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KGRL Exclusive Kate Earl Interview
Hotel Cafe Show 07/21/06
KGRL had a chance to go on a one on one interview with Kate Earl. The interview was held in Hotel Cafe - 07.21.06.
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KGRL: We're huge fan of the song Hero and most specially, Anything. What's your favorite song in your album?
Kate Earl: I really like Sweet Sixteen, because I think that production and singing and arrangement and every element of the song is beautiful. Every song sounds great but I can hear something wrong. Sweet Sixteen to me is the only one that I think is pretty perfect.
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KGRL: You have the sweetest vibrato and the softest voice we've ever heard live. It's very smooth and controlled. Has it always been the way you sing or were you influenced by any other artists?
Kate Earl: Yes, I listen to old music like Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Big Momma Thornton, and I love Gospel music. But sometimes, like Nina Simone, she can belt but she can also sing very soft. I think it takes discipline to be able to do that and I really respect that about the older artists from different eras. I try to preserve that in what I do because I respect it so much.
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KGRL: Your CD, Fate Is The Hunter, was released last year May 2005 but you wrote the songs in 2003. How do you feel about the album when you listen to it now after a year?
Kate Earl: Honestly it's become like a red-headed step-child, I'm tired of it. I mean not in a bad way, all I mean by being tired of it is I'm ready to do something new... I'm inspired with new music. I hope that my fans will enjoy the new direction I'm taking. I hope that I'll have an album ready for everyone by spring, the new one. I love my music, I'm very proud of it but I'm ready for something else.
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KGRL: Fate Is The Hunter has variation in terms of musical style. Like say the song Officer which is a bit of an up-tempo pop sounding type song. Then there's Come This Far and Hero, which are both pure ballad bliss. Sweet Sixteen is well, sweet with Hawaiian-flavor infused. And then we have Carpenters-sounding When You're Older. With the new material you are working on, which main direction are you taking?
Kate Earl: I would like to incorporate a little bit of R&B. I love Lauren Hill, Erykah Badu... I really respect, like Outkast and Cee-Lo and all these artists that I did not emulate in any way on my first album. I stuck to a very traditional folksy pop music on my first album. So, there's a whole other side to me...
Like did you hear that cover I did tonight? (sings a bit) So I want to do kind of a little bit more sexy music. (KGRL - We don't think the song Anything sounds poppy...) Oh thank you! (KGRL - If there's anything that sounds pop in your album, we think it's Officer.) Yeah! It's not bad either... I mean, it's good that a radio station likes it.
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KGRL: How far are you into writing the new materials?
Kate Earl: Very early... Very early... I've written a lot... I always write many many songs and I choose the best ones. So, I probably have 10 and I'm going to write 30 more. With the first one I had 30 songs then I picked 11.
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KGRL: We've heard you guest in some show talking about something...
Kate Earl: Sex... uh huh... Well, the thinking is that I grew up in a Christian environment and it's wonderful because you learn about community, and you learn about tradition, and you learn about morality and ethics... I just wanted to stretch my boundaries.
I don't want to be Britney Spears, and I respect her for her work - she's good at what she does. I just want to try something different than what I've been doing... And a side of me that celebrates being a woman and being sexy. I feel like we've already said sex too many times in this interview, but to clarify, I just want to enjoy a side of myself I haven't revealed.
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KGRL: We read somewhere that you first submitted a demo of Christian/Catholic songs? So, what happened to those songs?
Kate Earl: They're lying around... I think at my mom's house. (KGRL - Are you planning to bring out some of it and dust them?) I would... I think I will later... I want to do a couple of cover albums... And one of the cover albums will be all kind of different songs, and then I want to do an album of covers of Hymns and Spirituals.
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KGRL: Members of Incubus have played in your album. Are they going to be playing on your next record as well?
Kate Earl: I hope they'll join me. I don't know what their music obligations will be, but the bassist from Incubus was here tonight. (Pauses and thinks) Yeah, I think they're going to play.
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Photo courtesy of Koga
KGRL: What's the best experience you had playing live?
Kate Earl: My best experience playing live was the London Palladium. I got to open for Damien Rice for two shows. We were raising money for a Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner - she was held captive in her home. Her name is Aung San Suu Kyi (I think I'm probably butchering the pronunciation). So he was raising money for her and he invited me. I've never met him before but he liked my music.
In London, this is the theater where Queen Elizabeth comes to watch... At the time, the production was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and they have all the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stage pushed back and I was walking through all of the props and settings... Anyway, the Beatles have played on that stage and I just felt so lucky... Like, oh my God! But I felt really privileged; my music brought me across the ocean... How cool is that?
Then, I was going to stop playing cuz I had 5 songs and that was my time limit... And I said... Thank you so much, goodnight! And they said, no play one more... Do you know what that means to be an opener for the headlining act and to get an encore? That was a big deal! Cuz I hear that in London, they're a really particular audience, so that was such a privilege to get called back in that stage... That was so cool!
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KGRL: So what songs did you sing there?
Kate Earl: I felt like I ripped my heart out of my chest and just threw it on the stage. No, I just did some of the same songs as tonight... But they've never heard me before; it was a big surprise to them. So very very cool!
I respect Damien's audience because they came ready to really listen. It's a privilege to get to play for people like that and in a venue like that. I think the venue holds like 2000 people. It was cool!
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KGRL: Do you think that having a session band, as opposed to having your own band, affect your live performances?
Kate Earl: I guess my answer will be that the only experience that I've had (with a band) is play with my friends who are studio musicians - and they just do me favors because I never really had the budget to hire them and keep them as my own. Everyone that I met that's a musician is already in a band, so I never found a community where I put a band together for myself.
My answer would be, there are two different experiences that I always have... One is I play by myself, and I know how to carry a crowd well. I know how to play acoustically and unplugged. It's really good I think. I feel strong. Then when I play with a band I get to relax more. Instead of being so intense, I get very playful with my band. You saw me tonight, I was teasing everybody. So when I get to play with my friends, it's just a party. I hope I can put together a band of my friends, if they're not busy.
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KGRL: Any plans for a major record label?
Kate Earl: It's kind of already done because I'm on a small label called Record Collection, and they're actually a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. So if Warner Brothers wanted to, they can hold me up strings... But I have new music to turn in first, so we'll see... We will see...
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Special thanks goes to Kate Earl and Corrie Caster (Kate's Manager).
Photos by Jeff Koga.
Kate Earl Links:
Official Website: http://www.kateearl.com
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/kateearl
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