Despite her September 12 profile start date, Kaitee Page has only been actively pursuing the Sellaband 50k recording budget since the 17th of October - yet she managed to secure over $2000 in those first 10 days. This also at a time that much attention went to no less than three artists over the famous 40k limit, walking or running their final stretch to the finish line. So what are we looking at here? Is it just the novelty of a girl with a violin (or viola, as I stood corrected) or is it more the long list of people from the industry she has already worked with? Nothing to do but ask herself!How did you enjoy your first week on Sellaband?
It sort of felt like moving into a new neighborhood. I felt like the new kid on the block that had to learn the ways of the land, know what I mean? but it was fun sort of exploring the 'streets' and meeting my 'neighbors' and making new friends (laughs). I had to ask a lot of questions that first week because I was so curious about everything! I felt kind of shy because I didn't know how people would be on this site - whether they'd be really competitive or overtly honest about their musical opinions, etc. but I was pleasantly surprised at how truly supportive everyone is of one another! Everyone is so nice!
The first thing people seem to notice about you is your 'classical' acoustic instrumentation, and your profile picture emphasises that. You also play classical viola but your own music is pure rock. How do classical Kaitee and rock Kaitee get along?
The classical side of me definitely gives the rock side the skill to be able to play what I hear in my head. And the rock side gives the classical side the freedom to just go with it and let my hair down so to speak. Part of the 'rock' side of me is the risk taker - the side that just jumps into things. And having a classical background has made the spills I've taken over the years a little less painful.
Overall, I think when I write music and perform on stage, the rock side takes over the majority of it because that's the side that is ruled by emotion. The classical side definitely creeps in when I'm writing because I've been hearing classical progressions since I was 7 so I tend to lean toward that end of things.
You have played in bands for a number of years, but made an (I assume) conscious decision to go solo in 2006 and you registered at Sellaband under your own name. Yet your music is written for a rock band and you perform live with one. How should we see that?
Well, I left the band Porcelain in June 2006. I wasn't the lead singer of that band, just violinist/keyboard/back-up singer. I started fronting my own band, singing songs I wrote, in July 2006. I actually 'went solo' and started to go by my own name this past June 2007. As much as I truly truly wanted a real band, I realized that people come and go for various reasons and to keep having to get substitute band members every time someone couldn't do a gig, or commit to other opportunities like festivals and tours that came our way... well it just wasn't making sense anymore. No one seemed to be able to make that big of a commitment to one project, which is understandable when there's no money involved. So it's easier for me to just let whoever is available play gigs with me whenever they want, as long as they can play well (smiles).
I don't do many acoustic shows alone because for some reason, when I write songs I hear all the instruments in my head and, at least at this point in my life, the underlying emotion is usually very dramatic and epic. I can't convey that emotion as well by myself on keys, and I can't play violin and keyboard at the same time (laughs)! So I guess in short, the decision to go solo was more of a business decision, but the decision to play with a full band was an artistic decision, to serve the music and the songs.
You have moved to the UK from New York. What brought you to reverse the Englishman in New York's route?
I actually was living in LA for a while before I moved to London. Being born and raised in upstate New York, I realized that I function better in the cold! LA is just sun sun sun all the time every day. It was actually really irritating - to me (laughs). A lot of people really love LA so I shouldn't go off about it, but I just knew it was time for a change. I didn't want to go back to Albany, so I thought about Seattle, Austin and Boston... but London won! I came for a couple of visits out here first and made some contacts with musicians and also some industry people. It's been 10 months so far, with the occasional return to the states for touring mostly, and I'm trying to make it permanent! I love London!
You have profile pages on ReverbNation, Angelfire, MySpace, PureVolume, Garageband, Vox.com, to name but a few, and of course http://www.kaiteepage.com/. How do you manage your online presence and how does Sellaband fit into this list?
Right now I put the most time into Sellaband and MySpace. Sellaband because I'm so absolutely ready to record I can't stand it, and MySpace because it's the best way right now to get people to come out to shows. It's funny, I really do have a huge fanbase on MySpace, but I've had the toughest time getting them over to Sellaband so far. Granted, it's only been 2 weeks, or actually 10 days, but I'm sort of surprised that people aren't jumping on it. But yeah, I made an effort to sign up on every site I've ever heard of for that reason - not everyone uses every site, and not everyone is going out searching for me and my music (laughs). In these beginning stages, I think it's on the artist to go out and expose people to their music whatever way they can. Online is just easiest because I dont' have to get off my butt to do it (laughs)! But busking is a good way as well as playing lots of shows and touring, which I love.
Some websites mention your debut album is expected "this december"... How does Sellaband fit into that?
Oh yeah, I need to go erase that (sighs!). The songs of mine that are posted online right now are the ones that were supposed to be the album that was supposed to be due this december. Unfortunately the tracks turned out more as demo quality recordings than album quality and a lot of tracks were never completed by the engineer/mixer. So I need to find that site and correct it - which one was that? Yeah, I recorded those songs from October 2006 to February 2007 and it was a great learning experience, but I definitely didn't get the results I was
expecting, for various reasons. So there's no album coming any time soon, except from sellaband (smiles)!
Can we expect the songs that are on your profile to be on that Sellaband CD?
Yes. This album has been in the making for over a year and I definitely have a clear vision of what it is and what it means. It's actually a concept album dealing with depression, self-destruction, seduction, deception, suicide, insanity, perception... all the crazy mental states that can affect how we see and interpret the world around us. It's a very dark album inspired by some very dark times I went through, but it's also a story with hope intertwined throughout - so it won't be entirely depressing, don't worry! The 3 songs that are online right now (the uglylights, wake up, and crash) will definitely be on it, perhaps rearranged, re-worked, and with a new life to them, but they'll be there for sure.
What else is currently 'out there' of your music?
Well, I have no releases yet. Of the recordings done early this year I only received 6 songs, and then I recorded 2 more songs in september 2007 of which I still haven't received final mixes. So overall there are probably about 10 songs floating around of mine - all demo quality. I've written about 30 songs, I think? The other 20 were recorded on a cassette 4-track and they live here in my hard drive until further notice...
What is your first experience with Sellaband as a community, and are there any artist features on the website you'd like to have added?
Oh, I think this answer will be the same as the first question... everyone was really nice, etc. I was just thinking about this today actually - I'd love to have an Annual Artist-Support-Artist Day on Sellaband whereby artists who have the means buy 1 part in another artist on one day each year. I know some artists are already creating believer profiles and buying parts in lots of different other bands, but I think it'd be great if everyone supported each other in some small way! Maybe it could be on the anniversary day of the beginning of Sellaband (smiles). Other than that maybe a better way to announce gigs to each other. And maybe a feature that helps artists who live in the same city try to plan gigs together if they want.
And finally for the question a lot of us (well, me and other Dutchies) are dying to hear the answer to: When will you be playing in the Netherlands?
Hahaa!! I'm going to research the idea and if it's not too expensive I'm thinking about playing a show there in February or March because I have a friend who lives in The Hague! I still have to see if the Dutch venues will book me though? But that would be so fun!!!!! (VB)
