Kate Reid: Press

Reid Between the Lines? …No need to as singer-songwriter’s lyrics razor-sharp.
By Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Province

The best thing about good singer/songwriters is their honesty and sense of humour. Thirty seconds into our interview, Kate Reid jokes about being an airhead. OK, technically, that's "Ayr"-head.
"I grew up on a farm in a small town in Southern Ontario called Ayr," says Reid. "I went to University at Guelph to do a degree in psychology and moved to Vancouver in '94 via the New Orleans jazz festival up through Utah.
"I always wanted to to live here because of the mountains."
A few years on the coast was enough to realize that said mountains were larger inland, so she loaded up the truck and she moved to Nelson. The shangri-la in the Kootenays provided the right environment for her to get the bug again. The music bug, that is.
"I taught myself to play guitar when I was 17 so I could play along with my dad when he got back from a business trip and learned the Eagles' "Lyin' Eyes." I played with him in my 20s. Around '96, I started playing my own songs at parties."
People were super supportive and encouraging of the original material, egging her on to hit the stage. So she did, debuting at the "Five Feminist Minutes" cabaret organized by the Nelson's Women Centre. Initially, the stage fright was "terrifying." In short order, she transformed into a freakin' whirlwind. She honed her craft everywhere there was, performing songs from her first CD, Comin' Alive. Her passion and fire-red dyed faux-hawk aren't easily forgotten. She banks on getting an audience's attention early.
"I don't want to be the background because I can't be. I suck at guitar, so I can't depend on that to grab anyone. I'm a lyricist most of all."
That's too critical of her strumming. Her bio is more accurate: "One Woman. One Guitar. Lots of Attitude. A straight shooter but definitely not straight, Kate Reid has busted out of the closet with a knack for candid storytelling and songs that are riddled with humour and social commentary." No kidding.
Since arriving back in town two years ago, she's been tearing up the local scene with showstoppers such as the hilarious ode to an evening when she was wowed by a fellow singer titled "I'd Go Straight For Ridley Bent."
"I'm an experiential songwriter. My lyrics come from my life. The more I do, the more songs can come of it."
Comin' Alive documents a decade of artistic awakening revealed through day to day life. From "Small Town" -- "hey this is where I live, it's one of those places you don't want to blink or else you'll miss it" -- to the budding romance in "Times Like These" -- "we started seeing each other a week after I moved into town and we put our best boots forward like dykes often do" -- her lyrical edge is sharp as a samurai, slicing away any of the mush that makes much roots/folk writing smell like cow patties.
The word is getting out about it, too. Thanks to katereid.net and fans.
"I just got back from playing the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and it was incredible. There's so much going on down there. That's totally where my heart is, and where I write from, but I also think my writing is broader than that and crosses over."
She dreams of taking her talent across Canada to expose her art to more folks. Doubtless, she'll have her little notebook in hand jotting down new tales to put to music.

sderdeyn@png.canwest.com

Kate Reid
CD Review: Comin’ Alive

Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Kate Reid is one witty chick. She nails the lesbian experience with songs like “Everyone’s Fucked But Me,” with its references to uptight straight women trying fit in at women’s events, two-year relationships and going to therapy to support local women in business. Whether she’s singing about having crushes on “Co-op Girlz,” or living in a town midway to nowhere on “Small Town,” Reid is uncompromisingly queer. No ambiguous pronouns, no potential breakout singles, just a collection of 12 highly personal songs that offer her take on the universal human condition.
Reid’s guitar style—basic pop-folk— provides a nice accompaniment for her truly impressive voice. Produced by former Mollies’ Revenge frontwoman Yvette Narlock, “Comin’ Alive” sounds great. The vocals are exactly where they need to be—forefront and centre.
In the song “Starving Artist,” she asks: “How will I get on the radio when I cuss and swear and sing about women?” Tongue-in-cheek, she knows that the price for play outside the confines of co-op radio, or maybe CBC on a good day, would be integrity. Reid doesn’t sound like she’s up for the compromise.
Your local music store probably won’t have this one. Log on to www.katereid.net to order a copy.

