KAY BONYA of KABLE

interviewed by NICK BENSEN

Via e-mail, spring 2002

 

 

 

Introduction

 

It's a little tricky to write an introduction for this interview because Kable's music sounds like something other than the sum of its ingredients. Reviews I read prior to hearing Kay Bonya's solo recordings left me with false impressions of what to expect. Since I thoroughly enjoy Kable and want to recommend all three Kable CDs (Chlorophyll, Tardy All The Time and Kable 3), the best I can do is try to keep the introduction simple.

 

Kay Bonya is a Texas-based multi-instrumentalist/singer/producer who records music with many unexpected combinations of influences. Her songs are often strange mood pieces that function as individual musical capsules but also add up to form highly original albums. Though I would not call Kay's music country or folk, it does contain hoedown tunes and traditional-sounding mountain songs. Manic and even menacing nursery rhymes such as "Sniffy Snout" and "Fishy Wishy" add to the timeless impression of this otherwise modern and challenging style. There is also an aspect of religion that is uncommon in experimental music but fits in with Kay's unique perspective and some of her musical roots ("Lord Is My Supper", "Faith Is Enough"). This element is balanced with an honest dark side ("Steal", "I Hate To Love You", "Regret"). Kay gives her albums a global feel, using rhythms and melodies from different world music styles ("Omar", "No Papaya"). The experimental side of Kay's music brings a diverse selection of artists to mind including Laurie Anderson, Beck, David Byrne, Brian Eno and PJ Harvey. Some of the more exotic pieces could be edited highlights from an Ozric Tenticles jam. Among the abstract instrumentals and mantras, there are a few traditionally structured songs that stand out. "Tardy All The Time" and "Things… Only Things" capture the futile details of an imperfect existence with plain-spoken, direct poetic mastery. "Everything In Its Place" is a claustrophobic expression of an obsessive impulse. "1918", which closes Kable 3, is a lovely acoustic guitar meditation.

 

So - enough with the introductions. Check out a Kable CD and let Kay show you what her music is about. With all of the ideas thrown into the mix and all of the genres colliding, it should be easy to catch on to something you like. What impresses me the most is Kay's complete openness to the possibilities of sound and her ability to use eclectic forms to express her own personality so clearly.

 

 

Interview

 

Nick Bensen: Your style is so diverse and original, and informed by so many kinds of music. What styles and artists influenced you early on and made you want to write your own music?

 

Kay Bonya: I don't remember a specific turning point, but at age 6 or 7 I knew I wanted to play the guitar. Seven seemed to be one of the longest years of my life, because you couldn't take guitar lessons at the community center until you were eight years old, and I could hardly wait. I know my mom listened to the Ventures, Duane Eddy, and classical guitarist Andres Segovia when I was young. I'm sure all of that influenced me. I grew up on Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, next came Talking Heads and all the Fripp and Eno stuff. Eno's "Before and after Science" is an all time favorite. Later when I heard Sonic Youth I knew it was okay to play whatever came out naturally-dissonance could be good!

 

NB: What music do you enjoy listening to now?

 

KB: This reply is a long work in progress since we have been doing this interview for a few months.
When I get a new favorite, I listen to it hard for 5 or 6 weeks. Right now it's fellow Texan Daniel Johnston with his cd from '94 called "Fun", with Butthole Surfer Paul Leary at the helm (producing, engineering, and playing instruments). Found this gem at a pawn shop! Before that it was Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros with their cd called "Global A Go-Go", before that was Radiohead "Kid A", and before that was David Bowie "At the Beeb", a triple cd set. I can't get enough of the Bowie cd's. They're BBC broadcasts from late '60's, early '70's, one of my favorite eras of music, and a bonus disc from 2000. The sparse instrumentation of the early stuff lets the intensity of the songwriting shine through. Back to that '60's into the '70's era, a couple of favorites: Love "Forever Changes", Texas boys, Johnny Winter "Still Alive and Well", and Edgar Winter "Collections" (spanning the 70's), Big Star… I could go on and on with this. I like lots of different music.

