On feb 4th, my dear Kate Rena travelled all the way from Düsseldorf to Peiting/Bavaria (located a mere hour outside of Munich) to play a gig in order to promote her brand new album “First steps forward”. I took my chance to chat with her about the album, her creative outlets and her plans in 2017!
Kate, you have been creating music for many years now, at first mainly as a hobby, but now more and more professionally. You are taking a sabathical in 2017, which you will use to focus more on your art. So, tell us, when did you first acknowledge that music was more than a hobby to you?
Honestly, I’ve always been considering that secretly, but never had the courage to follow that dream seriously. My parents had always told me to focus on a serious profession, not to waste my potentials and other talents. And while I had been busy fulfilling foreign expectations I totally forgot about my music. But after an in-firm-training and 2,5 years of extra-occupational university studies in such a serious profession, I met my ex-boyfriend in 2014. He was addicted to football, traveled around a lot for that passion and always seemed to be happy with it, whereas I often stayed at home alone and had nothing but bad moods. That situation forced me to think about what I was passionate about at this time and I realized: How empty is my life?! That was the time when I remembered how much I always had loved my music and I started taking it more serious than ever, as I finally (after all those years) realized it suffused me more than anything else. Combined with the fact, that 6 years in a job 400km away from home had made me a more confident person, I felt ready to go on stage with my own songs in October 2015 for the first time. At the same time I had been offered a better position at work, as well. But at 26, I was not ready to say “all or nothing” and get on the manager track in an audit company. Instead, I took the chance of doing this sabbathical to get some distance and think about my personal goals. And while I was reflecting on what to do during that one year off, it became clear to me that music had to gain the main part of the year.
Your debut album „First steps forward“ was released on february 11th. It was produced by David Ropertz and you played most of the instruments yourself. What can we look forward to on this album?
Well, the album is very personal and surveys a period of 12 years while I had been writing music. The oldest song on the album is “The Mirror” which I wrote when I was 18 and not able to play more than four chords. In contrast, there are the songs “First Steps Forward” and “Reality” which I specifically wrote for this album. Literally, these two build the frame for all the other songs and stand for my decision to finally invest in my dreams and working on making them come true. The complete album is arranged acousticly with only a few instruments, but David and I decided to vary the arrangements to render a special touch to each of the songs. So I played the cello, the guitar, the ukulele and the harp but we also invited Fabian Haupt to do the keys and Sebi Lenzen to do some cajon work and David added some base lines to some of the songs also. The aim was to arrange all songs to a diversified oeuvre and I hope we reached that goal.
You have started playing various gigs with your new setlist. So far, what has been an outstanding experience during this pre sales tour?
To be honest: There usually are no outstanding, catching experiences when you drive 2.000 km a week just to do three gigs. But there are many small things you can learn about yourself, the people and your performances. For example: No gig is like the other, so better don’t expect anything so you can’t get disappointed and the less you expect, the more you’ll be surprised. And even the smallest audience can be appreciative so always give your best. And if the people don’t seem to respect your art, do your best as well, because in a big crowd of distracted people there can be that one person, who will come to you after the show telling you how happy your music had made him or her. But don’t be too disappointed if there is no positive feedback. Some nights you go home and ask youself: What was that for? And when you still keep on going although you have those experiences, you know it’s from the heart and you need to do it, no matter what.
And finally the most appreciated thing you can learn on tour: Love the little things again. Imagine, after a long lonely drive of about 8 hours with only a few snacks and water, you finally arrive at the appartment, check in and realize: Wow, there’s a bathtub in the flat and a sushi restaurant across the street. That must be paradise!
Could you name us your biggest musical influences?
