Local band sets sights on Nashville
Finishing their Friday set, Kitfox lined the Why Sound Music Venue stage for a rare performance of “Willow Child,” a slow, sad song written by lead vocalist Emilee Holgate when she was 17.
While her three bandmates pulled small percussion instruments out of a small, blue backpack, Holgate described sitting beneath a willow tree planted by her father, who passed away when she was 9.
“My family dealt with it in a weird way. (It was) one of the loneliest times of my life,” Holgate said, inviting the crowded room to share an intimate connection with the song.
Kitfox relies on fan connections and support for their success. The band launched a Kickstarter campaign Jan. 19 to raise $10,000 to record an album in Nashville in March.
“it’s not just recording for us,” Holgate said. “The songs that we write are very personal, but we try to write really honest things that not only relate to us but to other people, so the CD can not only be part of our lives but their lives as well.”
The song began soft and low, gaining strength as the instruments and harmonic backup vocals joined Holgate’s melody in the chorus: “I am the willow child, weep a while, but I will stand strong.” The song ended with thunderous applause.
“I liked their sound,” said MK Smith, a freshman in elementary education. “I thought she had an amazing voice, and they were just really put together. Their music flowed really well with each other.”
Undeclared freshman Ted Windsor agreed.
“They were very excellent,” he said. “I hadn’t heard them before, but I really liked what I heard. It just felt really real. There was no pretension about it. It was just them up there with their music.”
The members of Kitfox accredit their strength and unity as a band to their sincere friendship. Before each show, they have dinner together “like a little family,” said Conor Flynn, bassist and backup vocalist. Holgate, the chef behind the tradition, agreed.
“We just had soup,” she said, laughing, before Friday’s performance. “It’s because they call me ‘band mom’ because I’m kind of a killjoy. I’m just too responsible, so I just embraced it and started making them food.”
Flynn, who confirmed the soup was tasty, began making music with Kitfox drummer Nate Dukatz and guitarist Devon Smith in middle school. The three Utah State students still perform under the name Bronze Museum.
They met Holgate while she performed at a farmer’s market in Paradise with a different band, and the four joined forces in 2013. Now, they stay motivated through common goals.
“We look at (Nashville) as not only an opportunity just to record for Kitfox but to kind of launch each one of our individual music careers,” Flynn said. “We all want to work in the music industry in some capacity. The connections that we’ll gain and just the experience is a huge part of why we want to do this.”
The choice to record in Nashville was far from arbitrary. An artist and producer there, Gabe Simon of Kopecky, expressed interest in working with Kitfox after listening to their EP last year.
“It felt kind of like fate that we were supposed to go to Nashville,” Flynn said. “It just all fell into place perfectly so that we could go. … We just started hashing everything out that we needed to do, and so the last thing that we really need is just to get the money that we need to pay him.”
As of Feb. 4, the Kitfox Kickstarter campaign has raised more than $4,000. Flynn made sure to mention the prizes — from CDs to handmade art — for Kickstarter backers.
“It’s quite the expensive adventure,” Holgate said. “We need almost $13,000 in all to even do five songs mixed and mastered, and produced and recorded, but we’re only going for 10,000 because it’s an all-or-nothing funding model.”
According to the Kickstarter system, all donations at this point function as pledges and payments will only go through if the goal is met.
With two weeks left in the campaign, Holgate, Flynn, Dukatz and Smith remain hopeful and open minded.
“When there’s a disagreement, we just talk about it from all angles, and we never really get upset if our goal isn’t the best one,” Holgate said. “Because we like each other as humans and friends, it’s not too hard.”
For more information, search Kitfox on Facebook, Bandcamp or Kickstarter.
— noelle.johansen@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @broelle