musicians

The Black Kites are four piece band that hails from the west. They are currently shooting a music video for the song “Paper Heart,” which is off the Paper Heart EP. Recently I had a chance to ask them a few questions about music and the development of their upcoming album, which is scheduled to be released this fall.

How did you find your love for music?

Marcel: Well, I guess I didn’t actually start taking music seriously enough to play until I was 15 and decided with a couple of high school friends to start a band. We were inspired by the Velvet Underground, Flipper, My Dog Popper, and Jimi Hendrix. We were The Zelnick Experience. I got stuck with the drums because I was the only one who couldn’t play anything – and I never looked back. Sometimes I think I’m still the one who can’t play anything, but I can do that a whole lot better than I could in high school.

Alan: I started playing guitar with my brother, Chris, when we were both in elementary school.  By the time we got to high school we had our own Allman Brothers clone band.

Nicki: I started playing guitar at 13, playing along to the Lemonheads and practicing my moves in my bedroom. 

Your music is very soothing and easy to listen to, it’s what I would call driving music with a kick, has it always been this way? What are the twist and turns your sound has taken along the way?

Alan: The sound has definitely taken some turns. In the beginning, it was just Nicki and I on bass and guitar respectively, backed by a couple 70s drum machines we’d drag around. When Evelyn came in, adding not just her voice and vocal approach, but keys as well, the sound developed immensely and really started to get more dynamic. Adding Marcel’s driving hits became the last piece of the puzzle. It’s very much a group sound, and not just one person.

Marcel: For me, I feel the dynamics have slightly changed since I joined the band – which was just over a year ago. I think I tend to add a bit more of that kick – especially in a live situation. But yeah – we often get lumped in with this whole “shoegaze” genre, but I like the idea that we don’t really gaze at our shoes, we kinda just hit that gas pedal with them.

Evelyn and Alan, your voices sound absolutely amazing together, truly a vocal combo made in heaven. Who writes the lyrics, one or both of you?

Alan: It’s a combination of us both. I’ll often write the lyrics and then bring them in to the rehearsal space and let Evelyn sing what I’ve got. Then we start tinkering with them to shape them to how she sings it, or feels it. Often times she has some lines or images that get incorporated early on. Either way, the music is usually finished first, and then the lyrics are written.

About a week ago I heard that you’re going to be shooting a music video, which song will it be for? What will be the video’s main focal point?

Alan: The video is for Paper Heart.  The main focal point would be Evelyn meets “Wings Of Desire.”

Marcel: Yeah. It’s like our first un-official “single”. We’re definitely excited to do this, and it’s definitely interesting trying to match up a visual world with the sonic world we have in our heads. I think the main focal point is open for interpretation – everyone will manage to take different things from the video, the song – but I feel as well as touching on loss, heartbreak, and finally saying goodbye – there is an underlying feeling of movement, change, and growth. Becoming who you truly are and rising above who others see you as – but again – that’s just me.

Nicki: And, on top of all of that, we are going to try something new and dress all in black.

Marcel: Our first pre-planned attempt at band-fashion cohesiveness.

What’s your set up?

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