Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Kittenhead: Well Kittenhead is made up of 4 people. Kivi the vocalist who is answering this as since you are Exposed Vocals, dd, Vjj, and Owen.
Kivi grew up in Oregon, dd grew up in South Pasadena, California, Vjj grew up in Inglewood, California and Owen grew up in Orange County California.
Speaking for myself as far as becoming an artist/musician. I don’t think that is a choice for many people. If you have a passion for music you are not a happy person unless you are playing music. My family has told me I sang before I spoke and that I was perfectly happy left alone as long as there was music playing.
I love music and I love being on stage so I think that this is the natural course my life is supposed to take. I will say that society needs to change. People need to open themselves to love and not hate, accept one another for who we each are without judgment or shaming. Music and art can be integral in societies progression toward a world of acceptance as music and art speak to our souls not just our minds.
Because I want to live in that world of acceptance and love, I create to facilitate change and lift people up. I hope that after coming to a Kittenhead show people have let go of anger, escaped the mundane for a while and walk into the world happy.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Kittenhead: As a person who is fairly efficient, I suggested that we all come up with at least 5 names for the band. Then I ran each one eliminating any that were already in use and we had a skype call to decide on the name. I am not fabulous at such meetings and I was playing with my kitten at the time Roary, (she retrieves) whom I called by her nickname “Roary Boary Kittenhead”. The band heard me and thought “Kittenhead” was a great name. I objected and got out voted…
I now like the name and think it is funny. Plus, there are all sort of naughty things it could mean <w>
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your
music away for free? Why?
Kittenhead: This is a hard one. I would love for fans to be able to hear our music for free however how are we as a band suppose to support ourselves and create more music for those fans without support? Touring in and of itself is expensive and hard on families and musicians. We happen to love it however we don’t do as much as we would like because of the financial constraints of having “day jobs”.
If people want to have a thriving arts and music community then they have a certain level of responsibility to support that community. And unfortunately we live in a commoditized society. That means if you like something and you want to use something you pay for it. That goes for music as well as a new pair of shoes or electricity or a computer. If you want to hear a song over and over again on your personal ipod or phone than support the creation of that music and pay for it.
Yes we do give our music away at times. Kittenhead has donated to many worthy causes to raise money for various charities, everything from scholarship funds to cancer benefits. We support our community.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Kittenhead: Constancy. Set up a routine to promote your music and stick with it. Promote on your social media and help other musicians promote themselves, they normally will return the favor.
Make sure you rehearse and have a set list when playing out. Don’t chatter to much between songs, people are there for the music and frankly even when your famous people come for the music not to hear you espouse on your favorite topic. Personally I try to talk as little as possible between songs…. Dd and Vjj do switch instruments (they both play bass and/or guitar) so there are times when I have to fill space. Have something pre-thought out for those known breaks.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Kittenhead: I normally let a riff or music sent to me by my band mates speak to me for lyrical inspiration and yes when I hear music words do just spring into my head like word association games. Kittenhead is very prolific. We all write music and I can churn out lyrics – tho I do take time honing pages down to finalize lyrics.
I gather inspiration form everything in the world and use music to express my opinions, injuries, joy and challenges. Normally we bring riffs into a rehearsal and build a song from there as a group. Then I as the vocalist develop the lyrical line and narrative of the song.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Kittenhead: Ready: www.kittenheadla.com
http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk/KITTENHEAD
www.twitter.com/kivikittenhead
www.snapchat.com/kittenhead_la
Www.soundcloud.com/kittenhead-1
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Kittenhead: Avoid the IRS…. Actually, I would give each of my bandmates 75000, so we could tour and bank the rest for touring expenses, merchandise and promotions, including a new CD that we are working on right now. Hiring a press person fulltime and/or a manager would be on the table as well.
Kittenhead would love to tour the entire US as well as Europe and Asia. Not quite sure that half a million would cover that but I would love to have the opportunity to see how far we could get!
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Kittenhead: I work social media daily and reach out to radio, blogs and other media outlets. Since Kittenhead has a great live show we get fabulous reviews when media covers a gig, so getting media out to our shows is always profitable from a marketing stand.
Perseverance is what is most effective for us.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Kittenhead: Kittenhead is going back into the studio soon. We already have 15 new songs. Not sure what the title of this LP will be but we are super excited about our new material.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Kittenhead: **crickets** I am sure I ‘ll be doing something that involves helping people and shifting societal values to a more human focused paradigm rather than a money driven paradigm.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Kittenhead: Quite carefully! I am a pretty disciplined person so I schedule time to write music and work for the all mighty dollar. I keep a tight schedule and calendar – it makes a personal life a tad challenging but lucky for me I tend to date very busy individuals who prioritize art.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Kittenhead: Kittenhead taking over the world and coming to a stage and festival near you!!