Page 9 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine Issue 111

BV111 pg 04-09 Kat Von D Interview.qxp_BV111 pg09 17/12/2024 01:18 Page 6

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“I’m on a very deep faith journey now. That is always at the forefront of everything I do
now. But I don’t want to be a spokesperson for that, because I don’t think I’m worthy to do
that at this moment in time.” - Kat Von D

there’s a big difference when you’re playing your own Alissa’s singing, it broke up the expectation of everything
shows. And, like I said, I’m connecting with people through being electronic and so perfect. It breathed the human life
my lyrics, so it’s cool to be able to look into a crowd and see into it. When I close my eyes and listen to that it just sounds
people singing along and responding. I think it’s so cool. It like two robots going to battle.”
bonds us in a different way.” When we think of the title ‘I Am A Machine’, it may
sound odd, but we can’t help but think of animals that are
ver the years, Kat has bonded with others on her made to be like machines. Like how dairy cows are impreg-
Ojourney through life. And ‘My Side Of The Moun- nated to become milk machines. With Kat being vegan, we
tain’ sees a couple of friends join Kat on songs. LA singer- ask what her thoughts are on how animals are used like
songwriter Ferras guests on ‘Set Myself On Fire’, while Arch machines, impregnated over and over again for human con-
Enemy frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz features on ‘I Am A sumption.
Machine’. We love that Alissa is vegan, like Kat, and speaks “I think, in general, factory farming has become some-
up against animal cruelty. thing where we’re so far removed from our connection to
Kat tells us about her friendship with Alissa, “I kinda animals, and a lot of it, well, all of it is done behind closed
can’t remember if we met through Doyle. I’ve been an Arch doors, so I don’t think a lot of people know how it works,”
Enemy fan for a really long time, even before she was says Kat. “The song was definitely, I didn’t have that in mind
singing, and I remember when she joined, just thinking, ‘Oh when I was writing it, but I can see how a listener could in-
this is so cool.’ It’s so rare that you have a transition from terpret it that way too. And that’s what I love about music
one singer to another where it was so seamless and it feels too, oftentimes I’m talking about drug addiction or overcom-
like most of the time that happens when there’s the support ing in my past how I have overcame doing drugs and drink-
of the singer prior too, and I know that they are super-close. ing, but it can come across as a dysfunctional romantic
And I think she’s one of the most talented friends that I relationship and it just depends on who’s listening and what
have. And I was actually really nervous about asking her to you’re going through at the time. I think that’s the beauty of
sing on my album, just because I see all the collaborations music. There’s a song by Depeche Mode, that song ‘Pre-
that she typically does, it’s within the metal world, and I don’t cious’, that I love so much. I always equated those lyrics to
make metal music, I just love metal music. And I was like, be like a love song and how he ruined this relationship and
‘I wonder if she’ll not be into the whole electronic thing,’ so then come to find that it might have actually been about
I sent her a really rough demo of ‘I Am A Machine’ at the raising a child. So, I think that’s kind of cool, the duality of
time, and she was on tour, I believe, in South America. She things, and how things can be interpreted.”
was having some challenging times and she was like, ‘Man,
these lyrics really resonated with me. I’m really excited at has said that the album is about confronting the
about doing it.’ So, when she came in to sing on that song, Kthings we don’t want to face, accepting the things
I just thought she was going to do the cookie monster we can’t control, and fighting for the things that matter. We
‘roarrr’... that was a terrible impersonation,” she laughs, end by asking what matters to her now.
“and, instead, seeing her range, she just has such an epic “I’m on a very deep faith journey now,” she replies.
range, I ended up having her sing on all the harmonies “That is always at the forefront of everything I do now. But
throughout the entire song, even on the chorus, which isn’t I don’t want to be a spokesperson for that, because I don’t
like a screaming chorus. It was very inspiring to watch her think I’m worthy to do that at this moment in time. But I think
sing. I just think she’s a true powerhouse. And then I felt, being a mother is very high up there, you know. I find deep
we’ve been friends for so long, it was really cool to be able joy in raising a child and raising my son and I feel very lucky
to collaborate on a song together.” that I even get to have a kid so late in my stage of life. And
The song stands out on the album because of Alissa’s protecting him from a lot of what’s going on in this world,
much heavier vocals, which contrast with Kat’s more sub- that’s a big part of why we moved into a rural area, a small
lime sounds. “I wanted to make it a single,” Kat comments. town of 12,000 people. I think it’s easy to fall into a lot of
“The only reason I hesitated on that…” She explains that the divisiveness of the world nowadays… ideologies that I
they filmed a music video for release after the album had just don’t want around my son, and so it’s good to be able
come out, continuing, “is just that, I didn’t want people to, to shelter him. I think people think that term is a negative
especially since I’m technically a new artist, to assume that thing, whereas I think it’s our responsibility as parents to
the whole album was going to be a metal album, because I shelter and keep our children safe. So, that’s been a big
think then they’d be disappointed. I make more 80’s-style, part of where I’m at in my life. Giving my child a shot at
synth-heavy, electronic music. It’s dark. It’s definitely not… some normalcy in a crazy, crazy world,” she says. “And a
you know how my vocals… I don’t sing how Alissa does. lot of it has to do with technology, too. I don’t think it’s so
So, I was like, ‘You know what? I think it would be better if healthy that we’re exposed to so much news all the time.
it comes out more like dessert.’” We shouldn’t know everything about someone’s life. And,
The song itself, ‘I Am A Machine’, was inspired by with social media, we’re almost forced to absorb a lot of
today’s online world. things that just take you off a path of a more healthier con-
“I was thinking about how the human fingerprint was sciousness. So, yeah, it is what it is, but we just have to
getting lost in the technology that we have today. I think navigate through and do our best.”
there are so many pros to the technological advances that We think Kat is doing an amazing job at navigating
we have. But, with that, comes so many cons. And it’s like, through life, and we’d definitely pick Kat’s side of the moun-
how do we take back control in a world which is just so dom- tain as the place to be.
inated by that? And, I’m trying my best to walk that tightrope
in this world. I’m not very good at technology. I think that’s ‘My Side Of The Mountain’ by Kat Von D is out now.
why I respond so much to the analogue synth sounds; be- Visit www.katvond.com for more info.
cause I feel like it still has that human fingerprint and that
imperfection that you don’t get when you’re programming Words By Shari Black Velvet
music. We do program drums and things like that. And, I
think that was the other part that I liked about incorporating

KAT VON D