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[Xander] Get ready for some great music
and great stories. Band In Seattle
starts right now.
♪
[Xander] Welcome to Band In Seattle.
I'm Xander Denke, and with me is Abby
Williamson, music writer,
photographer and video blogger,
to talk about tonight's band, Katie Kate.
[Abby] With emotion so raw and flow so
smooth, Katie Kate transcends genres and
expectations more than most stars in Seattle.
You might be surprised to know that she has
classical flute and piano training, because
girl goes hard. She lets herself get so lost in
the song that I half expect her to be
possessed by dead rappers. Hip hop,
electronica, and pop make this New York
native a force to be reckoned with.
[Xander] Indeed. We'll be right back
with Katie Kate.
♪
[Katie Kate] Hi. I'm Katie Kate, and I'm a
musician, composer, performer, producer...
crazy cat lady.
♪You won't even know what to do♪
♪Cause I'm gonna Sadie Hawkins you♪
Master crafter of various crafts, items,
seamstress. I do a lot of sculpey work these
days. I make jewelry. Teacher, philanthropist,
hobbyist, amateur icthyologist, fossil
collector.
♪Why wait for the one day when it's ok♪
[Lena Machina] Kate somehow finds a way
to take all of her interests and put them
into
her music, into her personality. Like, she
knows so much about so many things.
[Kate] I mean, obviously I have many
interests. But none of them are like...
careers, necessarily.
♪
[Lena] Everything that she does is
something really new, but also familiar
at the same time.
♪I guess I'm supposed to know my place♪
[Cookie Snake] There's so many layers to
her and her personality. Sometimes she will
be very musical and...composerly.
Other times she'll be nasty.
♪Brave girls tend to do it best♪
♪Tell me, how does it feel to be prey?♪
♪My eyes are darting♪
♪My heart is warm♪
♪My hands come for you♪
[Lena] She wishes that she could be
more of an enigma-type person,
but she talks too much. [laughs]
[Kate] Well, Sadie Hawkins is very truthful
to my experience as a person and a woman
because I have never in my life waited
for a man to come to me. It's, like,
not in my nature, at all. And sort of
celebrating that as opposed to feeling like
an alien about it.
[Lena] Sadie Hawkins. I didn't know
what it was at first, and she told me that
it's when the girl asks the guy to the dance.
I was like "That's charming, that's cute."
The guitar part that she wrote for it that just
kind of carries through the whole song,
it's like...girlish. But has a really nice, like,
powerful woman message at the same time.
♪
[Kate] My first boyfriend when I was in
eighth grade, I think I walked up to him
in the hall and I said
"So are we going to do this or what?"
[Cookie Snake] There's a middle section
where it kind of planes, and for me that's
the high point of the song. And then Kate
just comes out of it screaming.
♪
♪Where are you going?♪
♪Where? I love you!♪
♪I'm gonna Sadie Hawkins you♪
♪You won't even know what to do♪
♪Cause I'm gonna Sadie Hawkins you so hard♪
♪Yeah, I'm gonna Sadie Hawkins you♪
♪You won't even know what to do♪
♪Cause I'm gonna Sadie Hawkins you so hard♪
[applause]
[Kate] I've been into music my whole life.
I grew up on a farm in upstate New York.
And around fifth grade, I decided I wanted
to play flute. So I got my first flute from
one of my babysitters. It was this old,
beat-up piece of crap, and I would wander
around the farm barefoot and just try to
figure out songs on the flute.
♪Give me a reason♪
♪Just give me a reason♪
♪We was born in the sky sent to rule the earth♪
♪We was born in the sky sent to rule the earth♪
♪We was born in the sky sent to rule the earth♪
♪We was born in the sky sent to rule the earth♪
♪We was born in the sky sent to rule the earth♪
[Kate] When the time came to apply for colleges,
I was feeling really lost because I did not belong
at a conservatory at all.
♪Harpie witch♪
♪Unceremonious ***♪
♪And by the light of the moon♪
♪She has come for you♪
♪Like a terrible beast♪
♪You stood frozen in sight♪
♪You had no idea♪
♪Head lights headlights♪
♪And they flash♪
♪Thunderclap with a crash♪
♪Gimme your heart♪
♪So I can rip it in half♪
♪And she screams and bleeds♪
♪Like a terrible demon♪
[Kate] I auditioned at all these schools on
the east coast that just wanted me to be an
orchestral flute player, and I was just so,
so...not okay with that idea, and it didn't
seem like there was any alternative, so I
really didn't know what I was going to do
with myself.
