Kaitlin Keegan
Kaitlin Keegan has an incredible talent for creating beautiful, shimmering folk music that captures relatable events perfectly. You can't help but think she was writing about stories from your own life. Kaitlin released two singles last year, Missed Call and It Ain't You. Both are personal favourites of mine and are on high rotation here. Hazy Days Music would like to thank Kaitlin for taking the time out and having a chat.
It's been amazing watching your solo career develop over the past few years. Do you remember what it was like recording your debut EP? Was there much else going on in your life at that time?
I released my debut EP Sadisco at the start of 2018. It's a collection of songs that I wrote over my time studying at WAAPA (Western Australia Academy of the Performing Arts). My friend Brad Green was the producer, and when we started we weren't too sure if it would ever be released, we just did it as a bit of fun. Once we finished recording, listening back, we both agreed that this is something and it should be put out. I completely winged it from there, booking in my first EP launch gig, but it worked out well. Triple J and Unearthed have been really supportive of my music, which is really helpful.
2018 was a pretty wild year for me. Around the same time I was releasing Sadisco, I joined the band Boat Show, and we pretty much toured no stop for the rest of the year, supporting DZ Deathrays, Hockey Dad, and other great bands. I played up at Big Sound that year and ended up moving to Melbourne as well.
I was only in Boat Show for that one year. We all had so much else going on with other music. Ally was starting her solo project, our drummer joined Meg Mac, our guitarist was playing in Tired Lion, and I was keen to focus on my music. You can still catch Boat Show playing these days.
When I went up to Big Sound, I probably wasn't ready for that experience yet, but I had an amazing time and got some pretty cool deals out of it. I signed with Mushroom Publishing and got some management. Everything just fell into place at Big Sound, and I don't think I would have ended up moving to Melbourne later that year if it wasn't for all that happening.
Your single Missed Call, it's one of my favourite releases from 2020. What went into making and recording this song? You released an incredible film clip to go along with this single, and it looked like you had a lot of fun making this one. Who did you work with on this and what sort of planning went into it?
I wrote the song, Missed Call with Joel Quartermain from Eskimo Joe and recorded it with the Melbourne producer Anna Laverty. I worked with Joel back in 2019. I brought the idea of this song into his studio sort of half-written. I wrote it about a friend who lives back in Perth who I was really worried about. After showing him the idea, it all came together really nicely, and Joel helped put the rest of the song sonically together.
I met Anna at an APRA/AMCOS SongHubs writing camp. I really loved working with her. She's originally from Perth as well, so we had a fair bit in common. We recorded Missed Call at a studio in Coburg. We ended up recording my other single, It Ain't You, on the same day back to back.
Making the video for Missed Call - I met Francesca Napier, who filmed the music video, through a few friends. I love her style and the way she films. It was a really fun day, she brought over a dress for me to wear and we just ran around the park filming whatever. There was no real planning behind it. The day was supposed to be spontaneous and capture whatever was going on. My dog Kevin was the real star of the show, taking him down to the dog park to hang out with his friends.
I love that you collaborate/co-write with so many different artists. How do you find collaborating/co-writing compared to your experience writing in a band? Is collaborating something you focus on? Some of my favourite songs you have co-written are with Perth artist Superthick. How did this opportunity come about?
It’s my favourite thing! I find it just comes more naturally than writing in a band, I loved being in bands and I learned so much being in Boat Show and playing those larger shows. But writing for other people and writing collaboratively is my jam, I love it!
I wrote It Ain’t You at a writing camp with Anna Laverty and Hannah Joy from Middle Kids. I loved the song straight away, and it made sense to record with Anna as she had been a part of it from the beginning.
Recording Missed Call and It Ain't You was a full-on couple of days. We spent one day on pre-production, one on recording all the instruments and the last day, I recorded all of the vocals back to back. It was pretty quick, and when you are paying for the studio and a producer, you want to get it done and not mess around. Missed Call and It Ain't You were my two favourite songs I had written that year, so I just wanted to get those recorded and put them out.
APRA/AMCOS hosted that songwriting camp I went to. They call their ones SongHubs, which they run every couple of months, which anyone can apply to attend. It's a terrific opportunity if you get to go. They fly in a well-known songwriter to curate these camps. Chris Walla from Death Cab for Cutie was the head curator of the Song Hub I attended. They also have a few local artists helping out as well, it goes for about five days, and you get paired off or put in groups of three to work on music for each together. I can't recommend it enough.
I've known Christan for a long time. We actually used to write songs together and collaborate back in uni. Christan reached out to me once he started SuperThick and asked if I'd be keen to co-write again. The first track I helped out with was I’m There, he sent over an idea for the song, and I wrote the melody vocal part. I'm There features Saskia Brittian, who is an amazing singer and recorded the vocal part. I also co-write and feature on The View. They're such a cool band! They're going on tour in May with Great Gable and playing at The Corner. Hopefully, I can jump up on stage and play a few songs with them.
How did you find your time over the Melbourne lockdown? Was there any pressure to stay productive?
Over lockdown, I was actually really productive. I did a lot of zoom writing sessions with other artists and producers, which I really enjoyed. Working and writing music over zoom isn't for everyone. Nothing beats being in the same room writing music and feeding off each other's energy. But I found the experience over zoom wasn't bad. I wrote heaps of songs and a lot that I really love. That was positive, being super productive on that end. I met a few local artists from Melbourne through Instagram, and Mushroom Publishing put some sessions on for me. Some of the artists I worked with were Oscar Dawson from Holy Holy and the songwriter from Perth band The Money War. It feels weird saying, but I didn't have a negative experience over lockdown.
I released some merch over lockdown as well. I'm excited to do more! My first mockup design was quite extravagant. My manager was like, can we do something with less colour? You want to make a profit on this. I ended up going with a silhouette of my promo photo. You'll be able to grab one at my shows coming up or online.
What are your plans for 2021? Do you have any shows coming up or new music on the way?
I’m always writing, but at the moment, I don’t have any plans to release any new music. Playing shows are my priority at the moment and I’ve got a lot booked over the next couple of months.
I still feel like I’m still pretty new to Melbourne, even though I’ve been living here for almost three years now. Last year didn't really count, and the first year I was here I found it kind of hard to find my feet, so this year I’m looking to play as much as I can and support some bigger artists.
I currently don’t have anything recorded, but I’d loved to put an EP out towards the end of the year, but we will see. I wrote with Alexander Biggs the other day, and I really love the song we made together, so hopefully, we can put that one out sometime this year.
Shows are the priority this year.
Upcoming shows
I'm supporting Woodlock at The Northcote Social on the 12th of March.
And The Velvet Club at The Tote on the 20th of March.
Head over to my socials to find out all the information.
Stay up to date with Kaitlin Keegan on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.