Katie Brianna

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Interview With Katie Brianna By Chris 20/6/06

Katie Brianna is a great country western singer songwriter
from Australia
She will be going places if her ep is anything to go
by.
So Yeah I had to give her some free publicity with an interview.
So read the interview and expect to see more and here more
of her music soon.
Believe me on that, she will have labels knocking down on
her door.
Katie
Website

1. How did you get into music?

I’ve been into music for as long as I can remember. It
started out as me singing and dancing along to Britney
Spears and other stuff like that, and in primary school I
started learning the recorder. That was pretty basic but I
went on the play the clarinet in the school band.. I sang
in the choir too! In high school I sang in the choir, and
picked up the saxophone and gave that a go. I briefly
revisited the clarinet but that didn’t last very long. I
think it was at the end of year 7, I would’ve been about
12, I got my first guitar for Christmas. It was a red
Electric one and for a little while I had guitar lessons
from this Canadian guy, he was a pretty good teacher! I
listen to some singer/songwriter types like Jewel. Natalie
Imbruglia is another one I remember. One day one of my
sisters brought home a new record, it was Kasey Chambers’
‘The Captain’ and I just loved it! I found the chords to
her songs and would just sit there and play all of them.
‘These Pines’ was one of, if not the first song that I sang
in public. From there on I got more into the country and
I’ve just taken it from there!

2. Who were your idols growing up?

Musically? Well I guess I’m still growing up, but I can’t
really say that when I was younger I had many. I’m not sure
if I should count Britney. But after I heard Kasey,
everything changed. I idolized her a lot in the
beginning.

3. Who were your influences?

With my music, I’ve been influenced by Jewel, Kasey
Chambers, Catherine Britt, Hank Williams and all the other
country greats, Iris DeMent and especially Bill
Chambers!

4. Are you happy with the responses from the
EP?

I think I’m happy with some of the response, but know I
could’ve had more. It’s partly my fault because I haven’t
pushed it as much as I should or could have. I’ve been
studying a fair bit so hopefully now I’ll have more time to
get it out there.

5. What have responses been like to your music on the
web?

People that have come across it and got in contact with me
are only saying great things, so I guess the response has
been good. Nobody’s said anything bad yet so I hope those
people keep those thoughts to themselves..

6. Has the Internet helped with your music?

Very much! I have a website and I’ve had a few orders of my
EP through that. A lot of people might not have been able
to get there hands on it if it weren’t for the Internet,
because I don’t do a whole lot of gigs right now. It is
such an invaluable tool, I can’t imagine what it would have
been like before the Internet.

7. Do you think tools like MySpace are useful?

Of course. It’s free, and you have access to so many people
who might not have ever heard about you or your music
otherwise.

8. Who you would most like to tour with?

Of all the Australian artists… probably Paul Kelly. He’s
a brilliant performer and comes across as very genuine.
Intertantionaly.. I’d love to be able to tour with Iris
DeMent. It would be such an inspiration to hear her sing
her songs every night. Also.. I’d love to tour with Bill
Chambers although he doesn’t know it. Not sure how that
would really fit though but a bit of variety is good!

9. If you could work with any one who would it
be?

Well… obviously I’d love to work more with Bill. I’d love
him to produce my album, maybe in a couple of years when I
can get the money. I worked a bit with Paul Kelly, but I’d
love to explore that further too! There’s a real long list
of other artists who I’d love to work with but I’m just
trying to keep it realistic.

10. How did you get involved with Bill
Chambers?

After I started getting into country music, I joined the
Steel City country music club in Newcastle. I knew that’s
what Catherine Britt had done in the beginning, and she was
doing some cool things. I went along to a charity concert
the club put on to sing a few songs. Bill Chambers and
Audrey Auld (Mezera) were the guest artists. I don’t even
know if they heard me sing that day. I was very excited to
meet Bill & Audrey and I got my photo taken with them
and got their autographs too! I sent an email to Bill,
because I became a big fan. I was just trying to figure out
the direction to head in with my music so I was looking for
a bit of advice. Audrey wrote back and said she’d passed
the email onto Bill, and one day I was pretty surprised to
get a call from him! I don’t think he thought that I would
be any good, because he’s said so, but I wanted to play him
a couple of songs and he wanted to hear them. Kasey was
playing in Newcastle one night so I went to the show and
played some songs to Bill backstage. One was a song I wrote
and the others were just Hank Williams songs. I figure he
was just listening to be nice but it turns at that he
actually thought I was good so he asked me to come down and
do some demos of songs at his home studio. Like everything,
I’ve just taken it from there..

