Fighting In A Metaphorical Mosh Pit

Kelsy Karter and The Heroines

Cris Cohen: I found this other interesting quote where you said, “A couple of years ago I was in a metaphorical mosh pit fighting for my place as a woman in rock music.” Which seems related to what you said earlier about “they say you can't do this.” Is that along the same lines or am I misreading things? And where are you now?

Kelsy Karter: You know, it's funny, because my whole career -- and this goes back to the whole narrative of the album and the concept -- I've been told that I have to pick one thing and then be that. For the longest time, people were trying to make me “the next Amy Winehouse.” And as much as I love Amy Winehouse, my battle was, “I'm not Amy Winehouse. I'm Kels and I want to find my own thing.”

And I found that through rock and roll. I learned how to sing from jazz music and soul music, but I found my voice through rock music. I had to risk what wasn't trendy at the time and just do me.

And when I dove headfirst into the rock scene, I was like, “Wow! I found where my spirit belongs, where my voice shines, and where my writing and my stories get told in the light that I want them told in.” But rock wasn't the main thing then. I stuck to it and fought for it and stayed true to myself.

Then I put Missing Person out, our first record. Right after that happened, this resurgence of the whole punk and rock scene came about. Every girl and their mom just decided, “Oh, I want to be rock now.” And I’ve always said, you can't just put a pair of plaid pants on, learn a G chord, and then call yourself punk. That's not what it's about.

I was losing my mind, because I felt like, “Who am I and who are these people?” One of my old managers said to me -- I was crying one day to him about it --- and he said, “This is the part of you that sets you apart. You present yourself all tough and unbreakable, but you are so sensitive and fragile. And this is what is going to connect with people.”

That's when we just went headfirst into the new album. I was like, “I guess I have to lock out the noise and go away from the mosh pit. I'm going to go over there by myself and figure this out.”