Pop

Wanted to share with you a recent inter­view for AOL’s Artist About to Pop…

Seven Ques­tions with Kate Earl:

What is your ear­li­est musi­cal memory?

Reach­ing up to touch the keys on our upright and hear­ing the music come through the board above the pedals.

How has your mul­ti­cul­tural back­ground influ­enced your musi­cal style?

I was exposed to music I wouldn’t have heard oth­er­wise. Not only did I grow up in a Fil­ipino com­mu­nity with peo­ple wear­ing tra­di­tional cloth­ing to gath­er­ings, par­tic­i­pat­ing in the island dances and hear­ing that music, I wit­nessed the cos­tumes and learned the native Alaskan dances and heard the drums and chants, as well. My Inu­piat girl­friend wel­comed me by putting feath­ers in my hair. The sto­ry­telling of these cul­tures crossed the lan­guage bar­rier. You could see the strug­gle or the vic­tory in the dance; you could hear the ending.

Do you have any rit­u­als before or after performing?

I like to write my set list down in Sharpie with­out any mistakes.

Who are your musi­cal idols?

Ste­vie Won­der, Diana Ross, Smokey Robin­son, Martha Bass, Bjork, and right now, Nancy Sinatra.

If we were to look inside your refrig­er­a­tor, what would we find?

Rice milk, lemonata, Mir­a­cle Whip.

What is the first thing we should do if we were ever to visit your home­town in Alaska?

Go horse­back rid­ing along a ridge in the Chugach moun­tain range.

Where do you see your­self five years from now?

Head­lin­ing a world tour that ben­e­fits children.

See the whole piece at About to Pop: Kate Earl.