iNTERViEWED
BY BRiAN LUSH
Who doesn’t love the story of a small town girl with a dream
who runs off to the big city in a bold move to make said dream come
true? In
the previous decade, the template for power chord driven pop with a
touch of
girl power was set with the likes of PINK, PARAMORE and AVRIL LAVIGNE.
Now,
Nashville-based siren KATIE KERKHOVER is a willing and able
torch-bearer with
the release of her CD ‘BLISTER’. Born and reared in a small town in
Illinois,
KERKHOVER
embraced music at an early age. Despite being a classically trained
violinist,
KERKHOVER had an ax to grind and foresaw a future for herself as a
rocker. At
the age of seventeen and armed with a need to get out there and make a
name for
herself, KERKHOVER fled her rural surroundings and sought refuge in
Nashville
where she became a sought after backing musician given her dexterity in
voice,
guitar and violin. Through some friends, she became acquainted with
guitarist
and songwriter TIM CRAVEN. Almost instantly, the pair formed a
songwriting
partnership and set out to turn the world on its ear with a sound that
mixes up
slick, unrelenting power chords with a vocal delivery that exudes both
toughness and vulnerability.
ROCKWIRED
spoke with KATIE KERKHOVER and TIM CRAVEN over the
phone. Here is how it went.
How
do the two of you
feel about the finished album?
KATE: We’re both
really, really excited. We couldn’t be happier with the way everything
turned
out. It’s such a process that you go through when you are recording a
record
and to finally have it finished is really an exciting feeling. I’m
really happy
with it.
TIM: I feel the
same way. It was something that kind of evolved over a long period of
time and
went through several incarnations. It’s nice to have it out there and
have it
be what we would consider to be a finished thought. I’m excited by the
response
that it’s gotten. I couldn’t be happier.
When
I usually
interview a “solo” artist, I never have the producer/guitarist join in.
Is KATIE
KERKHOVER more of a band project than a solo project?
TIM:
KATIE is the
artist. I produced the CD and I co-wrote the songs and play guitar.
It’s a
project that we both do but I’m kind of the man behind the curtain.
It’s better
that I’m heard and not seen.
So
it’s kind of a PAT
BENATAR/NEIL GIRALDO type of thing.
TIM: Maybe, yeah.
Are you two even old
enough to know who they are?
TIM: Oh yeah,
absolutely!
KATIE: TIM is
always joking about not being in any of the pictures. He’s says that
that is
all me.
Well KATIE, talk
about how music began for you.
KATIE: Music has
been a part of my entire life. I started at a really young age playing
the
violin. Not many people know that. I’m a classically trained violinist
and I
got a guitar for Christmas one year and that changed everything. I was
always
involved with music. Once I got that guitar, I started writing songs
and
started learning the chords off of a chord chart poster. It evolved
from there.
It was just something that I did as part of my normal everyday
existence. I
grew up in a really, really small town called Rockwood Illinois
which has a population of like
forty-seven people. There wasn’t a lot to do other than working on the
farm.
Music was what filled my time. I began writing songs and playing the
guitar and
when I turned seventeen I moved to Nashville
because it was the closest music
city
that I could drive to without my mom freaking out. It all got me to the
point
where I’m at today. I don’t really know a time where I wasn’t involved
with
music in some way.
I thought it was
interesting when you said when you were seventeen, you had moved away.
At
seventeen, you run away.
KATIE: I did
actually. I wanted to say it in the nicest possible way because I don’t
want to
encourage kids to runaway from home. I felt like it was my time and I
wanted to
chase my dreams and give it everything that I had.
How do your parents
feel about everything that has happened since?
KATIE: They love
it! They’re really excited for me and they love the music. They always
knew
that music was a part of me. Growing up, I didn’t play sports or
anything like
that. I was always playing music so they always knew that I was going
to be
headed in this direction.
And just for
clarity’s sake, there weren’t any troubles at home.
KATIE: No,
nothing like that. I have a great relationship with my parents. I
wasn’t
getting anywhere playing for myself or my family. It was time for me to
move
one.
What got you into
music TIM?
TIM: I don’t know
what it was that got me into music exactly. It was from a very early
age. It
probably goes as far back as kindergarten. I remember going into my
basement
and going through my mom’s collection of 45s and would listen to ELVIS
PRESLEY,
THE BEATLES and JAN AND DEAN. I’m from Southern California so my
parents had a
lot of that Southern California
surf rock
stuff. I remember having these records and playing them on their stereo
and
eventually buying my own record player and constantly listening to
music and gravitating
toward it. I was a huge ELVIS PRESLEY and BEATLES fan as a really young
child.
As a I got older I played trumpet in band and I played guitar because
it was
way cooler than playing the trumpet. I continued playing music through
high
school. My story isn’t as cool as KATIE running away from home. Instead
I went
to college and studied music. I’ve played in a lot of bands and wrote a
lot of
music. I just kept following it from that point.
Nashville is a very musical town. How easy or
difficult was it to establish your self there?
