want to bring in some Disney music of which there is a plethora to choose from. But back to the original question then, how do you decide what you're singing and then what kind of arrangement you're going to do with it?

[12:36] Lisa Hawkins: Well, I mean, I think picking music for a cappella, like anything else, song choice is so much more important than people give it credit for. So I think part of what we were doing at the beginning was testing a lot of different things and seeing what we liked and seeing what worked. The first show was actually a bit of a madhouse. So basically, well, you should probably tell this one actually.

[13:09] Adriana Letonio: Well, we had only been a group for a month or so at that point. And we really just had a song that we used as kind of an exercise on how to blend our voices and how to learn to sing together. But Alaska just happened to be going through a budget crisis at that time that was really affecting the university here. And they typically have a big a cappella showcase where they bring in a big name headliner and it's a fun festival. But they were not able to afford that this year. So I get a phone call from the event organizer at the university. I was like, hey, I know we met a few months ago. I know you were starting an a cappella group. Are you interested in headlining this festival?

[13:49] Lisa Hawkins: Headlining?

[13:49] Adriana Letonio: Right. Absolutely.

[13:52] Lisa Hawkins: Golden opportunity.

[13:53] Adriana Letonio: Yeah. Because my idea was like, oh, I would love to headline that festival in like three to five years. One month in, get the phone call. And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[14:03] Adriana Rodriguez: Hey, do you have a 45 minute show? And then again, mind you our set at that point was like two minutes. And I lied out my mouth and said, Absolutely, we do. We will be there.

[14:16] Adriana Rodriguez: And so at that point, I think we just were, I was, you know, phoning in favors from friends to help me out with arrangements. And I was arranging as much as I could. And we just kind of put a show together of like, just what we could, it was, it was more of like necessity more than like, hey, let's really comb through these song choices here. So that was like the first version of our show is what I mean, a lot of those songs we still use, like, like, you were good about the ones you picked anyway, because, like, you saw some of those songs we did on that first show, when you saw us, like, like, they, some of them ended up on the album. Like, you know, yeah, she did that.

[14:56] Alan Seales: So anything that you, I won't say fight, fight, that's the right, not, is not the right word. But like, if, you know, Adriana, you bring up something like, why don't we do a Beyonce song? And then Molly, you're like, Beyonce is not right for this. I mean, do you ever have conflict over what to sing? Where? Or like, I guess, is there? Do you do voting? Do you do make decisions by voting? Is it all like, is there a manager that works with you? Because I think you're all pretty still pretty, like scrappy and, and manage yourselves, which I think is so cool.

[15:28] Lisa Hawkins: Young, scrappy and hungry. Yeah, right. I mean, I think, I think, I think it's not so cut and dry as voting or anything else. I think, I think we've, as far as what songs to sing, where it's a discussion. I have kooky ideas, which often are not fourth member. So, um, I get a lot of outlet for my silly, stupid ideas because we do tunes days, which is like a new song every Tuesday we upload. And then it's like, it's like a minute or less, usually considerably less. And I get to do some silly stuff. And my favorite month is coming up Halloween month. We get to do all the silly, stupid things I've thought about all year, which I'm really excited about.

[16:16] Lisa Hawkins: But like, I think so different things for different places. If I wanted to do a Nickelodeon theme song in a country twist, we're going to put it online. We're not going to put it in the set. So I think like there's a balance to it. But yeah, I think, I think most of the song choices for the set are incredibly deliberate. Um, and, and we're looking for specific things based on, you know, what audiences like to hear, um, I think is, is, is paramount as it should be. And then, um, and then like what works for us, what, um, what sounds good with us and then what also kind of, um, explores new things we want to do. Like, um, multilingual, uh, music is important to us. It's part of what we're passionate about. And so that's definitely, um, coming up more in this next album. Um, and more in our shows. Uh, so that's something that I think we're adding to as we, as we grow.

[17:11] Alan Seales: That's so cool. Hang on, everybody. We're just gonna take a quick break.

[17:16] Alan Seales: All right, now we're back. Okay. So tell me that at least if you haven't done this already, that the Doug theme song is on your radar.

[17:23] Adriana Rodriguez: Do you remember Doug from Nickelodeon?

[17:25] Lisa Hawkins: Gosh, that's been a minute. No, I haven't. It's not on the radar, but now it is. How does it go?

[17:31] Adriana Rodriguez: Oh yeah!

[17:33] Lisa Hawkins: Remember all that?

