Katherine Katz is one of the best singers in heavy music today. Whether it 's with Salome or collaborating with Scott Hull in Agoraphobic Nosebleed or on Pig Destroyer's "Lost Cause", Katz is a focused vocalist who screams from the mind.
Email 1
Katherine, its a real pleasure to have you as part of this interview series. You have an incredibly distinct singing / screaming style, but honestly, how did you figure out you could do it? I mean do you ever feel like you are just shredding your vocal chords?
Thanks! You can call me Kat. I appreciate you asking me to be a part of it.
I started doing screaming/gutteral vocals when I was fifteen. I was friends with some kids who were in a local death metal band and they invited me on the mic. What was for fun turned into a deep interest that I wanted to pursue and have ever since. For a brief period of time, I didn't have a band to work with. I developed my vocals on my own, screaming to my favorite bands in my room, until I found people to jam with. I'm sure I drove my mom crazy. For the first few years, my throat got sore occasionally. I found that if you sing from your belly there isn't much impact on your throat. Now, it's rare that I feel like I'm doing any damage at all. The only time it happens is when I'm either a little sick or towards the end of a tour.
Email 2
In the early days when you were trying to perfect things and just screaming in your room, did your mom ever try to tell you this was not very ladylike? That boys will not like a woman who is screaming their head off? Or was she cool with it in theory, and just didn't wanna hear you yellin' all day?
My mom would have never told me I couldn't do something because it wasn't feminine. I was always encouraged to do whatever I was passionate about, regardless of how society considered it. She knows how much I love singing metal, so she's supportive of me doing it. Just today, I was talking with her about Salome because I'm busy working on lyric arrangements for our new album. She said, " I can understand why you like doing it. It must feel wonderful to sing the way you do. So expressive!". The only reason me screaming in the house drove her crazy was because...well, I was screaming in the house. Haha.
Email 3
I found out about you and Salome through a love of Pig Destroyer. The first song I heard you on was "Lost Cause" from Terrifyer. How was been working with Scott Hull in Pig Destroyer and Agoraphobic Nosebleed been? Are fans of Nosebleed crossing over to Salome and vice versa?
I feel very appreciative to be working with Scott. He's an awesome guy and an incredible musician. I've had some of my best recording experiences working with him at his studio. It's a relaxed and positive atmosphere. I'm able to take my time and experiment with different vocal styles. Scott is very encouraging and always has great suggestions/feedback. ANb is more well-known than Salome, so there are more ANb fans checking out Salome, then vice versa. It's definitely been helpful to have the additional press, but I think Salome has put in a lot of hard work for the opportunities we've achieved and has been focused on building on our own successes
Email 4
How did you actually meet or get in touch with him? Had he done recordings for Salome as well? How much freedom do you have recording for ANb? Do you come up with your own lyrics or is collaborative?
Scott was given a demo of mine by JR, who I met when he was still in Hissing Choir. Scott liked my vocals and asked if I’d do guest vocals on Lost Cause. After recording, Scott asked me if I’d be interested in working with ANb, which I thought would be awesome. It took a few years to culminate, but when he was finally set to record for the split with CROM, Scott had me come in. He hasn't recorded Salome. I think it would be great to have him record something in the future. Scott and Jay encourage me to write lyrics. Traditionally, Jay writes the majority of the lyric composition. Rich and I wrote for a few songs on the ANb full length, Agorapocalypse.
Email 5
That must have been a great feeling, to have caught the eye of such an awesome and intense vocalist. You both have such brutal tone of voice.
Does it help to be angry and enraged when you perform? Do you think of yourself as an angry person and this a great non-violent outlet? Or is screaming like crazy just a lot of fun?
It depends on which band I'm singing for. When I'm singing for ANb, I do evoke anger, disgust, guilt, etc. That's what's appropriate for the music. When I play with Salome, it's a different experience. I perform best when I'm feeling centered. The music has a meditative qualitiy to it and it displays a range of emotions. No, I'm not an angry person at all. I'm easy going the majority of the time. When I'm not playing music, I practice yoga and massage therapy. There is no doubt that singing heavy metal is a great outlet, but I don't think it always has to be about expressing anger, but about expressing a scope of emotions and experiences.
