INTERVIEW



Check out pictures from the interview here!

Imagine checking your Myspace one day to find a personal message from Tom expressing interest in your music. That’s exactly what happened to Ohio native Kate Voegele last year before she penned a deal with the websites label MySpace Records. With the help of Tom and company she’s gone on to record and release Don’t Look Away, her label debut, and has already attracted quite the buzz around her flourishing music career. Sticking to her roots Kate has created a CD that is filled with catchy and relatable lyrics unlike any of todays artificial pop songs. If you’re looking for a refreshing musical change check her out on tour with The Click Five and Teddy Geiger through the end of June, and pick up her CD Don’t Look Away in stores now.

You’re fairly new to the music scene – For those who may not be familiar with who you are can you give some background on how you got started?
I started when I was fifteen; it was the first time I ever picked up a guitar. My dad has played since he was a teenager and I asked him to teach me to play because I thought it would be fun. I started songwriting because I thought it would be fun, just for the hell of it. It turned out that he came into my room and listened to some of the stuff I was putting down and I was mortified because I didn’t want anyone to hear what I was writing.

He was like, “This is really good, and I would really love if you’d let me help you record this. You know make better demos of this so we can play it for some people”.

And I was like, “I’m not really sure about that,” then I was like “what ever, all right” so my dad and I put together some demos. It was crazy – we gave it to a couple of people and got a really great response, I was really surprised. So it snowballed into getting some good gigs out of the demos we put together, so I hired a local producer to put together a better quality [demo] to sell at shows, and started playing a lot of gigs out in Cleveland and in the Mid West, and hired a publicist, started doing some marketing, then labels started calling. It was sort of like Oh! Can I really do this? I didn’t even know what it meant to get signed at the get go. It all really just started five years ago, that’s as long as I’ve been doing this.

You were signed to MySpace Records in October (2006) how did that deal come about for you?
It was crazy actually. It’s pretty appropriate that it came about through MySpace because it is MySpace Records. I was on MySpace one day and had a message from Tom in my inbox, a real message. I [thought it] was a mass email that he sent to everybody, but all it said was “Hi I’m Tom, are you signed yet?” and I figured for sure it was fake. I responded just incase it was Tom, and it was, it was so weird. He had me come out and showcase for him and his new label and I went in pretty skeptical because I was like, “MySpace.com has a record label?”. When I got there I learned a lot about the label and what their vision was for an indie label, and what they thought needed to be changed in the music business and how MySpace could help. I had been pretty frustrated with labels that I had met with because none of the deals ended up seeming like the right thing. When I was walking into the labels and heard the A&R guys tell me, “I signed eleven acts last year and only three of them ended up putting out records”. I was like, “oh yeah, sign me up.. I’d love to be a million dollars in debt to you and never put out a record”. They’ll strike out ninety nine percent of the time to get one home run that they know is going to go platinum because the artist has visibility on TV. That sucks, I do this because I like to play music and I want people to appreciate my music, not because some other reason that I know will sell records. MySpace sounded really intriguing and it ended up being the right thing and we signed the deal this fall. It’s been really awesome, it’s so artist friendly, I know everybody at my label. When I go over to the offices it’s like hanging out with friends, and they listen. I can call and talk to people and say I have an idea; they’re very flexible so that’s awesome. I get the best of both worlds for me. Plus it’s an indie label so I’m not in debt a million dollars for my records because we can make a great record for a reasonable amount of money. It was great, I’m really excited to be there for sure.

Do you think being signed to MySpace Records gives you an advantage over other labels considering the amount of people who use MySpace?
Definitely. MySpace has this ridiculous marketing platform that costs absolutely nothing to use. When you think about it there are 200 million people on MySpace. I was looking at Toms page the other day and some kid had posted a comment that said, do you realize that MySpace would be the tenth largest country if it were it’s own country. It’s true; you can really reach a ridiculous amount of people. Everyone on Myspace, people’s moms are on MySpace! Sure an artist who’s signed to a major label that’s going to spend x amount of dollars on marketing and just market the shit out of it with radio is going to have an advantage over me because they have those resources, but MySpace makes up for it with their marketing tools. I’m kind of a guinea pig, but it’s ok with me. I’d rather be that.

Your major label debut, Don’t Look Away, was just released (May 07), did you do anything special for the release?
We had a CD release party in Cleveland where I’m from and it was awesome. It was at the House of Blues and we packed the place, it was great. I had my whole band out playing and it was really fun to have friends and family out. It was a good week. I was a little bit nervous because there was all this build up and we’re finally releasing it, but it feels good to have it out.