[17:34] Adriana Rodriguez: Hey, he got the, he got the point.

[17:36] Lisa Hawkins: Yeah, you got to do Doug. Please, please. I want to share the crap out of that once you do Doug.

[17:40] Adriana Rodriguez: I'll put it on the list.

[17:42] Lisa Hawkins: We'll tag you.

[17:43] Adriana Rodriguez: Because it's only 30 seconds. You got to do that. Um, what else was going to ask you? Uh, the, uh, oh, oh. So when you're choosing what to put where, um, so I saw you on the, on the Disney Wonder in Alaska.

[17:56] Lisa Hawkins: We did, I did Disney Cruise and, um, obviously there were some Disney theme songs in your set as well. And is that one of those things where you already had the music prepared and that was part of the audition? Was it audition for Disney? Like Disney to me seems like this black box that like no one can crack and now you've cracked it. And so how did you get in there? And then you're like, all right, we got, we got all this. We'll do Party of Your World. We'll do Under the Sea. We got you.

[18:25] Adriana Rodriguez: We had some of the Disney stuff already. Cause I think the nature of being an acapella group, you kind of have to throw in some Disney songs in there. Cause it's just, it's a people pleaser. The audiences love to hear it. So we had like, everybody wants to be a cat in there. Um, already, we've already had some like short, um, you know, like that kind of stuff that we, that we still perform on stage, um, often. But I think in terms of how we got in with Disney was really just me shooting my shot on LinkedIn and, um, someone just kind of pointing me in the right direction. And I got, I got an email and they were looking for, it was kind of just right out of the tailgate of COVID. So I don't think, you know, those audition, like emails were flowing in like that. People weren't, the cruise industry was still just coming back to life. And, and so it was just, I think the timing was right.

[19:17] Alan Seales: That's, that is cool. And I've heard from others too, that they treat LinkedIn like a social media network. And I guess it is in social media network for older people. I don't know what I need to get out. Like a social media networking network.

[19:33] Lisa Hawkins: There you go. Yeah. I need to, I need to put that out there. I'll, I'll start using it.

[19:37] Alan Seales: All right. I've said this before. All right. All right. Listeners, you're hearing it now. I'm going to be on LinkedIn more, whatever. Anyway. Um, but you also, I guess the three of you also are, um, oh, you mentioned multilingual, uh, because you all speak, there's four languages spoken between the three of you. Is that right?

[19:52] Adriana Rodriguez: I'm really dragging us down, I'll be honest.

[19:54] Alan Seales: What all do you speak?

[20:00] Adriana Rodriguez: I speak Tagalog and un poquito Espanol.

[20:04] Molly Dieni: I speak Japanese.

[20:06] Lisa Hawkins: I got one. It took me years. It was English.

[20:10] Adriana Rodriguez: Yeah.

[20:12] Lisa Hawkins: Thank you. Thank you guys.

[20:14] Adriana Rodriguez: That's so cool.

[20:16] Lisa Hawkins: We make fun of me in the set about it. So.

[20:18] Alan Seales: Well, you could do a little bit. You got a lot of time on the ships, right?

[20:21] Lisa Hawkins: Exactly.

[20:22] Alan Seales: You could learn, uh, what do you, what would you want to learn if you could learn like wave a wand?

[20:26] Adriana Rodriguez: Oh gosh.

[20:27] Alan Seales: And you had one language you could learn instantly via the matrix. Just jack in the back. What would you do?

[20:31] Adriana Rodriguez: Instantly? Gosh. Vietnamese.

[20:36] Alan Seales: Oddly specific. Okay.

[20:40] Adriana Rodriguez: I mean, I, I really, so I went to Vietnam this year and I thought it was amazing. The language is so fun sounding.

[20:46] Lisa Hawkins: Really?

[20:47] Adriana Rodriguez: Like it's a tonal language, right? So words that are spelled exactly the same with different tones.

[20:52] Lisa Hawkins: Right.

[20:52] Adriana Rodriguez: I have so many different meanings and it seems intricate. And if I don't have to like study and I just learn things instantly. Hell yeah.

[21:00] Lisa Hawkins: Yeah. Yeah. Thai is the same way. I have, I had a job where I had to go to Thailand once. It was exact same. You're right.

[21:06] Adriana Rodriguez: Um, you know, one, one was like a street name. The other was like the biggest cuss word that you could.

