A Dirty Dozen with KAITY HEART from SUNFLOWER FOX & THE CHICKEN LEG – January 2024

According to the band’s bio: “There are three elements missing in society: Olympia beer, shag carpeting you can’t possibly vacuum, and unpasteurized rock and roll. Sunflower Fox and the Chicken Leg believe this is contributing to the fall of mankind and intend to change this. They have made it their mission to visit as many iconic studios in this great land as to bring back the magic of real studio recordings. They want to bring back the glory of 1970’s rock in the most exciting way possible. It’s the unholy love child that every rock fan has been waiting for.” We get singer Kaity to discuss new music, influences, and more.

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

You should check it out because it is a great song!  Seriously, this is hard for me to answer without sounding like some music critic (which I probably will), but in my opinion “Shadow Girl” is a great showcase of how our individual musical influences come together to tell a story in a musically unique way.  It starts with an eerie (spooky?) organ line and a soft vocal intro, to slowly blend in crisp acoustic guitar tones with driving support from drums and bass.  It continues to build to a peak through Mike’s guitar lead, which is followed by a brief tension release before the vocals bring it to the final climax.  We close the song with a retrospective outro, which subsides into echoes of the intro. The best easter egg in there is the backwards talking Latin (which every good 70’s band needs to have).

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I’ve been singing since I was a little girl. My dad said I used to sing on the back of his bicycle. I’ve been singing my entire life. It’s everything to me. I started performing professionally when I was 14, and I’ve been singing ever since. It’s my whole life. I can’t imagine doing anything else.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Heart. I changed my last name to Heart because of that band. My mom was super into them when she was growing up in the 70’s. When she passed away, I took their band name as my last name to honor her and how their music has impacted me. Ann Wilson is the best vocalist in the world in my opinion.

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

Nancy or Ann Wilson. That would be just sick. To have one half of the Wilson sisters to play on our album would be totally insane. They are so incredibly talented and were some of the first female rockers that really paved the way for the rest of us along with Janis Joplin, The Runaways, Stevie Nicks etc.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

Well, those are two different things hahaha. I don’t know if I ever unwind?? I love being on the go. Unwinding is so boring. I have a hard time just sitting still, but if I am I’m watching horror movies or something spooky or playing with my cat Littler! I also am obsessed with The Simpsons… I’m sure I can quote the whole first 12 seasons in their entirety. Other than that, going to events, hanging out with friends as much as I can… I’m super social!

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

I would describe it as an unholy amalgam of Heart, Aerosmith, and Hamm’s Beer. Oh god, we had someone say we were too punk and too heavy. This was on the song “Breathe It In” which is such a melodic 70’s epic with a big instrumental break ala 707. There is nothing about it that is punk. And let’s not get it twisted. We LOVE punk. The Ramones is one of my favorite bands of all time. The rhythm guitar player is in a street punk band… but Sunflower is NOT in any way a punk band hahaha.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Me and Al usually cook. Craig and Mike usually mix drinks and Kyle always gets the beer. James always keeps everyone on track. We don’t do singalongs. We’re all session players and pro musicians for our jobs so we just talk and joke around when we’re not writing.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

That is super easy. I was on this charity show called the Rare Hare Jam in Nashville just this October. How it works is, the organizer Tyson Leslie (Vixen) chooses the theme he then flies in all kinds of rockstars and fills in the other spots with session players like me. You get your song and your bandmates about a week ahead of time so you can kind of plan what you do, but you don’t rehearse and a lot of times you meet each other when you step onstage. In this case the theme was the discography of Marvelous 3 who were putting out an album and playing shows for the first time in 20 years. They happened to be rehearsing in Nashville. I found out that I was playing with not only the lead singer of Marvelous 3 (Butch Walker – who is amazing in his own right) and two members of the damn Wallflowers. I was already terrified just by that. And then as the second set started, we were informed that the Marvelous 3 were on their way to our show to watch the damn thing. So, I sung with ½ of the Wallflowers in front of the band that wrote the song I was singing. Oh, and the monitors didn’t work. And all around me were people from Halestorm, Mr. Big, 3 Doors Down, The Baby’s, Smash Mouth… it’s hard not to get freaked out!

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

I love traveling, meeting new people, and performing obviously, that’s when I feel most myself! If I had to choose a different path besides music, it would probably be events. I love running parties and seeing everything come together. It’s so fun!!

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

People always ask us about the name. It’s an unusual name so we’ve answered that question 50 times now hahaha. I always like answering weird questions that have nothing to do with anything like one interviewer asked if we were a zoo animal what would we be? Or like… what is our favorite roadside attraction? That kind of stuff cracks me up. The question I WANT to have asked is… how do you take down a system that is set up to be against you? Fans. Friends. Countrymen. Please. Follow. Like. Subscribe. Repeatedly stream. Comment. All the things. The majors are set up to do all those things and then some. Us little guys are just trying to keep up. The bands that succeed have a dedicated fan base. Be those people.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

I mean, If I changed something I wouldn’t be here, would I? I guess the only thing I would change IF it didn’t change where I was currently would be I took two full years off music due to a super toxic band situation. I was getting messages every single day about how ugly, fat, and untalented I was. I just couldn’t handle it. I wasn’t in a place where I could deal with push back. So, I took a lot of time off. I deleted all my pictures. Deleted video. Deleted all social media and I crawled my way back eventually. If I hadn’t taken that break, I would have had a lot more contacts, and more experience. At the same time, that made me so tenacious and driven. I wouldn’t change it.

12. 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?

Rumors. That album is next to perfection. Especially knowing the whole story behind it. The band was in such turmoil, and they still just went through with it and came out with this amazing album?? To be a fly on the wall during those sessions would be completely insane.

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Category: Interviews