The Real Hot Moms of San Diego

Let’s take a trip down musical memory lane for a minute. To that one moment, or song, or band, or even instrument, that changed everything for you when it came to your relationship with music. In that moment you may have felt peace, joy, passion, your calling or even just let the melancholy take over. For Eliza Vera of Hot Moms Club, this moment was in her early teens and it started with the winning of an blue electric guitar. Let’s go back to Cali for this one and allow me to introduce you to Hot Moms Club.

Hot Moms Club is the solo project of Eliza Vera. Though Eliza now lives in San Diego, she is originally from a small town outside of Albany, New York. Eliza started to play guitar when she was a teenager and even started teaching guitar lessons at summer camp, which then led to her writing one of her first songs and even performing it. That’s when she knew music was her calling. She wrote her first EP in high school and then after graduating she moved to San Diego for college. During those years she continued to write and release more music. One being her first LP. She even started an Indie project with her boyfriend at the time called Swimming in Circles. 2020 hit and unfortunately the band dissolved and that’s when Eliza became obsessed with GoGurt and started to write music for herself again. Eventually the songs would become a part of her new project Hot Moms Club.

Back in April she released the first Hot Moms single DD. We are hit with melodic magic and introduced to Eliza‘s voice that is not only hauntingly beautiful, but combined with her lyrics, is just so damn comforting. Later that month she releases the whole self titled EP and also teams up with Born Losers Records to drop some cool mom merch. Eliza was kind enough to answer a few questions pertaining to her musical background, how Hot Moms came to be and of course her musical influences! Grab a GoGurt and enjoy her answers!

For starters, can you give us a little history lesson on yourself? Where you’re from, what got you into playing/writing music and when did your obsession with GoGurt start?

I am originally from a small town outside of Albany, NY called Voorheesville. When I was twelve or thirteen, I won a blue electric guitar after putting only one ticket in the raffle. I was SO EXCITED when I won and that piqued my interest to start learning guitar. I took a few lessons, but it didn't stick for some reason. A couple of years later is when I really buckled down to learn guitar after being inspired by the cool counselors at the summer camp I went to every year. That following summer, I was teaching the guitar classes to campers and I wrote my first song and performed it! I'll never forget the feeling I had when I was performing and after the fact - I knew I was put on this earth to make music and share it with others in those moments. I released my first EP my senior year of high school and then moved to San Diego for college. I continued to play music all throughout college and released my first full-length record my junior year. I played in some friends' bands too, often played around campus and at local cafes in San Diego. After college, I worked, traveled, and continued writing songs and making music! Eventually, my boyfriend at the time, Jack Williams, and I started an indie project called Swimming in Circles. We recorded some songs, played sooo many shows all around San Diego, and went on tour up the west coast. Then the pandemic hit and our band and relationship dissolved. I started eating GoGurt and writing for myself again - a bunch of new songs were pouring out of me. That's when Hot Moms Club was born before I even knew I was going to call it that.

Who would you say are some of your biggest musical influences? Any particular band/artist that really inspired you to create music of your own?

Some of my current musical influences are Phoebe Bridgers, Mac Demarco, Norah Jones, and Lomelda. I was constantly listening to Cat Stevens and James Taylor when I first started playing - they definitely inspired me to write.

Now, before HMC was born, you were in a band called Swimming in Circles. And then fast forward to the present tense, can you tell us how HMC came to be?

My best friend, Olive, and I used to go for morning walks every day during the pandemic. We'd strap on our ankle and wrist weights and walk the coast in North County San Diego. One morning, I said "Olive, you and I are going to be the hottest moms on the block some day!" That's when it hit me!!! Hot Moms Club was the perfect name for this new project. I feel like it conveys the fun I have been having in this chapter of my life.

You dropped your debut, self titled EP back in May and let me just say it’s spectacular. It’s light, uplifting and seems to be very personal. Was there one song in particular that you most enjoyed writing/recording? You’ve also teamed up with Born Losers Records. How did that partnership come to be?

Thank you so much for listening! I'm so glad you like it ◡̈ The first song I wrote for Hot Moms Club was "Brian." It means a lot to me - my friend, Brian (surprise, surprise) had a COVID scare and I wrote that song to comfort him. I sent him a voice memo of the first verse and chorus and promised I would follow through a finish the song for him. Mallory Hauser, my producer, brought it to life in such a beautiful way. All four songs were so fun to record, especially "Everything." I got to yell the chorus across the studio and then whisper it into the mic. lol ASMR-style. Born Losers Records reached out to me because my friend, Ruben of Dante Elephante sent them my EP! So so kind of him. For now, we just partnered up to make cassettes and dad hats. ◡̈

And now for a unrealistic/ fun one…. If you were only allowed to eat one flavor of GoGurt for the rest of your days, which one would it be?

OOOH thats EASY - Rasberry Gogurt, no doubt. I could eat those forever.

Pursuing what you love and are passionate about in this life is definitely imperative to our well being. It seems Eliza and her music are not only fulfilling something that she is really passionate about, but she’s also staying true to what she knows is her calling in this life. Keep your eyes on this incredibly talented California Gal and be sure to check out her new EP, buy some cool Hot Mom merch, grab some Gurt and join the Hot Moms Club.