Kate Reid
CD Review: Comin’ Alive

"...very impressive. Heal Myself, Bright Out Here, and Identity are introspective and universal numbers with marvellous harmonies. Kori Miyanishi adds some expert banjo and fiddle tracks, and a rhythm section allows Kate to rock out like she should. Everyone’s Fucked But Me, Small Town, and Co-op Girlz are just clever and twisted enough to draw chuckles. In the epic Crone Woman, she muses on becoming elderly and wise. Great lyrics there, and her voice is always in tune, maybe sometimes even a bit Rae Spoon-esque."

“One woman, one guitar, damn sexy on stage. A punky lesbian-feminist singer-songwriter who doesn’t mind the moniker, this Vancouver singer is so suave with her instrument, she looks like she’s been playing Whiskey A Go-Go for years.”

This faux-hawked folkie asks, “How am I going to get on the radio when I cuss and swear and sing about lovin’ women?” Well, writing songs this honest, smart and often gut-splittingly funny can’t hurt. This kind of precocious is precious and altogether rare. An original talent waiting to be discovered.”

Kate Reid is one of the best songwriters I've heard in years. I'd put her on a stage any time, any where."

Punky, yet wise beyond her years, Kate Reid is a breath of fresh air on the Vancouver music scene. She is quirky, in-your-face and charming at the same time, and most of all, a superb entertainer and songwriter. Kate rocks! Oh yeah…she's hilarious!

[Kate] is really a vibrant talent. A welcome island of wit and charm in a sea of whining, introspective cack!”

“Her songs, and particularly her sense of humour, resonate strongly with all members of the audience. Kate sings from and to the heart about love, personal struggle, social issues and the environment. She reveals those awkward moments we all experience in a way that cuts across boundaries and inhibitions as she leads her audience on a deeply personal journey into life in all its shades and colour.”

Kate is a brilliant songwriter and storyteller with a “laugh at yourself and the world laughs with you” attitude. Her songs put you in the moment and make you smile from the inside out.

If you like music by and for women, this is your next cd to buy….the twelve tunes are great, fun and current. I wish I could air all the tracks but Kate’s self-described “trucker-mouth” precludes a few. Get this album and enjoy tunes about the average and not-so-average lesbian life!

I'M COMIN' ALIVE WITH KATE REID (IN A RENTAL CAR)
Tamara Gorzalka / tam@vueweekly.com


It would be easy to write Kate Reid off as just another lesbian folk singer. After all, she sings about her sexual orientation and women’s issues with just her acoustic guitar as back-up. But listening to Kate’s music is somewhere between watching a stand-up comedian and finding someone’s secret journal. Her songs are raw and honest but with an amazing dose of wit, all delivered in a casual yet earnest tone. There isn’t a lot of cryptic poetry in her lyrics, just matter-of-fact stories told with a musical style similar to Melissa Ferrick or Ani DiFranco.
I’ve been a fan since her CD first arrived at CJSR last year and I got the chance to interview Kate before her concert at the Blue Chair Café on Oct 24, also the day I turned 22. We had a delicious dinner of ahi tuna before her sound check, then moved into her rental car for a quiet place to do the interview.
Vue Weekly: It seems like it’s just a room full of dykes right now. Is that what it’s usually like when you’re playing?
Kate Reid: I wouldn’t say that’s what it’s usually like. Yeah, obviously lots of lesbians come out and women, but there’s crossover. Lots of guys and whoever just show up that like folk music.

VW: Are you on tour right now or are you just doing a couple stops?
KR: I’m just doing a couple shows right now. I haven’t actually gone on a full few week tour yet. I’m going to do that probably in the spring.

VW: Where do you think you’ll be going?
KR:I’m not sure. Probably across Canada. I don’t know if this is gong to work out but I’m also looking at potentially going down the west coast, down through California and that kind of thing.

VW: You have a CD out called Comin’ Alive, how’s that been doing?
KR: Like on radio and stuff? Well obviously it’s not played on the Top 40. I don’t know actually. I haven’t checked up on that. I sell a lot of CDs at shows, so that’s really good. I get lots of emails from people saying that they really love it. I think it’s doing fairly well.

