an interview with caity krone

eva
Feb 28, 2020
4 min read

Caity Krone is a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, CA. She recently released a new track "Thank You For The Sunday Paper," which you can listen to here. Caity and I had the chance to chat about everything from her songwriting and inspiration to her experience growing up in Los Angeles.

When did you discover that you wanted to be a singer/songwriter? I knew I wanted to be a performer since I was a kid, but my love for songwriting started developing in middle school and high school. Is the sound you're creating now similar to the one you created when you first started making music? Or is it different? Developing your own style sonically and lyrically is an ongoing process, but I think the folk, soul and rock roots have always been there. I really started getting into songwriting around the time Ed Sheeran released ‘+’ and Adele put out ’21’. Taylor Swift released ‘Speak Now’ the year prior. Those three records really inspired me to start earnestly attempting to tell stories through music. When I graduated high school I dove really deep into Fleetwood Mac, Carole King and Joni Mitchell. You’ve just released “Thank You For The Sunday Paper.” What was the inspiration behind it?

I wrote "Sunday Paper" with my friend Tasha Phillips right after I wrote "Record About You," my first single. In high school I wrote with my band and my friends in concert choir, but when I started college I felt really isolated. My friend Claudia set me up to meet her songwriter friend Tash, to give me some guidance. When we met, we talked about how I was doing film photography to self fund my music, and she offered to write with me a few times in exchange for some photos for the music she was releasing. I sat at her keyboard while she was sitting on her bed, and we were plonking around feeling sad about two different people, trying to feel some relief. The song is about reclaiming the parts of yourself that feel lost when you’re consumed in somebody else. I wrote it because I was tired of feeling like I was always lonely, always pining, always a million miles from who I wanted to be with. Mostly, I wrote it because I missed feeling like myself. Do you think where you grew up has any influence on your songwriting? Absolutely. Los Angeles has such a rich musical heritage, from The Beach Boys to the Laurel Canyon musical renaissance. Tapestry, the best album ever written, was made twenty minutes from where I grew up. Carole, Joni, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are some of my biggest influences musically. I realize none of that explains how it has an influence over my writing, but I feel like it just… does. Being able to grow up somewhere so beautiful, where so many wonderful, horrific, culturally monumental things have happened…I don’t know. It’s special, and I hope it influences my writing. I also think growing up in Los Angeles and being around so much entertainment sort of gives you permission to follow your dreams as a kid. You’re around so many big dreams, and they just don’t feel so impossible. When it comes to music and songwriting, who inspires you the most?

Carole, Joni, Stevie Nicks. Predictable, I’m sorry! Was the writing process for ‘Thank You For The Sunday Paper” any different from “Record About You?" Not particularly, since I wrote them both with Tash! How did you go about finding your sound?

Listening to the music I love, trying to figure out why exactly my heart felt like it was going to burst. Writing with different people and learning how to trust my gut and my taste in a room with them. Learning to write honestly and not trying to copy my heroes. When creating a new song which do you start first? Music or lyrics? Lyrics! I’m always writing down lyrics, and whenever I sit down to compose I pull from my notebooks. Sometimes they’ll come at the same time, but very rarely do I come up with a melody out of the blue. If you could tour with anyone, who would it be? I think I’d like to tour with some of my friends who are also independent artists. Georgia Greene, Bella Porter, Madeleine Mayi. Opening for The 1975 would be coconuts. Harry Styles shows are always incredible, because I go with all of my friends and we get to experience being in these loving, electric crowds he creates, so opening for him one day would be a dream. Being based in Los Angeles and seeing so many iconic bands and artists starting their careers here, does that bring you any inspiration? Yes and no. Sometimes it makes you feel very small and far behind, but sometimes you feel like all your wildest dreams are possible. Are there any bands or artist you listen to during your creative process?

Not intentionally. I just listen to the music I love — usually the same few albums over and over again. Lately it’s been a lot of Tapestry, Hissing of Summer Lawns, Court and Spark, and a lot of Feist songs. At the beginning of “Thank You For The Sunday Paper," there’s talking from what sounds like a British news channel. How did you come about putting that into the song?

Matt Dyson, the producer and engineer I recorded the majority of my EP with texted me, “I have this idea for 'Sunday Paper' and I’m going with it. Keep an open mind?” and sent me the song with a different voice clip of an old Southern lady talking. I fell in love with it and suggested a BBC radio clip instead, and he found that. Is your EP going to have the same vibe as “Record About You” and “Thank You For The Sunday Paper?" Each song has it’s own personality sonically, but the same influences are there. I think the storytelling ties it all together. I hope it does at least. Last question: we’re all about discovering new artists and bands. Who should we be checking out right now? Angelica Garcia, Another Bummer, Bella Porter, Georgia Greene, Jensen McRae.