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KGRL Exclusive Kay Hanley Interview
Hotel Cafe Show 07/23/06
KGRL had a chance to go on a one on one interview with KGRL's Queen Of Alternative Pop/Rock, Kay Hanley. The interview was held in Hotel Cafe - 07.23.06.
Listen to Kay Hanley's responses in High Quality MP3 Stream using the player below:
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KGRL: We've been fans since you started out with Letters To Cleo to Cherry Marmalade, and then the Babydoll EP - till now. We have to say that your songs are the type of songs that never goes outdated. When you listen to a lot of the songs in the 90's, you get the uneasy feeling like it feels like it really belongs to that era. How do you feel listening to your old materials?
Kay Hanley: Well, it's funny that you ask that because I never did listen to my own music. I always hated the sound of my voice, so I never listen to the Cleo records. We would make the records and I'd never listen to them. And it's only in the last couple of years that I've been able to listen to my stuff critically and really be able to "participate" because I can (finally) listen to it and not hate it.
And now, when I listen to the Cleo records I'm just saying, "Jesus, why didn't I appreciate this when I was doing it?" because I really really do enjoy it. I'm impressed with the music that we made. I just didn't have the time... I just thought we sucked, and I thought I sucked. But you know, I think the reason that it doesn't sound "dated" is because there was nothing trendy about it that kind of like represented an era, just really kind of classic arrangements, nothing fancy, just really straightforward pop arrangements. We modeled ourselves after the Beatles and Big Star, so I can see that.
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Letters To Cleo
KGRL: Looking back with what you did with Letters To Cleo, which of the Cleo songs do you like the most?
Kay Hanley: Awake, we played that tonight and I like to play that. (KGRL: We love that song!) Yeah, thank you! (KGRL: We love I Could Sleep too!) I Could Sleep, thank you! We hardly ever play that. We're going to have to bring that back. Next time we play LA, we'll play that. A lot of the stuff from Go! like Veda Very Shining and Find You Dead. It depends you know, from what (LTC) era.
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KGRL: How about from your solo career?
Kay Hanley: You know, I'm not really a fan of my solo career so far. I feel like I'm just getting there. And I think that the record that I'm making now is finally going to be the record that I've wanted to make for a long time. So from Cherry Marmalade, I still play Fall all the time. (KGRL: How about Made In The Shade?) We've never played Made In The Shade ever. But, maybe I'll bring that one back too.
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KGRL: How about songs that you love performing live?
Kay Hanley: Songs that we always play (live). Well, I got a bunch of new songs I really enjoy playing live. I got new songs called: Video, Think Bad Thoughts and It Hurts. Those are three of the songs that are going to be on my new record. So, I love playing those. And like I said, I always play awake; you know I love putting that in the set. I love putting Fall on the set. I think I put Fall in every set. And then, I just like to mix it up if I can. I've got a pretty decent size catalogue at this point in my life. So yeah, I try to switch it up if I can.
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KGRL: What's the best experience you had playing live?
Kay Hanley: Jesus, Oh my gosh, you're asking a tough question. The one that springs instantly into mind, one year... it was right after Here And Now came out. It was on the radio... it was on MTV. We were on tour so we really didn't understand the impact that it was having. Because when we started on the road to support that record (Aurora Gory Alice), we were playing to like 4 people in Cleveland, and maybe 50 people in Philadelphia.
We came back to Boston to end the tour... to play at the Hemp Rally in the Boston Common... and there were 70,000 people. 70,000 people out in the Boston Common. And I just walked out on the stage... I think I started crying... I just couldn't believe... It didn't register.. or it did but I just didn't understand... I couldn't wrap my head around it. That was a pretty incredible experience.
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KGRL: Regarding the Josie and the Pussycats Soundtrack. How do you feel about not being properly credited for your work?
Kay Hanley: I never needed to be properly credited for that. I never wanted to be. Contractually, if I had pushed for it, they would've done what I wanted. It kind of bothered me that Michael, my husband, played all the guitars and all the bass and he wasn't credited at all. At least it said vocals done by Kay Hanley, but Michael wasn't (credited). He was (only) in the thanks, even if he played all the instruments except for the drums... and that was kind of bummer, but who cares, that was a life changing experience for me. I didn't expect it. It was one of those things that kind of materialized out of the clear blue sky. I was very very lucky to get that job, so I don’t give a shit. It's fine with me. (KGRL: Those are great songs that you did on it) Oh I love that record!
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KGRL: Do you listen to any new artists? Any new influences?
Kay Hanley: I'm a huge fan of Paul Doucette, he's the drummer from Matchbox Twenty. He's got a band called The Break and Repair Method. It's very Wilco-esque and the voice is just fucking killer. And it's my favorite record right now. It's not out yet but you can find it on myspace, under thebreakandrepairmethod.
Who else... Oh my God, my friends Blake Hazard & John Dragonetti. They have a band called The Submarines, and they just put out a record on Nettwerk. It's beautiful, you have to listen to it, find it. You won't be sorry! So, there's a very heavy female presence in that.
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Shut Up Stella with their managers Kay and Michelle
KGRL: So, we have been checking out your bulletins at myspace and we've come across a band that you've been promoting, Shut Up Stella.
Kay Hanley: Shut Up Stella is my band. Oh my God, yeah it's not my band but it's a band, rapper and 2 singers. (Thank you, Oh my God). It's a rapper and 2 singers, and it's a band that my writing partner and I kind of put together about 7 months ago, thinking that we'd kind of write for them and whatever. And they're such talented writers, we just had to step aside and let them start working. And now, we really just stepped into more of a management position because their writing is just better. It's better than we could ever… I mean we help them occasionally, but they're just so good they hardly need us. So we just kind of clear the way and make everything easy for them, hook them up with writers and producers. They're incredible! They'll have a record out next year.
