The rules are simple...there's a hat, this hat is filled with many questions ranging from the personal to the off beat. We pass the hat, and artists gets a chance to answer the question they choose from said hat. Fun is had by all.
We got to chat with songwriting master, Kevin Garett before his sold out show at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. We've been fans for awhile (as you can see from our constant coverage of Kevin over the last couple years), so recent updates have included Kevin writing a song for Queen B herself called "Pray You Catch Me". Along with extensive touring with acts such as X Ambassadors and Alessia Cara, and now a mostly sold out HEADLINING tour. So great to see our little Kevin all grown up!
Without further ado, here's our Chat in the Hat with the one and only Kevin Garrett:
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If you could be an animal for the day what would you be?
A sloth. I will always having this imagine engrained in my head. We had an off day on tour with X Ambassadors and we went to the Dallas Aquarium and they advertised that they have a sloth at the aquarium. We got there and there’s a sloth just lounging and just shoving food into its mouth with its little claw and I was just like ‘I want to be him, he’s just a regal beast’.
What would your wild west outlaw gang name be?
Maybe some kind of animal that’s affiliated with the southwest. We’d be like The Armadillo Boys. KG and The Armadillo Boys...Gang.
What is the recording and writing process like?
Very much to myself. I write by myself. This past EP, 'False Hope', was pretty much all recorded in my bedroom. So very much a personal, introvert perspective this time around.
Worst job you’ve had?
The job I had right out of high school going into college was working at a discount sporting goods store. It wasn’t that bad, I liked working there except for then they moved me from one store to the other to work at a tent sale and I had to work outside in the Summer.
What is your favourite song on your record/EP?
I like ‘A Heart Like Yours’. I’m about little tiny moments in lyrics where you can reference things that have been going on for a long time. I was fully aware that I hadn’t put an EP out in almost two years and the first line in the whole EP is “you sound so familiar”, something that I put there on purpose and I think the song structurally is a little different, doesn’t really have a chorus, just kinda say two sections and a bridge and just builds, it’s right up my alley.
Do you have any tour souvenirs?
Oh do we…let me talk to you about this guy named Joey Gordina. He’s a little man made out of three coconuts that we found somewhere in the midwest at a gas station. Sean, our drummer, showed him to me and it was something we had to have. Then in El Paso, I got a little frog sitting on a beach chair that someone rubber band together.
You’re granted a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel into space. You’re allowed to bring one item and one person. Who and What would they be?
I would bring my guitar because as much as I love writing on piano, it’s too heavy. And I guess I would bring my best friend because I don’t see them enough. And if we’re traveling into space they’d probably be the only person I’d spend time with and that would be pretty nice.
What is your favorite song and/or album right now?
My favorite album just dropped, Khalid just put out an album called ‘American Teen’. It’s his debut album, he’s incredible. He’s from El Paso and he’s like 19 years old.
What is the favorite city you’ve toured to?
I always look forward to going back home, this is the closest we come to home on this tour. So Philly is cool, New York and Chicago and Toronto I always look forward to going back to. Almost all the dates sold out, which is crazy. I really wanted to go back to Portland, because I know that venue had the best lights, so I was excited for that one.
First record you ever bought?
I had enough money after all the allowance I had. I bought a Ray Charles cd and it was a best of live album.
What is your zombie apocalypse plan?
To become one of them, that’s my plan. Nobody ever does it that way, maybe it would just be nice to fit in for once. I would probably figure out how to steal a helicopter or find Will Smith’s I Am Legend sanctuary and just live there.
What is the coolest venue you’ve ever played?
Two spots come to mind. First is in Edmonton, Alberta there’s a place called the Winspear Centre. I played there with James Vincent McMorrow. The other spot is in Copenhagen. It's a concert hall, I forget the name of it, but it looks like something from outer space, it’s beautiful. It’s made entirely of expensive wood and it sounds amazing. People clapped very delicately after each song. It was the type of thing where you play and it’s so quiet and you can’t wait to come back to that town.
