Kate Pavli’s greatest asset is undoubtedly vocal power. Whether this can be put down to her childhood background in musical theatre, her Greco-Australian flare, or something entirely different, the fact is, very few leave a ‘Finding Kate’ show uncertain of this. And that’s a pretty good virtue when you are competing against hard hitting drums, heavy bass and distortion guitars (although there is plenty of softness in-between).
The fantastic five-piece took on our A-Z Questionnaire challenge and you can read their answers here…
FINDING KATE are:
Kate – Vocals
Nanneq – Guitars
Chris – Keys
Byron – Bass
Henning – Drums
A SONG WHICH MADE YOU WANT TO MAKE MUSIC:
“Losing Grip” by Avril Lavigne.
BEST RIDER YOU HAVE EVER HAD:
5 free beers at a gig in London, haha.
CRAZIEST MOMENT YOU’VE EXPERIENCED IN THE MUSIC:
Too many! I don’t really know which one is crazier to share with you
DEEPEST LYRICS ONE OF YOUR SONGS FEATURES:
I think “Did It Again” is one of my deepest songs. I just loved it from my first EP so we decided to re-record it and make a different version. I love the lyrics a lot.
EASIEST SONG YOU WROTE:
I think it’s difficult to say what was easy to write as it was quite the process. Chris wrote all the music and arranged and produced, Rushil and I wrote the lyrics. Since 3 people were involved I think our ideas of “easy” would be different as we all had different roles to play at different times!
FAVOURITE SONG IN YOUR SET:
I love playing “I’ll Save You” live. It gets me going. I also secretly love swearing at one point in the song. Sorry mum.
GUEST YOU’D MOST LIKE TO FEATURE ON YOUR RECORD:
Oh, it would be an absolute honour to feature Pink or Taylor Momsen or Lacey Sturm. I can’t choose!
HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING IN AN ARTIST:
I think it is the constant worry about doing everything right for your music. It’s difficult without a manager to know what the right steps are in order to release an album. Sometimes you have to do it all alone. Luckily I’ve had people guiding me and supporting me throughout this journey but there has been many setbacks regarding the actual release from the video clips, to the artwork to cd manufacturing, there is so many things you need to keep on top of. You definitely need to be organised!
INTERESTING FACT ABOUT YOU:
I only own black clothes! It’s the only thing I wear. I’ve also seen hundreds of horror films for a 19-year old girl! It’s a weird obsession really.
JOKES YOU HAVE IN THE BAND:
Henning and Nanneq like to make Spinal Tap jokes all the time. I’ve never actually seen the movie so I have no idea what is going on most of the time. That’s why it’s even more funny! Also this joke started in Cyprus, Chris and Byron have an obsession with the size of my head compared to the rest of my body. They call me ‘bobble-head’. It’s too late to be offended now!
KEY TO WRITING A SONG:
I guess you just feel it when the time is right. There is no point in forcing yourself to write, sometimes great things happen when you don’t expect it. I don’t really compose music as of yet, but with my experiences in writing lyrics I’d find a word that I like from a movie or something that I heard whilst walking, and then I find synonyms for it or things that rhyme with it. I usually create my own “story” and theme for each song I write, always inspired by personal experiences.
LONGEST DISTANCE YOU’VE TRAVELLED TO PLAY A SHOW:
Not very long yet. We’ve been playing in London mostly, where I live. We’ve had plenty of Cyprus shows but it is such a tiny island, so not very far! In November we are going on our first UK tour and we will be travelling up North, so we will be doing 3-5 hour drives
MOST INSPIRING MUSICIAN YOU’VE EVER EXPERIENCED:
I don’t have someone that I feel more inspired by, but I love the idea of women in Rock. They really make me feel like I can do this. Musicians such as Lacey Sturm, Lzzy Hale and Avril Lavigne all inspire me to push myself and fight for this. I think the rock scene has an array of male-fronted bands but not enough women. So I feel inspired to keep going when I see these ladies’ talent and success.
NEW BAND YOU’D RECOMMEND:
Far From Alaska have some really cool tunes. I am also really loving the first album of Nothing But Thieves who are already getting quite big. I think they are incredible.
OPENING FOR THIS BAND WOULD BE IDEAL:
Karnivool even though they are much darker than us. Flyleaf or The Pretty Reckless for sure. PLACE YOU’D MOST LIKE TO TOUR: America is definitely in our plans!
QUOTE THAT YOU’D LIKE TO PASS ON TO READERS:
“Some days you just have to say ‘f*** it, I did what I could today’ and just let go of all the stuff you wanted to do. Life is too short to be angry with yourself for being human.”
REASON FOR THE TITLE OF YOUR RECENT/FORTHCOMING RELEASE:
My first single “Forever” will be released on November 4th and I am so excited for it! The album is about a personal experience, about saving someone, saving myself, falling and trying to get back up again. “If I Fall” has been in the making for a while now and I feel ready to release it into the world.
SEE US LIVE AT:
The Unicorn in Camden on 31st October in London. Plus Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Surrey etc on our UK tour!
THE OLD DAYS OF MUSIC WERE BETTER THAN THOSE CURRENT, DO YOU AGREE:
In general I think yes, there is too many pop tracks sounding exactly the same but on the other hand, I do like some current mainstream music. Nowadays we all know that pop and dance are dominating our radio stations which makes it more difficult for Rock bands to break through the charts. I grew up listening to bands such as Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and Audioslave but I can still find great bands such as Incubus, Muse and Deftones nowadays amongst the commercial tracks and artists we’ve been listening to lately. I believe there is still a huge market for artists like me; whether it’s Alternative, Pop, Metal, Gothic etc, etc, it’s just more niche.
UNUSUAL MERCHANDISE:
We don’t have any merch as of yet, but when we do, it will be ‘Finding Kate frisbees’! Throw them around to my fans whilst performing! Hopefully no one gets hit in the head! Oops…
VARIATIONS YOU’D LIKE TO DO ON ANY OF YOUR SONGS:
Extended version of “Gone”, which is how we perform it live.
WHAT DO YOUR FANS MEAN TO YOU:
The world.
X-RAYS OR ANY OTHER TREATMENTS NEEDED FOR MUSIC RELATED INJURIES:
Nothing too serious yet, but I’ve definitely got terrible knees full of scratches and marks due to crap I was doing when I was younger!
YOU’RE LATE FOR A SHOW, WHO’S FAULT IS IT:
Mine for sure. I try to always be on time for shows but in my daily life, I am always running late for some reason! Even if I take 3 hours to prepare myself, I will still somehow be slightly late.
ZOO ANIMAL THAT BEST DESCRIBES YOU:
Horse. Does that count as a zoo animal?