♪
♪I feel like the very last buffalo♪
♪I feel like the very last buffalo♪
♪Save me, save me♪
♪From myself♪
♪I feel like the very last buffalo♪
♪I feel like the very last buffalo♪
♪Save me, save me♪
♪From myself♪
[Kate] I found Cornish online and I applied,
and my dad paid for me to get some studio
time at this little local studio in Albany, and
I recorded a demo CD of me, like, playing
flute and playing piano and singing, and I
sent that into Cornish and they accepted me.
And I was...blown away.
I did go to Cornish originally for flute,
but it turned out to be something very
different.
♪---ing crater phasing♪
♪When I return, terrestrial burn♪
♪The plains are blazing♪
♪I am one of a kind♪
♪Better run, if I die♪
♪Then the muse dies with me♪
♪And I owe it to you and to me♪
♪And to God to continue my species♪
[Lena] We met at Cornish College of the
Arts. We both entered as classical majors
of sorts. I think she started with flute.
[Kate] Lena is actually an android.
That's all I'm allowed to say.
♪
[Cookie Snake] Lena the Machina?
Just a pure musician. I think she could pick
up a rock off the side of the road and make
it sound like an instrument.
♪
[DJ Radjaw] Lena's another person that can
just...she's like, "Oh yeah, I can play that."
[vocalizing] And then just plays it. Just
like, hears it, plays it, learns it, does it.
Could do anything. She's doing like ninety
things at once, where I'm just, like, trying
not to fall offstage.
♪Around me♪
♪She found me♪
♪I'm lost and dead♪
♪I'm pawing, clawing at the sides♪
♪I'm drawing circles in my head♪
[Kate] Well although Greg was not present
for the taping, Greg is just a crucial element
of Katie Kate.
[DJ Radjaw] I met Kate working at a coffee
shop, Joe Bar, and she went to Cornish and
she'd come in all the time. And her and her
friend Hannah were in a band together,
and they would sing at Joe Bar every now
and then.
♪When I do things my ways, not your ways♪
♪I live with the debt♪
♪Maybe I step on the half beats♪
[DJ Radjaw] She came to me saying
she would love my support to help her out
with the project and whatever I can do to
add to it.
[Kate] Well, Greg was the one who got me
to start rapping. He was the one who
kind of encouraged me.
[Cookie Snake] Greg. Just...husk,
muscle, beard. A cloud of red.
[Kate] Screaming, chanting.
Support, love.
♪Save me, save me♪
♪From myself♪
♪I feel like the very last buffalo♪
♪I feel like the very last buffalo♪
[Cookie Snake] He'll come over and whack
the drum cymbal with his hand, with his
fist. I know he'*** it too hard a few times,
and he's been sorry about it later.
[Lena] But yeah, he definitely jumps around
a lot. He gets on the mic, he makes sure that
people are pumped up, which as a performer
is really helpful.
♪
[Lena] Trent/Cookie Snake...
I think we found him on the side of the road.
Uhh...in the Amazon, I wanna say?
[Kate] We were touring Southern America
and we just saw this little boy
on the side of the road.
[Lena] I think I was also in Egypt that day,
so I wasn't there for that road trip in
particular.
[Kate]We found out later also, we saved
him from the...sort of...underground
luchador fighting circuit.
[Cookie Snake] If you want to entertain,
bring a Mexican wrestling mask.
Because if you pop it out, put it on?
Hey! Guy's wearing a
Mexican wrestling mask!
[DJ Radjaw] He's kind of like the really
nice uncle that just shows up on holidays,
but like, it's once a week, and he just
always thinks it's Christmas or something.
♪The canyon is calling you♪
♪She's calling me too♪
♪Will you close your eyes and jump with me?♪
[Kate] That is the loudest drummer
I've ever heard.
[Cookie Snake] I don't necessarily think
of myself or try to be loud.
♪The water done cut it - yes♪
♪Millennia running, I get it♪
♪I bless my efforts♪
♪They trap me up on the ledge♪
♪I ain't going nowhere♪
♪But over the edge♪
♪I gotta be good♪
♪Do well, get paid♪
♪Keep my head up♪
♪Even when I'm afraid♪
♪And like I said, though my expression is pained♪
♪Nothing ventured, nothing gained♪
♪And I will jump jump jump off the cliff♪
♪And I fall to the bottom♪
♪I can't stay here♪
♪Where I ain't done got 'em♪
♪And the depths call, big fall♪
♪Make straw when the sun shines and I rhyme this♪
[Abby] With a team of Seattle's finest and
most prolific musicians backing her
up-Cookie Snake, Lena Machina, and
DJ Radjaw-Katie Kate is making a name
for herself in Seattle's blossoming
hip hop scene. You wouldn't expect a
blonde girl with a classical piano degree to
spit lyrics like this, did you?
