EP 12: From PERU to You, The Making of the Spring Moon Album 🌸

Dear Nomad Kitties 💖🐱,

Today we’re taking you to Peru, behind the scenes of the upcoming Death Is A Business album, Spring Moon. It took 4 years to make this album a reality.
We recorded this in #Peru with some wonderful Maestrxs that really made this album powerful

We hope this album makes you proud.
We hope this music allows you to dream during these times.

Link to the Album: https://youtu.be/NbSKPDXF3Ho?si=-QTkxqtZmIw8cTo1

Link to the Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb0uWkf71Uw&list=RDfb0uWkf71Uw&start_radio=1&pp=oAcB0gcJCd4JAYcqIYzv

Thank you for coming on this journey with us

✨ Here’s what’s inside:

• The legendary musicians we met in Peru and how we build this album together
• How we played with AI as a creative tool ( not a replacement for the soul in our music)
• Navigating creative conflict and how it actually made the album (and us) stronger
• Our favorite places in Peru that left permanent marks on our hearts

WANT TO GO EVEN DEEPER?!

Get exclusive snippets on PATREON:

• What Maestrx we had a crush on (because hello, we’re human)
• Our music production process, a technical deep dive into the process of Spring Moon
• How we’re experimenting with AI in art
• How we moved through creative conflict (spoiler: it wasn’t always pretty, but it was worth it)
• Our favorite hidden gems across Peru for your next trip

You can grab those extras by joining us on Patreon — you can become a member and support our future collaborations or scoop up each exclusive individually!

Spring Moon has been a cosmic journey for us. We can’t wait for you to hear the album—and now, you get to hear how it all came together.

With love,

Death Is A Business | NMK | EatMe.Land

Follow the magic:

@eatme.land | QTPOC travelers and indigenous stories.

@deathIsABusiness | Global music project bridging the world through sound.

@fruitsofrevolt | Sonia Erika, multidisciplinary artist connecting migration, rebirth, and belonging.

@coachsteph_z | Dancer, musician, and life coach empowering immigrants and QTPOC entrepreneurs globally.

@eltresdanova | Lead guitarist for Death Is A Business and writer covering the policy, science, and culture of drugs. Get educated, get lifted!

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Hey, Nomad Kitties 💖🐱 !!

We’re excited to share EPISODE 11 of the #NOMADKITTIES PODCAST

This is a CHISMEANDO edition:

Chismeando is a Nomad Kitties (NMK) podcast edition where we share intimate conversations about life, growth, and all the juicy surprises along the way. We hope to spark connections and inspire you through our stories. Let us know what resonates with you! 💖

Step into today’s episode where Sonia, Steph, and Aisha take you on a journey through Mexico City. What began as a retreat for rest and connection transformed into a magical, unplanned experience: matching tattoos.

✨ Here’s what’s inside:

• Rites of Passage: Steph’s tattoo became a bold mark of staying open-hearted, trusting intuition, and honoring her personal journey.
• The Axolotl’s Power: How this pre-hispanic mythical creature—symbolizing youth, resilience, and transformation—inspired their spiritual journey.
• Pain as Connection: Sonia reflects on dedicating the pain of tattooing to Mother Earth, turning it into a profound spiritual experience.
• Vulnerability and Intimacy: Aisha reflects on how the process of tattooing brought raw trust, meditative connection, and a powerful moment of sisterhood.

Quotes from the Episode:
🖤 “This tattoo was a rite of passage for me. I placed it right where my heart sits to remind me to stay open, let my intuition lead, and carry this journey with me forever.” – Steph

🖤 “We discovered that the axolotl represents youth, resilience, and transformation—it’s also linked to the feathered serpent god. It was such a perfect alignment for us.” – Aisha

🖤 “I dedicated the pain to Mother Earth. I told myself, ‘I’m a warrior for her, I will die for her.’ It became a spiritual experience that connected me to everything I love.” – Sonia

How it Ended:
What started as a retreat to reconnect turned into an unforgettable, transformative moment of art, sisterhood, and care. This episode is a celebration of the bold femme energy 🐅 that fuels our stories and the cosmic exploration that keeps us coming back for more.

