Interview with Katie Miller (Kate Dressed Up)

By Sonia Schnee | Posted Thursday, March 3, 2022

If you find yourself part of Katie Miller’s inner circle, consider yourself lucky. Over the years, this South Jersey singer-songwriter has managed to surround herself with a diverse group of creative and talented people, sending the right energy out into the universe and attracting it back. When I first spoke with Katie (almost exactly a year ago) her band Kate Dressed Up had just released a single and an accompanying music video for the song “Ride Home.” Now, a year later, Katie has released a second song, entitled “The Fountain”, this time accompanied by a beautifully produced animated short. As it goes, a lot has happened in Katie’s life over the course of a year, but what has remained constant is her dedication to her craft, her practice of gratitude, and her ability to continue welcoming people in with open arms.

To learn more about Katie Miller and Kate Dressed Up, watch our interview above or read the transcript below. Be sure to follow Kate Dressed Up on social media and/or sign up for their newsletter so you can be the first to know about upcoming performances and the release date of Kate Dressed Up’s upcoming album.

(Video and transcript have been edited for time and clarity.)

Interview Part 1 (February 2021)

What's your name? Where are you from? What do you do?

KATIE MILLER: My name is Katie Miller. I currently live in Moorestown, NJ, and I have a band called Kate Dressed Up. I'm also in school right now for electrical engineering, and I do a few other things here and there.

Wow. Electrical engineering. I wasn't expecting that! That's pretty cool.

I just started a little less than a year ago because with the pandemic and the whole music industry being really wonky right now, it just seemed like a good time to kind of diversify, I guess.

For first-time listeners, how would you describe your sound? What musical influences do you draw from?

I was thinking about this earlier, actually, because it's a fairly common question and I always have a hard time answering it, but I would say lately, and for this record, there is some Sheryl Crow in there. There's some Bright Eyes, some Fleet Foxes, anything kind of in that indie-folk world.

I always have my acoustic guitar as kind of the centerpiece, at least in the writing process, and so that determines a lot of the rest of the sound palette that I use.

Congratulations on your new single, "Ride Home", off of your upcoming album. You also had a music video that you released. What was that whole process like? How long were you working on the song? What inspired it? Can you give us any behind-the-scenes tidbits?

I began writing most of it, I would say, 2017 into 2018. Right around the time that I was going to start self-producing it, which I had done with previous works, I met my current producer. His name is Ravi Bhavsar. He goes by SPHMRE [pronounced SOPH-O-MORE]. He was working at a place called Flux Studios in New York City. Basically, through a very weird kind of butterfly effect chain of events, we linked up and hit it off instantly. After going back and forth with just a one-off song that we did together, he actually offered to do the entire album for me/with me, and so what we basically did was we just worked in Flux any time that it wasn't booked. It's a super busy studio, so we ended up doing sessions from midnight to 4:00 in the morning. We worked from noon to midnight on the 4th of July one year. We worked on New Year's Day 2020. So basically, this has been a year's long process now because of the way that we went about making this, and we really took our time with it, which is something that I'm learning not all artists get to do in the studio.

Regarding the video, I'd been familiar with Bob Sweeney's work for a while, and so when it came time for me to reach out for someone to do the video, he was an obvious choice for me. I was lucky enough that he was down to do it. The other actress in the video, her name is Leah Scully. I've known her since my freshman year of college, so I reached out and asked if she would want to do it and she was down. My brother, who produced my first two EPs, was on set with us and was helping during the day, too. We shot that out behind the house I grew up. It backs up onto a lot of state land up in North Jersey. It kind of just fit the mood. Bob is super talented. He brought this great vision to life that just totally brings a new dimension to the song. So I'm very excited about both the song and the video.

It's beautifully shot. I was like, "Is that shot on film, or was it shot digitally and then had cinematic effects added to it?" The sun, the time of the day that you shot, it came together really beautifully.

Thank you. The very next day was the first day that it snowed that year, so we got it right at the perfect time when it was like that dead kind of end-of-fall vibe going on. The very next day, it looked totally different. So that was pretty cool.

It looked like it was cold. Was it cold?

It definitely was cold, yeah. My friend Leah is a trooper. She was just wearing a dress of mine that I wore to a wedding a few years ago. She did really great that day, too.

What is your process like in terms of writing songs? Does the music comes first and then the lyrics? Do you see a movie playing in your head and you write a story? Or is it based on personal experiences?

It's part fiction and part nonfiction is kind of what ends up happening. There's not really a set process for me, necessarily. A lot of times it'll just be little dribbles of lines or notes here and there, and sometimes those will grow into songs, and then other times I'll hear the whole thing all at once and it's done.

I'll be inspired by something that I observe or experience in my day-to-day, and then that transforms itself through the writing process into something that's "me" but it's also separate from me. I don't know how else to really explain it. Then other times, a song just comes out of nowhere, and then a year or two later, I'll be like, "Oh, that's what that was about" and it makes sense in retrospect.