Email 6
Being in the metal scene and having people know you are into massage therapy how many terrible happy ending jokes have you gotten?
Also whats up with
Haha. Nah dude, you're the first.
Currently, there are some great metal bands in the DC area like Pig Destroyer (as you listed), Magrudergrind, Drugs of Faith, Three Faces of Eve, and many others. We've also been lucky to have born Pentagram, and pretty much every band Wino has ever been a part of such as The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, The Hidden Hand...
Email 7
Do you feel that you are treated any differently then male band members in Salome? Is the metal scene at all sexist?
Yeah, definitely. Unfortunately, there aren't many women involved in metal, so we are seen as a novelty. Over the last few years, I've seen more and more women become involved which is really awesome. What I find strange are people who seem generally open minded, but discriminate against women in the metal scene. It's definitely hard to gain any kind of footing in this genre. Sometimes, it seems like people want you to fail the moment you get on stage. If you are a good vocalist, you're only good for a woman. For however long you're involved in metal, you will be acknowledged as a female vocalist, instead of a vocalist. If you're really good, you will be known as one of the best female vocalists in metal. In which, maybe there are twenty or so well known women who do these kinds of vocals, so it's not that great of a compliment. If you dress too feminine, if you look too sexy, if you have anything besides dark hair, you will most likely be seen as a gimmick. If you behave more on the masculine side, you will be seen as a fake, trying too hard. Almost every interview you do, almost every review you receive, every show you play, you will be discriminated against in some form. God forbid you're not attractive, or highly attractive. Your appearance will be mentioned repeatedly. The media is partially, if not largely responsible for perpetuating this discrimination. Even questions like this that inquire about gender instead of the band create division.
Email 8
Yeah, promoting Salome or Agoraphobic Nosebleed as having a female singer is this weird two way street where like you wanna let people know thats whats up and its amazing, but you don't want them to get hung up on the issue of gender either. i have definitely mentioned to people, oh ANb has this awesome new singer, they will be cool i'll check that, then i'll say, yeah she is in another band Salome, and then they will be like oh, i can't really get into female vocals, not really into kittie. so stupid. I wonder what will take to get more women involved in the scene, but thats a whole other conversation.
I also can see how the gender issue leads to people focusing on a band member and not the cohesive unit.
So you are currnetly recording with Salome? Whats coming this summer and fall? Any awesome tours?
Salome is in the writing process. We have one more song to write before we start recording for our full length. Profound Lore Records (Cobolt, Coffinworm, Yob) will be releasing it on CD this fall. Vendetta Records (Crowskin, Omega Massif, Black Shape Of Nexus) will be releasing it on vinyl. We have a tour coming up, July 13-17 with Landmine Marathon. We'll be hitting NY, NJ, PA, and MD. We'll be playing an additional show in DC on July19th. We post news, shows, etc. on www.myspace.com/salomedoom. Agoraphobic Nosebleed will also soon be in the studio to record vocals for a split with Despise You. Relapse Records will probably be releasing it this fall.
Email 9
You mention having only 1 more song to write, when you are working towards a new album, how do you know when to stop or that only one song is left? Is it just a matter of saying all that's on the bands mind at the moment, or do you have a general idea of what sort of direction you will work towards for a given album or release?
For this upcoming album everything is well thought out. We came up with everything from the song ideas to the packaging a long time ago. We outlined how many songs should be on it, what kind of packaging we were interested in, etc. We put a lot of time and effort into every aspect of the creative process. It's really been a lot of fun and I'm excited for the final result.
Email 10
Awesome! Well thanks again for taking the time for this interview, it was a real pleasure to speak with one of the best voices in music today. If you could toss me a photo to run with the interview that would be fantastic. Best of luck in all of your future endeavors!
Xo
Thanks! Good luck with all. Take care!
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