LISA JO

Q: What was the emotional starting point for Hood Rats, and when did you realize it was going to be more than just a collection of songs?
September 4th, my mom died in my arms in my home after weeks of caring for her on hospice. We been best friends for most of my life, and one thing she discussed so many times was her fear of dying, it was like a phobia for her. She was worried she would be lingering in a dark place and that she could see and hear us but we wouldn’t see or hear her. She was afraid she would miss everyone. So when we had to put her on hospice after a brief hospital stay that drained the life from her, she panicked. I told her it was only so that we could get some help for her. She trusted and believed in me, I had been taking care of my mom for many many years. Every day I watched her declining, and she would cry and ask why she wasn’t getting better. As a nurse, I told her she was weak from being sick in the hospital and it would take time to improve. I knew she was dying, and I couldn’t tell her that because she was already suffering so much more than she ever deserved and I could not add that fear and take away any ounce of peace she may have had left. Every day I saw her going down, I couldn’t look her in the eye because she would see my pain, she would know. So I robbed myself and her of the chance to really hold each other and properly say goodbye. I sacrificed my need to hold her tight, doing what I knew was best for her. She was the best woman I know. To see her fight so hard, her strong will to live, yet losing her memory and ability to use her body and watching her cry and beg to go home home, while she was in her home – the home she loved, and begging for her family, not recognizing us, being so confused and scared…. This went on for about 6 weeks. She would scream in the middle of the night…. My heart was so so so broken, especially because I was still so broken from the pain of losing my husband, my brother, my sister, my dad, my 3 best friends, and my cousin all in such a short time. I was filled with rage and pain… still am. I used music as a distraction so I didn’t have to feel, while slowly leaking my rage into the album… The guilt I felt for keeping the truth from her, shredded me every day for many months, still does, even knowing it was best for her… I had never lied to her before. My newer song “Whispers from Heaven” is all about not telling her the truth….Life has been so cruel to me in recent years, but I would gladly have taken the burden from her that cruel life dished upon her in the end. Im strong, but she wasn’t. Im angry. My husband died in a very cruel and bitter way also, as I watched helplessly for 6 weeks at his hospital bedside too. Life has taken almost everything that has ever mattered to me in such cruel ways. And now being left with my blind 62 year old sister and 70 year old epileptic sister to take care of while I am forced to battle this health battle for now the 8th year…. I’m exhausted and so angry. But still the only thing that helps is making someone elses life better for them.


Q The album feels like one continuous story about struggle and survival, did you approach it with a clear concept from the beginning or did it grow naturally over time?
Honestly, I didn’t even realize it. I just write and produce what is on my mind, and after a lifetime of having an entire family of addicts, physical, emotional, and other abuses, homelessness, hardships, hunger, fear, loss, pain, struggle…. I am not a bit surprised that is what kept coming out.

Q Your lyrics move a lot between anger and reflection, how do you personally balance those two sides when writing?
There is no balance, never Has been. Both consume me against my will and drag me through life kicking and screaming all the way. There is no more room for no more pain and no more anger, and sadly, all there is left is what’s behind, losing your entire social circle, support system, takes forward thinking completely out of your life, all that is left is reflection.

Q There’s a strong sense that rage in the album comes from deeper pain, how important was it for you to show what’s behind that anger instead of just the surface?
Exactly…. And very important…. A sense of needing to be finally understood and forgiven for my anger that so many have encountered without explanation. I never used to care, but when facing that your end could be near due to this health battle, I desperately need people to know I didn’t mean to be mean, and they didn’t deserve it, but that I couldn’t help it because there’s so much more pain than my body can store, it just spills and flies out without control. It hurts me that I have said and done things that have hurt people I care about, and people in general who don’t deserve it. So I want them to know I am sorry, and I wish I could push rewind and communicate better.