VW: What was the recording process like?
KR: Did you hear of that band Mollies Revenge in the early ‘90s? It was fronted by a woman named Yvette Narlock and she’s in Vancouver and she has a recoding studio in her house now. I was her first project. It took about three months to do it and it was a lot of work; I never realized how much work it was until I actually started doing it. It started off being small, like I was going to do mainly acoustic and some basic instrumentation. Then as I was sitting in the studio I could start hearing all these things in my head, all these instruments, and we kept wanting to add stuff. So it just sort of expanded.

VW: What’s your favourite queer movie or TV show?
KR: I don’t watch TV very much ...

VW: I’m just glad that you didn’t say The L Word.
KR: Oh please, can we not say that?

VW: Yeah, thanks, that makes me feel better. All these artists that I really respect, like Melissa Etheridge sitting there talking about how she’s like Shane, I don’t want to know that. If that’s true, just keep it to yourself.
KR: [laughs] I don’t understand that. I mean I get why people like the show, but it’s not my thing. It doesn’t resonate with my ... whatever.

VW: But do you have a favourite lesbian movie?
KR: I love Bound.

VW: I love Bound! That’s my favourite.
KR: [laughs] I just think it’s great because they kick ass, they kick the guy’s ass and I think that’s awesome. I love that one and Better Than Chocolate.

VW: That one’s cool because it’s Canadian.
KR: And it was filmed in Vancouver. Go Fish I rented back in ‘94. I was living with my boyfriend at that time. He went away for the weekend and I rented it. It was great because I loved it. This is the kind of stuff I’d been wanting to watch.

VW: Do you have any gay or lesbian heroes?
KR: Ferron is a total hero of mine. Penny Lang is too, she’s a lesbian. I think they’re both fantastic songwriters. Back when Ani DiFranco was dating women I really looked up to her in terms of a lesbian hero, I always thought she was an amazing woman, business woman, songwriter. Audre Lorde is one of my favourite writers.

VW: You have a song titled “What I Want.” Right now, what do you want?
KR: I really want to be able to not teach anymore and do this as a living and continue making an impact in women’s lives. Music is really important to me. Listening to other people’s music, playing it, writing it, it’s saved my life. It’s an important tool for us to get connected with ourselves. We just need to have more voices out there, we have to have more music resonate with our own experience and our souls. I want to keep doing that because I want to do something important in the world and that feels like part of what I’m supposed to be doing.

VW: All right, well, thank you very much for inviting me into your rental car.
KR: Anytime!

VW: I guess we’ll go head back into the den of lesbians and I can’t wait to hear the concert.
KR: Great, it was nice talking to you.

Her show was fantastic and Kate definitely both charmed and touched the audience. What a great way to celebrate a birthday. Comin’ Alive is out now, find out more at katereid.net. V

Kate Reid...On the Road

I didn’t think much about Kate Reid at first. Someone had put her CD into my mailbox at CJSR, probably based solely on the fact that her short-haired, tank topped appearance in the press release had given a good indication of the music it would carry. I was more than bored with lesbian acoustic folk by then. I pawned the album onto another volunteer instead, asking them to take a listen and report back if it was even remotely worth playing. I just couldn’t take any more angry hippie women.

My expectations were wrong. The volunteer came back with a bunch of tracks written down, saying the album was awesome and funny and I totally needed to check it out. I was blown away by the new spin Reid had brought to the genre. Casual but intensely hilarious storytelling in every song, sometimes with the occasional heartbreaking bit of poeticism. I was immediately made a fan.

A few months later Reid came to town to play a show at the Blue Chair Café. Outside the restaurant, in her rental car in the parking lot, I had one of the most enjoyable interview experiences I’ve done so far. She was insightful, hilarious and wholly accommodating. It helped, I’m sure, that it was my birthday and Reid gave me lots of cool presents like a CD, poster and a dedicated song.

Kate Reid will be returning to town again, this time as part of the Women in the Round ... On the Road tour of Western Canada. Joining her will be Sarah MacDougall and Joanna Chapman-Smith. I have to admit to not yet being familiar with the work of these fine ladies, but after checking out their MySpaces I’m already a big fan.

Billed as a “rollicking, estrogen-injected evening of powerhouse women in folk music,” the first stop in Edmonton is at the Blue Chair Café on Thu, Apr 17 and then Prism Bar and Grill on Fri, Apr 18.