Take a beautiful and fantastic singer, add a world class horn section and some pumping backing tracks. Throw in some electro swing, some R & B, a bit of camp disco, a dollop of drum and bass a smidge of dubstep, add some brilliant hooky pop songs and there you pretty much have it, Kitten and The Hip.
One year ago, Ashley Slater met Kitten Quinn. Ashley was an ex pop star (Freak Power) and Kitten was a beautiful and intelligent singer songwriter. They wrote songs together, they hung out, and they mischiefed. But mostly, they wrote great songs together.
In February, they were having a chat, and Kitten advised Ashley not to worry about something. ‘Don’t You Worry’ was born the next day. A demo was sent to Carl Hanaghan, head of A & R at HedKandi records in London. Less than half an hour later, the phone rang at Kitten HQ, the deal was made, the record was signed and the ball of yarn started rolling.
The single was release in September and has already created a significant noise on the Electro Swing scene. Another of Kitten’s tracks ‘By My Side’ has been signed to ‘Bart and Baker present Electro Swing 4’, which was released November 7th 2011 on Wagram Paris.
Live, they are a quintet, with Kitten singing and Ashley and three brass monkeys playing horns. Kitten is a natural onstage, at once mesmerising and seductive.
It’s a party with class, so don’t forget your ass!
Kitten and The Hip Interview:
1. What are your earliest memories of getting bitten by the music bug?
Kitten: I started dancing at 3 years old and then got into musical theatre at an early age as well. I think that explain some of the theatricality of our music.
2.Was your family background musical in any way?
The Hip: My dad played almost any stringed instrument, my mom couldn’t carry tune if it was in a bucket. Bless.
3. What were your original influences and how have they changed over time?
Kitten: I love pop music. I’ve always been into great modern female singers like Lauryn Hill and Whitney Houston, all of the big divas. I also listened to a lot of country folk and rock when I was younger.
4. Have you ever been to the Isle Of Wight?
The Hip: Indeed I have. I’ve guest lectured at Platform One College a few times and what a lovely institution that is.
5. Tell us about your live sound?
Kitten: It’s a big sound because we use backing tracks as well as live musicians. Very heavy bass and beats, so it works well in a club. Obviously, there’s a lot of singing, I like to layer up bf’s forever… And then I sing out over the top of all this, which can be quite a challenge.
6. How has your sound changed over the years?
The Hip: Well, we’re only one year old but our sound has gone through quite a few changes already. We’re still looking for the ideal live sound, we’ve gone form having backing tracks with three horns to doing lot of duo gigs with backing tracks to our current line-up, which is Kitten, me, drums and guitar. And…backing tracks. In the studio, our sound is defined by Kitten’s voice.
7. What have been the highpoints of your career?
Kitten: Well, my career has only just started, but I’ve had my share of high times already. We did a gig in Ostrava last year standing in for another band. There were 3,000 people in a room who had never heard of us, but we rocked that room for an hour and made a lot of friends. We also had a memorable gig in Paris where we had a few half naked men crawling all over the stage. Kind of weird…
8. And the low-points?
The Hip: Haha. You haven’t got enough space for that, but there have been a few.
9. What about the present day set up?
Kitten: I sing, The Hip sings and plays trombone (not at the same time) we have a guitarist called Duncan Wilson who is a mental and a drummer called Gillan McLaughlin who needs a good spanking!
10. Thoughts on today’s music scene?
The Hip: I think it’s better than ever. There’s always a layer of scum floating on the top of anything, but dig down a little bit and music is vibrant, interesting and very much alive.
11. What’s in the pipeline for the future?
Kitten: We have an album ready to go and are looking for the right partners to work with to release it. There’s a single coming out on Freshly Squeezed quite soon (it may be out by the time you read this). Basically, our goal is to be huge and that’s what’s going to happen!
12. What can we expect for your WOWFest 2012 Show?
The Hip: Great songs, great players and a great time.
Websites
Kitten and The Hip
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