SA Music News interview

We got asked a few questions by the guys at SA Music News a while ago. Here's how it went down...

1.      Can I have full names and ages of all band members, and their role in the band please.

Jessica Kinnear – vocals

Candice Warnasuriya – lead guitar

Kelly Oberholster – rhythm guitar

Nicole Abrams – bass

Larissa Ferreira – drums

 

As for age, well that is just a number and the average age between the five of us is 24 ;)

 

2.       As a band, who would you say are some of your greatest influences?

Individually, we’re influenced by a number of different genres and bands. How that comes together when we’re all in the band room is what makes our sound so unique. As a band, it’s safe to say that we are influenced by bands like Paramore, Flyleaf, You Me At Six, etc. In terms of genre, we draw inspiration from anything, including indie, post-hardcore, alternative rock, country and even classical music.

 

3.       How long have you known each other, and how did you meet?

Kelly and Nicole have been best friends for so long that they can have one word conversations and laugh about that one word for hours. Kelly and Nicole met Jess in 2011 when she joined their previous band, Saving Insanity, as the vocalist.

 

Candice came along when we were auditioning lead guitarists last year. She was nice, so we let her stay.

 

Laris and Kelly had been friends for a while before she joined the band as the drummer, after the previous drummer decided to move on and pursue her drumming career. She’s odd but she can keep time, and odd time.

 

4.       When was the band formed and was it always called Colour Me Kacey?

The band was formed in May 2012 and yes, it’s always been Colour Me Kacey.

 

5.       What is the origin of the band’s name?

Kacey is Gaelic/Celtic for ‘bravery and courage’.

 

Also, we wanted something that would stick in people’s heads, and alliteration is always catchy!

 

6.       What made you guys realise that you wanted to play together?

As we said before, Jess, Kelly and Nicole played together in a band called Saving Insanity.  It’s so tricky to find musicians that you connect with these days, on a personal level and also musically. Once they played together in Saving Insanity, they knew there was something brewing between the 3 of them. After Saving Insanity broke up, they decided to keep that spark alive. That was the conception of Colour Me Kacey.

7.       What, if any, music organisations do you belong to?

None.

 

8.       Tell me about your individual choices of instruments and the factors that went into their choice? i.e. brand, cost, style etc...

Laris – I’m actually not too fussy when it comes to instruments. If I like the sound, I’ll buy it. As a result, I have cymbals that cost more than a month’s rent, but I also have second hand cymbals that cost less than R500. In terms of brands, I have a mixed bunch of things – a custom Pearl Export kit, a Tama double bass pedal, a few Pearl snares and Sabian, Anatolian and Paiste cymbals. It really is all about what sounds good and what feels comfortable for me.

 

Kelly – From the get go, I have been an Ibanez fan! This is largely due to the fact that my very first guitar was a bottom of the range Ibanez, and was the reason for me falling in love with making music.  So in my head, I owe it to Ibanez, ha ha!  Since then, I have bought and collected 5 different Ibanez guitars - acoustic, electric and bass guitars. I have always loved the style (and affordability) of Ibanez, but I have now found love with the Epiphone Les Paul style and sound. This will be my next guitar… watch this space! (Since we wrote the response to this interview, I have acquired the beautiful white Epiphone of my dreams!)

 

Candice – I play a Fender Showmaster Telecaster! Fancy girl. I've never heard something so warm and beautiful.  It also feels like I have angels kissing my fingertips every time I play a song. It was a gift that I received from my uncle 6 years ago. THANK YOU!
The sad story about my amp is that it is breaking down... poor little Marshall MG 100... but we will blow eardrums until it dies or until I get an increase. Shame.

 

Nicole – My first bass was a Warwick Rock Bass so my loyalty lies there, but I am not too fussy about brand - as long as it sounds great!  I do love natural wood finish guitars though.

 

Jess - I only use a mic but I can say Shure is always the way to go!

 

9.       What are your favourite venues to perform at, and the not so favourite?

Good venues aren’t too hard to come by, but good venues with great sound – now that’s a rarity! So far, our favourite venues are Tanz Live, Rockabilly’s and Rumours Lounge. Our not so favourite venues are those with a sound system that doesn’t properly cater for full bands, like Amuse Café and Shivas Rock. The venues are cool, but as a band we cherish good sound!

