I followed my friends down the stairs to a basement in a house on the North edge of Seattle’s central district. Inside it was dark and muggy. It wasn’t a punk-rock house, or a DIY collective. It was a fairly regular looking house, but people in their twenties seemed to live there. I think it was a going away party for Seth Sugar (Wilde Turkey), who was moving to NYC. I always liked his music and enjoyed his company, so I figured this show would be worth something or other. Still, I can be grim. My friends who had taken me usually liked good music, but had taken me to more than one show that left me trying to figure out which hurt more; my head, my feet, or my sad, withering heart. I was not having a good time living in Seattle in late 07. However, this would end up being one of the only really great experiences that happened in the months before I left. To my delight, KHV (Katherine Hepurn’s Voice) filled my head with ideas, my feet with morphine and my heart with another soft red spot, waiting to be punctured when the show was over. Yes, I liked it.

Shannon opened with the song ‘Out like this,’ featured as a download at the bottom of the page. It is a solo song of hers. Towards the end of the recording an entire fleet of people sing along with the chorus, which actually happened again in the basement. It was one of those ‘moments.’ I found a video on youtube, but I think it’s a fan thing. Oh well – here it is:

“Wow, I think that is the new favorite time I’ve performed that song!” She said with glee when she was finished. Everybody had cheered a ton. Over the course of the show she said a lot of funny things. At one point she decided to pass her bottle of wine around the room, claiming that she was getting too drunk. It ended up landing with me, with a scruffy beard, and wearing a pink Universal Studios trucker hat. Being a drinker, I sat with it. Eventually she wanted it back.

“Hey, where the fuck is my wine? Oh – you have it! Give me back my wine trucker dude!” She exclaimed. I handed it back thinking to myself ‘holy shit, this is awesome… this girl is fucking crazy.’ That night I approached her and demanded to make at least partial friends. We ended up emailing a bit, and she sent me a CD. She said a few funny things over our correspondence, so when I began doing this blog, I was greatly looking forward to the opportunity to interview her. I was also lucky enough to get answers from D.W., who mainly does drums.

1. The basics. What’s your deal? How long have you been a band? How did you meet your band mates? Do you have musical training? What did you listen to when you were younger?

Shannon: It’s hard to explain what our “deal” is exactly. We think a lot. We
like to incorporate art into our music, and look at the
band conceptually and idyllically. We do our best to be good people
and to do things for the right reasons, in regular life
and in the band. Sometimes we get lucky, and remember to set the
analysis aside long enough to have fun. Not that it’s not fun in
general, but I think we look at the process of being in a band as
something to be done carefully, honestly and with humility. We stress
ourselves out trying to be “legit” in that way, and in trying to keep
our “vision” intact. It’s laughable at times, how worried we get.

We’ve been together as KHV for 5 years or so, but we were in another
band called Dalmatiansbefore that. It was a shouting, ghetto-electronic, dance punk kind of thing. It was really fun. It was
DW, Brian McCarthy and I. Now Brian’s in Casy & Brian (aka Catbees) in San Francisco. We’re playing a couple shows with them next week on a
little tour we’re doing with Partman Parthorse.

We recently added bassist Eli Chuckovich to the band so we could fill
out our live performances. He’s been a great calming
influence for DW and I, as we frequently get into
conceptual/analytical (or just silly) debates at band practice, and
having such a calm, even-keel guy around keeps us from going too far
over-thinking things. He helps keep us on task, and he’s super funny
and a big sweetheart. We met Eli through my sister (he is her
ex-boyfriend, amicably). He recorded our last album, “Unlimited Nights
and Weekends” and is just super rad to hang out with. DW suggested we
ask him to play with us, and I thought, “Duh! It could only be him.”

DW and I met through a bunch of mutual friends a while back. Actually,
he’s the reason I joined Dalmatians, so I could get to know him
better; he was super funny and multi-talented, and something of an
enigma. I couldn’t figure him out. Now we’re like brother and sister.
We spend a lot of time trying to maintain the delicate balance between
friends and bandmates. I think this one of the most challenging parts
of KHV, and it’s been an enormous learning experience for both of us.

