Vents MagaZine Music and Entertainment Magazine
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1. Hi guys, welcome to VENTS! How have you been? It’s been a crazy year here in Minnesota. So that’s a big question, but having the opportunity to discuss music is a wonderful distraction. Thank you for listening to the record.
2. So after more than 25 years of songwriting, how has your creative voice evolved, and what do you feel you’re expressing now that you couldn’t earlier in your career? I started writing these songs after the breakup of my longtime ‘Katy Vernon Band’ as we all emerged from the pandemic. It felt like such a huge let down after a year of no shows and throughout 2020 I had been so looking forward to gigging again. I had already missed performing so much that this breakup felt like the end of my music career. It didn’t help that the band name was my name. So I felt like I was done!
I have always written very personal songs and explored heavy topics but the well felt dry. I was so sick of singing about myself and felt I had no more stories to tell. It turns out that was the depression taking the wheel! realized early on that I didn’t want to stay sad and angry. I wanted to pick myself up, dust myself off, and do something better. I actually had Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ in mind as I worked on song ideas. I wrote these songs to encourage myself to keep going. I would write one and then send it to Paul Odegaard (Trumpet) who was the only member of the KV Band to want to continue and he was super encouraging. The fear of starting over became a fire in my belly to get bolder, louder, braver.
3. You describe the project as “Feminist Resistance Rock.” What does that term mean to you, and how does it shape both your music and your live performances? The first part about being feminist was really clear to me. I knew I wanted to be on stage with other women. I love performing solo, and I loved being in a band, but I didn’t want to be the only woman on stage with a band anymore. I had already done that for 25 years! I wanted to experiment with female harmonies. I wanted to stand in between a woman on lead guitar, a woman on bass, and feel the power of a woman on drums behind me. It’s important to me to not be standing in front of everyone but to be lined up all singing together. Every song was about empowerment and I knew I wanted to collaborate and lift up other women as a part of that.
As Minnesota became ground zero after the George Floyd murder I started to get more active politically. I wrote the song ‘Not Going Back’ about the pandemic and the uprisings here in MN in 2020. I daydreamed about how that moment in time might lead to a new future where people would be kinder and not go back to divisiness and hate. Ummmm wishful thinking! That song evolved into a rallying cry against all of the cruelty of the administration and specifically the targeting of women and immigrants (I am an immigrant, just not one currently being targeted due to white privilege).
I was invited to sing it at the first ‘No Kings’ march. The more I placed myself in places where politics was happening the more online hate I started to receive, but it made me aware that speaking up is a right that I want to protect and it only makes me feel more confident that I have a duty to use my voice to help other people who cannot. I have always been full of empathy and that can be looked at as a weakness but people without it worry me. It is not an option for me to look away from suffering. I feel honored that people want to hear from me. Finding other activists, community leaders, and musicians that all want to use our stages to raise awareness of issues and raise funds for folks helping each other has helped give me a sense of purpose. I am proud to be a member of the Minnesota Music Resistance.
4. There’s a strong sense of empowerment and self-ownership throughout the album—was there a specific moment or experience that sparked that shift in perspective?
It’s funny because one of the lyrics I wrote early on from the song ‘Back Up Plan’ is “If you don’t want me just as I am, what you think of me ain’t worth a damn” It was a moment where I felt like maybe it was too harsh, that it made me unlikeable, and then I realized how repressed I was. Like many GenX women I have been raised to be “Nice”. I am a recovering people pleaser and have shrunk myself to fit inside way too many occasions throughout my career. So THAT became a life lesson. To stop censoring myself. As I wrote with less fear I started to find the humor too. The lead track of the record is called ‘Thank You’ and is a tongue in cheek tribute to Mansplaining. I don’t even have to explain it to women. They hear the beginning of the song and immediately start to laugh before I even call out bad behavior in the verses. It feels really liberating to speak up and to do it with humour too. I have had so many instances of rejection over the years and never felt like I fit the mold of what the music business is looking for. So instead of complaining about that or worse giving up, I decided to call it out but do it with a wink.
5. You’ve worked with Kevin Bowe multiple times now—what makes that creative partnership so special, and how did it influence the sound of this record?
The best thing about Kevin is how supportive he is. Early on in our working career he called me one of the best songwriters in MN. No best “female” anything. That shouldn’t stand out, but it truly does. Being a woman in music isn’t a genre, and I wish more people wouldn’t separate the categories and would just listen to the music. I struggle with confidence and always feel like I have to prove myself. With Kevin I never felt that. I could say I wanted a crunchy sound, or a fizz on a track and he would punch some buttons and capture exactly what I meant. It feels like he can read my mind. I love sitting beside him and going through final mixes because he is always open to experimenting. He is also very efficient and I had to learn to trust that process. I used to always want to do so many takes of a vocal and now I trust that when he knows he has what he needs then it’s good. I have become a lot more confident as a result and know when I have nailed something. The band had a great time doing their sessions too. He brings a levity to the studio that seems to bring out the best in everyone.
