The gritty, glittery rock duo known as Kitty Junk has already made an imprint on their hometown of Seattle, but headbangers beyond the PNW will soon be joining the pit as well. Kitty Junk produces moody, heady melodies with lyrics bound to resonate with heavy music lovers. Their new single “Head Rush” is out now.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with members of Kitty Junk about the music, their mission, what’s up with Atrocity Girl, and much more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
(Angie) We’re from Seattle, and we’ve spent a lot of time trying to define our sound, but we’re influenced by so many different bands between the two of us, that we end up creating songs that sound nothing like each other but inspire us in various ways. I think it’s a combination between junk punk, glam grunge, and hard rock. Perhaps a sprinkle of metal.
(Ryan) We are from Seattle! We actually didn’t have a genre in mind to encapsulate Kitty Junk when we started. I know I am influenced by rock, punk, alternative and metal, pop punk, and even pop. The “sound” of Kitty Junk is unique to Angie and my playing style; it’s a signature sound you might even hear when we play with other bands. However, I want to be able to explore and genre-bend in other directions. We like having unlimited creative freedom, and we don’t need to stick to a sound. You can count on heavy guitar and drums for certain, though.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
(Ryan) Passion, energy, feminism, and my story to tell. I’ve been playing music for 18 years now, and working with Angie and KJ has lit a different fire in me, both musically and in terms of feminism/inclusivity. This project has so much fun and comedy yet touches base on some of the hardest things in our life. It’s hard to not want to keep going and reach out and connect to people who relate to us, all while getting to play this amazing music and push our music to new levels.
How is the music of Kitty Junk different from Atrocity Girl? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific by creating a side band?
(Angie) We’re a sister band of Atrocity Girl. During the first month of Covid quarantine, when Seattle was pretty much the center of the pandemic in the US, the band isolated and kept our distance from each other as a group. But Ryan lives down the street from me, and we were able to get together on the porch, six feet apart, and just play random melodies and shout out lines.
Atrocity Girl wasn’t doing anything at the time, and we were already getting together as a duo – as bassist and drummer – to get tight as the rhythm section for AG. However, Ryan is the frontwoman of her own band Mallory, so when we got together, we just clicked as this shenanigan-driven, silly, ambitious team that ended up jamming together in a new way. We talked about all of our feminist aspirations and our frustrations with misogyny (cat-calling, assault, media, pressure, glass ceiling, women written out of history, etc.) and everything started to flow out into songs that were distinctly unique from Atrocity Girl. We had no idea what it was, so we called it Kitty Junk. It just grew from there into Snapchats, Tik Toks, and Kat Chats (our comedy-driven YouTube videos). As a duo, we have to be super tight together, but there’s also so much freedom to explore and be creative. It’s structured as well as random. It’s fierce as hell with a sense of humor on the side. We’re extremely serious about what we do, but we also like to provide a bit of levity during this crazy time.
Atrocity Girl is its own special magic. We weren’t trying to do something because we felt we weren’t getting it from AG. Johnny Angel is our fearless, incredibly talented leader while we’re at the AG “cave,” or rehearsal space. We absolutely love what we do there, we have the AG logo tattooed on our skin, and it inspired our activist work in audio. Kitty Junk is an organic offspring because Ryan and I had a vibe together that worked.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age?
(Angie) Definitely, trying to get music out there. There are so many social channels and an overwhelming amount of “influencers” that it’s hard to know which way to turn for actual distribution. We just want to play and have our music heard. But these days, you have to have a media “presence” and we’re aware of that, too. Of course, it’s extremely hard to actually support ourselves with music, since everything is instantly and freely streamable.
(Ryan) Giving your fans a reason to connect and going above the music. No one wants “just another band”. I’ve been playing live shows for years now and it’s taught me that just playing shows is not enough. This is a project I finally want to inspire people with. It wears my heart on its sleeve and that’s why we’re hoping though feminism, activism, comedy, Kat Chat, and going above the music and performing will give us more to give to people.
How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
(Ryan/Angie) We couldn’t have happened without technology!! That’s the bittersweet feeling of the digital age. We were born during the height of COVID. We were able to make funny videos and play livestreams and reach people through Instagram without ever playing a show. That’s crazy!
You’ve done so much activist work for women in the music industry. A lot of people want to become activists for causes they care about but don’t know where to start. How did you know what actions to take?
(Angie) I started an audio production certificate program at the University of Washington so that we had some kind of starting point while we recorded ourselves. As Atrocity Girl, we took recording and producing into our own hands after unfortunate experiences with men in the audio engineering field. Yet, there were still no women or people of color in the faculty, and I felt completely underwhelmed. So, I started the Womxn & Audio Facebook group and began inviting teachers from all over the world to come in for interviews and masterclasses for womxn in the industry to really feel like I could learn how to record, mix, and produce music. It’s been an insane year – we’ve spoken to Sylvia Massy, an engineer for Tool, and Susan Rogers, an engineer for Prince. We’re now sponsoring a Mix Like a Girl Summer Boot Camp with Sweetwater, and we launched Gear Fanatix, a forum for underrepresented voices in audio to go for reviews, demos, and a forum. Women make up only 5% of audio engineers, and that needs to change. We can always learn.
What can our readers do to help get involved with your organizations, or just to help women in the music industry in general?
Join our Womxn & Audio Facebook group, check our Gear Fanatix and become a member if you’d like to chat, support us on Patreon for only $1 per month which gets you lots of extra behind the scenes goodies and pre-releases, buy our music on Bandcamp, which goes directly to us (unlike Spotify), and generally just support women in your area!
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover your music?
Instagram @kitty.junk / @atrocitygirl_band
Facebook.com/kittyjunkgirls or facebook.com/atrocitygirl
Website kittyjunk.com / atrocitygirl.com
YouTube
Bandcamp kittyjunk.bandcamp.com / atrocitygirl.bandcamp.com
Anything else you want to add?
Thank you!
