Interview: AloneKitty wander through a sonic haze

Something special happens when you listen to AloneKitty. Take their brand new song “Stay the Same.” A hypnotic vibration radiates from their center. The spellbinding shiver collides with hazy electric guitars and drums so intense that they knock you to the ground. And that was most certainly the intention.

“It’s really born of my love for albums like ‘Daydream Nation’ and ‘EVOL’. I took a Thurston Moore tuning, and this literally wrote itself within moments of strumming the first chord,” Michelle K. shares with B-Sides & Badlands. “The creative process is such a mystery. Some days, it’s like a firehose of ideas, and other days, nothing at all after hours of bashing away at it.”

With the accompanying music video, the band opts for a performance-style visual to emulate their electrifying live show. “Live performance was the only consideration for this song. The whole thing resonated with a NYC/Nowave feel for me so much that it almost begged for a gritty performance style visual in some sort of black and white urban setting,” she offers. “I picked NYC just because I’d love to play in what is one of the world’s most important cities, where so much influential and vital music and art was born.”

“Stay the Same” samples the forthcoming album, Sad Not Sad, arriving on October 24, which Michelle K. describes as “immersive, intense, overwhelming.” The latest record primer’s supercharged static sends shockwaves through the listener’s system, like sticking a fork into a wall socket. There’s really no telling what high you’ll be riding afterward.

Below, Michelle K. discusses starting over, favorite ’90s alternative videos, and where the road may lead next.

What ’90s alternative music videos have stuck with you the most?

Late ’80s ‘Silver Rocket’ by Sonic Youth was a direct influence in this case. I did my best to hold nothing back in the way that those guys did. The hair stands up on the back of my neck when I hear that song and see that video. Anything by Sonic Youth always grabbed my attention. Husker Du’s ‘Don’t Want To Know If You’re Lonely’ is another one from that era, that whole fuzzy film-like look.

I also don’t know of anyone that was NOT influenced by anything Nirvana did…that stuff is burned into the collective consciousness of almost anyone that picked up a guitar after they happened. All of NIN’s ‘Closure’ set of videos stuck with me, as well.

How did it feel having to start over?

I think it’s a gift to be able to architect Life Version 2.0. That being said, there’s no way I can say it was easy. I recognize that I inhabit a state of grace that is rare: to be able to transition and to be able to thrive afterwards in a way that seemed unthinkable to me before. One of my oldest friends told me that it was as if a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders, that somehow I seemed to move a little easier through the world. I have nowhere to hide now, and I face the world with complete vulnerability and being open to judgment.

What did you learn from that time in your life?

Transition doesn’t magically solve all your problems. When I went to my first transition support group meeting, I stood at my door for more than half an hour, and I could not get my legs to move. Paralyzed. Just in a fugue state, staring at the door handle. Once I was out, I never looked back, but it took everything I had in me to turn that door handle and take those first steps. Now, I’m out there beating the heck out of my guitar in clubs in the city. None of that happens without some risk and without looking into those places in our psyche where we were afraid to look before. It is the hardest thing in the world to do, and I’ve learned it needs to be a necessary and ongoing process, regardless of how uncomfortable it may be at times.

How did that influence where you wanted to go, musically?

I saw no point in pretending to be anyone or anything else at this point. I started writing and just leaned in hard to my influences. I write what I know and feel about the last few years of my life, and sometimes about the damaged, sad, and mentally ill people that cross my path in this city. I decided that if I was going to do this that it had to flow naturally, and then the material just kept appearing in my hands. I then just hit ‘record’ for the demos.

How has your songwriting changed, if at all, from your debut and this new one?

I guess the process didn’t really change much, but the post-writing process was completely different. Letting go of parts of the process and letting good people do their thing, and contributing to the final state of the work, was something that I needed to learn.

You’ve said you’ve felt re-traumatized through performing these songs. Have you been able to process any of what happened?

Yeah, good question. I think I’ve had to work really hard to forgive myself for not always being the best version of myself in the past that I could have been. I’ve also had to work hard to let some of the more toxic people in my life go throughout this process. That was just brutal. So, some of these songs can bring me right back to things I would like to move on from, and it’s a bit jarring. I don’t know that I will ever fully be able to come to terms with some of the events that have occurred.

Funnily enough, I’ve had friends give me insight into what I was writing about after the fact. A song like ‘Not Painless or Easy’ ended up being more of an internal dialogue vs what I thought it was about.

What are the musical threads of the album?

I guess that wall of sound ties all these songs together. To me, the DNA of MBV and Sonic Youth are written into the genetic code of what this album sounds like. Lyrically, it’s a Smiths-like narrative of loss, anxiety, and in some ways, joy that is kind of juxtaposed against my cranked Jazzmasters.

Where do you want to go next?

I actually have another record already written, so I’d love to do another one. We need to play out of the city more often than we have. I think this band is ready. I know I am.

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