You started out as a solo project and now you're a five-piece band. What inspired that? Who are your bandmates?

A big part of the reason that I started as a solo project is because a previous bandmate of mine, who's actually with one of my current bandmates and my best friend, logistically our lives kind of physically separated us, and so our project took a backseat because of the way that life happens.

From the beginning, I always wanted my best friends Vin [Karaitis] and Elyse [Kiedaisch] to be a part of Kate Dressed Up. The two of them were pretty much always non-negotiable from the start. We've been singing together for pretty much a decade now, and the three of us have just been very much a unit through our late teens into adult lives. Vin is one of the best musicians and the best songwriter that I know, period. He's just next level. Elyse is one of the best singers I know.

There have been a lot of other iterations of Kate Dressed Up over the past two and a half or so years. My cousin Christopher, who's a drummer, and my friend Elaine Rasnake, who owns Daughterboard Audio — she's a Mastering Engineer — they were in the band at times.

Going into 2020, I had plans to take the band on a real full band national tour. I planned that with my business partner, Mickey [Skabla]. I set up the band to be me and Vin. Ryan Hilsinger, who is a producer and owns AGL Sounds which is a studio in New Jersey, he's a drummer. I asked him to come on tour and he was down, so I added him. My friend Nick [Iacobelli], who I actually met through Christopher in a previous iteration of the band, is an incredible bassist and an incredible musician, like next level. Same thing as Vin. They're like freaks. So are Ryan and Elyse, honestly. They're all kind of like musical freaks in my eyes, in the best possible way. Nick, I'm lucky enough that he likes my band and my music and he was down to come on tour. 

Then when the tour fell through, I just asked them if they wanted to stay in the band and keep making music even though there's not really any prospects right now, and they all said yes, and so we've been making more music. This current lineup that I have is like… Something is making sense in a way that it hasn't yet, that I've been looking for. So I'm feeling good. I'm feeling excited about releasing all this new stuff and having them back me up.

What are you most looking forward to in 2021, assuming the world opens up more than it has and things return a little more to "normal"?

I'm getting married in May. I was supposed to get married last May, and you know, everything happened.

We have more songs in the pipeline. We have a ten-song full LP in the pipeline. Ravi engineered all the production at Flux, and he's also mixing and mastering it. At this point, years we've been working together, our visions have not diverged at all, like musically and in the sound palette and what the finished product should sound like. He understands my imagination of the songs and not only understands it, but he also supplements it and agrees with a lot of my tastes and ideas and supports me to bring them all to fruition and manifest this vision together, so it's cool.

When Ravi and I'm very first met, there was definitely just an understanding. We musically clicked right off the bat, which was cool because Ravi mostly produces hip hop, and so him working on my stuff is really different for him, and it was a new thing for me to be working not with my brother as a producer. It's been just amazing. This album, the whole thing has live drums, which is fun. I had a drummer from New Brunswick, Evan Tsioni, and he's just extremely talented. I'm lucky that he played on these songs. That was fun for me, too.

So take us back to the beginning. Do you come from a musical family?

Both sides of my family — moms and dads — there are musicians on both sides. In my house growing up, my dad played the guitar. He was the musician. So that was just always around. I started with piano lessons when I was young. As I got a little older and got slightly into my teen years, you have these new feelings and you want to start expressing them. You know what I mean? So it just was totally natural for me to pick up the guitar. I started on drums because hitting stuff to music is really fun. And then I wanted to sing, and singing to the drums is kind of hard. So there are guitars around. That's what my dad played. I picked up the guitar. That was that. I've been playing ever since.

That's nice that you have a little bit of a drumming background. You don't hear that a lot. You usually hear piano or clarinet.  

I played piano before that. I took piano lessons from 7-13, but when I started wanting to get into more contemporary music and stuff, the first thing that I wanted was drums. So I played that for six months, a year, and then onto the guitar.

What words of advice or encouragement would you give to other fellow creative people who are maybe trying to stay mentally healthy during this very unusual time? Do you have any words of advice for people who are maybe just trying to get through day to day, some things to look forward to?

I would say, take care of the basics. Try to sleep and eat well. Try to walk a little bit, as much as you can. If you want to talk on the creative side, remember to be nice to yourself and have fun with it and let it be a therapeutic thing and not something that causes you to feel like you're under some kind of pressure because you're not.

That is important, just remembering the simple things like sleeping, turning off your phone, and making sure that you actually get to sleep through the night.  

I actually started leaving my cell phone in a different room when I go to bed. Going to sleep and waking up without a cell phone, I mean, it's a very small thing, but I found it to make a pretty good difference in the way that I start and end my days.

That's a good idea, putting it in a different room. I feel like I need to put it in another zip code.

