Kaatwalk has released her debut solo EP, A Week in June. It’s observant with a light feel, like a summer breeze with a nod to hard times we experience and are collectively experiencing right now in the Twin Cities. You can see her play this week – June 24 at the Aster Cafe.
How did you get started in music?
Well, I broke my back in middle school by slipping on a grape in the lunch room. My food flew into the air and I was wheeled out by the school nurse. Absolutely wrecked my summer of 8th grade. That inspired my kind music loving mother to find me a guitar. I didn’t touch it for a couple years but then my dear friend Dani Dahlseid was in playing guitar in She Rock She Rock. Dani inspired me to want to learn as well. I really started learning guitar and gigging right after I graduated high school when I met and formed a duo with multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter, Marv Gohman.
You play music as one half of the duo, Marv and Kaat, and sing with the band, The Holy North. You have released solo singles but A Week in June is your first solo EP. Why now? And how did you curate the songs for the album?
Why now? Well you see, the title track is called a week in June, so I was thinking it be pretty weird if I released it any other month of the year. I sure didn’t want to wait until next June. Hahaha.
I had a bunch of songs that could’ve gone on this EP as we are gearing up for an album release this fall! I picked the song Home because I want my grandparents who live far to be able to listen to it as it’s about their house in Beaver Dam, WI. It’s about all my good memories of going to my grandparents home over the years. I wanted to honor them. It’s a place where we are all loved unconditionally and that’s really special.
I chose Open your Eyes for the EP because while I did already release it as a single in April, I feel it’s still very relevant and I want it to be heard.
I chose to end the EP with Thank You for Being You. It’s a song I wrote when I was inspired by human kindness I was remembering all the moments when my life and my mind had been saved by pure love.
What I want people to take away from this EP most is that small acts of kindness and care cannot only change someone’s life but it can save their life, and inspire others to do the same.
I love A Week In June (the song), not only because I’m a Goodwill shopper, but it reminds me of the feel of summer days when we trade our (real) troubles for songs or pretty dresses. We focus on the good and opportunities. But that’s my reading, what was your inspiration?
Thank you! I’m so glad you love it!
All the stories in that song happened in one week in June. I wrote the first verse when I came home from the thrift store feeling pretty disappointed because they had absolutely nothing from my Pinterest board, I had $40 of returns that I didn’t get to use, and my coffee was freaking six dollars. So I got my guitar and sat down under the dining room table as one does,(I’ve written quite a few songs under there.) and I wrote the first 2 verses.
I’m so sick of seeing skinny jeans at the Goodwill by my house,
I want a silky dress covered in strawberries
Or maybe a purse with a painted on horse
I’m searching for a jacket with rainbows and fringe.
I have no money to spend on this shit
But I’ve got $40 of returns in the car
We’ve got time to waste and an overpriced drink, but I shouldn’t be out taxes during my account this year.
(that was my first year, doing my taxes as a full-time musician, and I was ill prepared for the self-employment tax)
I initially wrote those verses as a joke. I showed my partner and he said it had legs. He said I should keep going. Right after that, I really took a moment to reflect on my week in each verse as it was filled with birthdays, chess games, dental surgery, pain killers, constipation, dry sockets, thrift shopping, hang-overs, new hats, running around everywhere, gigging, have zero dollars, and Marv getting beat up by a gazebo at a gig. It was all that shit but with a glistening summer lens. So Ya know just an average week in June.
I learned something important. I learned to not only embrace the chaos of life but to enjoy the silly inconveniences because life is short and can be beautiful. It’s important to smile at life. It’s important to enjoy the mundane and it’s quite a lot of fun to embrace the chaos of a busy week.
I also love Open Your Eyes. It’s the flip side of living in the Twin Cities right now, recognizing the impact and cause of Operation Metro Surge and repercussions. There are so many ways to write a song about what’s going on. How did you approach Open Your Eyes? I love the balance of the two songs, because that’s how we’re living our lives in the Twin Cities right now.
I wrote it how most of my songs get written, by suppressing a really big feeling till It pours out of me.
I wrote open your eyes a week or so after Renee Good was killed. I went to the piano actually approaching an entirely different song, I was trying to take my mind off of the world because it felt really heavy. I was starting to write a love song about my Fiancé Weston. As I was dreaming of the life we were starting, it hit me REALLY hard how Renee lost the life she dreamt and built with her wife and family. I thought of all the families, dreams, businesses that were being destroyed. I felt broken because there are people that exist that don’t feel that and see that. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach and I picked up my guitar and out came the song Open your eyes. Later that week, Alex Pretti was killed and my feelings grew stronger. I’ll never forget that feeling. We sang Open your Eyes at a show later that day and when I got to the line “someone lost their life today” I felt my heart hitting my stomach again. We can’t forget.
Please tell us about the EP release show.
A Week in June EP Release Show is Wednesday, June 24th at Aster Cafe, Mpls, MN.
Doors 7pm – music 8pm. Tickets $15 – All ages. Obadiah Gamble is opening for us! He is incredible. We will have some ridiculous T-shirts for sale, and a CD presale at the show two days before the national street date of the EP being released.
PRIZE OPPORTUNITY: As I am a big thrifter and the title track of this Ep was written directly after a goodwill trip, there will be a contest for best thrifted Item/outfit. Please wear your best thrifted pieces!!! Best thrifted piece/ outfit wins a free CD and merch of choice.
Come be a part of it!
Mostly Minnesota 