The Kut’s debut album seemed to come out of nowhere to dominate the UK music press. It climbed to number seven on the UK Rock Albums Chart and number 18 on the Independent Albums Chart. And if the first single off here latest LP, GRIT is any indication, she’s not going away anytime soon.
GRIT, her sophomore effort, is more of the same brilliant mix of punk raucousness paired with smart, relatable lyrics. The record came out on July 8th via Criminal Records. The Kut (yes, she goes by The Kut) was kind enough to answer questions recently, discussing her new record, the pressure of following up her debut and working with the same man who produced albums by Lionel Ritchie and Def Leppard.
You got a lot of attention with your brilliant debut. Did you feel any pressure following that record up?
Valley of Thorns was a massive milestone because I’d been working on the idea of a debut album for what seemed like forever before it happened. In that time, almost 10 years had passed, so it had changed from the debut I intended, to an entirely different collection of songs, tinged with the frustration I’d felt from my experiences in the music industry.
Moments earlier I’d been staring in the face of major label deals in the U.S. and come away with nothing, so I was on the verge of quitting music. I had to take a deep look inward and decide about whether I felt ready or able to put trust in myself to release it independently. So, when it did release, on my Criminal Records label, the reactions it got and the fact it charted in the UK rock charts (at No.7), right up there with some of the biggest bands and labels totally blew me away. It wasn’t just that though, I was overwhelmed with messages from rock fans who loved it and had found comfort in it, through depression or difficult times. I’m passionate about improving mental health, and actually have a PhD in Psychology (specifically in Schizotypy), so the idea that the album was also helping others added was another level. It was life changing.
So absolutely, the idea of following all that up with another album was a pressure waiting to be realized (laughs). There was more of a financial pressure on the follow up though because the money from the record had been lost, or should I say stolen, during the closure of PledgeMusic, who went under with 70% the money. So, while Valley of Thorns was in the Top 10 my cards were defaulting buying food and it was a pretty conflicting set of emotions. I mean, I definitely couldn’t see album two coming at the speed I hoped, but the support of Team Razors gave me a strong steer to set up a Patreon account, so I got back on track, got up off the floor and brushed it off. Yeah, it was a blow, but the reception Valley of Thorns got was actually in many ways life affirming and something that inspired me a lot in the creation of GRIT and the name of it. I’ve given up a lot to be a musician and follow my dreams as it were, and that includes time, energy, money and relationships. GRIT is the psychology of getting back up when you fall, and it’s something I’ve had to channel really hard throughout my time releasing music as The Kut.
I never stopped writing though. I applied for Arts Council England funding to create the new album, and so it’s thanks to them and the collective that it exists now – as well as Team Razors who are my inspiration to keep on making music. I’d like to think I’m constantly evolving my craft, but it’s never a guarantee that that means with a better record. The reactions to the first single “ANIMO” were staggering though – it was more popular than all our previous singles and won three songwriting awards! This week I just heard about the first couple of album reviews – and I’ve definitely been anxious about this moment, but now massively over the moon because the first couple of magazines have given it 10/10 and 5/5 – which legit had me in tears! Growing as a band though, while amazing, comes with its own pressures. Where we used to pack stock in my bedroom, we now have a warehouse for merch and I struggle to keep up with emails and social media, which is upsetting. I hope the release of GRIT will help me find collaborators – a manager, label or agent to get involved. Self-representing is a lot on one set of shoulders.
How did the pandemic and the global shut down affect your plans for this record? Had you already started writing it before everyone was forced to shelter in?
When the pandemic started, I was really anxious, probably more so than everyone around me initially – mainly because I’d read the science of how covid attacks the body and the fact it seemed more like anthrax, in the way that it was the dose that was important, rather than whether you caught it or not. That was before it arrived in the UK. I was also (rightly) convinced that its airborne, much against the UK guidance at the time, so I was freaking out – and just wanted to help in whatever way I could. Plus, when the lockdown hit, I didn’t even have an instrument with me as I was away. So really my creative productivity was pretty poor. I heard from musical friends that they had written scores of tracks in that time, but I was really more concerned about keeping my family and friends safe and hopefully not infecting them or anyone else. It’s a horrible feeling to have that responsibility. I volunteered at the time to call older people and check in with them and chat, to help the NHS response. One lady I spoke to was 93 years old and I chatted to a lot of lovely people – most of them were fine but appreciated the check in.
Occasionally I still see the odd mask or reminder of those lockdowns and get a flash back to then. It’s truly something else how quickly we can all adapt to the total abnormality of it and then return to our behaviors like nothing had happened. Anyway, when things eased up, I did get back into writing more, when I could concentrate on that.