[21:12] Lisa Hawkins: Right. And it's just, if you're going, uh, or eh. I love that. I think it's so cool.

[21:17] Adriana Rodriguez: Yeah. That's actually a really interesting way to look at it. I guess looking at it, I look at it as hard and you look at it as cool. So that's the difference there, which is, which is interesting.

[21:26] Lisa Hawkins: I'm having the wish option.

[21:28] Adriana Rodriguez: Right. Right. No, I thought you would say something like Italian or, you know, like Spanish is useful in the States very, very often.

[21:35] Lisa Hawkins: Spanish is more useful. Um, we can't add it as a fifth language though. We can't brag about it because Audrey already knows it.

[21:42] Adriana Rodriguez: So I gotta pick something.

[21:43] Lisa Hawkins: Spanish times two.

[21:44] Adriana Rodriguez: She claimed it. So I have to pick a different one.

[21:48] Alan Seales: Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. Um, let's see. So aside from, aside from the concerts and, um, well, okay. I was going to, I won't, I won't skip over this because you went from, uh, singing in a parking garage and telling Molly you can't have a fourth member. A month later you get the call. And then, so five months after that, you're headlining this festival. And is that what sort of kicked off this international thing? Cause like cyber stocking all of you on social for a hot minute, like it looks like you've literally been all over the world performing and singing and been on multiple cruise ships and all over the place. And this is like, I thought you had been together a lot longer given the success you've already had. So this has just been like up and up every day.

[22:32] Molly Dieni: Thank you. Yeah. It's been a, uh, in the grand scheme of things, a pretty fast journey, I think. And in a way, almost thanks to COVID. Like, I don't know if I can kind of though, because we turned it into a positive. Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

[22:49] Molly Dieni: We had that gig at the end of 2019 and of course COVID hit and everything was shut down. We took to online, but we found some success online and I think that's kind of what propelled or continued our growth exponentially. Yeah.

[23:05] Lisa Hawkins: Well, and, and like, it's not, it wasn't without some, some downsides. We had a really amazing opportunity, um, that we were going to go audition for American music abroad. We were finalists and, um, we were going to go to LA and do the whole final audition. We were very green at the time. Um, we'd been together, what, like a year? Not even a year. So, um, that got canceled and ended up going virtual and would have been a virtual opportunity, but, um, we kept auditioning for it. Um, we kept doing it the next year and the next year and it ended up getting in, uh, when we were ready for it. So it ended up being a good thing because at the time I think we wouldn't have made it because those trips are, um, incredible and you learn so much, but it's very, it's demanding because, um, you just have to be really, um, a lot of like strength of spirit with yourself and a lot of fortitude. Um, so I think it ended up happening when it was supposed to.

[24:03] Adriana Rodriguez: That's, that's very cool. Go ahead.

[24:06] Molly Dieni: We auditioned three times and didn't get in until the third time. So 2022 was the first time we really got in and 2022, 2023 was when we started traveling.

[24:17] Adriana Rodriguez: Wait, that's this year.

[24:19] Molly Dieni: Yeah.

[24:20] Adriana Rodriguez: I was like, wait a second. That's not, yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, I didn't think about what you were in.

[24:25] Molly Dieni: We did one trip in 21 at the end.

[24:27] Adriana Rodriguez: To California.

[24:28] Molly Dieni: Yeah. But outside of that, it's been, it's been the last two years.

[24:32] Adriana Rodriguez: That's so cool. And you're just turning this love and this passion into, into a job. And there, therefore, in, in, you know, as much as I can say this, uh, through my own experience, it seems less like a job because you're enjoying what you're doing and you get to see all these great things. And my God, like the, the mental state, the mental health of performers, I would imagine in Alaska versus New York. I don't know, man, like coming back, I'm in Brooklyn, right? I'm in New York city and coming back from Alaska. It's my first trip where I, where I saw the three of you was my first trip to Alaska ever. And I want to move there. And I think it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

[25:11] Lisa Hawkins: Join us.

[25:12] Adriana Rodriguez: You won't take a fourth member. I can't join you.

[25:15] Molly Dieni: And, uh, plus I'm a dude and, um, but no, God, just, I remember there was something on your Tik Tok where you're like, look, it's, it's two in the morning and the sun's still up. Yay. Like there's something magical about living there. And I guess we're the three of you, we're going to get into childhood in a second. Cause I want to know where this love of singing and performing came from, but, um, have the three of you always been in the Alaska area? And so it was like the nature, the, everything, the, the endless nights and the endless days is all just, it's your normal, which to the rest of us seems so exotic, but that's your normal. That's you've always been there.

