An
Exclusive Interview
with
Kate Pierson
with
Kate Pierson
By
Stephen SPAZ Schnee
As
one of the founding members of The B-52s,
Kate Pierson’s career has been an
exciting and influential one to say the least. Forming in 1976, the quirky
Athens, GA-based quintet released their debut album three years later and
ignited a retro-fied New Wave movement with the single “Rock Lobster.” Though
many critics thought the single and the band would be quickly forgotten, both
have become synonymous with good times and great music. Nearly four decades
later, no club party is complete without spinning “Rock Lobster” and watching
the dancefloor go wild – it is an exhilarating sight to see. However, “Rock
Lobster” does not define who The B-52s are. Yes, they are one of the greatest
‘party’ bands ever, but they also wrote some other great tunes along the way
including “Planet Claire,” “Private Idaho,” “Party Out Of Bounds,” “Roam,”
“Deadbeat Club,” “Give Me Back My Man,” and “Summer Of Love.” And let’s not
forget the enormously successful “Love Shack,” a massive hit that reintroduced
the band to a new generation a decade after “Rock Lobster”! Thankfully, The
B-52s – Pierson, Fred Schneider, Cindy
Wilson and Keith Strickland –
are still touring and raising the roof everywhere they go. They don’t record
quite as often as fans would prefer, but when they do release new music, they
never disappoint.
While her day job with The B-52s has kept Kate Pierson pretty busy over
the years, she has been able to branch out and work with other artists
including Iggy Pop (“Candy”) and R.E.M. (“Shiny Happy People”). And
while Fred Schneider was able to squeeze in some solo releases, Kate has never
released a project under her own name – until now, that is. Guitars
And Microphones is the long awaited debut solo album from Pierson, and
it was well worth the wait. Alongside executive producer (and co-songwriter Sia), producer/musician Tim Anderson, and musicians Chris Braide (who is also a well-known
producer), Nick Valensi (The Strokes) and others, Pierson has
created a masterful album that contains ten slices of glorious modern Pop that
solidifies her as one of the most unique voices in music today. When you hear
her distinct and familiar voice, it reminds you of those joyful moments she has
provided over the years with The B-52s, yet Guitars And Microphones
is not a retread of her past successes – it is an extension. Tracks like “Bring
Your Arms,” “Time Wave Zero,” “Crush Me With Your Love,” and the controversial
“Mister Sister” are, to be honest, instant classics. On Guitars And Microphones,
Kate has delivered everything you could hope for…and more.
Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to chat
with Kate about the album, The B-52s and more…
STEPHEN SPAZ SCHNEE: Your first solo album, Guitars
And Microphones, has just been released. How are you feeling about the
album and the reaction that you’ve received so far?
KATE PIERSON: So far, I’ve just heard really good things.
Every interview I’ve done, everyone’s said they’ve loved the album. There have
been a couple of reviews that just are really positive so far. You know, I had
really total confidence in the album. I’m really, really happy with it and I’m
proud of it. I know that it’s good. My main concern is that it be able to get
out there into the world and be heard.
SPAZ: I know that a lot of people are going to wonder why it
took so long for you to make a solo album…
KATE: I tried to get a solo album together and I had it all
written. I’ve been writing songs since high school. I wrote a lot of songs for
my Folk protest band, the Sun Donuts.
I was a pretty prolific songwriter as there were three girls. We all wrote songs.
Then I kept writing. When I got into the B-52’s
it was a collective writing experience; it didn’t seem like I could write
without the band, or I didn’t feel I could. It is like a family organization in
a way, and we wrote by jamming together. It was also all-consuming. We were
touring our butts off. From the very moment we signed with Warner Brothers and Island
Records, we were off to the Bahamas recording and on a year-long tour
opening with Talking Heads and on to
Europe. It’s been a whirlwind. There was a time when the band kind of stopped,
after Good Stuff actually. When Cindy
(Wilson) left the band, there was sort of a lull and we were still doing
touring. We toured for a year after Good Stuff. I did a project with
this Japanese band called NiNa, which
went to number one in Japan, and we toured all over Japan. After that, it just
sort of opened up my creative experience, and I realized I could jam and write
with anybody, by myself or just with a track. Because I had this time
constraint and I said I would do it, they sent me some tracks and said like
three weeks before I was to go to Japan, they said, you know – will you write
some songs? And I did it. I collaborated with Yuki, who only speaks Japanese, and I don’t speak Japanese so it
was like, “Wow, I can do this.” So I wrote a bunch of songs. I even toured with
them. I had this whole collection of songs and then the B-52’s started doing Funplex,
and then that just became all consuming. Then we started touring relentlessly,
every month. Even in the winter we would have tours and every summer we’d do a
big tour. I continued to write, but I didn’t seem to be able to get the time to
really promote it and put it out there and get it together. So, this time the
band’s really taking a break, less touring, and my partner, Monica, mentioned to Sia, our friend – before she started
writing for Beyoncé and everybody –
“Can you help Kate? Give her a jumpstart on getting this solo record?” So,
that’s how this came about.