Looking back, what would you say are some of the highlights that you've experienced musically, either performing, writing, or anything about the creative process?

Oh, man. I have been so lucky and just really blessed with a lot of really great experiences. So, to take it back first, to my best friend Vin. I was like 22 and living with my mom after I graduated college, and he was in his freshman year and was going for music. At the time we had our band together, which was called The Fox and the Rose, and for a whole year of my life, every day he would finish school and come to my mom's house and we would just make music for, I would say, anywhere from 3-5 hours, and he would teach me everything that he learned that day in school. So I basically got the first year of a music education through him just telling me what he learned that day. That year made me a way, way, way better musician, guitar player, singer-songwriter, the whole deal. That was super formative to my whole musical existence. So that's a big highlight.

Then, for Kate Dressed Up, we've played at World Cafe Live. We've headlined there. That was really, really fun, one of my favorite shows. Last December, we got to play Asbury Lanes for the "What a Wonderful Year" show. That stage is just so much fun to be on. It sounds so good up there.

I've been lucky enough to do three Gurlzilla shows, which is a feminist benefit show that I've been doing since 2016. I did one in Flemington in 2016, one in Asbury in 2018, and then last November [2020] we did a virtual one where it was Philly artists and artists from Minneapolis, so we had a two-city virtual thing going on.

Making the album with Ravi at Flux Studios is obviously top of the list. I'm just so lucky to have had a series of really great events, whether they've led to a person's conventional idea of "success" or not, I am having a great time and everything is working out in a way that I'm very happy with.

It just comes down to gratitude because happiness, that's like a little too lofty of a goal, I think. If you're like, "Oh, I want to be happy." Happy? That's a transient feeling. You're happy for a moment and then it... It's not like a state of constant being. But you could be grateful constantly. You could choose to just look around you and say, "You know, I am fortunate in my own way to have these things" and I very much feel that.

Very wise words. That was deep. I feel like I gotta put that somewhere, like on an arch over a castle or something.

That sounds good to me. Just put my initials "KM" in the corner. Or "KDU" for Kate Dressed Up. I don't know. 

Put your URL up there.

It's like a little QR code just chiseled into it.

Oh, for sure!

Interview Part 2 (February 2022) 

I've been scouring social media to check up on everything that's been going on. You've been busy!

I've been as busy as possible, yeah.

In March 2021, you had some vinyls printed?

Yes, the Leesta Vall stuff. We marketed it in March, took preorders, and then we actually recorded it in Cherry Hill at AGL Studios in June, and then we sent those files off to Leesta Vall and they got printed and sent out over the summer. So that was really exciting to have some physical music of ours out in the world. They turned out beautifully. 

That was a cool idea. How did you think of that?

Actually, the label, Leesta Vall, their whole business model is to have bands sign up to run preorders on these singles, and then bands most often will actually go to the Leesta Vall studio, and they'll print the performance directly to vinyl there in the studio, but because my drummer actually owns a studio, we chose to use their studio, AGL. That turned out great, and we sent off the digital files for them to print. It was a lot of fun. We ended up — in one day — recording for 33 vinyl prints.  

That's amazing!

It was pretty intense. We played "Ride Home" like 20 times and a bunch of other songs. I think there were only five songs to choose from, so there were a lot of repeats. We just had a marathon of recording for four or five hours, where we just banged them all out and sent them off. We were all very tired at the end, but also very satisfied. It was physically taxing but spiritually fulfilling to be able to do that.

That's a really cool concept. I think I read something about there'd be a customizable greeting in the beginning?

Yeah, so they sent us the names for each order and what song they wanted, and so each performance was for a specific person. So to start the recording, Ryan would hit "1, 2, 3, go" and then I would say, like, "Hey, Evan, thanks for supporting" and do a little personalized message in the beginning. So everyone that got one of those has a completely unique, doesn't exist anywhere else performance from us.

That's brilliant.

Yeah, it is a pretty cool model. I'm really glad that Leesta Vall asked us to be a part of it. I actually had done a run with Elaine Rasnake a couple of years ago. We actually did go to their studio and recorded some songs with her. So I've been aware of it for a while and I knew that they ran a tight ship. So when they reached out, I was very excited.

Nice. It sounds like it must have been very organized for all that to run so smoothly.

Yeah, they definitely have a good operation going over there. I'm just very glad that a few vinyls exist out in the world with my music on it.  

In April 2021, you released a music video for "How Could I Have Known." That looked like it was fun to film. You got a lot of friends together, friends and family? What was that whole process like?

I rallied the troops for that one. The video was directed by Andrea Morgan, whose work I had admired for a while because I'd seen her do work with an Asbury Park band called The Foes of Fern. They had put out some great stuff. So I reached out asking if she would be down to do a video for this song, and she got back me saying, "Yeah, let's rock." Very much, as the same as with "Ride Home", I chose her because I wanted her vision applied to the music. I didn't really have too much of a solid concept, so that video, I would say 98% of the credit, was Andrea's idea. She told me the kind of space we needed, which luckily my living space fit what she needed, and told me the storyboard that she had in her head.