 

Okay, now it's another month later, I have another update… 3 more gems from the pawn shop and one new cd. Let's see, John Cale "Sabotage", is a live recording from CBGB's in 1979, super cool rocking stuff leaning toward the Gang of Four sound sometimes. Next is Daevid Allen & Eutrerpe from 1976, album called "Good Morning" his first recording after leaving Gong, recorded on a 4 track in Spain, incredible sound, kind of like early Genesis. Next is a mysterious cd, Four Brothers, "The Peel Sessions", another BBC release from 1988 with no info about these Four Brothers. I think they're African, couldn't tell you what country. They have a distinct sound similar to King Sunny, but uniquely their own with great harmonies and rhythmic upstroke guitar work. The new cd, compilation, "The International League of Telepathic Explorers", has earned a steady spot in my disc changer. Every single cut is worthy of repeated listenings.

NB: How do you approach writing a song? Is there a fixed idea or goal in mind, do you just start layering tracks to see what will happen, or is it a combination?

 

KB: I don't write the songs ahead of time (with the exception of "Tardy all the Time"), but I usually have an instrument or a mood in mind that I would like to start with that day, and then I build from there. After I lay the first track I imagine what would go next and give it a try. If it isn't working out after 30 - 45 minutes, I won't force the issue. I'll put it away and try something else.

 

NB: What about "Things… Only Things" from Kable 3? That sounds like it was written as a song based on the feeling of the lyrics, conveying the struggle to maintain a Zen-like perspective while everything around you is breaking down. Did that track start out as a studio experiment, too?

 

KB: Okay, I was thinking that writing a song prior to recording was having both words and music worked up together. You are very much right about "things… only things," I definitely had it in mind to vent about the many recent breakdowns. I think it was the air conditioner that went down the day I recorded that song. Also "trusty advisor" was written in response to the line in "discount expectations" that says, "Would it have been wiser, if you hadn't listened to your trusty advisor?"

That kind of gave me an opening for the conniving trusty advisor to speak his evil mind.

 

NB: You cover art is really cool and colorful. It fits your music perfectly. There is something about your artwork that kind of reminds me of the trippy cartoons on old Gong records. How did you come up with your style?

 

KB: I come from a doodling with colored pencils background and that stuff is just what comes out. Kable 3 cover art is different from the other 2 in that I knew the doodle would have a record player in it. I had a truckload of broken turntables from an auction that ended up hanging from trees and scattered around the backyard. The resulting picture on the back of the cd was originally going to be the front, but it was too busy so the little dude made it to the front cover.

 

NB: The color wash on that picture with the turntables kind of reminds me of an early Beck single crossed with the back cover of Slanted And Enchanted by Pavement. Why did you buy dozens of broken record players - to salvage parts or just for the surreal art of it?

 

KB: My dad is an electronics packrat. We go to auctions and buy stuff without knowing if it works. He thought maybe there was some salvage value to the turntables but there wasn't much. They were tying up a lot of space but he couldn't bear to throw them out so he sent them home with me. I couldn't bear to throw them out either. I hung them from trees in my yard and enjoyed looking at them and taking pictures for six months. After I took them down, I removed all the platters and made stepping stones for my garden. I took all the plastic covers, drilled holes in them, and use them to cover seedlings in the spring, kind of like little greenhouses. So… they really didn't go to waste.

 

NB: Over three albums you have built an individual sound that was stated well on Chlorophyll but developed a lot by the time of Kable 3. How does the music you are working on now differ from what's already been released?

 

KB: When I first started recording, I was excited that I was able to play things other than my primary instrument, the guitar. Several songs had no guitar, or guitar as an extra texture, but not as a primary track. Now I'm returning more to my roots, so I'd say there's more guitar and a little more song structure than the earlier stuff. There's also more attention to details like creating sounds to toss in here and there, or layering things.

 

NB: Has your production technique changed much since your first album?

 

KB: Yes, it has. I used to think I had to start and finish a recording in one or two consecutive days - record, mix, and don't look back. Now I enjoy spending a little more time with each song. I can lay some tracks, let it sit there for a while, and come back to it later so the ideas have more time to develop. Other times tracks seem to create themselves without any interference from me, and those are the times that keep me wanting to record. I'm also trying to shape sounds or mix in ways I wouldn't have tried before. Since I work alone it's not like anyone's feelings are going to be hurt if their track is mixed way low, or excluded from half the song.