Tune in to feel the raw magic—let’s talk rites of passage, cultural symbolism, and the power of shared rituals. 💖✨

Follow the magic:

@eatme.land | QTPOC travelers and indigenous stories.

@fruitsofrevolt | Sonia Erika, Musician and artist connecting migration, rebirth, and belonging.

@coachsteph_z | Dancer, musician, and life coach empowering immigrants and QTPOC entrepreneurs globally.

@aishaNailah | Founder and director of RUMA Collective, an artist support network based in Washington, D.C.

@deathIsABusiness | Global music project bridging the world through sound.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Sonia here. As a response to the pain and suffering happening in our very own mother earth, we would like to give you something very intimate: A Guided Meditation Shroom Trip. Take with or without shrooms.

I have been thinking a lot about what is happening with the world. In the midst of experiencing pleasure and pain, I hope this episode allows you to process your guilt and shame and transform them into a birth of creative abundance and sacred beauty that allows you to act with courage.

I hope this piece allows you to dream.

I hope this piece allows us to collectively fantasize and create a world where we actually want to exist.

I hope this piece brings you peace.

In this time of sadness and grief we, Death is a Business, follow the path of our elders.
We share joy and softness. There is no better time to give you this project.

We hope it is a mirror to your inner voice, remember that you are human and your softness holds great power.

This was mainly a collaboration between Sonia Erika and Dorian Gomez Pestaña.

We want to thank the creators that collaborated with us to make this possible:

• RA
• Aisha
• Stephanie Sucasaca
• Alexander Lekhtman

WE LOVE YOU!!

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HELLOOOO NOMAD KITTIES!!

Sonia Erika here,

I am happy to bring y'all Episode 9 of Nomad Kitties: Mexico Sexcapades 💦🍑😈!

This episode is a continuation of the "Papaya" album, which is all about being juicy and exploring our sensuality, our preferences, and our pleasure.

This episode is in Spanish. But don't worry, we have included golden nuggets of special messages in English throughout the episode. Let us know which golden nugget stood out for you <3

This episode is special in many ways, including:

• Editing by a super amazing human, Dorian Gomez
• Celebrating and featuring our newest Death Is A Business song "DRIVE," one of the songs of the "Papaya" Album.
• The sharing of nomadic sexual experiences

In this episode, I am happy to bring you stories from a wonderful human I happened to meet when I was in Mexico living in the little magical village of Teotitlan del Valle. I met this elder, Adrian, who shared his stories and experiences about discovering his sexuality which allowed me to share my stories, the adventures I had while I was in Mexico at that time, my sexcapades💦🍆🍑😈🤭.

You can read more about Teotitlan del Valle here in one of our last posts:

• TEOTITLAN DEL VALLE: ONE OF THE MOST MAGICAL CITIES IN MEXICO
• DIARY: KEEPING ANCIENT ZAPOTEC CULTURE ALIVE AND PAYING ARTISTS MEXICO SERIES V1: WA'HAKA

I hope you enjoy and immerse yourself in these topics that make us, human.

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Hey, Nomad Kitties 💖🐱 !!

Eatme.land x Death Is A Business present EPISODE 8 of the #NOMADKITTIES PODCAST

RITES OF PASSAGE: CHISMEANDO EDITION 😸

Cheese·meh·ando

1. to gossip

Example:

Spanish: Chismeando, a establecer conexiónes basadas en la confianza.

English: Gossiping, establishing connection based on trust.

Chismeando is a Nomad Kitties (NMK) podcast edition where we share intimate conversations about where we are in life. We hope we can help you feel seen and connected with us on our journeys. Let us know what resonates with you <3

Reconnecting in person and sharing delicious homemade goodness from a local coffee shop in Wisconsin, Coach Steph Z and Sonia get ready for Hawaii and have an intimate conversation about:

✨ Birthing human and non-human babies

✨ Rites of passage, suicide, and honoring age: ancient and modern rituals

✨ Living in community, strategizing, and letting ourselves rest

“We initiated our Winter Solstice retreat in Milwaukee Wisconsin, I definitely over-packed, but I was preparing for this negative degree weather.” - Coach Steph Z

The cold gifts us discomfort and clarity, we are able to appreciate the warmth that our solitude and loved ones provide during the cold winter months. These are some of the lessons we discussed through our winter solstice retreat, check out three things we are embracing for 2023:

1. #Rest: Honoring the seasons, cycles of life, winter, and resting
2. #Embracing #conflict: Following through on relationships for growth
3. #Honor #yourself: Don’t play shitty shows for shitty pay

Disclaimer: We understand that suicide and drug overdose cannot be conflated and that is not our intention. There are very serious psychological, emotional, public health, and other factors that relate to these two causes of death and we aren’t throwing them in the same bucket. We mean to open a conversation about unhealthy standards of beauty and the unrealistic drive to remain youthful forever.