Actually not really. People say my English songs sound like a mash-up of Tracy Chapman, Alanis Morissette and KT Tunstall. And I really like those girls, but when I was young I liked completely different music: I grew up with classical stuff while learning the cello, I sang my first notes while listening to Helmut Lotti and my first jazz experiences I had with Madeleine Peyroux, Joss Stone and Norah Jones. By now I love motown music, my favourite song ever is “Say a little prayer for you” by Aretha Franklin, but I am also fascinated by David Bowie’s musical artwork. I can only imagine that country music built the bridge between all the genres and made my music the way it is today. Here I especially think about Reba McEntire, Shania Twain and Faith Hill.
As a songwriter, what inspires you most and how would you describe your songwriting process? How do you approch the creation of new material?
The truth is: There is no standard creation process. Especially if you compare the German and the English speaking lyrics you won’t find such a standard procedure. But some things are similar: I mostly have some words, often a metaphor, in my mind which is open for interpretation. Then I do some brainstorming around what that could mean to me personally. If I find a story which fits to the metaphor and which I can identify with I know it’s going to be a great song. But the best songs just appear in my head and are ready for stage within only a few hours. That mostly happens after a special experience, no matter if positive or negative, major or minor. After all those years of songwriting I can only say that it is helpful to be open minded, interested, friendly to the people and not in a hurry to write good songs. All in all, the best recipe for song creation seems to be: Living consciously!
How do you deal with doubt? Have you ever had doubts about your songs? Your performence etc.?
(laughing) I often have doubts about my work. Doubts are part of my perfectionist personality. My personal point of doubt is, that I did not study my instruments, my singing and have a big lack of theoretical musical knowledge, which is one of the reasons why it took me so long to bring me and my songs on stage. I just thought: “What I do is too simple to be real good.”
When I had my first gigs, I sometimes was so full of stagefright that I got blackouts and completely forgot my own songs. I took it as a challenge, attended a professional coaching and learned how to motivate myself and how to prepare for my gigs properly: One of the best ways to overcome stagefright and doubts is to accept that they’re part of you and that they both exist to make you better and to finally outgrow yourself if you channel them in the right way. And while I was consolidating that in my mind, I got the pleasure to work together with other musicians and friends, who are great – each of them in a special way. And working together with them helped me realize that I am great in my special way, too. Although there are many things I don’t know about music, I feel the music and that is a very important part when you play together with others. And we accept each other and do great music together, no matter which background each of us is having. Sometimes I still miss some things and am very impatient with myself but there is nothing I cannot learn, as long as I am not ashamed of what I don’t know and as long as I love what I do.
What would you recommend to any thriving songwriter that´s only starting out?
First: Find out, what you really want to do with your songs and your music. Some people realize working as a musician or songwriter is not that romantic as they have imagined and go back to former every day life routine. If you should come to that point: Don’t be angry with yourself and do it. Some dreams need to be tested before realized. But if you find out that songwriting and singing makes you happier than anything else and you need to do it as a profession, stick to your dream, but make a good plan: If you want to earn money with your music, it’s a long way and you have no success guarantee. You need long breath and good marketing and social media knowledge, you need to be good at gaining gigs and relationship management and for the big deal, you surely need to be in the right place at the right time. But the more you’re acknowledged, the higher the chance. So go out, do your music and if you feel it is time: Don’t hesitate to talk about it!
Last, not least: What are your primary goals in 2017?
At the moment, I am doing exactly what I recommend to all the other singers and songwriters out there: I do what I love and don’t hesitate to talk about it, so that people have the chance to acknowledge what I do, hopefully with the result, that they will like, love and share my music. After the album release I’ll do a little trip to New York, just to get some new impressions and meeting new people, maybe for new songs. And afterwards I’ll do further gigs and tours, for example together with Fabian Haupt and Danny Latendorf, two great songwriter colleagues living in Düsseldorf, too. For the end of this year, there’s another studio work planned, but this time with German songs. For the second album I am going to start a crowdfunding campaign in the middle of the year to find financial support. The masterplan says that I will have released two albums when I am turning 30 in 2018. Let’s see what life’s going to say to those plans.
Kate, I wish you all the best for 2017! I am very fond of your album and am sure you´ll go a long way!