I got everyone involved — bandmates, significant others, friends, bandmates from other bands that aren't Kate Dressed Up. Everyone was really cool. We got everyone pizza and beer, and Andrea brought some decorations. The second she showed up, it was all business. It went super smoothly. She had all her shots in mind and told us what to do. The three supporting players, Elyse Kiedaisch, Elaine Rasnake, and Tal Demirjian, they were just super willing to be a part of the whole thing and just go with the flow and what Andrea was telling us to do. We had a lot of fun doing that. I had fun with all the outfit changes. It ended up being pretty much an actual party because while I was shooting scenes, everyone else was just hanging out. It just cultivated a really good energy that I think comes across.

Yeah, definitely. It looks like it was a lot of fun doing that.

It definitely was. Making art with people you care about, who care about you, who also care about your art —which is a completely separate thing from just caring about me as a person — there is literally no higher honor to me than that having a friend who also for some reason will also care about this thing that I've been doing for years now. It's so special to me. I really can't overstate that.

You can't replace that depth and dedication.

No way. Yeah.

Is there anything you want to say about the song or the inspiration behind it?

It's obviously super queer. It's the first thing that I've put out that's very overtly queer. The way it was received has just been incredible, the way that people took it. I had a friend message me saying "This is the bi anthem that I've always needed" or something along those lines. So I'm just glad that the thing that I was going for in that song, which is kind of like a whimsical facepalm of looking back and just seeing all of these opportunities kind of float by, and not experiencing regret, but just... It became kind of an inside joke with myself to look back and notice those moments in my life, and then now to be in a place where I experience a lesser degree of self-consciousness in those situations, and now being able to share that, that's really what's special to me now, and seeing the growth from where I was writing the song to now having released it and having this part of myself be so much more prominently publicly displayed. And that's been cool.

I love it. "Facepalm" is a good term.

Like, "How could I have known?" but then the whole joke is like, bro, come on.

I think we've all been there, in one way or another. We've definitely had those baseball moments where it's like, well, yeah, looking back, obviously.

Yeah, and that's not a distinctly queer experience. Obviously, that happens to straight people, too, I think. But I think all of the kind of weird stigma and baggage that comes with queer relationships kind of amplifies those experiences a little bit in a way. So that's where I was coming from really, with sharing that whole story and an idea.

I like that. What was it? "The bi anthem?" What did your friend say?

Yeah, like "This is the bi anthem I've always needed." Something along those lines. She was basically saying, like, “Yes, I also am a queer woman terrified to talk to other queer women.” Really almost more than anything else, when that particular friend reached out to me, that's when I was like, OK, I'm glad that I made this. You know what I mean? To share that and have it actually resonate and someone else feel what I was feeling when I wrote it. That's the most important thing, that connection. That's what makes it all worth it.

Definitely. It's something that people can relate to. It gives a voice to a situation or an experience or a series of experiences so you feel like you're not alone. Like, "OK, I had a facepalm moment, but someone else did, too!"

In May 2021 you had a wedding ceremony?

I did, yeah. I married my husband, Roger [Kunkel], so that's pretty funny going from the queer song to marrying my husband. It was such a trip in the best possible way. I don't know if I really fully expected ahead of time for it to be the best day of my life, but to date, I would say that it was, by a long shot. Our great, great friend and business partner Mickey married us, so that was really special. My best friends, my bandmates, Elyse and Vin, who sing with me all the time and you see them everywhere, they sang me up and down the aisle.

We had a small ceremony, but we didn't want to sacrifice any of those things that made it really special. The food and music were just top-notch. Having my family around was so special. From the time that we kind of all came together to the end of the night was just so much love. And it's been cool since. Being married, I would give it an A+. It's great. So yeah, that was a huge life event that happened for me.

Congratulations! Bigger is not necessarily better. Really those important, really personal parts are the things that you're going to remember.  

Yeah, it really is just about the people who were there and being able to share and celebrate our love with them. We'd been together nine years already, and it was like our third wedding plan, too, because we were supposed to be married in 2020. I could not have changed a single thing to make it better than it was, really.

Well, it sounds like you attract the right kind of people to you, too, that it's not just by accident.

I hope so.

You're sending out the right vibes — attracting the right energy and repelling drama.  

