Interview with Kellylee Evans
Q: Please tell me something about yourself. When and why did you started singing and writing songs?
Kellylee Evans: I used to only sing standards. Even as a music listener, I found that I wasn't open to listening to original music in jazz. Pop music, no problem, but for some reason I had this shut down mechanism when it came to jazz. I only wanted to hear songs that were familiar. And sing songs that were at least familiar to me.
I had this music theory teacher that kept telling me that I would never make any money as a singer if I didn't write my own music. I thought you had to be a born writer. I had co-written a song as a teen with someone I knew, but I didn't think I would be able to do it on my own. Still, I really respected this teacher and I went out and bought a bunch of books on songwriting. Then, I proceeded to do my favourite thing - procrastinate. I needed something really big to make me focus on writing.
That came one day after I had an ankle roll over playing tennis in the morning and almost ended up dying that evening. I had an allergic reaction to a common over-the-counter drug and went into anaphylactic shock. The next day, I started writing with a vengeance. One of my first songs, "I Don't Want You To Love Me" ended up on the album. In fact, the album is all my first songs.
Q: Who has influenced and keeps influencing you musically?
Kellylee Evans: I was listening to Abbey Lincoln a lot initially, Sting...Shania Twain. When I say that, people cringe, but I love the way she is able to make songs that people really identify with. I think she's great. I listen to a lot of soft rock, Coldplay, Keane, Rufus Wainwright, Feist. Every song I wrote seemed to come to me over a dancehall or calypso beat. That definitely speaks to my West Indian heritage (both my parents are from Jamaica). I have a very diverse musical collection - country, jazz, opera, classical, rock, pop, lots of pop, calypso.
Q: The music that's present on Fight Or Flight is a great mixture of different styles and some may argue that you've tried everything not to get pigeonholed with your music. How do you describe the style of your music yourself?
Kellylee Evans: Well, when I first started writing, I called it worldy pop. There was this strong dancehall vibe and a latin feel and I couldn't get rid of it. At the time, I was also averse to any connection to jazz at all. I would tell every one that it wasn't jazz. I asked jazz musicians to record it, but the whole time, I kept saying it wasn't jazz. Then, one day we were in the mall and Ella Fitzgerald came on over the loud speakers and my two year says to me, "Mommy, that sounds like your music". That's when I realized that I didn't really have a clue. If a two year thinks your music is jazz, it probably is. I guess I'm not really here to label it at all. Of course, that philosophy doesn't work too well when you're an independent musician and it is up to you to market your music. So, I started calling it urban jazz. Somehow, I feel that encompasses the soul and R & B that is apparent in the music and the jazzy feel to it. I still say it isn't jazz, but more jazz-y. I'll let someone else fight about it.
Q: Your debut album features only original compositions. Why was it important for you not to go the safer way of including a few cover versions as well?
Kellylee Evans: People tell me I'm crazy to do it this way, and maybe I am, but I just felt that no other song written by any other songwriter represented me and the ideas I wanted to put forward better than me. It was this painting that I was making and I wanted to use these certain colours, this certain palate. I didn't want to add in orange or green or whatever. So, here it is. I still want to record "Imagine", a song I perform a lot, but that will be on the next CD, on the next painting. Also, there was definitely a question of finances. Once I decided I wasn't going to wait for a major label to put the CD out, I wanted to start right away and not wait to find money to record new material. So here you have it, a CD of all my own songs. Most of my favourite singers in the pop genre release CDs of their own compositions, but no one says yea or nea. In vocal jazz, it's unheard of, I guess. But this isn't jazz, right? Right? Ah, who knows.
Oh, one more thing. I remember talking to a singer a few years ago who had asked Abbey Lincoln about whether to put his originals on his CD. She had told him that in general you start out putting out a CD of standards first and add originals one by one, with each successive release, until you eventually end up with a CD filled with originals and one or two standards. But my ultimate goal was to record my own songs. Why not do what you really want first? So, I did. One day, I would love to record an album of standards. A few albums of standards. And those albums will most likely not include any of my originals. I'm just nutty that way.
Q: Your songs are very personal and show you as a sometimes hurt and disenchanted individual. How much of Kellylee is in songs like I Don't Want You To Love Me, Rapunzel or What About Me?
Kellylee Evans: All of me. It might be more risky to write so honestly, but it feels good, especially when you meet someone who hears your song and tells you that they felt or feel the exact same way. That happened with "I Don't Want You To Love Me". I finished the song and went over to my friends house. I asked him to play the chords for me and we taped it and I got to hear my first song outside my head. Pretty exciting stuff for a beginning songwriter! Well, my friend's cousin was there and she heard the song and came up to me afterwards and asked me "Who told you that?". And I was like, "What are you talking about? That's how I feel." She said, "But that's how I feel".
Now you have to understand some background information. This is a girl that we heard about while we were growing up. She had 100% in everything and seemed like she lived the perfect life. But here she was identifying with a song that essentially is about this character's fear of anyone loving them and finding out who they really are deep down and not loving them anymore. So, rather than risk that exposure, they never truly connect with anyone and keep everyone just out of reach.