How did the recording process for Don’t Look Away compare to your other independent releases?
It was very different just because I was out in LA. The only other things I’ve recorded was one of my EP’s in Cleveland, which was great, we did it in a guys basement. The other EP that I recorded was in LA but I was there for four days. For this I was in LA for a month at least doing pre production, and laying down tracks, and doing overdubs, and vocals and stuff. It was so much fun just because I got the feel for what it’s like to make a record. The musicians who played on the record were just ridiculous. These guys came in not knowing any of these songs. I would teach it to them and we would play it a couple times in the control room. Then they’d go out there and just kill it, and come up with these amazing parts. It was definitely different but in a very good way.

For a while you’ve been balancing college and a music career – how is that coming along, and has it been tough?
I graduated high school and I there wasn’t a record deal on the table yet that I was feeling drawn to. There wasn’t a tour or anything holding me back from going to college. So I [figured] I might as well go I like just being a normal kid. I went and it ended up being a great career move because it got my name out there, I played on campus a ton. I went four hours away from home at Miami University in Oxford Ohio, by Cincinnati. I went and it was great, it was really hard to balance though. I started out as an art major and really wanted to do that but it was way too hard to miss studios because I was always going to New York, or doing shows, and showcasing so I’d be gone for a couple days every so often. So this last semester I was finishing up my Sophomore year and all this stuff was coming about – making the record, I was going on tour, I was getting ready to release my album and I missed the last month of school. I got this sweet tour and I was like, “forget it man, I’m going on tour”. This last semester was incredibly hard. I’m pretty sure I have an incomplete in one of my classes because I missed the final. I might have to work on that. So I’m done with school and classes for a while but it was great and I’m so glad I did it. It was something I definitely needed to do. It was a good experience.

Who do you look up to musically?
My influences come from all over the place but what has inspired me is stuff I grew up listening to that my parents loved like, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Carol King, Joni Mitchell, just classic stuff. It’s so easy to fake everything because of pro tools and all of the technology, so all of that classic artistic music really inspires me to still make that kind of music now. Other stuff that has inspired me a lot is my favorite artist ever Patti Griffin. She’s kind of understated, not like mainstream, more like folk, but she’s amazing at blending infectious melodies with really meaningful lyrics. I think that’s the hardest thing to achieve especially with pop music where you don’t necessarily have to have that it’s not a requirement for a good song. I love Ryan Adams, Jeff Buckley, stuff like that is where I draw most of my influence from, but it’s really all over the place it could be anything.

Is there anybody you’d like to collaborate with or write a song for?
It’s so much fun co-writing and collaborating with people because you come up with something you never would have thought of before. It’s a mix of two people’s ideas. It would be cool to collaborate with people I look up to. I would love to write, or sing, with Patti Griffin or Ryan Adams, they’re two of my favorites. There’s a bunch of songwriters who name-dropping wouldn’t do anything for because people don’t know the face behind the music. There’s a ton of writers that I’m looking forward to working with. It’s not about the credit or who gets what percentage it’s awesome to share ideas with someone else. What ever gives you the best song, you know?

You’re on tour with The Click Five right now – how have the fan responses been on this part of the tour?
It’s been awesome. I didn’t know what to expect going in because you never know. I think it’s a really good combo. They have some great music and really dedicated fans. A lot of them are younger girls, teenage girls, and college girls, which I think is definitely a market for my music so it’s been awesome. I’m a twenty year old girl myself so I write songs that a lot of them can relate to and I hope a lot of them can relate to. I think it was definitely a great match up for this tour, and hopefully I think Teddy Geiger will be to. I was on tour with Josh Kelly before this and he’s totally different, but that was great too. One of the other things that I really try to achieve with my music is appeal to pretty much anyone. I think it can be done and it’s a challenge for me. It’s an art form and I want to see how broadly I can appeal to people and how much of a diverse audience I can make for myself because it can only help you.

What are your future touring plans?
I think that I’ll be on the road for a good amount of the rest of the year. We don’t figure it out until three weeks before so I’m booked till the end of June right now, but I don’t know what I’ll be doing after that. I know I’ll be on the road, and I couldn’t be more excited. I love to travel, and we’re in a van, and we’re staying in the Econo Lodge, but it makes it fun. I’m a pretty easygoing and low maintenance person so it’s fun. I’m someone who will do most anything for a funny story so what could be better? It’s great; I’m having a great time.

(The following questions were taken at random from the stupid book of questions)
If you were a doughnut what kind would you be?
It’s a tough call because those éclair donuts are really good, but I think I’d be a chocolate glazed doughnut with rainbow sprinkles on it. I use to always get those on Saturday mornings. When my mom went out of town pretty much every meal we ate was fast food, I have the worst diet ever.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life which food would it be?
I would totally eat Milky Way midnights for the rest of my life. It’s like a Milky Way but it’s a dark chocolate Milky Way, it’s so good. Obviously that would suck if it really happened but I lived right by this marketplace at school last year and for some reason I always had to have Milky Way Midnights in my room. I definitely have to change my diet habits pretty soon.


For more information on Kate Voegele check out her official website at: www.katevoegele.com and drop her a comment on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/katevoegele