In this interview feature, we speak with Nashville’s kettleflower to discuss influences, their latest project and much more.
Q&A, links and a stream of their album, Warning Bells, can be found 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.)
Mike and I are both from Nashville (though I actually grew up in North Carolina). We come from pretty different places musically – I’m a singer-songwriter with a background in classic rock and folk music; I declare my devotion to Simon & Garfunkel with pride. But Mike is a producer-engineer who grew up playing alternative – the real kind, before it became a genre – Pixies, Hüsker Dü, and the like.
We met a few years ago when I recorded a couple of EPs at his studio and we got along really well. A while back he was telling me about this backlog of instrumental tracks he had recorded and I hatched the idea of writing lyrics and melodies to the tracks. I needed a change from acoustic guitars and shakers and cellos and all the stuff I had been working with for several years. So over the course of a year I took his tracks, wrote melodies and lyrics, did a little rearranging, then cut the vocals. It was totally a hobby project for both of us but we were really pleased with what we created. It ended up sounding like ’90s alternative, I guess you could say.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
Mike and I are purists in a lot of ways – we’d rather plug away in obscurity making music that comes to us naturally, music we like to make, than to chase so many elusive trends. Britpop was a huge influence on me, and when I was choosing which of Mike’s tracks to write to, I leaned toward ones in that neighborhood and was happy to live out some of my Britpop fantasies from my teens and early twenties. Unfortunately for us, we’re about 20 years too late! But Mike and I really believe deeply in making music for its own sake (and for our own sanity really).
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?
Besides the classic rock I grew up with, I got a healthy dose of exposure to jazz and classical, some jam bands in there too. I think that left me with the sense that there should be something a little unconventional in whatever you make. Ultimately I’m looking for an emotional connection with a hook or lyric, so it should always be accessible, but I like for there to be something different or maybe even challenging – an unexpected chord or time signature, a stark dynamic contrast, a quirky instrument – something to make the listener think or grab the attention.
Mike has been involved with musicians of every stripe you can imagine as an engineer in Music City, so he’s got a great spirit of openness to whatever you suggest. But he is also good at reigning you in when you’re off the mark. He brings a lot of electronic and heavier influences to kettleflower, and I really like the juxtaposition of those more intense elements in the tracks with my soft voice and gentle delivery.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
Our EP, Warning Bells, is our first release. I was determined to do something very different from my solo project (called prattle on, rick.) and to challenge myself creatively. Because the tracks were already there, I had to work within those confines and tried my best not to completely rework the tracks. Sometimes they didn’t go in a direction I would normally go; I tend to distinguish an A section from a B section by changing the chord progression, but these tracks were more basic, so I had to use changes in melody, rhythm, and lyrics to move the song along. I also tried to think more globally, less personally, when writing the lyrics. They came out of many discussions Mike and I have had over the years, particularly our concerns about social issues in the U.S.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
It’s hard to describe how much things have changed since 1996, when I first started playing guitar, and 2006, when I first stepped onto a stage with a band. Ten years ago the iPod and YouTube were infants, and DAWs were becoming more and more affordable. Since then the proliferation of artists and releases is astounding. When Mike and I first started making music together, in 2013 we came up with a name – stickman – and from what we could tell it wasn’t taken. Three years later when we were ready to release this EP we checked again and there were about 5 stickmans out there! I think it’s driven us to become even more puritan in our commitment to making music we like. The odds are nearly impossible that you can stand out without selling out.
But the positive is that we can make a lot of music easily and quickly and conveniently. For this EP I recorded all my vocal tracks and any other instrumental bits at home and sent them to Mike via Dropbox so he could mix them in. And the access to licensing and online streaming services has meant a small but steady stream of income that wouldn’t have been possible 10 years ago.
How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?
I miss music stores big time. I think about it every time I pass by what used to be Tower Records on West End and Great Escape on 21st. Because music was contained only on those media and available from those stores, it felt more special, more valuable than it does now. I loved searching for new music, reading the liner notes, reading books and magazines to learn about bands and the process of making music. I grew up listening to my parents’ vinyl, and I when I started buying music it was always cassettes, and I exchanged many a mixtape with friends in high school. It all used to be very personal, physical, intimate. Now…I shudder to say it, but it’s as if music is less special.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
We’ll be releasing music only through Bandcamp for the foreseeable future – at kettleflower.bandcamp.com – and there are a few songs up on Soundcloud and YouTube. We’re also at facebook.com/kettleflower.
Anything else before we sign off?
You can download our first single – “The 99” – for free at https://kettleflower.bandcamp.com/track/the-99