I always felt that way and I was afraid of revealing that, but since I started performing that song, so many people have approached me and identified with the sentiments as well. It's like I'm writing Hallmark cards for overachievers in society.
That comes through on another track I wrote called, "Enough". It's this manifesto to parents and to society and to everyone who seem to always be asking for more. The question is, "when can I let them know that I've had enough". Those are for the days when I just get overwhelmed by everyone's expectations. Unremarkably, I'm not the only one who feels that either, so I get a lot of requests for that tune as well!
On "Rapunzel", that was my first satire. It's funny, I don't feel it is such a nice song, so I don't perform it much at all. Actually, I have never performed it. But I certainly felt proud of it when I wrote it. I have two little girls and society's ideal of beauty and their obsession with Barbie and everything girlie really had an effect on me. This song came out. It's like an advertisement, calling all girls who want to be like Rapunzel, this blond big busted bombshell. Girls who don't fit that ideal understand the song as soon as they hear it. Many men have said to me after hearing that song, "but you don't have blond hair, Kellylee". I guess they are confused by the fact that I sing it in the first person. But it's supposed to be a joke. Ah well.
Q: You've recorded the majority of the songs in 2004 with Lonnie Plaxico and two additional songs in 2005 with Carlos Henderson. Please tell me how you've met your co-producers and what musical vision do you share?
Kellylee Evans: Well, I met Lonnie in 2001 in Ottawa. He came down to play with Ravi Coltrane at the Jazz Festival. The nice thing about the Ottawa Jazz Festival is that they have a jam session at a local hotel and that's when the locals get a chance to rub shoulders with the players. And boy do we love it. So, I met Lonnie there and after an hour of just chatting he convinced me to come up and sing with them. I say convinced because my voice was just doing some really crazy things at the time and looking back, I realize that I was developing vocal nodules. I was super afraid to go up and sing and crack, so I took some convincing. I did it though and he gave his contact info. I emailed him afterward and he said keep up the good work and that was about it. At that point, I was still thinking that someone was going to hear me and then my life would change. When that didn't happen, I just kept plugging away. When I decided to finally record my music in late 2003, I called Lonnie and asked him if he could help me. He asked me to send him the music. I got my friend Drew Gonsalves, a guitar player and singer and songwriter (leader of the calypso group, Kobotown) to play guitar, formed the charts in Band in a Box and sent Lonnie the tracks of us playing. Really rudimentary stuff. Lonnie got a bunch of amazing guys together. I went down to New York in January 2004 and we had two rehearsals and then banged out the tunes in 2 days one take each. Once I got back home, I realized that I wasn't happy with the vocals, so I hit a studio near my home and Jon van Wingerden and I redid the vocals and remixed it.
At the Monk Competition, I met Terence Blanchard and his manager, Robin Burgess. They put me in touch with Carlos Henderson, who had worked with Lizz Wright as her musical director. Carlos was charged with reworking a few tunes to better represent the sound I was now hearing in my head. So, that's how he came up with the version of "What About Me?" that leads off the CD. I traveled down to New York in March 2005 once again and while I was hanging with Carlos he started teaching me Reason, a program that helps you build the bed tracks. The goal was that I would be better able to workshop songs while I was writing rather than wait to get a band together. Well, the lesson ended up being "Lead Me Closer", the second song. I didn't want to write that song at all, but it became this thing where I started programming the drums and Carlos would say, "that sounds good, what are you going to do next". I would then program the bass and he would prompt me for the next part. Then he was like, "what about words"? Now, up to that point, I had never written "on demand" so I made up a bunch of excuses about why I would have to go back home first. But by the end of that day, Carlos had me finish writing the song and we recorded it the next day. He taught me a lot about digging deep and just getting the song while it was there. I'm grateful for that because I can be very lazy about songwriting. If it doesn't come easy, I'm out of there. It's all a learning process, that's for sure.
Q: Why did you go to NYC to record the album at all? Are there no decent studios in Canada?
Kellylee Evans: Well, I just wanted to work with the best people in the world and we were always told that the best players were in NY. Now I know people all over will take exception to what I just said, but I'm just telling you what my understanding was back then. NY has this mythic feeling to it. Like everything feels bigger and better. When I get to NY, my heart jumps. I just love it there. And everything feels possible in NY. I'm sure it's all psychological, but for whatever reason, I felt drawn there and I'm glad I went. I love it there!
But, with all that said, there are amazing studios in Canada. I came back and finished my record at home. It was the best place for me. I had the time to really get it where I wanted it with Jon at Audiovalley. My kids were really young and being close to home made the work a lot easier. So, the album becomes this cross border project where the best people I could find put their stamp on it. I had it mastered at home by Noah Mintz, this great engineer at Lacquer Channel. He spends his time mastering major label stuff, so he put his stamp on the CD as well and I'm grateful for that.