SPAZ: Now, when you started recording the album, did you have
a set idea of the direction of the album – what you wanted it to sound like –
or did it just manifest itself over time?
KATE: I feel that, with my voice, that it would be
the sort of signature sound of my voice. One thing I knew, I didn’t want it to
sound like a mimic of a B-52’s record. But I didn’t try not to do that, you know? I just sort of let my own creative
impulses lead me in the direction I wanted to do for a solo record. There was
no overarching theme or intention to have it sound a certain way. I think the
fact that Sia and I wrote together –we have very similar sensibility in that –
it worked out. It was hilarious, and we had a great time writing. The different
people we wrote with usually did the instrumental part so we were doing the
lyrics and the melodies. That worked out really well. So, there was a
consistency there and we wrote more songs and I went on to write some songs on
my own without Sia during these writing sessions because she got super busy
writing superstar hits. She was also starting her own record.
SPAZ: Tim Anderson did a great job in producing the
album. How did you choose him and was there a particular moment when you
thought, “Okay, yeah, I definitely got the right guy to do this?”
KATE: Yeah. I co-wrote two songs with him and one with him and
Sia called “Time Wave Zero.” I knew he was the right one. I knew he was a
multi-instrumentalist. I liked his sensibility. I liked the way he played. The
only sort of reservation I had was that his place, his little studio, was a
little bit of a man cave and Sia said, “I’m gonna call him and make him clean
it up.” (Laughs) So, she made him do a cleaning. But, I felt so comfortable
there. I think we have the same sensibility as far as musical taste. I really
knew that this is the right choice right from the start cause we kind of really
had a mind meld as far as the direction, as far as the sound.
SPAZ: Were any of these ideas like seeds that were planted in your mind years ago or were they just all new and fresh for this project?
SPAZ: Were any of these ideas like seeds that were planted in your mind years ago or were they just all new and fresh for this project?
KATE: Well, most of the lyrics were seeds that I planted that
were growing in my mind. There was a garden in my mind. (Laughs) I had all
these lyrics and it was sort of terrifying in a way to think, “Okay, we’re
gonna go to somebody’s studio that I’ve never met…” I know Sia, I felt
comfortable with her, but I didn’t know what her process of songwriting was
like. She really taught me a lot. Even though the B-52’s write collectively, we
sometimes jam for hours or even days on something and then we sort of take the
best parts in a very long process of listening and then collage those pieces
together. In Sia’s case, she’s not really interested in production very much.
We went to Nick Valensi’s studio and
he didn’t have anything prepared. He just started playing a base line and we
started jamming and kind of recording it on Garage Band and going, “Oh, this is
a good verse melody.” What she taught me was don’t concentrate on trying to fit
the lyrics. I had ideas for the songs. Because she knew it was my record, she
wanted me to take the lead in that, so I had an idea. Like “Mister Sister,” I
already had written down lyrics and instead of trying to fit my lyrics to the
melody, you just get the melody then retrofit the lyrics to that. So, she
really helped me. She changed some of the lyrics, put her own lyrics in, and
kind of helped me retrofit that to the melody.
SPAZ: The album is a departure from B-52’s, but not a complete
departure. Was it difficult to try to make an album that was very modern and
not retro, but still keep it within the framework of what you’re best known
for?