 

NB: Which instruments do you play? I hear a lot of string sounds in your recordings that may or may not be guitar (depending on what kinds of effects you use).

 

KB: I play guitar, bass drums, keyboards, banjo, mandolin, autoharp, violin (but I wouldn't call it playing, more like squeaking), effects, and other various household items.

 

NB: Can you fill us in on your side band Retardo Al Dante?

 

KB: Retardo Al Dante is an extinct band. We played from 1991-1995.
Kind of a noisy storytelling band that played at least half the time without a drummer. Prone sometimes to drifting off into space jams, other times somewhat precise. It was a fun project while it lasted.

 

NB: Do you play with other musicians for fun these days?

 

KB: Yes, my husband and I have a jamming project called Tiny Krumz, whose goal is to always be a work in progress. It varies in sound. We alternate instruments and use loops, buzzes, noises, hold switches, and live sampling. We also play in the praise band at our little nondenominational Christian church, where I play guitar, banjo, or mandolin, and he plays bass or piano.

 

NB: Before I heard your music, I was always confused by reviews of your albums. Various writers classified you as country, folk, new wave, psychedelic or experimental. I really had no idea what to expect. How do you describe your music to people?

 

KB: I have the hardest time describing it. The songs are very different from each other. I usually end up mumbling something like "kind of weird, kind of pretty, you probably won't like it…"

 

NB: Some musicians I know in your part of the country keep a low profile since they feel like their neighbors and coworkers are not going to be into the kind of music they make (or maybe just won't get it). Do you ever find yourself in that kind of situation?

KB: Yes, not so much when in lived in Houston because I lived in the Montrose where weird was normal. Now that I'm outside the city limits most of the people I know don't know anything about Kable. I just don't mention it.

 

NB: Coming from Chicago originally, did you experience a high level of culture shock moving to Texas (at least outside of the Montrose neighborhood)?

 

KB: I was shocked at the cars. Everyone (except me) seemed to drive nice cars and trucks. Up north they salt the roads in the winter and cars seem to get old and beat up looking pretty quick, and maybe they hold on to them longer. I remember thinking, "How can everyone here afford such new cars?" My old lovable station wagon really stood out. Musically I was excited when I came to Texas because bands played in tiny little icehouses like the (now defunct) Pik N Pak and there was a real sense of community and knowing each other.

 

NB: Since you record as a solo artist, how do you approach playing live?

 

KB: Kable hasn't played live. I've thought about it. It would take a lot of time and energy to pull a band together and figure our way through these pieces. I'm not saying I wouldn't do it some day… but it would take time away from the recording process, which is what I enjoy doing the most.

 

NB: Are you working on any new projects at the moment?

 

KB: Yes!!! I've got about ¾ of the 4th cd recorded. I didn't know I was so far along into it until the other day when I made a list of the new pieces and realized I had over 45 minutes worth already. I like to keep a cd to about 60 minutes, so I'm about 4 or 5 songs away from being done with the recording.

 

NB: How would you describe the mood and sound of the album you're working on now?

 

KB: Today I'm going to get started on my summer of recording. I've got a new mandolin with a pickup in it, and some new banjo strings, and some specific experiments in mind. Some of the cuts I have recorded for this 4th cd are kind of guitar rock, so I'll be adding some sort of experimental hoedown pieces to that and we'll see how it all fits together.

 

NB: Are there any issues or causes you want to mention to Free City's readers?

 

KB: We're heading into a difficult time as a country and a world. It's going to be easy to hate a lot of people we will never know… be slow to anger. God is good.

 

NB: Kay - thanks so much for putting the time and thought into doing this interview. Thanks also for mentioning Free City's International League compilation in one of your answers!

 

 

For more information on Kable releases, contact Fleece Records, PO Box 70012, Houston, TX 77270, www.soundexchangehouston.com/fleece.

 

 

Interview (c) 2002 Kay Bonya and Nick Bensen