I was a band geek in junior high and high school. I played clarinet
mostly, and taught myself to play a little piano at home
on my Grandmother’s Chickering upright grand (The heaviest un-tunable
piano, ever). My relationship with keyboards these days is a guilty
one. I could’ve been a better pianist with lessons, and perhaps if I
practiced more nowadays, I’d mess up less on stage. I think I treat
keyboards as a means to an end; I need a sound, and they make sounds.
I’d like to get better at it, so I don’t feel like such a jerk when I
see “real” pianists play.

When I was a kid, I decided that if I ever contracted a terminal
illness, and I got to do a Make-A-Wish Foundation thing, I’d
meet Michael Jackson. Not “meet Michael Jackson in Disneyland,” just “meet Michael Jackson.” I was very much into him. I’ve got his
Moonwalker movie memorized. We listened to what our dad listened to:
Sinead O’Connor, Milli Vanilli, George Michael, Elton John, Phil
Collins, The Eagles, Creedence Clearwater Revival. That was all around
age 8. As a teenager, I went through the standard radio-play
“alternative” hits that most of us were into, and then got pretty
gothy (The Cure, Depeche Mode, Cranes, etc) and liked industrial music
like Skinny Puppy. At 21 or so, I was introduced to Beulah, old Of
Montreal, Essex Green, The Moldy Peaches and a bunch of stuff that
ended up shaping how I feel about music in a more permanent way.
Lately, I’ve been really into Ariel Pink, White Williams, The Dirty
Projectors, No Kids, Indian Jewelry, Animal Collective, and basically
anything rocksteady. And I really love K Records stuff like The Blow,
Microphones and Little Wings. Also, K just signed two bands I’ve been
into for some time: LAKE and Saturday Looks Good To Me. Sam Cooke is
rad, too. And old American stuff like Carter Family or Mississippi
John Hurt. It’s hard to stop once you start spouting out bands you
like. There’s too much, and one thing reminds you of another. I’ll
stop there.

*****

D.W.: I was brought up in Anglican church music. I’m a choir boy. Played
violin for 7 years. Grew up on Palestrina, Handel, the Baroque…my
Mom and I listened to Motown and Def Leppard.

2. Who was the character ‘Molly’ based around in your song ‘Out like
this?’ You don’t have to give their actual name if they are a real
person, but I am curious to know about the inspiration for that song.

Shannon: I wrote that about my ex-husband, Matt, and about myself, which is why
I used a female character. We were both kind of wild and impulsive to
a fault at times. Lyrically and sound-wise, I meant it to be something
of a parody of that style of song: The struggle of people who love wild or uncontrollable types. It’s
such a cliche, and I think that’s why the choir seemed
appropriate at the end; I wanted to capture a serious, but
tongue-in-cheek KHV version of a ’80s/’90s tragedy epic. Not as
dead-pan serious as Phil Collins. Sad, but playful. I can’t remember where the name Molly came from, but we had a cocker
spaniel when I was a kid. Maybe that?

3. I remember you telling me once that you really like Seattle, and
you were disappointed that a lot of people were wanting to move, or
were moving. Can you explain your admiration for the city? There is a
pretty good music scene in Seattle, is there anything in particular
you like about it? Any great bands we should know about?

Shannon: I used to rant a lot about Seattle. I think I loved it then out of
survival and because of what I thought it had the
potential to be. My sister moved away, and we were very close. The
grieving process of her not being around, and a few other friends
leaving, made me a little testy about it. There was this period where
I felt like everyone was complaining about Seattle, and I’d wanna say,
“Then let’s DO something to make it better!” Life is totally what you
make of it. So is Seattle. I think I love Seattle more honestly and
with less defensiveness nowadays. There’s so many awesome things going
on. I recently found out about Hollow Earth Radio, and will be volunteering there starting Sunday. It’s internet radio broadcast out
of an attic in Wallingford. Totally weird and freeform programming,
and a super down-to-earth atmosphere.