(Moving on to other female-fronted bands) Oh Cruiserweight. The singer is Stella Maxwell. So fantastic! I believe they're from Texas. I think they're from Austin, I might be wrong. But anyway, Cruiserweight - awesome kickass, rock and roll music with chicks... with a girl singer.
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KGRL: We heard some of your new materials over at myspace. Video... did you write this for any specific artist or just in general?
Kay Hanley: I think in general we can all relate to the video culture or the visual culture that we live in now. I mean, "Video Killed The Radio Star" - we didn't know how true that was going to be. I'll listen to a band and just... can't think of an example off the top of my head. Believe me, I don't mind talking shit. If I can think of one I would tell you.
Ok, for instance, Maroon 5. And because, I was a huge fan of their first band Kara's Flowers, I feel like I can say that. But when I first heard Maroon 5, it was just like "white" noise there's just nothing to it, it's fluff... it's ephemeral… it's like "pfff" it's gone.
But, I saw that video for their second single (She Will Be Loved). It was the one where he was like getting all nasty with the girl. That video is so beautiful. But as soon as I saw that video I was just like... I LOVE THEM! It was so sexy, and there was this guy that was so cute. Now I love Maroon 5, cuz that video is so hot. But like if I just heard the song, I never would have given a shit about them. So that's a good example. Maroon 5, I love your video.... but your music is shit!
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KGRL: You have a thing for recording your music, like test them out live before even recording them. Is this the method you still use?
Kay Hanley: I'd like to if I can. That's one of what has been a problem with my solo career, thus far, is that I haven't had the opportunity to test stuffs out live. But I'm doing that now, which is why I feel like my next record is going to be... I'm going to be very happy with it because I've been playing it live, introducing it into the sets in bits and pieces, and putting demos up on myspace. I mean that's what we always did in Cleo; we would tour this music into the ground. It would have been in the sets for six months at least before we would record it. So really, every song I did was a fully realized version of a musical creation. I'm very much interested in going back to that.
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KGRL: How far are you into writing new materials for your next CD? And when can we expect it?
Kay Hanley: I'm hoping for January. I mean it's 90% written. I'll probably write 2 or 3 more songs. And if I have some free time I could write as many as 5 or 6 songs. But I'm pretty happy with what I have.
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Behold the Bundles Of Justice!
KGRL: Bundles Of Justice, is this the title of your new album?
Kay Hanley: It's not, that's a joke. There's a guy on my website.... This is a weird thing; I have a bunch of right-winged fans! Really, really right-winged! Oh my God! So there's this guy on my website, his handle is USMCLobo. He's like a Marine Corps guy. He's just like a total... he's like "Arrrggghh! I drive fucking Mustang! 98 miles an hour down my dead-end street, and it gets 3 miles to a gallon... Fuck yeah!" And he's like constantly trying to push people's buttons. Anyway, so he posted this thread in my website a couple of weeks ago, that was like we have bombs... where did we bomb? I forgot. We have dropped like an incredible load of explosives in Middle East; I forgot what the situation was.
But he came into my website and said "Fuck Yeah! America Rules! Look at these 5,000 pounds Bundles of Justice!" and they had that picture of that jet, you know, dropping the bombs. And I was like, "I want it on my website." My first comment was like "Ok, that is my album title, and I want to use that... is there any way to Photoshop a picture of me with a Bikini and a Lasso straddled on top of the aircraft?" So just to fuck with him, I put that up in my myspace.
KGRL's pathetic attempt with Photochop!
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The Dilettantes - Kay and Michelle
KGRL: Going a bit outside your solo career, how's it going with the Dilettantes? Any plans of making a full CD with Michelle?
Kay Hanley: We are. The thing about Michelle and I is that... you know we started out with this band, the Dilettantes. and, we had to kind of take a break from it because we, sort of, shifted out of focus. I mean, when we started writing together it was an incredibly productive, creative relationship. And, we just kind of started inching towards other projects. And so, at this point, we're more focused on... the Dilettantes is our production company too. And so we're working on Shut Up Stella, we just sold a kids show to Disney called "The Musiquarium" - we're working on that. So, it's probably going to be a while before we can turn our focus back to the Dilettantes record. But we really do want to put out a record next year if we can. We'd love to.
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KGRL: Any other projects you're currently working on?
Kay Hanley: Shut Up Stella is the main focus of my life right now. I'm really focused on the girls, and getting them a deal and bring up record with them next year. We just started our creative meetings over at Disney for our show. We're making a pilot for the kid's show. This will be an animated show. Just learning how to make TV show, I'm very much looking forward to. I've never done anything like that. Raising my kids, my two gorgeous babies... and making my record, it's a lot!
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KGRL: What's your plan with your solo career?
Kay Hanley: My solo career is... the reason why I'm so happy about it, is because it truly is my hobby. I'm not looking to get a record deal. It's something that I'm doing for the pure love of it. I'm not doing it for the money anymore. Well, not that I ever was doing it (for the money). We never made any money. But it really is my hobby and it's the thing that I do and it's like totally mine. So it'll probably never be the focus, because I have other things that are my job. But, its better that way... better music comes out of it.
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Special thanks goes to Kay Hanley and Mike Creamer (Kay's Manager).
Kay Hanley Links:
Official Website: http://www.kayhanley.com
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/kayhanleymusic
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