KATE: I didn’t even think about that. I mean, I just knew that
the subject matter I had was a little more introspective in some cases. You
know, like “Guitars and Microphones” was more autobiographical, and the B-52’s
don’t really trademark in songs that are too introspective or too personal. I
didn’t have to think about it being not like a B-52’s record because I knew
that the ideas I had were not going to lead me in that direction, you know? I
would be glad to have ‘party, party’ songs on there, but it just didn’t turn
out that way. It was really just kind of ‘let it flow.’ When you collaborate,
you just have to let the song take you where it goes. So, I guess one of the
reasons for doing a solo record was to do something to express the stuff I
haven’t expressed with the B-52’s. I think it was going to naturally take a
turn. There was no intention like, “Ohhh, gotta make sure this doesn’t sound
like the B-52’s” or, “It should sound a little bit like it,” you know?
SPAZ: I feel there’s a lot of heart and a lot of joy in this
record, but not necessarily fun and games like a B-52’s record. What do you
hope the listener walks away with after hearing it?
KATE: Well, I think the melodies are very hooky and so I hope
people get the same kind of joy in listening that they get out of the B-52’s –
for the melodies and the hooks and the positive kind of energy that’s in it.
But also, I’m really happy about the lyrics on this. I think they’re
particularly good. Sia is a genius with lyrics, too, so she’s added a lot
collaborating with my lyrics. Then there were three songs she wrote without my
help before we started the writing process together. I think the lyrics for
those songs are really amazing – “Bring Your Arms,” “Matrix,” and “Crush Me
With Your Love.” “Crush Me With Your Love” is my partner Monica’s idea for the
title. “Bring Your Arms” was based on a trip that the three of us took to Tulum
and witnessed this sea turtle rescue. Then “Matrix,” she just called me and
said, “Well, I’m in the studio writing and what are you feeling right now?” I
had this quote from Keith Strickland
(The B-52’s) from a Tibetan Lama about “we’re all falling, we’re free
floating….” The good news is there’s no bottom. There’s no sort of floor that
we’re gonna hit. So, that’s what I said because I was feeling that. I felt like
I was just sort of going in some other direction. Anyway, she took that and
made “Matrix,” which I think is an extraordinary song, lyrically. I’m just
really happy with those. I think that’s an extra icing on the cake kind of
bonus when you get great lyrics. The melody is the main hook, what brings you
in. I think there’s a lot of real uplifting kind of melodies on this record
that’ll make people feel good.
SPAZ: Even something like “Pulls You Under,” which may not be
upbeat, but it’s still one of these songs with such warmth.
KATE: Thank you. Well, that particular song I had written the
lyrics for years ago for a friend, a dear friend who was feeling very
depressed. So, that was really something that meant a lot to me personally, and
it was very heartfelt. So yeah, I think there’s just sort of a lot of love in
that song. That’s not something that’s usual in The B-52’s. When we sing
“Lava,” I sing it like my life depends on it! Or do the fish sounds in “Rock
Lobster.” We put emotion into it, but this is very personal.
SPAZ: Working with Sia and all the other people on this record
– did it challenge you or was it liberating to work outside of the B-52’s
framework?
KATE: Well, it was extremely liberating; it was
just so much fun. The experience of writing with all these different people,
who are also experienced songwriters – they’re not going to dilly-dally. We got
a great song and a demo in one day in most cases. In a couple of cases, we went
back for a second just to finish up, add harmonies and everything, but it was
amazingly fast to me. I just could not believe how fast the process was. It was
very liberating to just kind of think we’re all in the service of the song.
That’s all we want to do is just make a great song, and there’s not a lot of
baggage. Because the B-52’s have been together so many years. I mean, it’s like
a magical brew, but there’s also a lot of history. It’s liberating to just be
with a new chemistry, that’s all.
SPAZ: Does it surprise you that a song as positive as “Mister Sister” can be construed in such a negative way. When I go through and read the comments on YouTube, I laugh because people are misinterpreting the message and some are taking things so literally.