Q: I assume that ENLIVEN! Media is your own imprint. Please tell me more about it. Why did you established it and what's the objective? Will you release other artist's music too?
Kellylee Evans: The concept behind ENLIVEN! Media is bringing life to ideas. I paint, I sing, I act. I constantly have ideas that I want to put out into the ether. This was my opportunity to get started doing that. After the Monk Competition, I had a great deal of interest from many labels. Got a chance to fulfill one of my goals and showcased for Blue Note. When I was making the CD, I felt sure that the higher ups would hear the CD and love it. And they did, initially, but didn't like my music enough to release it. That was a big blow. After each label that expressed interest fell by the wayside, I realized that I can't wait for other people to get on board. I'm already rowing and I don't really have time to stop mid-current. So, you know, I started this and people have been helping me. Everywhere I go, there is someone who wants to help in some way and I know, without a doubt, that I am on the right path.
About putting out other people's music, I think that is something that I might like to do. Not much time right now, but once the infrastructure is in place to market and promote my releases, we might as well add more artists to the mix. Economies of scale, ya know?
Q: How easy or difficult is it for you as a new artist to spread the word about your music?
Kellylee Evans: Here in Canada we have the CBC, which is like NPR in America or the BBC in the United Kingdom. Since the CBC have gotten on board, I have found that interest has really grown in my music. The Monk Competition really helped as well. I just keep plugging away and little by little things happen. So, I can say that as a new artist, it hasn't been easy, but there are tougher things in life, so I can't complain about this, ya know?
Q: While black music is still mainly happening in the USA there are some musicians from Canada who have released inspiring records in recent time. What's your opinion about Canada as a market for soul, jazz or funk music? Do you think it's easier to get noticed in Canada than in the USA because maybe there's less competition?
Kellylee Evans: I wonder. It might be a factor, but when you live here in Canada, it's easy to feel that I would have more outlets if I did alternative rock music. Canada's really a hot bed of that style of music, especially with Broken Social Scene, Metric, The Arcade Fire and Stars. Most of the mainstream media is interested in bands like that. That's the "indie" music scene. I'm indie, but somehow I can't market myself like that.
Q: I really like the cover of your album. Please tell me something about the photo shooting. Who came up with the idea for the cover picture?
Kellylee Evans: That was solely my photographer, Jim Allen (jimallenphoto.com and differenthats.com). I saw his postcard in a lighting shop, Artemide, once. They have really amazing modern lighting fixtures and I was in there dreaming one day. Anyway, I called him up and asked him how much it would be to work with him. He started telling me that he had a concept. It had just come to him. I don't even think I had told him about the album title or anything, he was just off and running. I was super nervous because I thought I should have some understanding about what was going on, but I was clueless.
I met him at a costume shop and he had me try on a priest's cassock and a collar. We headed to the Beaches in Toronto. It was a super windy day which was as he wanted and he just had me run. Run and run and run and run and look into the sun. He sent me the proofs and I was like, "huh?". Until I looked at the title of the CD, "fight or flight?". I realized that he had captured the idea perfectly. I'm fighting the wind and flying and it perfectly captures the ambivalence of my lyrics. I love it. That's Jim. He has this ability to capture what is really there. He did some other photos for me. They're not pretty, glamorous photos, but they're me and they are real and there is something really beautiful in that. Just like the songs. Sometimes the sentiments expressed aren't pretty or lofty or honourable. Like the title track, Fight Or Flight? (Help Me Help You). Here is this person asking for the strength to help someone else when they are feeling apathetic. Those are all feelings that I have sometimes. They're not pretty, but they're real.
Q: Fight Or Flight is your just released debut album and I'm sure it's top priority for you right now. Nevertheless I'd like to know what can we expect from you in the future? In which way would you like your music and songwriting to develop?
Kellylee Evans: I have been playing a lot of my new songs in performance, which I think is frustrating for the audience because they are just being introduced to the new CD and many of the songs I sing aren't even released yet. I'm just itching to record the news songs and release them. I just love writing music and I love watching my abilities improve, even if only slightly. I hope to release another CD really, really soon. Or course, I want to give this CD as much of energy as possible. I listen to the songs and I have fallen in love with many of them all over again which I never thought was possible. I've disconnected with them to the point where I listen and like what the singer does here or there or what the songwriter said in this place. Then, I realize that it's my work I'm liking and I get all self-conscious.
Ideally, I'd like to keep releasing material and be prolific. I want to tour. I can't wait to get on the road and see the world. So far, I haven't done much outside of my province, Ontario, outside of the occasional foray into NY. It would be nice to go to Europe. My ultimate goal is to play for bigger and bigger audiences and have my music be heard by more and more people. Every day, I accomplish that when even one more person attends a show, visits my website or gets turned on to the music. It's pretty amazing. I'm having fun. I'd like to continue having fun.
For more infos visit kellyleeevans.com, cdbaby.com and read my review of Fight Or Flight?.