Interview: Getting to Know Kelowna
Fast rising Scottish rock band Kelowna will release their debut album, Superstar, everywhere on Friday 28th August. Ahead of this, the band have released their enticing new single and video, Insanity, out now. In this interview, we get to know them a little better.
1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.
Our vocalist Davy had been trying to get a band off the ground and had a bunch of songs in embryonic form. He reached out online looking for members and fast forward a couple of weeks we had five strangers making a noise in a rehearsal space. Felt good, we all got on, and everyone could play. Always a good starting point for a band With a whole bunch of different influences behind each member, everyone brought something to the table, the songs evolved, and we quickly started recording and gigging. And it’s been a really quick first few years.
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
Well, we refer to it as “Rocknroll for the Soul” – A pretty raw and gritty rocknroll sound but with a nod to the soulful voice and lyrics that Davy delivers. There’s a heavy guitar-oriented core to what we do but with more modern flashes and some bangin Hammond organ and synths lifting it all.
3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?
We spent last year gigging, including some great festival appearances and support slots. This year has been all about recording and promoting our debut album “Superstar” which comes out in August. We are incredibly proud of, and excited about the record and are working hard behind the scenes currently with our management and promotion partners to spread the word as widely as possible. Once it’s released, its full steam ahead into more live shows.
4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?
The album gives us something substantial to try and grow our audience with. Ten great tracks, and a chance to really get a feel for what we are all about as a band. It’s a reflection of how we work together and how all the musical influences we have as individuals come together in Kelowna. There’s quiet reflective moments, and some heavy as shit thrashing about – something for everyone, if you like.
But ultimately, it’s about playing live to as big and enthusiastic an audience as you can. That’s what drives all musicians surely ?
5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.
You’ve heard the phrase “hearding cats” That’s what it can be like in a band, whether it’s rehearsals, recording, gigs, just the basic organisation and logistics can be exhausting. Obviously at this stage, we’re all investing what we can financially into giving us as big a platform for our music as possible. Which is, of course, a huge gamble, so you have to believe in yourselves and your music, and hope others do.
We rehearse hard to sound as tight as possible on stage, the music needs that to do it justice. And it’s precious creative time to let new tracks develop through to their potential.
6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?
I guess there’s a bit of escapism – time where you can shut off to anything else that might be going on in life and focus on something creative and uplifting, even if it’s just for a few hours. As a band, we all have a bunch of stuff going on outside of the music, but we all feel an enormous pride in the new record and the effort that went into making it, and can’t wait to get out there and start playing the tracks. Good for the soul.
7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?
Organising and promoting gigs is obviously very tough right now. Advance ticket sales drive everything with promoters and venues extremely sensitive and conservative in their behaviours. We’re relatively young as a band (not as band members) so we’re still building our connections with other bands and festivals so you have to learn a little patience and work out where best to spend money on promotional activities.
The things we can control are the quality of the music and live shows – that’s our focus for now.
8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?
It’s exhausting. Finding an effective route to your audience is a huge challenge, competing with so many other artists out there, across so many mediums. We’ve recently started pulling together videos for our releases and hopefully they’ll help. None of us are naturals at producing content and it’s definitely something we will be looking to improve in the coming months. Especially trying to pull in new followers – it’s one things talking to your existing audience but finding ways to connect with new followers means different things on different platforms. I’d say we’re still working it out, looking for a rhythm that eventually comes naturally.
9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?
Personally, I’ve focused on the video creation and although time-consuming, it’s allowed me to learn a bunch of new skills, which has been rewarding. We had great fun this summer after recording a Scotland World Cup anthem for MND Scotland. Did a bunch of personal appearances and had a lot of excellent feedback on our social content around that.
10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support you?
Listen to the album right through. Twice!
We are THAT confident in the songs.
Hopefully, that’s enough to get you hooked. 90 minutes of your life, that’s all it will take.
Give us a follow and come see us when we play live near you.
11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?
Got to be travelling. Drive an old 1972 VW T2 campervan – escape to some of beautiful Scotland’s hills, lochs and beaches. With the stereo cranked up of course. Failing that, anywhere with some sunshine.
12. Where can people find you?
