INTERVIEW: KYM REDMOND, Band Of Missfits – March 2018

INTERVIEW: KYM REDMOND, Band Of Missfits – March 2018
By Shane Pinnegar

Band Of Missfits launch their Higher Passage EP on Friday, March 23, at The Bassendean Hotel for Basso Fridays. Support comes from The Blacklisted, The Silent Deeds and The Paul McCarthy Trio.

For guitarist/frontwoman Kym Redmond, life hasn’t always been easy, but her reignited passion for music has helped bring her to a happy place.

“I started singing when I was around five years-old,” Redmond reminisces. “I used to put on the headphones and listen to mum and dad’s ‘70s and ‘80s records – anything from Guilty by Barbara Streisand and Barry Gibb to Toto to the Beatles.

“I found myself singing all the time, for hours on end. In the ‘80s inspiration came from Elton John, Whitney Houston, Madonna, George Michael, Mariah Carey – the divas, and voices that stood the test of time. When I reached high school, I was singing five or more hours a day before and after school ‘til late – I was in my prime and ready for anything that came my way.

“Then I took a long break after having kids,” she continues after a meaningful pause.

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I believe you’re a florist by trade, which is another very creative outlet. Were you a very creative, musical child, and did you have a lot of support for that from your parents and teachers?

I was a very creative child and I was writing songs and poems from when I was around 12. My mother was very supportive of my creativity and singing. She had me do piano lessons from the age of 7, and took me into the city each week as a 13 year old to take vocal lessons from the classically trained Lisa Harper Brown.

Can you run through some of the tracks on Higher Passage and give us a little précis as to what they’re about?

Nothing At All is about missing someone from afar – a fantasy and a belief that something exists even though it doesn’t… a mirage.

Empty Valley I wrote with a friend about a troublesome time she endured but came out the other end stronger and wiser.

Oblivion is an extension of Nothing At All. Quite often I can never get the story out in one song without it being 8 minutes long, so often it can come out in two songs without me even realising I’d done it. Oblivion is one of those songs, holding on to something that’s not there.

What are your main five musical influences?

5 main musical influences, wow that’s a toughie… there are so many to mention…

Birds of Tokyo
Foo Fighters
The Superjesus
Led Zeppelin
Amy Lee

If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be?

If I could collaborate with one musician it would have to be Dave Grohl. I love his ideas, his lyrics, melodies and his songs. I think what he did with the making of Sonic Highways was definitely needed!!

He recorded eight songs in eight different cities, interviewed famous musicians that came out of those cities to find out where they came from and what their inspirations were, then wrote songs about those stories and had those artists play on those songs too – Buddy Guy, Rick Nielsen, Joe Walsh, just to name a few.

When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

When we’re all together hanging out and rehearsing, sometimes I’ll cook and put a roast on. We normally all crack a can and we are all pretty keen to get stuck into rehearsing & jamming. My son is 10 and plays the drums too, so he’s normally pretty keen to jump on the kit and have a jam.

What do you think of the state of the Perth music scene right now?

I think the Perth music scene is still alive, but having so many venues close down there is a lot of pressure on bands to play more shows wherever they can to keep themselves ‘in the scene.’ A lot of venues and promoters want bands to be able to pull 150 people to venues so they get more sales over the bar, which I can totally understand – but it isn’t always viable for up and coming Perth bands who don’t quite have the following to pull those kind of numbers, so venue options where they can play become quite slim.

If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I’d probably want to be a part of Barbara Streisand’s Guilty album with Woman In Love. It’s such a beautiful album… it’s where my love for singing first started. I’d love to be a part of something as memorable as this one, Barbara’s flawless voice is just amazing! It means a lot to me because for me it’s where it all began.

Category: Interviews