KT Tunstall – Wax

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

A) Fleetwood Mac, The Pretenders, Beck, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan.

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?

A) I tend to have lyrical ideas arrive with chords already attached. For the most part a song comes to me pretty fast and I am done anywhere between thirty minutes and a few hours. Occasionally an old song gets reworked, like “The River,” and even more rare, I write the words first and set it to music later.

Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?

A) I get more involved with every record as I continue to learn how to best use the studio and have certainly recorded some projects, which I have self-produced, but I really respect and cherish the relationship I have with producers. Sometimes us artists need saving from ourselves!

Q) What songs off WAX do you most enjoy performing live?

A) I would say “Human Being” and “The Healer” – both just so raw and rocking, and it’s great to play the “Human Being” riff with a huge overdrive pedal on the guitar. And “The Mountain” and “Dark Side of Me” for the groove, I get totally lost in them.

Q) You play a number of instruments. Which has been the most difficult for you to have learned to play and the easiest for you?

A) I’m still getting to grips with drumming. Having said that, I am not exactly applying myself to it adequately! It’s definitely something for my future to become a better drummer. Easiest, I would probably have to say singing. I’m very grateful that my voice came inbuilt and I didn’t require any lessons!

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

A) I would be made up to write with Chrissie Hynde – I love everything about her. And Stevie Knicks. I also love writing songs for movies and working on material with an orchestra would be exciting.

Q) You are constantly touring. Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

A) Ooooh! Glastonbury Festival, my spiritual home! 130,000 people letting their hair down in a field in England with the most amazing bands, it’s a wondrous thing to behold. I also played Red Rocks opening for Barenaked Ladies this summer. That was incredible, one of nature’s churches for sure.

Q) What album are you currently listening to and why do you dig them?

A) I love Jon Hopkins’ new album Singularity. His previous album Immunity was a Top 5 album for me, so I interested to see how the new album resonated with me. It does, very much. I’ve always found that electronic and dance music that I like can be very medicinal. Jon’s music is totally transcendent for me and when life is crazy, it’s like instant meditation to put it on my headphones.

Q) Your song “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” was a staple of the 2000’s. What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

A) For sure the beat and I think the rawness and realness of it. We’d had a lot of manufactured girl and boy bands at that time and a boot-stomping girl with a guitar and a loop pedal was pretty fresh. I think they chorus lyric “No, no, you’re not the one for me” was also an attitude most people could relate to!

Q) What do you hope listeners take away from listening to your music?

A) I aspire to and am inspired by how a band like Fleetwood Mac leaves me feeling after I listen to them. There’s the basic drive and rhythm, chord choices and melodies that are original yet somehow already known and you can rock out, sit back and have it wash over you. But, also, you can dig in and get so deeply involved with the lyrics and the arrangements and more nuanced choices. I love those levels of engagement for a listener to choose from. I hope people feel something.

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

A) I like it because I can have conversations directly and openly with individual people and everyone reading or listening can also enjoy that conversation. Social media suits my personality. I like a realness to the way I communicate. I like swearing. I like humor. So, fans are able to get to know me a bit better, too.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) I would like to say a huge, deep, wide thank you. I love what I do, and I can’t do any of it without fans. I work hard to keep producing the best work I can. It’s isn’t easy out there in music world. It has completely changed in the last few years and there are some major new challenges to being able to afford to make records and go on tour. So, a huge thank you to everyone for supporting records, buying tickets to live gigs, grabbing some merch at the show and coming with me on this ride!