You had mentioned “ANIMO” earlier. Can you talk for a minute about that song?
“ANIMO” was a real wild card on the record – because initially when I planned out a maybe list for album two, it wasn’t a track yet – so I wasn’t really sure if there was an “ANIMO” spaced shape in the album. I wrote it when there were a lot of women’s rights conversations – that had happened around the sickening murder of Sarah Everard, who was first missing, then it came to light she had been kidnapped and killed by a London police officer! It was/is a really horrendous case, and a lot of people rightly took to the streets in London, or lit candles outside their doors. There was an outpouring of distress around it – and discussions about stuff that I feel most women could relate to, about not feeling safe at night and having to constantly watch our backs. There was a really bleak mood and it felt really toxic.
I wrote “ANIMO” to contrast it, as a psych up song – because as women we carry these feelings all the time, but we just get on with it – we get out there, live our lives and for the most part, women are smashing it in every walk of life. When I started out playing music it was still at a time when people might ask us if we were the girlfriends of the band or look for the ‘real guitarist’ behind the curtain that was supposedly playing my solos! (Yes, that really happened)! So, now in 2022 we’ve come a real long way – not far enough, but still a long way. With “ANIMO” I wanted to shout that, as women, we are brave, courageous, and that it is ok to channel our inner animal spirit and let everyone know it.
You handle a lot of the music on your own. Did you record with any other musicians on this record?
Yes, thankfully (laughs) and it was an epic experience. I actually started out as a drummer though, and I play bass, even though my main role live is as vocalist and guitarist. I see myself put about as a ‘multi-instrumentalist’ quite a bit, so I thought I might as well live up to that and record a bit of drums and bass on the album too… but I don’t drum or play bass at the live gigs, well, aside from earlier this year when we had a covid incident on one night of the tour…. but yeah, I prefer to be on the guitar and vocals, but it was great to be able to try that drumming and playing bass on a couple of tracks on the record too. I did play a lot of the bass on the latter half of Valley of Thorns too, but that was out of necessity rather than because I wanted to at that time.
So yeah, thanks to the Arts Council England funding I was able to invite everyone I’ve been touring hard with to join on the album – the collective. Diana Bartmann has been playing with me on drums for the most part of 5, 6 years or more now and plays on the majority of the record. On tour we’d be joined by Jennifer Sanin on bass/vocals, initially for some shows in Germany and then mainland Europe, as well as by Hannah Aero who took care of some of the long and grueling summer tours on bass/vocals including the 37-date tour we did 2016, in my then Peugeot 307 (RIP)!
You develop some deep bonds on tour, to be honest there’s nothing like it – you are travelling together, living together 24/7, working together, making new friends and catching up with old friends – meeting each other’s friends. Watching all your weird and wonderful habits, learning about each other. Then you get to perform at the end of the night and go unwind in whatever manner you choose and then you travel to the next place. The road is a really unique place, and so you get to relate to each other on all the points that others might not understand about you. It is very intense though – but it’s one of those experiences that can bring you all together or shut you all down. I mean, it was their involvement in touring Valley of Thorns and trying out new material. It was that which inspired me to apply for the funding in the first place, because they’d been out so long touring the debut, Valley of Thorns, that they weren’t on – and as much as they’d made it their own every night, it was only right they’d feature on the second album.
So, the four of us were joined on the record by long-time musician friends Alison Wood (bass/guitar/vocals/piano) and Violet Stow (drums) who had each recorded on about half of Valley of Thorns when that was being made. Jayke Turl of Last Siren and Smokin’ Prophets is our honorary girl in the collective. I first saw Jayke when his band supported us at Joiners, Southampton and he blew me away. He’d later become our tour driver, and crew – but soon became guest guitar on a couple of tracks on a number of tours. You’ll have seen all these guys in the music videos, and I have, in the past got some comments about the line-up changing so much – but anyone that looks a bit deeper into the project knows that we just like to mix it up and can bring it just as strong. The six of them hadn’t all met by the point that the second album was being made though, so getting everyone together was really exciting.
We’ve all toured a ton together in different formations though, and collectively there’s a flame that is burning in each of us, to make and play music. I do miss some of our other touring buddies from the record though – due to distance or life issues, but there’s always the third, right?
You worked with James LeRock on this record. How was that experience? he’s worked with some pretty great, but eclectic musicians like Lionel Ritchie, Bjork and Def Leppard. What was it about him that made you want to work with him?
Aw yeah! James is a legend like that – he gets around a fair bit and has worked with some super cool artists. He was recommended to me by a friend when I was looking for a producer to work on our 2013 Make Up EP. He really loves rock and grunge, and we definitely hit it off over shared musical tastes and influences. He did a great job on Valley of Thorns, although the last parts his friend and session engineer Davide finished when it came to the final mixes. But it was a no brainer to get in touch about the new record.
