By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Meet Debbie Dopamine

A self-portrait by, Debbie Dopamine

Would you rather…

make a cake everyday and never get to eat it or eat frosting everyday for breakfast?

100% make a cake every day and never eat it. I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth, but I love the idea of the whole ordeal of baking/decorating something new everyday. I would become so popular with my neighbors and it would make my apartment smell amazing. And this may be controversial (yet brave) of me to say, but frosting sucks.

Some questions with Debbie Dopamine

Thanks for hanging out with us in the blogosphere. What can you tell us about your project? Who is Debbie Dopamine?

I love the World Wide Web! Debbie is a figment of my imagination and a personification of your depressive episode. She’s cynical and emotive and perpetually bummed out and isn’t embarrassed about it. She drags you down, but she does it so good.

Do you have a piece of musical gear that you have been really into lately?

I don’t know if this counts, but I recently found a guitar pick in my collection that has Adam Sandler’s face on it. I have no idea where it came from. I’m obsessed with it.

Your album “Pets” is out streaming everywhere now. How does it feel now that the album is out the door?

Amazing! Terrifying! It’s so tough to let go of a project we really loved working on. It’s scary to have these songs that center vulnerability out in the world for people to listen to. But it also feels incredibly good and exciting to finally be able to share it!

If you could only use 10 words for the rest of your life what would they be?

1. Fuck 2. Shit 3. Sorry 4. Fries 5. Lizard 6. Scoop 7. Salt 8. Lovely 9. Strange 10. Hello?

How do you feel about the reception to your album so far?

Incredibly grateful. People have really come out of the woodwork to share their connections to it in a way that I wasn’t anticipating. I’m just so thankful that so many people have given our brand new baby band a chance and taken the time to listen, and I feel so honored to have made something that seems to resonate with so many people.

What instrument/technique would you want to learn and possibly incorporate into your music?

There was a lot of discussion of including a french horn on ‘Pets,’ but in the end we didn’t have the resources to bring another person in. I just love that instrument. It’s so subtly devastating and melancholic in a very Debbie way.

What is your relationship with writing lyrics? Do you feel like it helps you process things that have happened in your life?

I was just talking about this in therapy! I think for me, art is an incredibly important tool in processing my reality. I think this record has a real undercurrent of grief. When revisiting trauma or complicated memories, it can be overwhelming for me to have a strong reaction and not feel like I can “do” anything with those feelings. Something I felt when working on these songs is that embracing a perspective is more powerful than trying to convey the whole picture. Like a good breakup song–you know there’s always more to the story, but it doesn’t matter. What’s important is immersing yourself in an emotional experience. Being true to a perspective is a wonderfully vulnerable way to write.

If you could bottle the smell of one of your live performances what would it smell like?

Honeysuckle and petrichor. (In reality there’s probably a lot more sweat, but this is way more poetic/true to the vibe).

What's next for debbie dopamine? Tour? Writing new tunes?

We have a couple things in the works that I cannot tell you about yet! But one cool thing is that we’re playing our first show in Philly later this month. And I can say that the next chapter of Debbie is something I’m really excited for.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

If you’re reading this and play the french horn, please let us know if you want to be on the next Debbie record!! And if you’re reading this and you are also a lizard, I love that about you. Don't ever change.