It seems that way, just based on the people in my life and how literally amazing they are. I mean, my brother's great friend was our videographer. It was his first time doing a wedding, and he nailed it. Nailed it! The video is amazing. My drummer Ryan, who owns AGL, came through at the last second to be the second videographer to capture a second angle. Even people who weren't right in the wedding were pulling through for us in really big ways. There was a snafu. We were going to be in a venue and then we moved it to my mom's house, and one of my brother's other really great friends ended up driving for us. We rented a 15-passenger van and he drove for us. So, really across the board, everyone came through whether they were there or not. It was just such a special thing, almost to the point of being overwhelmed in a good way of just how much love and care we really have in our lives. I feel very happy and blessed and grateful for all the people in my life because it's really been a year of just people, for real.

Did you sing your vows?

No. Haha. I did make everyone there do a sing-along after we got married to "With Arms Outstretched" by Rilo Kiley. Elyse and Vin sang it, crushed it, and everyone else was singing and clapping. That's all we wanted. So that's cool.

It sounds like you've got some amazing bandmates pulling through from every angle, every aspect.

Vin and Elyse are my best friends. We go back, at this point, going on 12 years. Vin, I know from my hometown. Elyse, I know from college. When I introduced them, they instantly created a super connection. So the three of us have been like... They're my family. They're amazing. Even Ryan, too. Ryan is a late addition. They've been so supportive of Kate Dressed Up and of me as a person since we started working together for a couple of years now. So, yeah, I love my band. And Nick, my silent bassist, is somebody that has just been down for the ride since he got in on the band. I feel strong when I'm around them. I feel like they lend to my existence in a way that I feel very lucky to have.

So you had your five-year anniversary of Kate Dressed Up?

Yes. The self-titled came out September 2016. Seeing that day come and go was... It was interesting because the project is so much more and so much better than I imagined five years ago. The flip side of that coin is there are so many things that I thought I would have done by now that I haven't gotten to yet. So it's been this weird meandering thing that I've been doing, and I'm enjoying that journey in itself.  

Speaking of journeys, I love the story that's told through "The Fountain."

Oh, thank you.

I love this lyric: "It was as if I’d been sleeping, and only then was I awake." That's one of my favorite lyrics of 2021. The whole song is beautiful, and then the animation, too. It's all really beautifully done, on all aspects. What was that like? How long was that in the works? Had that been kind of brewing for several years?

So, that song is a little different because it's the oldest song in terms of writing, but it was also the final addition to the album. Vin and I had a band before Kate Dressed Up called The Fox and the Rose. I wrote the skeleton of "The Fountain", so I had verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus. I had that kind of outlined, and I had the lyrics. I brought them to Vin in our previous iteration. Vin helped me with the arrangement, the harmonies, and some of the melodies in certain spots. Basically, Vin co-wrote the song with me. Then it kind of just sat, and The Fox and the Rose took a turn where it was not really a thing anymore, in a business way. It kind of went on the backburner when I moved to South Jersey and Vin was still living in our hometown in North Jersey. 

Flash forward all these years later, and I have nine of the songs on the album done, ready to go. I have some songs that I wrote more recently, and I was kind of looking through them. They all didn't feel right. And then this song kind of popped into my brain because the person who inspired the song in the first place made an appearance in my life toward the end of the album coming together, and it sparked my brain to remember that song and make that connection, like, "Oh! This song is the one that's supposed to finish the album."

The album is The Little Prince-themed. It started out as somewhat of a concept album and it kind of diverged, but it kind of still is a concept album. In The Little Prince, there is a plot point where the pilot and The Little Prince are looking for a well in the Sahara Desert, and the pilot is like, this is stupid, we're going to die, and the Prince is like, no, don't worry. Obviously, they find the well. In that way, it fit. It fit the narrative of the other songs. It fit the feeling of what I wanted. So I asked Vin if they would mind me putting it on the album and they were down, and so this song is actually the only one on the album that we live tracked at Flux Studios. So we brought in Vin and I, and then Nick, my bassist, and Evan Tsioni, who is the drummer on the rest of the album, and we rehearsed, and then we went into the city all together. Ravi set us all up so that you could just go "1, 2, 3, go" and we played the song, and that was magical. Playing music with people is such a different feeling than just tracking something or doing it alone. I feel like that is really captured in the arrangement. Then, Vin and I went back and we recorded the vocals at Ravi's house after the fact, we added organ, and then the song was done.

For this song, I just had it in my head that I wanted an animated video. Through a recommendation, I was introduced to KXB Studio, which is owned and operated by a woman named Tina who does all kinds of really amazing animation work. I told her I wanted something that was almost childlike in its simplicity, and I sent her illustrations from The Little Prince. Working with Tina was so cool. She sent me a storyboard. I asked for one little adjustment, she sent me another storyboard, I said, "Cool, great. Go do your thing", and then I didn't see it for like 8-10 weeks, and when I did eventually see it, I was blown away. No edits, no changes. It's perfect. She just really understood the feeling that we were trying to capture. I really think that the way she put the video together is just like... I think it's moving, and I think that it touches the same thing that the song itself does. Actually, I don't know if they'd want me to share this, but the first time that Vin saw it, they definitely cried. Actually, the day that we finished the vocals for it, we watched it all together for the first time and Vin definitely cried in a good way. And that's how I knew. I was like, "OK, this is good. This is a good thing."