Well, neither did I.
[Xander] I did. We'll be right back
with Katie Kate.
♪
[Cookie Snake] Drift. That one for me is a
really, really cool synth loop that she's got
going through that song, and that's what I
play to.
♪
[Kate] Drift is actually about my complex
post-traumatic stress disorder.
[Lena] Where you kind of drift in and out
of awareness and consciousness.
[Kate] And sometimes it happens when
I'm driving and it's really scary.
♪Cause my temper can't be trusted♪
♪I will roll through streets♪
♪With the stereo loud♪
[DJ Radjaw] I wanna eat donuts while
doing donuts...in a donut truck.
That's what I want to do. Yeah.
[Cookie Snake] On the snare drum, for me,
I'm holding these plastic things called
whips. It's not a brush, like a wire jazz
brush. They're plastic. Got two of those
whips-not just one, two-in one hand.
It mixes well with the sounds and tones
that she has on the beat.
♪You can't see me when I drift♪
♪You can't hear me when I drift♪
♪You can't know me when I drift♪
♪(and you know I whip hard)♪
[DJ Radjaw] The classic 90s rap video
always has, like, guys driving in slow
motion just like...giving peace signs, you
know. Like, it just makes you want to do
that. Like, you just wanna grip the
wheel and move slowly, even though
you're not.
♪They pull a screen across my window♪
♪And the scenes are floating by me♪
♪I am drifting in the snow♪
♪I am drifting in the snow♪
♪I am rolling two feet deep♪
♪I am rolling in this space♪
♪Like rolling over in my sleep♪
[Kate] But it's also about how in the city
there's not really a place to freak out
without freaking anybody else out.
Oftentimes when I'm in my car I will
scream really loud because it's the
only place, if you think about it, that you
can, like, scream, where your neighbors
aren't gonna hear you, no one's going to
call the police, and your car is the
place for that.
♪Can't see me when I drift♪
[Cookie Snake] Anybody that listens to
music or looks at art and says
"That's good or bad."
I'm like, pff! You kidding?
You know what's bad
is that person. So, like...not that there's
any good or bad. Let's retract a little bit.
We don't want any enemies.
We're not haters here.
That's Radjaw and Kate.
They're the haters.
[DJ Radjaw] We're both the grand haters.
We don't like anything.
And if you don't like anything, and...
when you get to that point of just mutually
hating everything, all the really great ----
goes through the cracks and you get to
actually embrace that part, you know.
And we hate us too.
We hate everything.
♪
[Cookie Snake] Zombie. Uh, I know
that song is about a dream and I, too,
am into dreams.
[Kate] I had dreamed that I was in upstate
New York, and I had been kidnapped and
ordered to become trained to be a samurai
to fight the zombies in the zombie
apocalypse.
[Cookie Snake] And then it builds at the
end and it's just a-explodes into this break
beat where I'm just on the rye,
just going to town.
♪
[applause]
♪
♪I am a mountain face♪
♪With a treeline♪
♪You wanna cross me?♪
♪I got tall pines♪
♪I got thick stacks♪
♪Well, maybe not yet♪
♪But I can stand heat♪
♪And I can stand wet♪
♪I will stand tall♪
♪Through the forest fires♪
♪You can't end me♪
♪Stone don't expire♪
♪I got a hard head♪
♪In the best way♪
♪And I'm better than you♪
♪On your best day♪
♪So go ahead now♪
[Kate] Rushmore came about because in
writing this record I had interest from
record labels and people who were sorta
watching me as I was writing. A lot of them
really wanted it to be a rap record, and a lot
of them wanted it to be something else, and
everyone wanted it to be something that
would serve them. I could get a record deal
if I just wanted to write this rap record that
wasn't actually what I really wanted to
write.
♪I give hard looks♪
♪I have hard days♪
♪And I flip rocks♪
♪I got mud teeth♪
♪My low end hot♪
♪You need bas relief♪
♪I am a granite queen♪
♪And that's the way I planned it♪
♪Manage me?♪
♪I can't understand it
♪Embarrassing♪
♪Yeah I'm a bandit♪
♪I don't ask twice♪
♪No, I demand it♪
♪Green top♪
[Cookie Snake] Rushmore is another one
of those statement songs for Kate, the
way I see it.