6. The album has this truly great infectious, high-energy feel all while still carrying meaningful messages. How do you go about balancing having fun with delivering something deeper? I am so glad it came out that way. I LOVE pop music. I think that many years of listening to ABBA, Madonna, Blondie etc have left a mark. I love a great sad song, but I also wanna bop. On my last record I had a song called ‘Latest Disaster’ and it was a disco tune about the worst summer of my life. I was SO depressed when I wrote it. I was actually crying in my shower when I thought of the chorus. That is some weird songwriting magic! It helped me face some serious stress in my life and performing that song live felt transformative. As a long time ukulele player I describe myself as ‘Singer of sad songs on a happy instrument’ and that has evolved into the band sound too. It’s like a spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. I like to imagine that anyone who would have a problem with some of the feminist messaging would have a hard time not tapping their toes along with the songs. Feminism isn’t about making people feel bad, it’s about equality and pointing out the injustice that goes along with the patriarchy.
One of the most vulnerable songs on the record is ‘Kissing Boys’. It’s an Americana hooky jam, but is about sexual abuse I experienced as a child at Church Camp! I was 12 years old and my mum had just died. I was easy prey and yet I was made to feel like I initiated it. I never thought I would write about that experience and I didn’t want to do it in a trivial way. As we live through the post ‘Me Too’ era I wanted to be open about how it affected me. I wanted to go back in time and tell little Katy that it wasn’t her fault. That men in power do not get to dictate how we speak up. I have started to hear other women my age speak out about how they are not just discovering who they are in their later years, but instead they are learning who they always were. I wanted to get back to that girlhood joy I felt before it was taken away.
7. Being part of an almost entirely female-powered band adds another layer to the project—how has that dynamic impacted the music and the overall energy? The women in my band are all younger than me and that has been a fascinating discovery to see how they feel about being musicians. They haven’t experienced being the only woman in practice rooms, green rooms, and stages. To them it is normal to surround yourself with other women. They also all at various times attended She Rock She Rock camps. A fantastic MN organization that runs Rock Camps for girls and non binary youth. Where you form a band, learn instruments, write songs, make merch, and do a rock show. It is massively empowering and many of these girls go on to form bands and continue long after the camp. Allie (lead guitar) and Alyse (drums) formed a teenage band that Daisy (bass) saw perform when she was just a child and Favourite Girl benefits from the lifelong connections. I am blown away by how fast they all learn songs and feel a massive sense of encouragement playing with them all. Even as I sing about finding my own confidence on stage I am buoyed by their confidence. There is such a strong sense of sisterhood on stage. Alongside that is a huge acknowledgement of appreciation for our Favourite Boy, Paul. He was the only member of my last band to stay by my side and encourage me to keep going. On my worst days when I thought I would never put another band together he told me that these songs had to be heard. He is the ultimate ally and cheerleader.
8. The idea of “being your own favourite” sounds interesting. What advice would you give to listeners who are still struggling to reach that level of self-acceptance?It has been a long road to get to where I am today. I think key aspects have been that the idea of giving up just wasn’t an option. There is nothing I enjoy more than singing. So if I only do that for other people’s approval and I let people dictate when and where I can do that then I have truly lost a part of myself. Whatever you enjoy doing you should do. There is no such thing as a guilty pleasure. Life is hard and if you never make time to do the things you love then you will miss out on so much. I sing in an ABBA tribute act (ABBASolutely Fab) and singing and dancing songs that people love, in disco boots and sparkles really helped with my anxiety! It has seeped into every aspect of my life. I don’t feel afraid to be bold and shiny and silly anymore. I gave up many years ago on trying to be cool. Even the online trolls that have targeted me after any political events I am a part of have made me stronger. When you give up on the idea of everyone having to like you then you are truly free. I want everyone to look in the mirror and be happy with who they see. No one should be their own bully.
9. Looking back at your journey between the UK and the Twin Cities music scenes, how have those different environments shaped who you are as an artist today?
I was only 21 when I left London so I never got to explore the scene there back then. My UK singing was all theatre based and when I dreamt of a career I was looking towards Broadway! Once I was in Minneapolis I realized it wasn’t the acting I loved, it was the singing. I had always written songs so I started to look at that as my focus. My first Minneapolis band ‘The Camdens’ released a record in 2000 and here I am 26 years later still at it!
The wonderful thing that has changed in the last 10 years is that I have started to tour the UK annually via the ukulele circuit!. I went in 2017 for a 6 week tour. I played two large Ukulele Festivals and I self booked 19 gigs throughout the UK. It was epic and introduced me to so many people that I now look forward to seeing each year. I traveled around the entire country and got to see more of the UK than when I lived there. I even wrote half of my last record there. So I have more of a sense of home now in both countries and that has healed parts of me that I didn’t know needed it. My last record was even named ‘Best International Ukulele Album’ by Uke Magazine in the UK and I am so grateful for this whole other avenue to perform in. I am now exploring more ukulele events in the States too.
10. With Favourite Girl marking such a confident and unapologetic era, what’s next for you creatively—do you see yourself pushing this sound even further or exploring new directions?
I truly hope that people enjoy this record and that we get the opportunity to play some shows.I am not thinking much beyond that yet, but I am extremely happy with how it turned out and really enjoy this band. I feel open to anything really. 5 years ago I was afraid that I would never write another song, form a band, release a record… and I did it all. So what’s next is truly open and I just want to get louder and see who I meet along the way. Thank you for such great questions!
