Leaving our bunkers

Livestreaming into the void

And just like that, we played our last live show last March 14 (2020). We had so much planned to support the "Late Bloomer" album - a release party, several summer festivals, a regular gig in NYC...and then we didn't. None of the awards shows we'd been finalists for were recorded before a live studio audience. Unfortunately, as a front-line worker, Katye didn't feel safe working in person with the band, so we all did even more Zoom calls than we did for work. Livestreams do not work if you're not all in the same place.

So what to do? We did a couple of live streams as Summer gave way to Fall, but doing them regularly on our own was beyond our personal technical capabilities. 

A second album.  That's what to do. Social distanced in the studio, recording individually, lovingly blended together by the brilliant Evan Rudenjak. And it's available now - Sophomore Slump is now available on all fine streaming services.

Validation 

After all these years, it's kind of strange waking up one morning to over 50K streams on Spotify. The promoters who want you to follow their "system" to DIY riches in music promotion would scoff that so small a number means anything at all. Certainly we're not getting rich from all those streams. So who cares?  We do. What it means is that someone is listening, and apparently liking, what they hear. 

 

That's all we need to keep going.

...Can you hear me now? 

I’ve been writing music since I was 14 years old. It’s always been how I’ve processed my experiences. Over 35 years ago my all-female Punk band was almost signed to a record deal, but we were asked to "tone it down" and "act a little sexier" - among other things. Unfortunately, we all agreed that contract negotiations should not have been conducted horizontally...

I've  gotten  tired of just being the “chick singer”...I've had it up to here with being told (I) "can't possibly put out a record at my age/size/ health status". My musical abilities have nothing to do with external appearance. How do you “watch” music? 

So I empowered myself – I recorded and self-released a 3-song EP for the first time in 35 years. I've named my own label after one of my dogs, obtained copyrights by myself, and figured out how all this streaming stuff works. I'm still writing more music, and I have about another hundred songs that I'd like to record and share, but am saving up to do so since I'm not likely to get a label to support it. I've surrounded myself with wonderful, creative, talented bandmates and we're going back into the studio to finish recording our first LP, "Late Bloomer" in Summer, 2019.

I’d love to hear from other artists walking the same path - the unlikely rock stars who don’t look or think or sound like the clones presently masquerading as representative voices. Please reach out to me at katyekellye@gmail.com