♪Number one♪
♪Free fall♪
♪Big chills♪
♪Granite mask♪
♪Black hills♪
♪I am a mountain face♪
♪With a treeline♪
♪You wanna cross me?♪
♪I got tall pines♪
♪I am set in stone♪
♪I am Rushmore♪
♪Can't get rid of me so♪
♪Talk less, hush more♪
♪I am set in stone♪
♪I am Rushmore♪
♪Can't get rid of me so♪
♪Talk less, hush more♪
♪I am set in stone♪
♪I am Rushmore♪
♪Can't get rid of me so♪
[DJ Radsnake] But it is the idea of carving
and, you know, more so than just carving
out, like, who you are, but carving your
position. You know, maybe for Kate in this
world, or in this music world, you know.
[Cookie Snake] And I think it's another
strong statement for Kate and for women.
♪I change for no one♪
♪I change for♪
[Cookie Snake] And whether she really
means that, I haven't really ever asked her.
I just like to think about it and have a
meaning that might be something for me.
I don't want to ruin it by asking her.
♪That wasn't enough♪
♪Cuz I'm a granite man♪
♪Can't nothing ever touch me♪
♪But the wind and the sand♪
[Kate] Trying to cater my music to other
people was killing me. So this song just
kind of came out because I was like,
"This is where I'm at. This is it. Bye.
This is what I got." And that empowered
me to continue and finish the record.
♪Free fall♪
♪Big chills♪
♪I said granite mask♪
[Lena] She's a strong woman, and she
doesn't let you forget that when you're
listening to her lyrics. Kate writes all of it.
I'm under her direction completely. You
know, if I have something I want to
change, it's very minor. It's kind of adding
my own flair to a part that already exists.
♪Follow me darling♪
♪Down the rabbit hole♪
♪Don't you worry about nothing♪
♪But glamour and gowns♪
♪Well I met him on the mighty Mississippi♪
♪Didn't think he'd ever look my way but♪
[Lena] I feel so lucky that I can be
twenty-five years old and be, like, pretty
much self-employed or, you know, part of
a band that can pay me and I get to tour
and I get paid to tour and, you know. So
being a professional musician is a lot to
do. If you want it.
[Kate] I don't think anyone would choose
this life. I think people choose it when
they're young, cause they're like "Oh,
it's going to be fun! I'm going to be a
musician! It's great!" Then you can't pay
rent, and you don't have health insurance,
and you're coming up on thirty and you
have very little to show for it. Like, I don't
know what else I would do with myself.
So I've gotta just, like, find a way to make
it work and fortify myself enough to
continue to live this lifestyle.
♪There is nothing more to say♪
♪Just play♪
♪Pray for me♪
♪If you aint' got nothing else to say to me then♪
♪Get away from me♪
♪I will never ever go down willingly and♪
[DJ Radjaw] We love this and we love
the people we're with, and we think we're
doing something really rad so let's share
it. A good song can make your day. You
play it thirty times in a row, and you're
cooking to it, you know?
♪So he pulls me down♪
♪To the belly of the beast♪
♪And the paddle wheel squeaks♪
♪And the damned, they feast♪
♪I ain't given up yet♪
♪You can't make me forget♪
♪I got an open wound♪
♪I gotta talk to you♪
♪But I refuse to surrender to regret so♪
♪Bail out♪
♪If you wanna keep your skin♪
♪Get out♪
♪If you wanna keep it all in♪
♪Shut down♪
♪If you only play to win♪
♪Go now♪
♪If you wanna drink hard♪
♪Go ahead♪
[Kate] I think it's really important to work
hard. I value the work ethic of a lot of
performers where it's like, "You are here to
watch me perform. You are not here to
watch me push a button and not look at
you and pretend I'm too cool to engage
you in any way." You know, sometimes I
speak to my siblings and they're like,
"You realize people pay money to just,
like, watch you do a thing." And I'm like,
"You know...you're right." Like, that's
extraordinary. Most people don't have
that experience.
[applause]
[Xander] All right, that's it for tonight's
Band In Seattle. If you want to hear more,
check us out on BandInSeattle.com, where
you can hear full concerts and find links
for more information about our bands and
where they're playing next. Abby?
[Abby] And if you want to join me in
navigating this rich and beautiful music
scene, hit me up on YouTube. If you type
in my name, I'll be right there.
[Xander] Thanks for watching. Join us next
week for more great music and more great
stories on Band In Seattle.