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Where are you and your band from?
First, thanks for having me! I’m so excited to talk!
I, Kady Rain, was born and raised in Austin, TX! They call us Unicorns because we’re a rare breed! Ben Bazzrea, my co-writer and the Prince Eric to my Ariel, was born in Austin, TX as well but he grew up all over the place and ended up back here about 10 years ago.
We met working together at Starbucks and we tried working on music a few times over the years but we both had projects going on at the time and it never really worked out.
What type of music did you hear the most growing up?
I heard a ton of Selena and I absolutely love her! She is one of my biggest inspirations! I also heard a lot of the Sex Pistols, the Beatles, and the Spice Girls. Basically, all things that are good! 🙂
Ben heard a lot of Tom Petty, the Beatles, AC/DC, a lot of classic rock and country.
What made you first realize you wanted to pursue a career in music?
I’d planned on being a rock star since I was a little girl, but it always seemed like something (mostly boys) got in the way. It wasn’t until I almost died at the hands of my then boyfriend in 2014 that I really decided music was my true passion. I spent 10 days in the hospital and lost my job, my apartment, and my mind, and it was only then that I finally took stock of what I truly wanted in life. I was 24 years old and completely free of everything and everyone that had held me back. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me, but it ended up being the biggest blessing. One night shortly after the incident I was laying in my mom’s driveway looking at the stars when suddenly emotion overcame me. Tears of joy started streaming down my face because I felt so lucky to be alive in that moment, after all that had happened to me. I decided that I wanted to pursue music with a fervor I had never possessed before. I immediately went to my friend Ben’s work and begged him to be my music mentor. I knew I wanted to make music, but I had no idea where to begin. Ben and I started writing songs on his front porch and that’s where it all began.
What sets you apart from other bands/artists today?
We’re in the age of the super producer, everyone is doing the producer-as-the-artist thing, just like Calvin Harris or Alison Wonderland. With YouTube, Lynda.com, and practically every other educational platform on the internet, someone can sit in their bedroom and learn about production endlessly. This has bred a whole host of young, exceptionally talented producers who are able to hone their craft for practically no money, at home, all the while eating hot dogs and petting cute cats. Being about ten years too late to grow up with all those resources, I can’t produce to save my life and Ben grew up thinking he would be an indie-rock guitar god. So, without being able to produce endless EDM bangerz we found ourselves writing songs. It wasn’t necessarily a business decision or something we actively thought about, it just happened.
Ben and I have noticed the perceived “death of songwriting” that we’re currently experiencing. Because the bar is so high for producers right now, most producers focus on sound-design and production obsessively, which makes sense, and a lot of modern melody writers consider themselves “top liners.” Usually someone will call themselves a top liner when they write over an already produced track. So, this means less people are focusing on harmonically-rich environments, otherwise known as a great arrangement/well written song, because they’re either honing their ability to make the track sound good, or they’re writing over the track as it is, without the ability to make changes. I’m not trying to fault anyone, because I know how hard a lot of these producers and top liners work, it’s just a flaw we’ve noticed within the system.
For those who have never seen or heard your music before, how would you describe your music for the public audience?
My music has been described as “pure sunshine with a beat” and I love that! The Kady Rain sound is a bright, up-tempo song with some sass and a good beat!
We try to surprise the listener and create music that was unexpected. We had been working in EDM for a while before releasing this batch of songs and having written around 400 songs together Ben and I just got to the point where we were tired of knowing everything about a song after the first :10 seconds and EDM is a very predictable genre.
Hopefully, my music is upbeat, sunny, and unexpected. 🙂
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If you had to categorize your music, what genre would it best fit?
MOTHER-FUCKING-POP-MUSIC! I am not ashamed of it. I make pop music, and I work my ass off to do so with a great team of individuals! Pop can be perceived as a bad word by a lot of musicians and people but there’s nothing wrong with wanting to make music that everyone can relate to and sing along with.
Are there any stories surrounding your songs that you’d care to share?
I recently read L.A. Reed’s biography, Sing to Me, and he uses an expression when an artist writes a hit song, he says “God’s in the Room.” Our song R.A.D. Moves was not a commercial hit by any means, but it felt special. I remember every suggestion being the right one and no decision was difficult to make. I don’t know much about hit songs, but I know that when we wrote R.A.D. Moves, it felt like something different was in the room and this song was special. And maybe we succeeded, because NPR called the song timeless. 🙂
What do you do with your time away from music?
My favorite season is crawfish season, and it’s almost over, so my life will have practically no purpose after June. I will struggle to remain excited about virtually any aspect of life without crawfish, and I will likely succeed, but I won’t feel the warmth of life until next crawfish season. I also enjoy drawing, and before I was this busy with music I acted in several plays.
Ben’s favorite season is watermelon season, and it lives on forever in his heart, it’s actually quite beautiful. Outside of his love affair with watermelon, he studies music theory, plays video games, and is a proud cat-father to two handsome tabbies.
Any upcoming shows/tours/news?
WHAAAAAALE, we’re playing a show with the one and only CupcakKe and Kreayshawn on May 26th, and we have a show at the Scoot in on June 22nd.
Also, I’d like to thank all the people who helped me create It Wasn’t the Roses because their names don’t get said as often as they should, and they’re the unsung heroes! Charlie Kramsky recorded my vocals at Austin Signal with Ed Boyer overseeing vocal production/general magic. Ben and I wrote the song together and worked with Yuri Zwadiuk (who produced, mixed, and mastered IWTR) to create a song that harkens back to a time when dance music meant something different. They all worked very hard alongside Ben and I to make this song what it is and we’re very honored to be working with such talented individuals.
Then we have the folks on the business side of things: Our manager, Louie Carr at Own Path Media Group, deserves a shout out! He has been in the trenches going to bat for us every day and pushing the Kady Rain train (say that five times fast!) forward tirelessly and we really appreciate all the effort he has put in. He is a great friend and an even better manager! John Guertin at CleaRights and John Cook at Work Pants Records have been helping us navigate contracts and provide general wisdom. Contracts and negotiating contracts are WAAAAAY too adult for me to handle but they both wake up every day and look forward to doing exactly that. It also doesn’t hurt that they’re both exceptional at it, which deserves some recognition!
Finally, I’d like to thank all our fans who’ve been SO supportive! From the people at our first shows to the people who are just now hearing about us, this journey has been incredible, and the positive response has been so overwhelming! Before there’s any money involved in the music all you really have are the people who believe in you. So, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU SO MUCH! 🙂 – MB
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