| "It’s ironic that our name should be associated with Hawkwind. I really just liked the name because of Falcon Crest," explains vocalist-keyboardist Kara Keith, founding member of Falconhawk and the owner of one tremendous hangover. Recovering from a one-night stand with former tour mates Run Chico Run, the gravel-voiced Keith attempts to unravel her musical past.
"We’ve been through such a weird evolution," Says Keith. "We started out with me and my Casio and a drummer, then we added a cello, then a guitar and other instrumentation until we hit the wall. Now we’ve really pared things down. It’s purely rhythm based, and synthesizer based."
Part of this musical metamorphosis involved Keith, a prolific songwriter and music instructor, recording her own solo album. The Love Years is Keith’s uniquely handcrafted creation, an individual outing designed to bolster her collaborative efforts with fellow musicians – bassist Mark Rudd and producer-percussionist Dave Alcock. Working with a group of three seems to be the magic number for artistic accomplishment, according to Keith.
"I think the arrangement we have now is awesome," she says. "It’s good to travel and work creatively without too many cooks, as they say. We’ve only been doing this together for three months, I did my solo album last year to make money for our so-called "real" record. Since then, I’ve been figuring out what I want to do artistically, not just relying on the chick gimmick thing, but a solidified vision."
During their formative months, Keith and company played gigs in Edmonton and completed a successful run out to the West Coast. These days, their dance card is filled with rigorous practice sessions and song writing efforts which, thanks to Alcock’s connections at Sundae Sound, often make the jump to production in record time.
With a two-year catalogue of accumulated Falconhawk material to sift through, the band is looking forward to releasing its debut album on the Saved By Radio record label in the near future.
Counting her blessings as they come, Keith may be ambitious but she’s also wise to the pitfalls of the professional music industry. As for her goals? The way Keith sees it – she’s already living them.
"You have to realize how absurd the music industry is," she says. "It takes some experience as an independent artist before you realize that you’re not going to make any money. Then you can just settle down to the business of making music. Falconhawk is a venue for our egos. The focus is on becoming a conduit for energy, for a dialogue with life, not on worrying about being competitive. Our sound is saucy and self-effacing ’80s inspired pop. It’s very energetic and personally revealing. I am constantly embarrassed by that, because the songs are my diary, a regurgitation of my anxiety. We have no universal metaphors, no subject matter and no holding back." |
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