You can follow:

Sonia Erika (they/he/she) is the daughter of formerly undocumented laborers. After 21 years as an “illegal alien” Sonia finally went back to Mexico, and then continued traveling and living in Peru and Brazil making music with Death Is A Business. Sonia’s art and entrepreneurial activity connect's people and communities to their story of familial migration, the experience of rebirth, and belonging. Her subject matters verge between illegal aliens and demystifying capitalism, to humanizing sex workers.

Coach Steph (She/Her, They/Them) is an entrepreneur, organizer, CO-OP growth consultant, and life coach that works with immigrants and QTPOC entrepreneurs to overcome the obstacles that hold them back from reaching their goals. She/They was brought up on the mantra la union hace la fuerza (unity is strength) and it’s a core value that has fueled Stephanie's mission to empower and support the strength of worker cooperatives, immigrants, QTPOC, artists, and entrepreneurs.

Death Is A Business was created in 2013 in a New York City college dorm room. Since then, it has traveled throughout the US and Latin America. The group’s sound incorporates musicians and instruments from around the world like the Afro-Peruvian Cajon and the Andean flute.

Eatme.land is the intersection of Death Is A Business, #NomadKitties, and all of our traveling, artist buds. We provide QTPOC travelers with a place for growth and adventure. We connect travelers with indigenous stories, land, and culture that still thrives today. And we remind the dominant culture that we have so much to learn from our s

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Hey, Nomad Kitties 💖🐱 !!

Eatme.land presents EPISODE 7 of the #NOMADKITTIES PODCAST

THE THREE MAESTRXS: Gold Nuggets of Wisdom for Creatives

Meet Our Band From Mexico City: While working on our Album in Mexico, Sonia Erika vocalist for Death is a Business interviewed 3 musicians that we collabed with; Tona, Ulises and Eduardo. They each shared their stories about how they got involved with music, what it takes to keep your discipline and build your career as a musician. Tona is a pianist, Ulises plays Electric Bass among other instruments and Eduardo is a percussionist and operates two music schools and is building a third!

This episode is part of our PAPAYA series, the first nomadic album recorded by Death Is A Business in Mexico.

Tune in to this episode for these nuggets:

✨How do you maintain discipline?

✨How do you make a living as a musician/artist?

✨ The life of a musician: is work life / study life balance possible?

✨ How important is talent for an artist?

✨ Advice for up and coming artists

Practice your Spanish?

The episode is in Spanish, but don’t worry, you can find a translated version on our Patreon.

Are you a visual person?

Check out the Patreon for a visual version of this piece as well as some other goodies. El Tres Da Nova shares: how we built the band, organized ourselves, the studios we went to, and some funny memories from this whole thing that made this “Mexico” project possible.

Eduardo starts at 17:55
Ulises starts at 22:07

You can follow:

El Tres Da Nova, lead guitarist for Death Is A Business and writer covering the policy, science, and culture of drugs. Get educated, get lifted! Check out his writing in FILTER Mag, Marijuana Moment, Psychedelic Times, Leafly and Salon.

Sonia Erika (they) is the daughter of formerly undocumented laborers. After 21 years as an “illegal alien” Sonia finally reunited with her family in Mexico. Since then they have continued their music migration project with Death Is A Business in Peru and Brazil. Sonia’s art and entrepreneurial activity connects people and communities to their story of familial migration, the experience of rebirth, and belonging. Their subject matters verge between illegal aliens and demystifying capitalism, to humanizing sex workers.

Coach Steph is a first-gen entrepreneur and life coach that works with immigrants and first-gen entrepreneurs to overcome the obstacles that hold them back from reaching their goals.