It's like, you can't pick a favorite child, but I love it a little extra just because of Vin's partnership in it, because of the video that goes with it, because of this particular time in my life that is not in itself connected to the time and place where the rest of the songs were written, but did kind of still complete that picture. It was really nice. I was really, really glad that it ended up on the album. I think it's turned out amazing.

It's really beautiful. I really enjoyed listening to it, I really enjoyed watching it. It came together perfectly. The animation was just the right style for it.

It's crazy, too, because with animation, because of the work involved, it's just expensive because a lot of a lot more hours go into animating than into live-action stuff. Tina and I worked out something that would work for the budget that I had. Her other animations are nothing like what she made for "The Fountain." Like, they're beautiful and really cool and interesting, but they're just really different than what she did for me. When she sent the video back, I was like, "Wait a second. That's what this got me? Like, this budget that you said was simple. You did THIS with it?" It just completely blew my mind. It blew me out of the water. It exceeded every expectation that I had, which was already pretty high I'd seen Tina's other work. She still blew us all the way. Just amazing.

It's one thing to work with people you've known for 10 years, you know what I mean? But to hire somebody on a recommendation and to have them really get the vision, and not only that but amplify it and add their own touch in a way that it just fit. I was just so, so stoked on it. I'm so glad that you like it and that it hit for you also.

Yeah. She got it! 

Again, same thing with the other videos. I cannot take any credit there. That is all KXB Studio just absolutely nailing it. I love working with other creatives. It's amazing.

It shows the power of your music and your artistry as well, that you're able to do something that moves somebody or that paints a really strong image in their head and then they can take what it was and translate it into another medium, like live-action video or animation. So that's really a testament to your talent as an artist that you're able to create that whole world and someone else can be like, "OK, I totally get it," you know, some perspective of it.

That's always the hope. So far, the feedback that I've been receiving has been indicative that I'm on the right track. So I'm rolling with it, for sure.

I'm waiting to see "The Fountain" in a trailer for an indie film or something.

From your lips to God's ears. Yeah, absolutely, I would love that.

I saw that you launched also an online store?

Oh yeah, I'm so excited about that. Earlier this year, right before I released "Ride Home", I kind of did a rebrand, which was really the first time that I was branding Kate Dressed Up at all because I'm not a brand designer. The store and everything in it is designed by Purva Sawant, who is a graphic designer based in New York City. When we started working together, she was designing visuals for the UN, like the United Nations, and I think she has since gone into private firm stuff for businesses. I met her through Ravi. She does not work with any other artists or musicians. That's not what she does. She works with businesses. So again, I feel so lucky to have her talents in my corner because girl is a freak at what she does. Same with everyone that I've managed to work with. I don't understand how this happens. She's incredible. 

When we started working together, she sent me questionnaires and quizzes to get a feel for my stuff, and every step of the way I would be like, "OK, well, I imagine this" and then a week later, she would be like, "I imagine this thing that you didn't mention at all, that's completely different that you never would have thought of" and every single time she did that, I was just like, "Your idea is better. Let's go with that." So we very slowly kind of brought this together with the logo and the fonts and the color palette and everything. I mean, she's really leveled up the aesthetic of Kate Dressed Up.  

Along with the branding, she designed everything in the merch store. I'm stoked. The shirts are super soft. The bandanas are really cool. I've been getting a good response from it. People have been ordering stuff, and that's been really special. It's also kind of a relief for me as an artist to have a revenue stream at all right now, so I am glad that that's up and that has brought some income in a world where I haven't really taken any shows this year, and I don't have any lined up because every time I try to play on a show, I have to cancel it. So I'm very much in a place where I'm still exploring ways to be an artist in this circumstance. All this to say, yeah, go buy stuff from my online store, please! 

I'm going to grab myself one of those green t-shirts!

The company is called Top Banana. They're based in Philadelphia. It's one of Roger's oldest friends. So again, just so blessed, so lucky to have this spider web of love and support. When I said to Antonio, "Hey, what do I do?" he was like, "OK, well, this is the softest and best fitting t-shirt. You can stop looking." I was like, "Perfect, let's do that." So that's been great. They are super soft, and he does such a high-quality job with them. They were all printed digitally. Not screen-printed. So yeah, that's been really cool to see my stuff out in the world. I have plans to get more designs for the store, so I hope to keep that interesting and have that be a way for people to support us directly in a world where music has literally been devalued to zero. I mean, we could do a whole podcast interview just talking about that.

Definitely! Is there anything you have coming down the pike that you want people to know about?