[25:53] Adriana Rodriguez: Yes. All three of us were born and raised. Um, and I feel like there are definitely some, you know, there are definitely some, um, things that are good about the midnight sun, but then in the wintertime we do get like less sunlight as well. So yeah, I feel like the summer times balance out our vitamin D deficiency in the wintertime, but it is something that we've grown up with and kind of adapted to.

[26:19] Molly Dieni: So, yeah, I, I, my kids, I mean, all they know is the urban life too. So when they go out and we're in the, we're in like, you know, suburban, just normal road with trees, they're like, are there wolves? Are there bears? Is there everything? So it's, yeah, I grew up in North Carolina, so I got a look, a best of both worlds, I think a little bit, but yeah, like it's just absolutely fricking beautiful. But okay. So going back to the childhood stuff, um, I guess, uh, so.

[26:49] Adriana Rodriguez: Yeah. I mean, when I was little, I, I feel like that was like the first thing that really captivated me is using my voice. My parents said that when I was a baby, I cried really fricking loud and, you know, it pierced the ears and stuff. Um, so I feel like it's always just been kind of my normal to be like vocal about things. Um, and on top of that with, you know, growing up in Alaska, we don't really have that type of, um, community here. And so I think that when I started getting more involved in performing arts in high school, um, I started to start thinking about, oh, maybe I should move out of Alaska and whatnot. Um, and so when I was in college, when Lisa reached out to me, that was kind of the perfect opportunity for me to use singing in a way where it could be a professional sort of thing.

[28:08] Adriana Rodriguez: You know, it could be a profession and then on top of that do whatever I wanted to do in college. When I first got into college, I tried Business Computer Information Systems because it was a two-year program. And I was like, hell yeah, I'll make hella bank and it'll be a quick little thing. When I did one semester of that, I was like, hell no, this is not gonna work. You can't go to school for something. I mean, you can, right? But I feel like it's harder for you to want to learn and get through that learning process if it's something that you're not super passionate about. So I told my parents, I'm switching to music. And then, you know, COVID hit. I didn't have a senior recital, but Lisa reached out.

And then since then, we just really use that opportunity with COVID to hone in on what we can do better together as a group and what we could do better as individuals. So I really thank Pipeline and these two lovely ladies for helping me, you know, continue to push forward and grow and realize like my full potential. Were you in school for vocal performance or a different type of music?

[29:18] Molly Dieni: Yeah, I did vocal performance.

[29:20] Alan Seales: And then any love for musical theater in there?

[29:23] Molly Dieni: Absolutely. My musical theater love started in high school and I did Little Shop of Horrors.

[29:30] Alan Seales: You gotta come see the current production. Are you gonna come through New York? Is the group coming through New York anytime soon?

[29:36] Adriana Rodriguez: Sure, we want to.

[29:38] Alan Seales: Listen, I think the Wonder, the Disney Wonder is gonna be here at the end of October, if you can get on that. Just saying.

[29:45] Molly Dieni: I mean, say less. We'll just hop on.

[29:47] Alan Seales: Isn't that how it works? You're just like, I want these ships and this is where we go?

[29:53] Molly Dieni: Unfortunately, it's not like a library card, but if we can, we'll make it out there.

[29:59] Alan Seales: All right, Molly. So then when you came, I guess, yeah. So what's your history performing and singing and getting just as damn good as you are?

[30:10] Molly Dieni: I think, similar to Audrey, since forever. It's been a bit of a no-brainer. There's cassette tape recordings of me and my sisters singing and one of them doesn't want to, so I come back for a second song when there's not that much room on the tape. You know, that kind of thing. My parents put me in a choir type thing that I was in for like a decade and private voice lessons, the whole shebang, you know, as you do growing up. I mean, I kind of felt like in college, I didn't want to do music for college. I had other interests also and I kind of felt like it was almost like the end of the road as far as keeping it as prevalent as it had been in my life at the time. And then, ding, got a little Facebook message and here we are back. And yeah, I couldn't be more happy that it is as central as it is.

[31:12] Alan Seales: What would you have done if Lisa hadn't reached out? What do you think you'd be doing?

[31:17] Molly Dieni: At the time, she had no idea what she wanted to do. But I think if I wasn't doing this, I would probably, my degree I had been pursuing was in journalism. But I think if I were to go back, it'd be psychology. Something like that. I'd be a great therapist.

