Kane'd

Sophie speaks to the band

As we hit November it is fair to say the blistery, autumnal weather was striking hard throughout October. Extreme storms tortured the landscapes as trees fell down left, right and centre, and the rain collapsed out of the sky. Throughout all of this I firmly set myself into hibernation mode, as I positioned myself for months on the sofa and binging the best of the latest TV shows. Despite the colder months coming in fast, one thing that is guaranteed to add fire and (more importantly warmth) to my life is music, and Kane’d, an alternative, melodic rock band from Wales, certainly did that. Being only down the road from me, Wales is a short trip away and since discovering the band on their tour throughout the summer, I was eager to learn more about this 7 piece and how they were cooking up their own storm in the world of rock.

I met the band deep in the valleys of Wales as we tucked ourselves into a warming hot drink in a local café while the storms picked up behind us, I dove straight into finding out what the band had been getting up to recently.

“We have been extremely busy behind the scenes working on a new promo and looking at lining up some festivals and gigs for next year, so keep an eye out for us in summer. We’ve also been planning a new music video.”

Kane’d are a 7-piece, female fronted band, and carrying such a large group of people showed that they gathered inspiration from a variety of other artists as they all have their own individual preferences. I was keen to know who the band have been inspired by for their style of music.

“Individually we’ve all been inspired by a lot of different artists. As you can see from our music that we love a big harmony, chorus, and lots of guitar. We’ve taken most of our influences from the big 70s and 80s rock scene, but we’ve just put our own stamp on it.”

Wales is a country widely known for its incredible landscapes and of course the weather, so Kane’d told me more about the music scene in this wet country.

“The music scene in Wales is alive with some killer bands right now. The problem is we all have to travel to be appreciated. The venues here aren’t as busy for the rock scene as they are the further north you go.”

Part of what brought me to the attention of Kane’d was the energy the band have when performing live. This is portrayed in their music video for their track ‘Invidia,’ which involves plenty of paint. I asked the band how they came up with this idea and their thoughts on how important music videos are when it comes to creating a brand.

“We had such a laugh filming ‘Invidia.’ It was actually a very last minute put together idea that we kind of took a chance on. We only ordered the paints and UV lamp the night before. One day we will have to put up a behind the scenes video of that shoot because it was hilarious. Luckily the risk was worth it as we got the results that we wanted. Chez and Harry did a great job and also most of the work, filming, editing and starring in the video.”

 “Music videos are important, especially in today’s society. People live online and when they’re scrolling through posts on social media, it’s a great tool for grabbing people’s attention. The main radio stations rarely play anything new, so unless a band has been recommended to you or you very randomly stumble across them, it’s difficult to filter through. Videos definitely help as people like visuals and it can make people want to hear more of it, if it looks interesting or different.” 

Following on from the release of their album Show Me Your Skeleton, I chatted to the band about their first performance of some of the tracks to a live audience.

“It felt amazing to play the tracks live for the first time. We’d had a bit of a delay getting the album out, so we were very eager to see how the songs would go down. We had sold quite a few on pre-release and by the time we started gigging this set, we were blown away that people in the audience were singing along with us.”

The album itself is energetic and wild and each track carries its own individuality. I asked the band, out of all the tracks, which they were most proud of.

“I’ll Bring You Home’ has a lot of sentimental feelings thrown into it. It’s one of those songs we had to dig deep with, but we’re really proud of how emotional it makes us feel when we play it live.”

Following on from their hectic summer tour, the band told me more about how they relax in their down time.

“We’re all into different things, some like gaming, keeping fit, hiking etc. To be truthful, music is a big part of our downtime too. We’re always writing it, making it or going to gigs.”

It was really nice to hear that the band still appreciate music as a way of relaxing. They were recently announced as joining the line up at Amplified 2019 and SOS 2019, so we chatted some more about how the band felt regarding these future appearances.

“We’re absolutely stoked to be playing at Amplified and SOS 2019. We’re feeling excited and ready! It’s so awesome to have been asked to perform at these festivals. We’ve heard that we’ve been missing out for the past few years, so we’re ready to join the party!”

After spending many years at gigs and festivals, the difference between the two is defining. I was keen to learn what the band thought about the difference between a festival performance and a gig.

“Festivals are different because you don’t really know who you are playing to. At gigs, people normally come because they are a fan of your band and music and therefore make that effort to go and see you specifically. Festival crowds are going for a festival experience. They might not know or love every single band on the line-up, but they will hear you out. At this point we just throw all our energy into giving a killer show and hope that people are impressed.”

It’s always interesting to know what a band thinks of certain performances. I asked Kane’d if there were any other worldwide festivals they were interested in.

“Of course, we’d love to do Download, Sweden Rocks, Rock am Ring… the list really is endless.”

With every festival experience comes the fun of camping so I enquired about whether the band enjoyed the camping experience or if luxury was more their thing.

“We pretty much just go with the flow. We’ve had some pretty rough digs on tour in the past, but we always make the best of any situation so we’re more than happy camping. If there is luxury on offer though, of course we wouldn’t turn it down haha!”

Every band has its goals, so I was keen to learn what countries the band would be tackling soon.

“If we said all of them would that be greedy? Haha! We’d love to spend more time in the countries we’ve already visited, especially Germany, France, Norway, and Sweden. We had great reactions to our music there, so it would be awesome to perform at more areas in each of those countries. We’d love to go further afield obviously. We’ve had a lot of requests to go to the States so hopefully we’ll make it there too one day.”

After a nonstop year, I knew that asking the band what was next was a question I was not going to regret. They didn’t disappoint.

“At the moment we’re enjoying gigging ‘Show Me Your Skeleton,’ so we’re still promoting the hell out of it. We have a few more gigs and festivals to announce soon and will be posting our new video in the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled!”

The darker autumn day was drawing to a close and also our interview. For a final farewell Kane’d shared with me words of wisdom they wanted to pass on to their fans.

“We’d just like to say that music is so important for bringing people together and making memories so please keep supporting the live music scene. You are just as important in keeping it alive as the bands who make the music. Thank you to all that have kept us going so far!”

As I drove back home through the valleys, winds howling past, Kane’d flowed through the speakers and brought that summer energy back into my spirit. A band such as this take over every festival with their energy, and dedication to their fans, and I’m excited to see how they spread their music further.  Be sure to check out their energetic performances and riots, but more importantly, sit tight, wrap up, and watch out for those falling trees over the next few months, as Kane’d stir their own storm up across the country.