So, the album is still in its final stages. It was supposed to get done and then Ravi got COVID and life happened, as with all things. I am very excited to prioritize art going forward. So, my album will be out when it's ready. I have a cool thing with the band that I have planned to go along with it. We're not playing any shows for the foreseeable future because I don't feel like it's the responsible thing to do. That being the case, any support, any attention, any purchase on my online store, any purchase of music off the Bandcamp page, any time you tell a friend that Kate Dressed Up exists or you play them our music, that goes such a long way and helps us keep making this art. That is the message that I want to send to people. I want to be an artist that's not just trying to win a popularity contest. I want to be an artist that is making something that I believe in, that I feel is truly worth sharing on a human level. So that's what I'm turning toward going forward, and we'll see where that leads.  

One thing I will say is, I've been working on this thing for literally 3-4 years now, and I still love these songs. I'm not sick of them. I don't feel like, "Oh, it's too late to put them out now." Like, no. They're good. I'm psyched. It's going to be fun.  

It's going to be awesome. If any of your past work is evidence, it's going to be awesome.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you again.  

Interview with Connor Bradley (Artist)

By Nicolas Palermo | Posted Thursday, May 16, 2019

Bootleg items — whether it be clothes, jewelry, or accessories — often have an alluring aura to them. Take for example, a bootleg Grateful Dead t-shirt: it may not be “official”, but it has an individual personality that cannot be found in mass-produced, licensed merchandise. Therein lies the paradox of the “bootleg” — it is supposedly “inauthentic,” but in reality, it holds a unique quality given to it by the artist behind the graphic.

With that being said, some people are more fascinated with brand-authenticity and bootleg culture than others. Connor Bradley, a NJ-raised, Philadelphia-based artist and designer is one of these people. His latest brainchild is Cold Beer & Soda, a brand that promises “Fresh Quality Guaranteed.” Using his past experience with t-shirt designing/printing, Connor is putting out product that takes influence from hand-painted signage — an artform that is authentic as it gets.

So grab a lawn chair and kick back with your favorite chilled beverage and familiarize yourself with Connor Bradley and his latest project, Cold Beer & Soda. Fresh quality, indeed.

Where did you grow up and where do you currently live? Do you feel as if your environment has had an influence on the style of your artwork?

I grew up in Howell, NJ which is located in Monmouth County but currently live in Philadelphia, where I go to school. I feel like my change of environment has definitely influenced the things that I am currently doing and working on. When I was younger, growing up in a town that has farms and is very rural I was always influenced by the city lifestyle I saw in rap videos, skate videos, and on streetwear blogs. I followed a lot of blogs on Tumblr and Instagram pages that were taking photos of things that were happening in the city centered around streetwear, and I thought that was the coolest stuff in the entire world, and I wanted to be there and have that, but I couldn’t where I was located.

So the first chance I got to go to a city I jumped on and that’s here in Philadelphia. So now being in the city, and having the chance to meet other creatives who like the same stuff as me, and going to events like the ones I was seeing on the internet as a kid is really cool and inspiring to me at the moment. It’s great to actually be able to have fun like what I was seeing as a young kid. Being able to bounce ideas off of people and just talking about clothes, music, culture and having inspiring conversations with people is a great change of pace for me.

Your latest creative output, Cold Beer and Soda represents the East coast aesthetic so well. What is the overall theme or concept of the brand? What are your inspirations for the images you chose to use on the first run of CB&S tees?

Well that goes back to the blogs I spoke about earlier. Store fronts and hand signage are always something that I’ve loved to look at. So it comes from that a lot. I love looking at signs because they are all unique and they are really the first impression you get of a business when walking in the city. We didn’t have that by me growing up, we just had commercial stores that are so in your face with branding and that sort of stuff. It really gives me the opportunity to be creative when making and designing the graphics. It allows me to be funny with a slogan for a business, use some funny clip art that looks cheesy but at the same time fits the pieces. But mainly the aesthetic is funny souvenir t-shirts, or employee t-shirts for businesses. In the first collection I did a “Bootleg Emporium” tee that in a way is a homage to the bootlegs I have been making for the last 4-5 years. And of course the Moon Motel is a super legendary sign in my hometown that was out in front of a super run down motel that was really out of place for our area. And that kind of has its own aura to that.

I’ve been following your Instagram for a few years now and I can see that the Grateful Dead and Phish have had a massive influence on your lifestyle. When you first started making t-shirts, many of them were Dead bootlegs? What made you want to transition from Dead boots to starting your own brand? What did you learn from your early days of making and selling shirts?

I love Dead Bootlegs and they will forever hold a place in my heart but they don’t have longevity. It’s something that I like to do for fun and a hobby that allows me to buy ticket to see them. Cold Beer & Soda allows me to be more serious about my creative set and work on things that are out of the norm from what people usually see from me. It’s starting completely over from scratch again and that’s the fun for me. It really challenges me everyday when I sit down and think about it because I forget how slow of a process it is to build something from nothing. I’m very grateful that I started doing this early on in life and I have the experience that I do and can kind of navigate myself around some of the beginning stumbling blocks. So if I’ve learned anything, it’s definitely to be patient, and relax.