[31:36] Adriana Rodriguez: I'm not going to lie. I got a psych minor. I'm with you.

[31:40] Molly Dieni: Yeah, it's all that intuitive stuff that also takes a lot of having to do with art as well. Like those two go hand in hand.

[31:48] Adriana Rodriguez: I agree with that actually. I've never had anybody say that before. But once you said that, I completely agree that there is a lot of overlap. Especially because being a good friend, being a good therapist, being a good actor is all listening. Active listening, being present. And that's really hard for a lot of people. Especially when you're just like staring at your device half the time, right? And especially I think like a lot of music is kind of trying to put into words things that don't necessarily make sense. And that's so much having to do with psychology and feelings. Of course, there is a biological side to it. But outside of that, there's a lot of stuff that's harder to explain and harder to put into words. But they're all human experiences and those work together.

[32:34] Alan Seales: All right. That's perfect. All right, Lisa. You have this need, this waking up passion every morning to sing without instruments. So much so that you call up your friends and you're like, we've got to do this as a group. We've got to make money and make it a job. Where did that start?

[32:55] Lisa Hawkins: You know, before I even understood the concept of a cappella, when I was taking lessons as a kid, I would always imagine how cool it would be if we could have a whole band, but it was just voices. That was before I even understood that concept. And then I went to college and discovered a cappella. It was also around the time that a cappella was really becoming more mainstream. The Sing Off had just aired. Pitch Perfect was coming out. It was just kind of the timing of it all. It was starting to boom. And I fell in love with it in college. And I wanted to keep doing it on a professional level. I would travel to different camps and festivals to try to absorb as much knowledge as I could. And then out of college, I auditioned for a group called Cape Harmony.

So I moved to Cape Cod for a season and was touring over there and was singing with a group of ladies there. And then I worked at a cappella production company called, well, a cappella productions. And that was based in Buffalo, New York. And I was working there for about a year. And just kind of throughout that time, I absorbed so much knowledge. I mean, I was in a couple of groups in between that time too. But just kind of seeing how different groups work, how different leadership works, what doesn't work. And then having found myself coming back to Alaska, just life kind of life circumstances brought me back home. And I was with all that knowledge. I was like, I feel like I could create a successful group now having all of these different examples, I guess, to work with.

So, yeah, that's kind of where my pre-pipeline career had started. And just the more I did it, the more it fueled my desire to do this as a professional, not only because I loved it, but also because I felt there was a need for it in the community, not just in Alaska, but in the a cappella community as a whole. It's so full of all male groups. And even if it is a co-ed group, it tends to be one or two females in the group out of like five or six. So, there really wasn't, I felt, a female group out there doing it on the same level that all male groups were. And I kind of wanted to be the change I wanted to see, I guess.

[35:27] Adriana Rodriguez: Yes, yes. All the snaps, right?

[35:31] Lisa Hawkins: I know, right? I'm going to miss out.

[35:34] Alan Seales: Yeah. Hang on, everybody. We're just going to take a quick break.

[35:39] Lisa Hawkins: All right, now we're back. It's so incredible. And that's part of why I think I was just attracted to the group as a whole when I first saw you. When I first saw the ship, I was like, oh, what's going on tonight? Oh, a cappella group. Okay, sweet. I'm going to go just because it's a cappella. And then when I started reading about you, about PVP, it's like, oh, it's local and all women and they're singing all this great stuff. And it was just, it made so much sense. And I'm so glad that especially so many young people, so many children, especially on these ships, right, are seeing this example of something that they might not ever get to see in any other situation. So again, many, many snaps and many thank yous as a parent for leading by example. So I think it's really, really admirable.

[36:24] Molly Dieni: And I think something to note too, that we've noticed in those like meet and greet moments after the show is a lot of most of the kids, I would say 70 to 80 percent of the kids that come up to us are girls. And that feels really, really nice, too.

[36:36] Alan Seales: That's cool. Have you gotten any like unusual or just not unusual, but any feedback or comments from parents that stand out with you over the over the couple of years? Because, because, yeah, like listeners. So after the show, I think I think all Disney shows do this or whatnot. But like you're you stand outside the theater and it's a huge theater. It's like probably a thousand seat theater right in the front of the ship. And so you stand outside the theater and just meet everybody meet and greet coming out. And so, yeah, the feedback, it's kind of like a ship version of stage dooring. So, right. Right. So at the stage door, we'll call it. Is there any what stands out to you like as an incredible moment that you've had so far?

