Q: It takes some guts to release an album of all covers, especially songs that are so ubiquitous, as well as making a covers album your sophomore full-length record. Can you share with us your thoughts about the decision making process that went into 'Mockingbird' as far as determining that this was the direction you wanted to go after releasing your first record 'Banshee' and any pushback and/or reservations you might have had toward taking this chance?
Kendra: My writing partner/ producer Jeremy Page and I had been doing our own takes on various songs for a minute and when we started to share them with friends and my label Wax Poetics at the time there was a great response.. So much so that the guys at the label asked if we'd want to release an entire record of covers. Banshee was starting to pick up some traction and we just wanted to keep with the momentum so it made sense to follow up with the covers right away. I love doing covers because I feel like it's a great way to take a song that inspired you to begin with and then make it all your own.. We both listen to a lot of different music and are constantly noting songs that inspire us. I also used to go to this great little dive in the Lower East Side in New York every Sunday night for karaoke and I'd constantly be reminded of all the great songs out there and how much fun they are to sing so sometimes I'd carry a little notebook and when a song I enjoyed and forgot about popped up I'd put it on my list and Jeremy and I would sometimes challenge ourselves to rework something on the list.
Q: Some of the songs on the record, like Space Oddity and Wicked Game do not stray too far from the originals in terms of their structure - they are almost immediately recognizable within the first few bars - while others like I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and Ride The Lightning are fairly radical reworks that are largely recognizable from the lyrics only. Can you describe for us some of the creative processes and inspiration that went into recording your own versions of these songs?
Kendra: Songs like Space Oddity and Wicked Game have specific inflections with the instrumentation or parts that we felt were important to keep consistent with the cover that make the song so special in the first place.. For example, with Wicked Gamed the way the guitar rings out in the first few seconds or its dreamy laid back tempo.. Sped up or without those notes I feel like the song would depart from the ways that make the song so much 'the song'.. Whereas a song like Ride The Lightning, us both being Metallica fans and knowing how incredible that song is lyrically and with its chord structure, we wanted to go with a challenge of reworking it to a tempo that could translate to a vibe we both loved to play, and that both fans of Metallica and someone who has never listened to a Metallica could get a kick out of.
Q: Could you give us some brief explanations of why you chose to record and include each of the tracks on 'Mockingbird'? [Click on the song title links to listen/watch on YouTube]
Space Oddity: One of my favorite Bowie songs, plus it's a story song and I love those!!!
As Long As I've Got You: We both listen to a lot of classic hip hop and wanted to return to some songs we love with great samples so we immediately went for Wu Tang's C.R.E.A.M. which uses 'As Long As I've Got You' by The Charmells.
Miss You: One of my favorite Stones tunes!!!! I have always liked the sort of disco groove it has.
Walk On By: For Walk On By, we again wanted to mash up a few of our favorite versions of this song with both Dionne Warwick's original version and the Isaac Hayes version.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond: Jeremy originally suggested this one and we both had individually been in Pink Floyd rabbit holes at the time. He actually did a remix with another older song of ours to Great Gig In The Sky I believe! It was so long ago.. I don't even know if we ever released it... now I gotta go track it down!!!
Wicked Game: I have always loved this song.. I think this was even one of those that I heard at karaoke one night and was like.. oh yeah!!! I love this song!
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles): My friend Godforbid who is on this duet with me and I both always thought this was a cool tune and he loves flipping songs into completely new versions as well so me, him and Jeremy Page, my producer, collectively reworked it into this dark, Ennio Morricone inspired version. I especially loved doing the opera voices in the very beginning that Jeremy mixed in with the instrumentation. We actually recently did
our own dark take on the Huey Lewis track 'I Want a New Drug' as a duet.. It came out last summer on streaming sites..
Karma Police: I love Radiohead and so many of their songs are great. Thom Yorke always writes killer melodies. I was itching to do a Radiohead cover.. it actually wasn't easy to decide which one to do!
Ride The Lightning: Metallica!!! We were both excited to tackle an epic song such as Ride The Lighting. I talked a little about it in the previous question.. we both like metal and thought it'd be fun to put our own spin on this.. we actually covered Pantera's 'This Love' for a show a few years back.. that'd be fun to record at some point.
Cry Me A River: I heard this Bettye Lavette song for the first time in a cafe on a vacation years ago and was blown away by what a great song it was.. I couldn't concentrate until I tracked it down again and then eventually got to try my own take.
Black Hole Sun: I love Chris Cornell's voice and this song has haunted me forever.. maybe also because some kids at summer camp in junior high used to tell me I looked like jumprope girl from the video! hahaha.. I love the lyrics and also really wanted to get crazy with the vocals in the end.
Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder): Jeremy Page and I are both huge Beach Boys and especially Brian Wilson fans and Pet Sounds is one of my favorite albums of all time. I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times I've listened to that album on repeat .. still not sick of it. I love the way Brian Wilson arranges vocals layer upon layer and we both were excited to tackle this beautiful track and use it as an album closer. I really loved adding the little vocal loop at the end.
Q: Did you record any additional songs that didn't make the cut?
Kendra: Yes! We recorded Rolling Stones 'Mothers Little Helper' and we did a
digital release of 'No Love' by Johnny Mathis that had been sampled by Gravediggaz on 'Diary Of A Madman'..
Q: Are there any fun/humorous/interesting stories from the recording sessions that you can recall that you can share with us?
Kendra: Probably doing
the video for 'Miss You' was one of my favorite funny memories.. we cast a bunch of old ladies and I got all grannied out too and basically we had all the ladies get wild at a bar in Bay Ridge and also did a choreographed dance sequence with them.. They were super spunky and hilarious. The wildest one was 97!!!!! I'm not surprised
Q: Have you ever received any feedback from the artists you honored by covering them on 'Mockingbird'?
Kendra: Ride The Lightning was written about on the blog MetalSucks when it was just out on soundcloud as a free download stream, and at one point so many people were passing it around that we got a cease and desist letter from Metallica's lawyer. We worked it out, garnered the rights for it so it could properly be released on the album, but I kept thinking it was kinda cool because the guys in Metallica most likely had a listen to the song!
Also the Shine On You Crazy Diamond cover was chosen for the theatrical trailer for the film Dead Man Down starring Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace, and in order for the film to be able to use it they had to run it by Roger Waters and get the final OK, and apparently he doesn't say yes to many covers so I guess he must've heard our cover and liked it! So that's pretty cool!
Q: And this last question is largely one I'm selfishly asking - I'm a big Pink Floyd fan, and so Shine On You Crazy Diamond is a personal highlight of the record. Props to your guitarist Jeremy Page for getting those sweet David Gilmour licks down. But I find the intro to the song, with your wordless vocals, a nod to another Floyd classic The Great Gig In The Sky. Was this a conscious choice to kind of blend these tracks, or did it just kind of happen that way?
Kendra: Yes! I remember my dad and I sitting in his car one night and listening to Great Gig In The Sky and how amazing the woman's vocals were. I remember when we started to lay out Shine On You Crazy Diamond I went back in my head to how powerful her voice was and the added energy she brought to that song, so I remember thinking how much I love Shine On You Crazy Diamond and wanting to bring a special touch from my end for it as a sort of ode..
. I love this soul/r&b groove she has going on.
- for Kendra to answer about her album 'Mockingbird' and the thoughts/decisions behind the songs chosen for the record. I appreciate Kendra taking the time to respond.