There are also a bunch of alternative all ages venues that have popped
up, like Holy Mountain, Josephine, Healthy Times Fun Club and
Hellmouth. Seattle was seriously lacking those sorts of spaces, and
there seems to be a renewed sense of community because of it.

I like a bunch of local bands. It’s exciting to be involved in such a
diverse creative community. It would be difficult to
name off all the Seattle bands I think are rad, but there are a few
bands Ive got into more recently that I think are pretty
exciting, like Love Tan, Point Juncture WA, and this morning I was
really liking Charles Leo Gebhart IV. There’s so much
more going on, though. I’d have an anxiety attack if I had to choose a
‘top-ten’ of the northwest. They’re all so different.

*****

D.W.: Nothing wrong with people moving to other places. That’s how I got
here. I don’t plan to go anywhere. There’s natural settling that
happens in migration.

4. Your name is Shannon, but I know that you were called ‘Chicken’ for
a long time… maybe you still are. Can you explain this to me?

Shannon: Brian from Dalmatians nicknamed me that when I was 16, and it sorta
stuck. I collected those little pipe-cleaner chickens
that you can get at easter time. Some people still call me that, but
it’s sort of “grandfathered in”, and most people call me
Shannon these days.

5. What do you want out of music? I mean, what do you think there
should be more of in music, in communities, in scenes… in Seattle,
on the West Coast, in the US. How do you think you fit into that?

Shannon: I think we as musicians should talk and interact more. Sometimes
there’s a shyness or intimidation that often comes off as
stuck-up, and Seattle has a litte reputation about unfriendliness. I
don’t know how KHV fits into the community, or even what style we are.
Even when I read reviews, I can hear the words, and they compute, but
for some reason I have a blank brain about how we come off. It’s
frustrating to worry about being misunderstood, in that way, but it
helps keep us (in my mind) from committing to a genre. I don’t want us
to be expected to do anything specific. We want to do all sorts of
things. But hell, If I hear myself say “The journey is the
destination!” or “Don’t put me in a box!” one more time, I swear to
god, I’ll punch me right in the freaking face. But I can’t stop.

*****

D.W.: I want my own music to be more visually influenced. I gravitate to
art that reaches to sources beyond its own particular form. I’m
always trying to set the balance between a beat or sound you’ve got to
move to and a narrative or psycho-visual apparition you’ve got to stop
and really examine- that takes you to another place; equal parts sex
and death; the sublime.

Honestly, and maybe I’m naïve, I think Seattle’s music community is
pretty healthy. But there can never be too much self-production of
any kind in any town. I’m obsessed with the kind of scrappy,
on-the-fly creativity a climate like that inspires, and this town’s
got a lot of possibilities on that front. There should always be more
shows in houses, basements, rooftops, empty galleries…

I hope we fit into that.

6. Have any releases or tour dates I should know about?

Shannon: Our myspace is usually the most accurate. We play tonight, actually. I
am no good with dates. We’re going on a mini tour to
San Francisco and abouts next week. We play on KEXP in june… Yeah…
Myspace.

*****

D.W.: Four-date-tour. This week. First KHV mini-tour. Very excited.
We’re playing at the SAM on August 6th, and we’re going for something
sculptural. It’ll be interesting to see where we end up in another
year.

********

They play with PartMan PartHorse at the Hemlock in SF tomorrow, the 16th, and a DIY house called Deep Space nine on Friday, the 17th, with Religious Girls and Casy and Brian.

DOWNLOADS:
Katharine Hepburn’s Voice – Size Doesnt Matter

Katharine Hepburn’s Voice – Out Like This

Katharine Hepburn’s Voice – Stupid Stimulants

April 16, 2009
Categories: Artist Watch List, Bands We Love, Party Time! . Tags: animal collective, ariel pink, beulah, casy and brian, cranes, creedence clearwater revival, depeche mode, george michael, indian jewelry, katharine hepburn's voice, magik, michael jackson, mp3's, no kids, phil collins, Religious Girls, sam cooke, sinead o'connor, skinny puppy, the blow, the cure, the dirty projectors, the microphones, video . Author: tarnation1

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