 

10.   How do you decide the playlist for the night?

We tend to play the same set list for about 3 weeks. Depending on the venue and crowd, we’ll shuffle our songs around on the night.

 

11.   What are your rehearsals like and how frequently do you rehearse?

We rehearse twice a week. We use the first 30 minutes or so to talk, because we’re women and we can’t help it!  After that we’ll run through our set list a few times and then spend the rest of our band practice improving our songs or working on new material.

 

12.   What has been your greatest challenge and how did you overcome it, or plan to if you haven’t?

Our greatest challenge as an all-girl band is to get around the cliché all-girl image that so often plagues us. It shouldn’t be this way, but the truth is that the industry doesn’t take female musicians too seriously, let alone all-girl bands. The only way for us to overcome this continuous battle is to make some seriously good music and to get on stage and play really great shows. One of the biggest compliments we received was from a drummer in a band that we play with regularly. He said, “It’s so nice to see an all-girl band go on stage and truly play their instruments, and play them well.”

That’s what we want people to think when they think of us.

 

On a lighter note, we seem to be having a real problem with people spelling our name wrong!

 

13.   What is the ultimate goal for the band? Are you motivated by fame and fortune? The impression I get is that you guys would play anyway and any rewards are just a bonus because performing in front of an appreciative audience is reward enough?

We love what we do. More than the possibility of fame and fortune, we genuinely just love making music and we love making music together. We all have that dream of being able to quit our day jobs and do this full-time, because of this.  For now though, we grab any gig we can and play our hearts out every time, hoping to find a few new fans and friends at the same time.

 

14.   What is your single most important piece of advice to an up and coming musician?

Persevere. It takes a good five years for a band to ‘make it’ here in SA. Don’t  be discouraged or disheartened by small crowds, bad sound or those odd few people who come up to you after your gig and tell you how you messed up or how you could have done something better. Just take it in, put your head down and do what you love. You get what you work for.

 

15.   Do you have any mentors that have helped and guided you over the years?

We learn from everyone.  Every band, every musician that we’ve come across has had something that we could learn from, something that we could absorb and take in. Some of us even have family members who were accomplished musicians in their days.

 

16.   Where can fans gain access to your music?

We have a SoundCloud page with a couple of songs on it. As soon as we’re done with our EP, we’ll make that available for streaming and downloading as well. There are a few live videos on YouTube at the moment too, just search for Colour Me Kacey.

 

17.   Is there anyone special you would like to acknowledge for any reason?

We have so many incredible people in our lives and to thank all of them would take a few hours! Having said that, we do want to say thank you to a few special people. To our partners and our best friends who travel with us to every single gig and support us without question, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You guys make it easy for us to do what we love, and we treasure you for that.

 

18.   If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?

Laris – I would have the ability to stop time. Sometimes things go by so quickly and I’d give anything to be able to hit pause and just take it all in. Also, I’d like to press pause and sneak into a Chevelle band practice. 

 

Kelly – As cliché as it sounds, I would like to have the power of invisibility. I want to hop onto a plane, travel where I’d like to, and just waltz into the front row of my favourite bands’ concerts, and even back stage!  I would also need super powers to gain more leave days at my day job because as I’m sure you’d understand, 3 weeks  a year is just not enough to do all I’d want to do!

 

Candice – If I had a super power I'd bend the space-time continuum. I'm gonna be greedy and ask for the ability to fly as well because then I'd be able to fly anywhere while time travelling, or I could just teleport if I started having an asthma attack from all the flying.

 

Nicole – Teleportation for sure!!  It costs so much to travel these days – imagine just closing your eyes, thinking of anywhere you’d like to be, and BOOM – you’re there!  We could tour the world and play for so many different crowds… that would be EPIC! J

 

Jess - Time travel! I would go back in time, slap my younger self and tell her to never listen to those who said she wasn’t good enough and pursue music and only music!

 

19.   Lastly tell me if there is anything you would like to add, that you want people to know about you, not already covered in the questions above?

We really enjoy interacting with our fans and making new friends, so we encourage everyone to get in touch via any one of our social platforms. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and we also have an interactive blog and soon-to-be website. We always hang around after gigs, so if you are at any of our shows, come say hi!