Although when we did record Valley of Thorns, he vetoed a lot of where I wanted to take it (laughs). I wanted to bring in more midi and glitch beats, and at the time I was a bit gutted about not being able to do that – but it made a lot of sense when we took the record out on the road! There was no pressure to bring a ton of electronics or hassle to emulate some synthetic sounds we’d added in – we could just go out night after night with any regular setup and our instruments and deliver the album, as everyone had heard it – plus the stage show and a bit more spike in the guitar. So, the more we toured that record I realized it was a blessing to have the album well-produced, but not over-produced. We got the whole of GRIT down in three days – ok, very long days, but it was in three days – but that took a lot of planning because we were on a tight timeline. To make that happen we recorded a lot of the tracks together, like drums and guitars happened at the same time, while vocals and backing vocals also happened together. It actually worked out really well, kind of like an in-between of recording all together but without the bleed between tracks, and not quite track by track, which can sometimes sound disjointed.
You just played some shows with Electric Six? What is it like to play again after so much time off?
It was epic! They are such a strong live band, and it was a lot of fun – they and their crowd are brilliant. The first set when we joined them at Underworld, London was on fire. They wowed us all with their hits and new tracks from across their 18 records, and the set closed to encore chants of “we want Dick” ~ aimed at their spectacular frontman Dick Valentine. We just about broke the ice that night, but the second night up at Booking Hall, Dover we got to chat – they are a great bunch of guys, who have spent 21 years on the road. They really made the effort too and came to watch our soundcheck and chat. It was really inspiring.
We were a few days away from supporting Danko Jones on tour when live events got cancelled due to the pandemic. So back then, that was our first ever major support tour, so really heart breaking. There had been a lot of hype in the run up to it and eventually after being moved twice the tour was cancelled. So, with live events, particularly international tours, off the cards for so long, it has been epic to be back out and, on the road, again and on such a major bill.
We haven’t entirely been off the radar though. Our first post lockdown shows were local, but we actually got invited to headline River Stage at Isle of Wight Festival, which was a serious welcome back. Also, that was one of the biggest crowds we’ve played to, as you can imagine. We also got a few shows under our belt again in January and March, as we were invited to join the Music Venue Trust x National Lottery tour to revive live music in the UK. At the start of that tour, you could still feel that there was a lot of apprehension about attending gigs, but as a result of tours like that I’d say, it definitely feels like things are getting back to normal here now in the UK. It’s refreshing to be back out there.
What’s next for you? Plans to tour when the album comes out and any plans to tour in the U.S. anytime soon?
The album dropping is the high point of a lot of hard work getting it ready over the past year. We’ve just announced a bunch of UK tour dates including some in-store Acoustic dates for the first ever time. After that we will be heading back to some of our favorite venues for the first-time post-lockdown. We’ve got a new music video on the way too, for single “And 1 More…”. It’s the last track on the album and we got to shoot it in a super cool location, so I’m really excited about how that will all turn out.
We get asked about playing in the U.S. quite a bit, but as we don’t have a U.S. agent yet, it’s a real barrier. We did have a 5-week tour in talks just before Covid, so I’m hoping it won’t be long before conversations like this can begin again. Some of the girls already have visas too or dual nationality, so I’m hoping to get over there sooner rather than later. When I was a kid, my favorite game was “daughter from America” where I’d pretend to return home from living in the U.S. and bring my two doll kids and tell my parents all about my life and husband out there (laughs). So, I’m really looking forward to putting my air miles up to good use as soon as realistically possible.
Those are all the questions I had. Anything else you want to cover or mention?
I’d just like to say a massive thank you to our fans, Team Razors. I couldn’t and wouldn’t do it without your support and I really want to send you big love from us all.
Being a musician isn’t all the glamour of what it can seem – we work really hard to make small breakthroughs and in the face of low pay for musicians. I try to be as open as I can about how tough the music industry can be. I see a lot of bands, with huge teams behind them talking about what it’s like to be independent – or the next ‘overnight success’ knowing it took them over 10 years with big backing. It’s mostly smoke and mirrors I want to shout out to all the hard-working artists that are self-representing and the small artist teams who are relentlessly supporting the scene from the grassroots up. GRIT is about getting back up when you fall – and being an artist is all about that. To whoever needs to hear it – keep going, don’t give up, challenge the voices that say you can’t or won’t and just go out there and do it.
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Watch the video for “And 1 More…” here:
For more from The Kut, find her on Facebook, Instagram, and her official website.
Photo courtesy of Criminal Records
