Kate Nash

QRO talked to That Grrrl, U.K. songstress Kate Nash. ...

Kate Nash : Q&A QRO talked to That Grrrl, U.K. songstress Kate Nash.  In the conversation, Nash talked about her current U.S. tour, this year’s My Best Friend Is You (QRO review), the dreaded ‘sophomore jinx’, girl groups & riot grrrls, one freaky fan who isn’t her Best Friend, line-dancing in “Later On”, a husband for “Mariella”, and more…

 

 

QRO: How has this American tour been going?

Kate Nash: It’s been going really well, thank you.  I’ve done a lot of shows this year, been on tour for a long time – I feel like we’ve kind of grown to a really good level, and that we’re doing the best shows of the whole year, really.

QRO: How does it compare with your prior tour of the States, back in May?

KN: It’s different.  Playing different songs, developed musically.  Also, we’ve developed a bit of production for the stage.

QRO: Are you playing more from the newer record?

KN: I’m definitely playing a lot of stuff from the new record.  I’m playing a couple of songs that I haven’t played in a long time, which is nice.  It’s a good mix of the two records.

QRO: What songs are you playing on this tour that you haven’t played in a long time?

KN: “Mariella”, “Skeleton Song”, “Birds” – some of the record that people like to hear that I haven’t played in a long time.

QRO: You say you have more production on this tour – Do you have a bigger backing band, traveling with more people?

KN: It’s not really the band; it’s the stage, how it looks and stuff.  I got really into how it looks, visually – it’s a lot of light bulbs, trying to set the weather and stuff; kind of create my own little world on stage.

QRO: Where did you get the idea for the current stage setting?

KN: I just wanted to create my own little world, so we based the idea on weather, and this installation that I’d seen of this whole studio, covered with light bulbs.  Loads and loads of light bulbs – it looks really pretty.

Kate Nash playing “R n B Side” live at Terminal 5 in New York, NY on November 19th, 2010:

QRO: How did making My Best Friend Is You compare to making Made of Bricks (QRO review)?

KN: Completely different, you know?  Completely different experience.

I did [Made], it took forever – I kind of wrote it in my bedroom, by myself.  The other one, I kind of had to lock myself away in a dingy place.  I needed to get the ‘fun back’, you know?  Of playing music, and enjoying it, and writing songs, and enjoying it.

And also, I’d been on the road for a long time, playing lots of live gigs.  I think that it changes the way that you think about music.  I think that it changes the way you think about music.  I play way more instruments – I play bass, I play drums, more guitar, went back to learning piano.  It was definitely a different experience.

QRO: Did you feel particular pressure to avoid the ‘sophomore jinx’?

KN: Yeah, of course.  It’s hard to escape that.  I worried about, not necessarily a ‘jinx’, but I think some people think you’re writing a record for the sake of writing one, because you need to write one, not because you actually want to.  So we just wanted to make sure, the most important thing about the time and the songs were utterly fun – and good.  I wanted to write good songs.  I did whatever I had to do to make that happen, really.  Luckily, my label, they were very supportive.

Kate Nash playing “Paris” live at Terminal 5 in New York, NY on November 19th, 2010:

QRO: Did you go into making Friend intentionally trying to do something different than Bricks?

KN: It was very important to… I just didn’t want to recreate anything.  I definitely wanted to grasp, and grow up, in ways – I think every writer wants to do that.

QRO: What new influences came in, this time ‘round?

KN: Yeah.  I soaked up a lot of sixties girl groups, and also nineties riot grrrl bands, like Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, and stuff like that.  That was mainly what I was listening to.

QRO: So the spelling of ‘Grrrl’ on “Kiss That Grrrl” a tip of the hat to Riot Grrrls…

KN: Yeah, it was like a ‘nod’ to that, yeah.

QRO: A lot of the songs on both records refer to types of people or situations – were you thinking of specific person or situation for, say, “Kiss That Grrrl”, or more sort of a general type of things that have happened?

