Sound & Vision: Nicki Boedigheimer's Angriest Song was Inspired by Her Day Job

KEXP's Sound & Vision airs every Saturday morning from 7-9 AM PT, featuring interviews, artistry, commentary, insight, and conversation to that tell broader stories through music, and illustrate why music and art matter. You can also hear more stories in the new Sound & Vision Podcast. New episodes are out every Tuesday. Subscribe now.

We continue our series, Day Job, where we talk to Seattle-area musicians about how they support themselves and their music careers.

Nicki Boedigheimer spends a few nights a week at the White Center bar The Lumberyard. On other nights, she fronts the punk band Pink Parts. For Nicki, pouring drinks isn’t just about making a steady paycheck, for better or worse – it is material she uses in her music.

One of the angriest songs Nicki wrote is “Bandana.” It’s about bartending.

“That is about really gross men staring at my boobs while I bartend,” says Nicki. “I was working at Chop Suey at the time – did lots of club nights. They're like meat market kind of dance club nights and it's super hot in Chop Suey and we never had air conditioning and the ceiling would sweat. I would wear super skimpy clothes to bartending because it was the most comfortable for me and I would just find men ordering drinks from me with their eyes zeroed in on my tits.”

Nicki started wearing bandanas to cover up her cleavage. Then, she wrote “Bandana.”

It's about like dudes being gross and sexualizing anything and anything and anything,” she says.

Nicki has been bartending for over a decade. She sometimes fears that it’s not sustainable, that she’ll get tired of staying up until 3 in the morning “And then, like, I flip,” she says “and think, oh, you know what, though? Like, I'm pretty lucky to have everything that I have and I have a great life. And super, super happy.”

This piece was produced by Brie Ripley, Ryan Sparks, and Hans Anderson