Are there any clothing brands or visual artists that you feel like we should know about?

Rather than a specific brand/person, I’d like to talk about the creative energy in Philadelphia right now. There are so many special things happening here right now, and I’m so excited to be able to toss my hat in the ring among this group of people who inspire me and push me out of my comfort zone. Everybody builds each other up, no competition and wanting to get over on someone. At first I was nervous being the outsider but everyone here has been so welcoming and encouraging. I wouldn’t have made the steps to start something new without these people.

We are all looking out for one another and supporting each other.

I’ll provide you with a list of some Instagram handles you should get familiar with:

@SaeedFerguson
@PsQsShop
@KyNCao
@Fran_e_Pac
@ParatodoCo
@AllCapsStudio
@JayIveyLeague
@CamronBooth
@SeannMurray
@nick.massarelli
@imoutfront
@helloyowie

Any cool stories or experiences from going to concerts for so many years that stand out?

There are many. But out of everything, it’s building up my family that I go to shows with. When I first started going to shows, I was going with a lot of older heads and they took me in and showed me the ropes of everything. I eventually started forming my steady group of friends and that’s the best thing that has ever happened to my life. We talk every second of everyday, I love them a lot. You get to meet so many amazing people from different backgrounds through this community and it humbles you and makes you grow everyday.

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk! Where can we follow you and see your latest Work?

Thank you for the opportunity!!!!!!!!

@ColdBeerAndSoda on Instagram.
@ConnorABradley for my compulsive updates and statistics about Phish :)

Wild Dust – “Wild Dust” (EP Review)

By Sean McCall | Posted Friday, November 30, 2018

Wild Dust is an authentic Rock n’ Roll / Punk Band from South Jersey / Philadelphia area. The band consists of Derrick Robbins on vocals, Connor Rothstein on the rock stick, Eric Labar on the other rock stick, and Dave Girolami on drums. Their self-titled EP was released on August 1, 2017. Wild Dust recorded at Gradwell House in South Jersey.

Wild Dust opens the EP with “Open Graves” which is immediately energetic and punk as hell. I really enjoy the rhythm guitar work in this song, because it truly is pure rock n’ roll. This song is definitely a spooky one. It opens up with “a ghoul appeared to me in these waterless canyons- went by the name of God,” and ends with “I can’t be sorry that my hands were the last hands your cold, dead eyes have seen.”

The band seamlessly transitions with a hot baseline to set the mood for the second track, “Devil’s Water.” Lyrically, this song goes way harder than raining blood. “If it’s raining and it’s pouring, don’t slip in mud, because if you do, you’ll slip in blood tonight.” That’s hard. I noticed a lot of the EP has a variety of bass/drum grooves and breaks which I personally really appreciate. “Devil’s Water” has a sweet instrumental break around the 2:45 mark and ends perfectly. Definitely a track you should peep if you have yet to listen.

The third track, “Red Magic,” has my favorite guitar part on the entire record. It opens with this chorusy guitar riff that strangely reminds me of Nirvana in a good way. I really love the emotional in this song when they chant, “There’s not a soul here to save me” followed by some authentic rock n’ roll solo riffage. I also really loved the feeling of musical exhaustion towards the end of this track. If that doesn’t make sense (most things I say don’t), then check it out for yourself.

The second to last track, “Mojave Flower,” continues the energetic feeling and theme of blood, death, the devil, and most importantly, rock. “I’m a brushfire howling in the night, estranged gunslinger, I’ll murder you tonight” is a bold hook, and I f**k with the vision. This song also has another classic rock solo that’s definitely recorded with a Les Paul, in case you were itching for riffs.

The record closes with “Church in the Wildwood,” which is hands down my favorite title track of a song. This song is a slow jammer at the start. I love the lyrical theme of this song. You can hear the emotion and exhaustion in the vocals, which is a beautiful thing to be able to portray. The idea that you view heaven as “homes built by the Lord,” just to find yourself giving into vices and “finding God” in a bottle is a powerful thing.

Overall, this record is a dynamic journey of aggression, rock n’ roll, and mid-western feeling punk. Lyrically it is very raw, and poetic. I really like how they play with the idea of the Devil and God. This is definitely a record you’d want to throw on if you’re looking to get some aggression out. Also be sure to check out their first single, “Karaoke with the Devil,” from January of 2017.

Side-note: Wild Dust’s Live show is also a trip, and I definitely recommend seeing them. Their Next Show is at The Pharmacy in South Philadelphia, on December 15th, 2018 if you’re looking for something to do.