KATIE: When I
moved there, I started meeting people and word got around that I was
multi-instrumental in the sense that I played guitar and violin and I
sang as
well. Because Nashville
is such a music hub, I got a lot of offers to play with country music
artists.
I jumped at every opportunity that I had. While I was playing, and on
tour with
various different artists, I was constantly on stage going ‘What would
I do
here if this was my show?’ or ‘How would I interact with the audience
at this
point’ or ‘What would I want it to look like here?’ I was really
absorbing all
of the experiences and at the same time was writing my own rock music
and
recording demos. I started out playing as a back up musician and I’m
really
happy that I have that experience to pull from. Now it’s me that is up
front
and I’m not standing behind anyone else.
How did the two of
you meet?
KATIE: TIM and I
met through mutual friends in the industry. We’ve know each other for
about
four years.
TIM: We traveled
within the same circle of friends for years and then we finally met.
KATIE told
me what she was working and I was thinking of doing a project like that
one as
well. I was also working as a side man for country artists – if you are
a
musician that is working in Nashville,
that’s just what you do. The great thing about Nashville is
that there is this great amazing
indie rock scene alongside the country music scene that doesn’t get a
lot of
credit. I was really shocked at first. I think a lot of those bands are
now
starting to bubble up to the surface. There are a lot of great bands
that have
been signed out of Nashville
that don’t fit that Country demographic like PARAMORE. We’ll go out and
we’ve
got tons of friends who are in other bands and the scene is just so
supportive.
You support them at their shows and they support you at yours. It’s a
really
amazing scene and the musicianship is at such a high level. Nashville
is a very small town so you’re
always only one person away from knowing a common denominator. That was
how we
met and started writing together. It’s been a lot of fun and we’ve
brought in a
lot of our friends on that record. There is a whole list of musicians
that are
on it and it’s great.
How does the
songwriting process work between the two of you?
KATIE: It’s a
pretty easy process actually. I’ve co-written songs with other people
before
and you’ve got to find that certain magic – that chemistry that you
have to
have with someone in order to write a song with them because it’s a
really
personal process. When TIM and I write together, one of us will bring
an idea
to the table and we run with it. I like to start with a music video
scenario in
my head and it gets played out in the song . TIM being such a good
guitar
player and producer definitely makes the process much easier. We’re
able to
finish each other’s thoughts musically and lyrically.
TIM: The process
is pretty collaborative but it seems like as of late, KATIE will come
to me and
b e like ‘I’ve got this great riff’ or ‘I’ve got this great chord
progression’
and the whole things just kind of sparks from there. We immediately try
to
formulate the song musically first and form there we write lyrics.
Sometimes
there is a theme or an idea and we just kind of run with it. I’ll be
thinking
about a friend of mine who has an addiction or what’s going on in the
world
around me. Sometimes, lyrical ideas come to you like
a freight train and sometimes, it takes weeks
of sitting down and looking at it and stepping away and getting back to
it.
There is no one way that I work.
KATIE: Usually,
I’ll be driving in my car and I’ll have this melody idea and I’ll tunr
the memo
on my phone and I’ll record the idea into it. I’ll bring it over to TIM
and
we’ll work n it together. It is a collaborative effort and I feel
fortunate to
have found someone that I’m able to mesh with on that creative level.
What songs off of the
album resonate for each of you the most and why?
KATIE: It’s
really hard to pick just one because I’m so personally attached to all
of them.
They are all like your children and you can’t ever pick your favorite
one. If I
had to pick one, I would have to say that HABIT resonates for me the
most.
TIM: My favorite
song on the album would have to be DOWN TO THIS because the drum groove
on that
one was pretty cool. I kind of like the way that that song came
together
musically and lyrically. HABIT is a song that resonates for me on a
personal
level because a lot of it was drawn from personal experiences of having
known
people who have struggled with addiction whether it be hard drugs or
alcohol or
whatever it is that they’re struggling with. SOMETHING REAL stand out
for me
because it’s the music of my roots which is more punk. I was one of
those punk
rock skater kids that listened to that kind of music. It’s really a
straight
ahead kind of song.
I’ve only been
assuming this up to this point but is this is a romantic partnership as
well as
a musical one?
TIM: We’re just
friends.
KATIE: We got
that all of the time. We’re friends and we’re great musical partners.
What would you like
someone to come away with after they’ve hear this CD?
KATIE: I would like
for them to come away with a feeling of fun and excitement. I really
want to
people to put it in their CD players and crank it up and really have a
good
time. If they’re having a bad day I’d like for them to pop it into the
CD
player and be able to relate to some of the topics and feel what we
felt when
we were writing the songs. It may be an angry song but it makes you
smile at
the end.
TIM: Ultimately
you want people to like it and you wan them to dig it. I want people to
feel
like I do when I get a new record or when I discover a new band that
I’ve never
heard before. There is a lot of music on this album and I want them to
have fun
with it. That’s really important for me.
MARCH 22,
2010
BRiAN
LUSH (FOUNDER,
EDiTOR-iN-CHiEF)