[37:17] Molly Dieni: I feel like for me, the cute ones are when the parents come out and they like are pushing their kid forward because they're shy. And the kid's like, I sing, too. Yeah, she wants to be a singer when she grows up. And it's just really awesome to feel that because we were those kids, you know, a few years ago. Not a few, but a lot of years ago. And just to, you know, spark that kind of initial interest in something and make them see that women can do it, too, boo. Like, that's so awesome.

[37:53] Alan Seales: And so in addition to the performing, which I guess, well, before I ask my question, the performing stuff, how often are you are you traveling these days? Like, what's your typical week look like? Because, like, my cruise was seven days.

[38:02] Lisa Hawkins: Typical weeks are funny.

[38:07] Molly Dieni: Were you on the, what?

[38:09] Lisa Hawkins: Typical week is not a real thing right now.

[38:13] Alan Seales: No?

[38:14] Lisa Hawkins: No.

[38:15] Alan Seales: What's your, I guess, what has the typical month then been since 2023 when you started all the traveling?

[38:23] Molly Dieni: Oh, it comes and goes. I mean, I think this summer we haven't been home more than two weeks since March. Like, it's been pretty on the go. And then being week on, week off on the ship is obviously a more consistent thing. But that's coming to an end. And then, like, this winter is different. And then the spring looks different than winter. And it looks different than summer. It's very, you know, you just have to be really flexible. And that's what we signed up for.

[38:59] Alan Seales: Is the most of your time right now going to ships? Or is it on land kind of concerts and festivals and stuff?

[39:08] Molly Dieni: This summer has been almost all ships since June to now. We had a big tour in May that we were in the Middle East and Central Asia. And then, like, in March we were in Hong Kong. But, like, so it really differs depending on the season. So summer season is great for cruise stuff. This winter actually is looking, like, pretty sparse right now. We don't know what the winter is going to look like. So after that cruise season ends, we have, like, a festival here and there. But mostly, yeah, it's kind of up in the air what the next few months are going to look like.

[39:46] Alan Seales: Are you involved with any college festivals or anything like that? Is there even still much of a college a cappella scene?

[39:56] Molly Dieni: I've been so far removed from it that I don't even know.

[40:04] Lisa Hawkins: Like, I still know who my favorites are from, you know, my own time 20 years ago.

[40:05] Molly Dieni: Who are they?

[40:07] Lisa Hawkins: The Hullabahoos.

[40:09] Molly Dieni: Uh-huh.

[40:11] Lisa Hawkins: The Hullabahoos. You got to look up the Hullabahoos.

[40:12] Molly Dieni: Okay.

[40:13] Lisa Hawkins: Very, very good.

[40:14] Molly Dieni: Do they do a Doug cover?

[40:15] Lisa Hawkins: No, they don't.

[40:16] Molly Dieni: Dang it!

[40:18] Lisa Hawkins: I've never heard anyone do a Doug cover, so that's why you have to do it.

[40:19] Molly Dieni: That's why we need it.

[40:21] Lisa Hawkins: Yes, you have to do that.

[40:22] Alan Seales: Okay, so the concerts and the travel and whatnot. And you also do workshops and teaching and jingle writing?

[40:33] Molly Dieni: Question?

[40:34] Lisa Hawkins: Yeah.

[40:35] Molly Dieni: Yes, we do.

[40:37] Lisa Hawkins: So what are the workshops? How can we book the time for the workshops?

[40:43] Adriana Rodriguez: PipelineVocalProject.com.

[40:46] Lisa Hawkins: For everybody listening. Shameless plug. But, no, the workshops, we have a couple workshops that we have done, different places. I think it depends. We've done some of them having to do with schools and then some of them having to do with these longer tours that we're going on. We work with the State Department, and so often those are cultural exchange-type trips. So there is a fair amount of performing, but I would say equal, if not more, is the workshops working with usually young people or sometimes even educators on how we do what we do, which with these workshops on those trips, it's really, I think, beneficial because we're going to more remote places where access is different. And so doing something where you have everything you need pre-programmed in, as far as a voice is concerned, like the rest of it, can be taught. And that's why we're there. That's why we want to go on these types of trips.