KN: I think it’s more general feeling of situations.  I think everybody kinda feels… everyone has those feelings of insecurity and jealousy, sometimes.  I kind of wanted to write a take on that, just because it’s true and funny, and it’s not something to be ashamed or embarrassed about – everybody feels that sometimes, you know?

QRO: Yeah, I’ve noticed that you don’t use proper names – the only one I can think of is ‘Mariella’.  Is there a ‘Mariella’ of “Mariella”?

KN: Have you ever seen Vincent by Tim Burton?  It’s a short film he made really, really early on in his career.  It’s an animation.  He’s really serious, and he’s seven years old.  He has a dead wife, and he wishes he were like a mad scientist with a zombie dog and stuff.  His mum’s like, ‘Go outside & enjoy the sunshine!’  And he’s like, ‘No, but I have a widow…’  And he hasn’t.

To me, Mariella – those two would end up together.  Perfect couple.

Tim Burton’s Vincent:

 

QRO: Why did both records have hidden tracks, forcing the listener to fast-forward?

KN: I like hidden tracks; I just think they’re cool.

Sometimes, you have a song that you want to put on the record, and it doesn’t necessarily fit on there, and I think it’s kind of cool to put a secret track on there.  That’s what a lot of bands that I like did, like on [Nirvana’s Nevermind].  It’s what a lot of bands did, and I think it’s fun.

QRO: Do you have any new, post-Friend songs?

KN: I’ve got one song that I’ve been working on, but it’s not finished.

To be honest, I haven’t written anything for a while.  I’ve been so busy.  I just haven’t had the time, really.

QRO: When you write new material, do you test it live, before going into the studio, like in front of a crowd?

KN: I did, with a few of the songs, I did a few really small shows, but I’ve never really ‘tested’ anything.

If I don’t think a song’s good, then I wouldn’t bother finishing the song, or I’d forget about it.  Whereas if I finish a song, or I’m into it, I’ll keep thinking about it loads.  The ones that I don’t finish or I forget about are the songs that I’m believing aren’t very good… [laughs]

QRO: Have you ever gone back and discovered something, or used a part of something in something else?

KN: I’ve attempted to do that, but usually I just get tired.  I get bored of stuff that I’m not into it.  If I’m not into the whole thing, I’ll try to rearrange it or whatever, but I can just never be bothered to think of it, really…

Kate Nash playing “Pumpkin Soup” live at Terminal 5 in New York, NY on November 19th, 2010:

 

QRO: A few years ago, you seemed to really ‘blown up’.  How have you been able to ‘keep it real’, or have you gone all ‘rock star’?

KN: I would say I’m still grounded about things.  I’m not really into people being dicks just because they’re musicians.  I think it’s really lame when people do that.

QRO: Naming your record ‘My Best Friend Is You’ – do you get over-eager fans that want to run on stage & hug you or the like?

KN: Yeah, I’ve seen that before. [laughs]

I’ve got one guy in the U.K. who’s really scary.  He kind of freaks me out – he’s older than me, and he’s quite a big guy, and he’ll try to jump on me and try to kiss me and stuff, and that stuff I think is really weird & not cool.

QRO: It seems like critics have always wanted to compare you to someone else – have there been any particularly ridiculous ones that you remember, or do you not pay attention to them?

KN: I try not to pay attention to them anymore.  I just find it kind of annoying.  But that’s media – it’s always going to happen, really.  People just like making comparisons, I think.  So I just ignore it.

QRO: What was it like making the video for “Later On”?

KN: It was really fun.

It was quite stressful, because basically I had to organize it.  I had to drive myself to the shoot at 5:30 in the morning.  It was quite an intense day.

But it was really fun.  My friends were in it.  I basically co-directed it; I wrote the treatment.  I think it’s so much more fun… if you come up with the idea, it’s always a lot more fun, I think.

QRO: Was that some sort of line dance you were doing in the video?

KN: It was a little bit like a line dance.  It was a sort ‘dance move’ that we came up with.  I wanted it to be quite goofy dancing.  I never liked slick, ‘pro dancing’.

Kate Nash’s video for “Later On”:

Categories
Interviews
  • Anonymous
    at
  • No Comment

    Leave a Reply

    Album of the Week