KATE: I was completely surprised by that reaction. You have to
know that it’s really just a small group of people that were posting over and
over. It all started really with a kind of a misquote. I was asked by
Huffington Post what inspired the song. Why did you want to write a song about
a transgender girl? So, first of all, it’s not about a transgender girl. My
original quote was, “It was inspired by all who are transgender and LGB,
multidimensional, and still transcending.” I said, “I hope it becomes a trans anthem,
but it really is meant to empower anyone who feels betrayed by the mirror.” So,
I took ‘trans,’ which some trans people and many LGBT people take trans as
meaning the whole gender spectrum, but I learned that trans people are very
specific about not wanting to be lumped in with drag queens – they don’t want
to be called tranny, of course. They don’t want to use “trans” as an umbrella
term referring to people within the gender identity exploration spectrum. I was
bowled over. What happened was Monica, my partner, started a dialogue with one
of the more vocal critics, a trans woman, a mixed martial artist. She sort of
schooled us. The younger trans women – we didn’t hear anything from trans men –
but the trans women were very particular about what agenda they had. I agree
that they need to be respected and not called “tranny.” They are a singular
group that needs to be understood better. I just really learned a lot. There
were a lot of terms I didn’t know like ‘turf’ and ‘cisgender,’ and I asked
everyone around me, gay/straight/whatever, and nobody knew what cisgender was
and had to look it up. Everyone that was reading this was like, what the hell
is this gender? So, a lot of people learned a lot from this, and there were
many, many, many more positive comments. I sort of took it just as a learning
experience. At first I was just sort of crushed because I thought, “oh man,
this is just… how could it be – like you said – interpreted as negative?” All I
can say is I would try to be supportive of the trans community and get out that
they want to be heard.
SPAZ: Lyrics are often misconstrued… people do tend to take
them too literally. Would these people look at the song title “Rock Lobster”
and imagine a crustacean carved out of stone?
KATE: (Laughing) The literal kind of interpretation. Like,
“Well wait a minute – the mirror, why are they looking in the mirror?” And the
mirror is just this sort of metaphor for transformation. You can pass through
the mirror. It’s sort of a magic transformation vehicle or something. You’re
beautiful because you feel beautiful, not because you’re literally beautiful.
But yeah, I think there were a lot of interpretations, and when you write
lyrics, you don’t write them literally at all. A lot of them are almost like a
dream or something that you write. So very few people look at Rock lyrics and
take them literally. But, this was totally deconstructed (laughs).
SPAZ: What is next for Kate Pierson?
KATE: One reason why I wanted the song “Guitars and
Microphones” to be the title track is that I have been practicing guitar so the
next phase is actually live performance, and I’m playing guitar. I’m not the
greatest guitar player by any means, but I used to play with the B-52’s. I used
to play guitar on “52 Girls,” “Hero Worship.” I played all the keyboard parts
and the bass parts up until Cosmic Thing. I wanted to get my
instrumental chops back, and I feel like playing guitar. I have a band that I’m
working with up here in Woodstock. Monica and I started out saying we want an
all-woman band, and then it turns out we have like a 20-year-old boy band
(laughs). I started rehearsing with them, and it’s just working out great. With
me playing guitar, I just feel like it leads me back into the music more, and
being part of the song, instead of the singer who is always fighting with the
instrumentalists in some ways. Sometimes they’re too loud and it’s kind of hard
to describe what you want, but when you have a guitar it’s like you’re wielding
this kind of powerful thing that you can sort of be part of the song in more
ways than when you’re just singing.
SPAZ: What are you currently spinning on your CD, LP, DVD, or
Blu-Ray players?
KATE: Watching? First of all I got all the SAG
Award movies because I’m a member of SAG so I watched every single movie and
voted in the SAG Awards. That was really fun to watch everything. I watch a lot
of Downton Abbey. We’re really just
anglophiles I guess, cause we watch all this British BBC stuff and even Inspector Lewis where there’s a murder
in Oxford. There’s always three murders before they can solve the mystery.
They’re having a beer after the second murder and then they make a chart. Then
they kind of discover it, and at the end you can’t even figure out what
happened. There’s just something about these British series. I’m listening to Sleater-Kinney – the new one. It’s just
incredible. I love Bettye Lavette
who I just saw live this past summer. And of course, Sia’s new record, which is
incredible. It’s Pop, but it has amazing depths and real meaning, and real
emotion.
Thanks to Kate Pierson
Special thanks to Shari Segalini, Danielle Czesniewski,
Fiona Frawley, Sarah Avrin, Dana House and Nick Kominitsky
KATE PIERSON
GUITARS AND MICROPHONES
IMPORTCDS DEEPDISCOUNT
KATE PIERSON
GUITARS AND MICROPHONES
IMPORTCDS DEEPDISCOUNT
No comments:
Post a Comment