Q The hood is almost like a character throughout the album, what does that environment mean to you on a personal level?
The hood isn’t actually one specific place or location…. It is many places, many locations, it is everywhere I have lived or spent time while struggling to survive, feed my children, provide a roof and heat… while walking my babies through blizzards carrying groceries and laundry while they cried because their feet were cold, while people with money would drive by in their perfect cards and splash us with ice cold slushy dirty snowy water rather than offer help or a ride, and seeing their children all warm and cozy inside the vehicle looking back out of the window to laugh at my children who were freezing and tired from the long walk.

Q You explore both pride in where you come from and the need to escape it, was that duality something you’ve experienced yourself?
The need to escape is real, the hardships wear and tear at your body, mind, and soul year after year…… and you are mistaken, it is not pride at all, but the unwillingness to every group myself in with the rich careless, selfish people on the outside of the “hood”…. I would rather be non-judgmental, and loyal and accepting – traits more apt to be found in the hood, than in country club life. And yes, the ability to not just live but actually thrive in the hood does come with a bit of clout, because lets face it, most in the hood have nothing, and the strength it takes to control your environment within that atmosphere is respected.

Q Loyalty and betrayal come up a lot in your lyrics, do you feel those experiences shaped your mindset more than anything else?
Absolutely, one thousand percent. Betrayal has forced me to part with my own intestines…. Not after one betrayal, after several, and always from those you least expect it from and most unable to accept. I trust no one. Not one.

Q There’s a recurring idea of people only supporting you when it benefits them, how has that affected the way you trust others today?
I believe I just answered that in the previous response…. I do not have trust today. None. For no one.

Q Some tracks feel very confrontational, almost like a defense mechanism, do you see those moments as protection rather than aggression?
Never a defense, always cold calculated offense, to shed some of the rage that has to go in order for me to regain control of myself. I don’t feel the need to defend myself, it literally is just a release of rage.

Q There’s a strong message about staying true to yourself despite outside opinions, has that always been easy for you or something you had to learn?
No, to be honest, until I reached 12 years old, my entire life and mood was a direct result of how people treated me and their opinions of me. I had to learn it the hard way, like most everything

Q Social media and fake success are criticized in your lyrics, what frustrates you most about that world right now? Nothing is real, nothing is earned, nothing has value, everything is fake, everything is illusion, everything is temporary, not earned but purchased, and therefore nobody values anything anymore…. It makes me very ready to exit this world to meat up with the last ounce of loyalty that ever existed

Q Do you think real talent is getting lost in the current system, and how do you stay grounded in your own path?
Talent is not lost at all, it just isn’t valued anymore, so it isn’t noticed or looked for

Q Female strength and community play a big role in the album, what inspired you to highlight those voices and stories?
Having been a single parent and felt the overwhelming idea that if I hadn’t have been so strong, my kids and I would not have survived the life we had to live.

Q There’s a powerful sense of wanting to break cycles for the next generation, how personal is that theme for you?
It is everything to me, I would give my life to block my children from having to experience the pains and losses that I have, I wanted so much more for them…. Church, good neighbors, good friends, good support systems, life without all the betrayal….

Q The phoenix imagery and rising from struggle appear multiple times, what does that symbol represent for you?
Despite all that has repeatedly knocked me down and nearly destroyed me, still I rise….

Q Even in the hardest moments, there’s still hope in your lyrics, was that intentional or something that came naturally?
There’s always hope, to the very last breath…. Evil is very strong, but where I come from, Good is more powerful in the end

Q Love and connection also appear as a possible turning point in your life, do you see relationships as a way out of destructive patterns?
Out of … into…. Both…. Where there is pain, there is destructive patterns….

Q Looking at Hood Rats as a whole, what do you hope listeners truly understand about you after hearing it?
That I am broken, but strong, my wings have been damaged, but I still fly, and that kind of strength can be found inside each and every one of us… survival instinct is the strongest human nature, you find that out when it has been put to the test.

Q If someone is going through the same struggles you describe in your lyrics, what would you want them to take from your story?
Look to only yourself and faith in the unseen, because everyone can and will disappoint and betray you and if you aren’t watching for it, it will destroy you.