Kate Pierson

In 1976 Kate Pierson founded the famed Athens, Georgia band The B-52s along with her pals Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson, Ricky Wilson and Keith Strickland. It was the era of punk and new wave, but the B-52s were almost a whole new genre unto themselves. The B-52 changed everything with their fantastic fusion of Surrealism, lurid sci-fi, kitsch-spitting Americana realism and forbidden dance party music. Kate’s part in the B’s was musically prominent, making her one of most distinctive and soulful female voices defining the point break of the new wave. Over the years Kate Pierson has explored many collaborations outside the B-52s, working with such artists as Iggy Pop, REM, David Byrne, and Matthew Sweet, but finally it’s time for Kate Pierson, solo artist. We always knew there was something special about her, and now with this record, the genie in the B-52s bottle reveals herself. Listening to Kate’s solo record with her soaring, hovering, levitating voice sometimes steely, sometimes glowing neon, you suspect there is something really new in the 21st Century. This is saucy, rocking music that has a lot of relevance to classic American pop of the fifties/sixties, like Carol King and Phil Spector, but it sounds completely now—we’re not just walking on the moon anymore, we’ve got robots on Mars and we’re landing on comets. This is sort of Brill Building song-crafting goes Now Age. Rock and roll with orgone energy and third eyes wide open. Kate has always been a sort of anthem singer, and she crafts and voices real statement songs, poetic explorations of serious human emotion. The writing is clever but never preachy, with poetry taking the place of rhetoric. The seamless words and music seem to come straight from the heart and the lungs. They are personal and even sassy, but they have a truly universal relevance that anyone can relate to. But at the same time this is true pop, where profundity comes seamlessly bonded to fun. Kate’s songs are rife with girl group wit, drama—rejecting stereotypes and preconceived ideas at every turn. This is not delusional celebrity mania, this is humanism and feminism out for a real good time. This is an album of manifestos you can dance to. It offers wisdom on transcending cosmically dark days, on being who you are and loving it: a crowd surfer, an artist, a show stopper. I asked Kate about how this unusual and delightful album came about: “In 2011, during a B52s break, my partner Monica suggested to our friend Sia that she could help me get this solo thing going – since I was forever saying I had to do this! Sia said yes! And Monica and I went to L.A. with our dogs, Athena and Zeus. At the beginning of this process, Sia was actively beginning to write for her own album so while she was in the studio with Chris Braide they wrote a song that she felt was great for me, called ‘Bring your Arms’, based on a sea turtle rescue we witnessed while we were all on vacation in Tulum, Mexico. Two other Sia songs followed that she wrote for me – “Matrix” with Sam Dixon and “Crush Me With Your Love”, a title Monica came up with, again with Chris Braide. We started writing together with people that Sia had collaborated with before -Dallas Austin for “ Throw Down the Roses” and “Pulls you Under” -Chris Braide for “Guitars and Microphones” and “Time Wave Zero” with Tim Anderson Sia is a huge Strokes fan, so we worked with Nick Valensi who played guitar on Sia’s album “We Are Born “ and wrote “Bottoms Up” and “Mister Sister”. Sia got busy with her own album so I then did some writing sessions on my own, “Wolves” with Chris Braide and “Sting the Bee” with Bleu and John Fields (to be released as a special vinyl edition) When we had more than enough songs, I asked Tim Anderson to produce the record. Tim, also known as ‘Timmy the Terror’, is hardly that! He’s a laid back kind of guy who had his own band, Ima Robot, and is now a writer and producer. His studio, Werewolf Heart Records is in a house in L.A.—kind of a man cave but I felt very much at home there. Tim provided great guitar parts and also played bass and keys. I really liked his musical sensibility and I added some stuff on keys and percussion too. We had a very easy going and fun vibe during the whole process “. Nick Valensi came in to do guitars on “Bottoms Up” and “Mister Sister”, which was thrilling and I know I could have asked a lot of other musician friends to play on this but I didn’t want it to be that kind of record - I just felt it was best to stick to basics and just get it done and make it a project I truly felt was my own . I was in the studio every day with Tim so it was another great collaborative effort! “ To top it all off, Steve Osborne, who produced the B52s “Funplex”, did an amazing mix and after mastering by Emily Lazar at The Lodge, ‘Guitars and Microphones” is ready for the world to hear. By Glenn O’Brien Kate's solo album, 'Guitars and Microphones: iTunes: http://smarturl.it/kpgamit + Amazon: http://smarturl.it/kpgamamz. @thekatepierson