[42:03] Alan Seales: Oh, I didn't realize that it was through the State Department. That's actually really important kind of stuff because you're acting as a representative of Alaska and whatnot and teaching people how to sing and perform. Do you find that you're working with people that are using singing and performing to work through anxiety?

[42:11] ♪ Musical number: "Et Im Piano" — performed by Alexis Des Coco ♪

[47:31] Alan Seales: I think I'm so glad I have me. I get told all the time, nobody thinks you're as funny as you do, Alan. Like, yeah, I know. And that only encourages me because I want to crack people up even that much less. I don't know. All right. Last question, then in our newlywed game, who's more likely to make silly faces in photos?

[47:54] Lisa Hawkins: Audrey, Audrey, without a doubt. I have so much blackmail. Ridiculous. Her birthday, it'll all go up online.

[48:06] Adriana Rodriguez: There you go. That's see, there's your payback for the TikTok. They're going to give you a falling asleep.

[48:09] Alan Seales: So I don't know who won. You all agreed on everything pretty much. But Molly got the most answers. So I guess she has bragging rights of being sleepy.

[48:21] Molly Dieni: Forgetful, sleepy, late, and the singer. And then public singer. Yeah, there you go. Okay.

[48:39] Alan Seales: There's one TikTok I was watching that you did. It was like the red flags video. One of them was like, eat fruit. Like I eat fruit. So that's her. Yeah, you eat fruit. So that's a red flag. I'm like, no, that's not, that's weird. But that was a funny video.

[48:49] Lisa Hawkins: That's green.

[48:53] Alan Seales: Yeah, right. Right. It's good. All right. So I do have three standard closing questions. I ask everyone to wrap up the episodes. And so we'll just go one by one. Just real quick, whatever comes to mind. First, we'll start with Audrey, we'll start with you with the first one. Just what motivates you?

[49:09] Adriana Rodriguez: I feel like what motivates me? Well, I think what is most important to me as far as being brought to this world is leaving a mark on people, whether that's inspiring them, whether that's helping them, whether that's making them feel better if they're having a bad day, is just leaving an imprint on people. And I think that singing is a great way of being able to do that for people.

[49:38] Alan Seales: All right, Molly.

[49:40] Molly Dieni: Oh, what inspires me? In terms of this and I think everything else is making the best stuff I can. I think whatever, however A to B happens is kind of unimportant, but like just making good shit.

[50:04] Alan Seales: Making good shit. Get that tattooed on your butt. I like that.

[50:07] Molly Dieni: Simple girl.

[50:08] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah. All right, Lisa, what motivates you?

[50:14] Lisa Hawkins: I think what motivates me is creating a platform for the things that I care about. And if there is not an opportunity for that, creating it kind of like what motivated me to create this type of group in particular. Yeah, like putting those things I care about on the map so more people are aware or seeing them and I can create joy through those things.

[50:40] Alan Seales: Love it. All right. Adriana, I know I've been calling you Audrey. Were they calling you Audrey? Do you go by both names? Or did I just mess up your name?

[50:51] Adriana Rodriguez: Nope, you're all good. Everybody messes it up. It's so funny. But it's Adriana. So I can go back and dub in Adriana, not Audrey. I'm sorry.

[51:01] Alan Seales: No, either way.

[51:03] Adriana Rodriguez: Wait, but that's not your real name, though, right? Like you go by Adriana. There was I remember something when you introduce yourself. You're like, you're right. It is Audrey.

[51:15] Adriana Rodriguez: So my real name is Adriana. Audrey is like a stage name.

[51:19] Alan Seales: Okay. Okay. Right. Because I knew. Okay. Cool. Nickname. Nickname. All right. So I won't go there. It was like, Adriana is not hard to say, but I thought there was something harder to say.

[51:28] Molly Dieni: I mean, Molly just called her Ad, so.

[51:30] Adriana Rodriguez: Ad.

[51:31] Molly Dieni: Ad is the nickname.

[51:32] Adriana Rodriguez: Ad. Yeah. Addy. Okay. So we'll go back to. Okay. We'll start with Lisa on this one. What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[51:44] Lisa Hawkins: Oh, no. Okay. It's going to be cheesy in nature because that's who I am. So the younger me would have wanted to hear something cheesy and inspirational. Like the whole, if you can dream it, you can do it. I really do think that's true. If you have a will, there's a way. As long as you're insane enough to do it, you can.

[52:14] Alan Seales: There you go. Molly.