Death Is A Business From America to Mexico to Peru travels the nomadic band Death Is A Business. It’s hard to call our group a singular band since the lineup frequently changes. It can’t be helped however, as we experiment with genres from around the world. The group’s sound incorporates musicians and instruments from around the world like the Afro-Peruvian cajon and the Andean flute. Ultimately we want to create beautiful powerful music and bridge cultural gaps.

Want to support this work and join the community?

Become a NOMAD KITTY.

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On this cloudy sunny afternoon, Sonia Erika sat in El Tres Da Nova’s new apartment. They smelled a pineapple, smoked some weed, drank some tap water, and had a psychedelic conversation about “Sleepless,” the first single coming out of the PAPAYA album.

This Mexico series is preparing us for the release of the Death Is A Business Album: PAPAYA out OCT 20, 2022!

Are you a visual person? Check out the Patreon for a visual version of this piece as well as some other goodies.

We talk about:

✨ The mothers behind the PAPAYA

✨The political prisoners that inspired this song

✨Global collaborations: meeting musicians in Mexico for the first time and writing music together

✨ Music geek knowledge: How are albums being counted in digital platforms like Spotify?

✨ What kind of weed do we like to smoke

✨ Mexico’s hidden away nude beach

You can follow:

Death Is A Business was created in 2013 in a New York City college dorm room. Since then, it has traveled throughout the US and Latin America. The group’s sound incorporates musicians and instruments from around the world like the Afro-Peruvian Cajon and the Andean flute.

Sonia Erika (they/he/she) is the daughter of formerly undocumented laborers. After 21 years as an “illegal alien” Sonia finally went back to Mexico, and then continued traveling and living in Peru and Brazil making music with Death Is A Business. Sonia’s art and entrepreneurial activity connects people and communities to their story of familial migration, the experience of rebirth, and belonging. Her subject matters verge between illegal aliens and demystifying capitalism, to humanizing sex workers.

El Tres Da Nova is the lead guitarist for Death Is A Business and a writer covering the policy, science, and culture of drugs. Get educated, get lifted! Check out his writing in FILTER Mag, Marijuana Moment, Psychedelic Times, Leafly and Salon.

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THIS WORK NOMAD KITTIES!

Support the show

Hey, Nomad Kitties 💖🐱 !!

Eatme.land presents EPISODE 5 of the #NOMADKITTIES PODCAST

MEXICO SERIES VOL 2: PAPAYA

This is a continuation of our Mexico series in preparation for the release of the Death Is A Business Album: “Papaya.” Out OCT 20, 2022!!

If you want to see a visual version of this episode check out www.eatme.land” blog post.

On this warm sunny afternoon, Coach Steph Z and Sonia Erika smoked some weed, poured some rose tea, and had a psychedelic conversation about the album “Papaya.”

We talk about:

✨ Sonia Erika’s and her parents return to Mexico after living undocumented for 21 years

✨ The creative birthing process of completing the album

✨ Intentionality as a philosophy

✨ The inspiration behind the album name

✨ The symbolism behind Papaya

You can follow:

Coach Steph is a first-gen entrepreneur and life coach that works with immigrants and first-gen entrepreneurs to overcome the obstacles that hold them back from reaching their goals.

Death Is A Business was created in 2013 in a New York City college dorm room. Since then, it has traveled throughout the US and Latin America. The group’s sound incorporates musicians and instruments from around the world like the Afro-Peruvian Cajon and the Andean flute.

Sonia Erika (they/he/she) is the daughter of formerly undocumented laborers. After 21 years as an “illegal alien” Sonia finally went back to Mexico, and then continued traveling and living in Peru and Brazil making music with Death Is A Business. Sonia’s art and entrepreneurial activity connects people and communities to their story of familial migration, the experience of rebirth, and belonging. Her subject matters verge between illegal aliens and demystifying capitalism, to humanizing sex workers.

El Tres Da Nova, lead guitarist for Death Is A Business and writer covering the policy, science, and culture of drugs. Get educated, get lifted! Check out his writing in FILTER Mag, Marijuana Moment, Psychedelic Times, Leafly and Salon.

THANK YOU ALL FOR SUPPORTING THIS WORK NOMAD KITTIES!!

Support the show