11. Have you had much response from radio?

I have had a bit of response from radio. I’ve sent my EP to
a few community stations and some others, and they’ve been
playing my songs a bit as far as I know. Triple j has
played a few of my songs a few times so that’s pretty
cool!

12. What has been your favorite gig to date?

Singing at the Bill Chambers’ Sessions at the Tamworth
Country Music Festival! I love singing with Bill! Also,
performing in the finals and grand finals of the Telstra
Road to Tamworth in 2005 and 2006. It was a great
experience because it was so professional and I enjoyed
seeing how it was all done!

13. What’s it like being a country singer/songwriter in
Australia?

Well, I’m only yong and just getting started so I’m really
just a baby in the industry. It seems there’s more
opportunities for country artists to perform live and that
is a really important thing. It’s hard trying to get a
break into any kind of entertainment industry, but people
in the country music industry are usually pretty willing to
help you out.

14.Have you had much response from labels since the
release of the EP?

I had a bit of interest from a label or two before the EP
actually came out, but it was VERY minimal interest and
nothing came of it. That’s probably for the best though. I
really need a chance to grow with my music, and see where
it ends up before jumping into anything major like that.
But when you think about it, only a very small percentage
of artists get signed to major label deals, and the rest of
them seem to do alright if they work hard enough!

15. What is on your stereo at the moment?

I’ve been listening to a fair bit of Lucinda Williams
lately.. her early stuff, and I love Bill Chambers’ new
album FROZEN GROUND.

16. What are some of your favorite musical
artists/bands?

Here’s just a few.. Iris DeMent, Bill Chambers, Alex Ryan,
Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Gillian
Welch, Fred Eaglesmith, Paul Kelly, Hank Williams, John
Prine, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Buddy & Julie Miller,
Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Kasey Chambers, Catherine Britt,
The Flood and Dolly Parton.

17. Any plans to tour the country?

No plans as yet, but it’s obviously something that I would
like to do someday..

18 Who have you has helped you out the most?

Bill Chambers of course! And I can’t thank him enough! I
might not still be doing this whole music thing if I hadn’t
met Bill, and lots of things in my life would be very
different. But I like it the way it is!

19. What inspires you when writing music?

I haven’t written a song since November last year, so
that’s about 6 months! I don’t feel too good about that so
I’m hoping things will change soon. When I AM able to write
a song, it often starts with things that other people say,
or a line from a song or poem that just grabs me. I am
definitely a lyrics first kinda person.. and I’ll usually
have at least a verse and/or chorus before any melody will
come. I think I write my best songs when I’m listening to a
lot of Iris DeMent.. she’s such a great writer and
singer!

20. How did the recording process go for the
EP?

I had done a few more demos with Bill before we recorded
this EP. We kinda chose the songs we were going to record
the night before we started. I didn’t really think a whole
lot about which songs should go on the EP, but the songs we
chose just felt right at the time. We got James Gillard in
from The Flood to help us out. We recorded the basic bits
all in one day..Bass, some guitar, all my vocals and the
harmony vocals. Bill added all the other stuff later and
got Mick Albeck in to play fiddle. Nothing at all was
forced with the recording. We let the songs go in whatever
direction they were going naturally, and not having to keep
them the same or try to make them too commercial really
made the EP turn out ‘real’ for me. We weren’t trying to
make them something they weren’t, basically. And that’s
what I love about having Bill as a producer, it was very
relaxed. James Gillard brought some great ideas to me and
the songs and I have him to thank just as much for the way
it all turned out.