[52:18] Molly Dieni: I think my younger self would have wanted to know that the universe is unfolding as it should. And you're where you're supposed to be and it's going to work out.

[52:32] Alan Seales: I like that. There's a deeper story there. There's a deeper story there. That's a whole other episode. We can do part two sometime. All right. Audrey.

[52:42] Adriana Rodriguez: Younger self. Well. Spill the beans.

[52:47] Adriana Rodriguez: I feel like I would tell my younger self to do more things that make me scared. Because when you are doing things that make you scared, you are not only getting over that fear, you're pushing yourself to grow.

[53:04] Alan Seales: Yes. I've heard that a lot on this podcast relating to that question is if you're not uncomfortable, you're not growing.

[53:12] Adriana Rodriguez: Exactly.

[53:13] Alan Seales: Who haven't we started with? Lisa, right? Or no, Molly.

[53:16] Molly Dieni: Molly.

[53:17] Alan Seales: Hardest question now. Last one. If you could only see one show for the rest of your life, you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[53:28] Molly Dieni: Show is... how do we define show?

[53:31] Alan Seales: You define it as you want. I leave this open-ended and hard.

[53:36] Molly Dieni: I'm a big show girl.

[53:38] Alan Seales: One show. That's it. You're on a deserted island. You have power.

[53:42] Molly Dieni: Fleabag.

[53:42] Alan Seales: Fleabag.

[53:45] Molly Dieni: I've seen it so many times and it's still excellent.

[53:48] Alan Seales: All right. Fair. That works. Okay. Lisa, what's your answer?

[53:55] Lisa Hawkins: Like TV show or like theater show?

[53:57] Alan Seales: Whatever you...

[53:58] Lisa Hawkins: Any show.

[53:58] Alan Seales: Whatever.

[53:59] Lisa Hawkins: Oh my God. Okay. She's really stressed about this. This isn't real. This is only hypothetical. You're good.

[54:07] Lisa Hawkins: I have so many different categories in my mind, but I think I did watch this show, like this is the only show that I watched for like three years. So I feel like I can confidently say How I Met Your Mother.

[54:19] Alan Seales: Nice. Okay. Audrey.

[54:24] Adriana Rodriguez: I don't know.

[54:25] Adriana Rodriguez: I don't know.

[54:26] Adriana Rodriguez: I don't know.

[54:27] Adriana Rodriguez: I don't know.

[54:28] Adriana Rodriguez: I don't know.

[54:29] Adriana Rodriguez: I don't know.

[54:30] Adriana Rodriguez: I don't know.

[54:31] Adriana Rodriguez: I don't know.

[54:33] Alan Seales: You've had so much time to think about it.

[54:35] Adriana Rodriguez: I know. All right.

[54:40] Alan Seales: Is it helpful to narrow it down to a musical theater category?

[54:44] Adriana Rodriguez: Sure.

[54:45] Adriana Rodriguez: Okay. I would say Little Shop of Horrors because it's nostalgic for me and there's good music.

[54:52] Alan Seales: Yeah. It was a touchstone. Touchstone for a lot of people.

[54:55] Adriana Rodriguez: My answer is Rent because that was the show that made me realize that that style of singing belonged on that medium of stage.

[54:59] Alan Seales: Right.

[55:01] Adriana Rodriguez: I was like, oh, it fits. It fits.

[55:05] Alan Seales: So, of course, PipelineVocalProject.com. Where else can we find the three of you on the social medias?

[55:12] Lisa Hawkins: You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all at Pipeline Vocal Project.

[55:19] Alan Seales: Nice. And then from there, you're linked out to your personal accounts too, which is out there as well.

[55:26] Alan Seales: I'm at thetheaterpodcast.com. I'm on Threads, Instagram, Facebook at theater underscore podcast and Pipeline Vocal Project, PVP.

[55:36] Adriana Rodriguez: Thank you so much.

[55:36] Alan Seales: The three of you have been such a delight to chat with. And if you can just use your library card, get on the wonder, come here to New York at the end of October when I know it's going to be here because we're already looking at that cruise, then let me know.

[55:52] Lisa Hawkins: Let's hang out.

[55:53] Adriana Rodriguez: Okay. Well, when you move to Alaska, you let us know.

[55:56] Lisa Hawkins: Yeah, hit us up on Threads.

[55:59] Alan Seales: I'll come visit again. I will definitely come visit.

[56:01] Alan Seales: All right. Thank you all so much.

[56:03] All: Thank you for having us.