Kat Jones on Touring.

I'll make this intro quick. Kat Jones (Myspace) is a singer/songwriter from Fresno, Calif. If you're from around here and you haven't heard of her, you must be living under a rock. She's the closest thing Fresno has to a rock star. Well, her music isn't really rock... but for Fresno standards, she's pretty famous. Kat is also one of the few musicians I personally know who has toured extensively.

And that's one of the reasons I interviewed her: to show musicians in Fresno that it's not impossible to embark on a nationwide tour. Hopefully y'all will get something out of it. It's an interesting interview even if you don't give a damn about touring. Ha! Anyway, Kat is moving to Nashville on March 15th, and her last show is on the 14th at The Revue in Fresno's Tower District. It starts at 7:30. BE THERE EARLY!

Before we start, I'd like to tell everyone how Kat and I first met. It's not the most interesting of stories, but I'm going to tell it anyway.

Hmmm, it was Winter 2002. I was in London for a few months - going to school. It was a transfer program through Fresno State. I shared a flat with three other guys, one of them was Ben McEntee (The Nancys & The Soma Holidays). Ben is friends with Kat. At the time, Kat was doing missionary work in Scotland, and decided to visit Ben in London for a few days. So I came home from class one day, and there was Kat sitting alone waiting for Ben. I think that's what happened. I'm not 100 percent sure, but it sounds good to me. So I chatted with her for a few minutes and that's it. Great story, right? OK, here's the interview.

Interviewed by Mitchell Peters

Before we start, please introduce yourself by telling everyone a little about the type of music you make.

Let's see. I am a singer/songwriter in the vein of Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Emmy Lou Harris, & Neil Young I guess. I began writing in 1997.

Discography:
2000- Burning Ears Unsigned Artist Comp. (Velvet Blue Music)
2001- The Glory Green e.p. (Out Of Print)
2002- Building e.p. (Velvet Blue Music)
2003- Demos For Lenz #'s 1, 2, & 3 (Out of Print)
2004- La Rosa, La Calavera (Full Length)
2004- I'll Be Home For Christmas (Out Of Print)
2004- All I Want For Christmas (Lujo Records Out Of Print)
2006- Demos For Friends #1 (Limited Pressing)

Cool. Tell us how many nationwide tours you've been on.

I think this is the 6th or 7th. I'm not sure.

What first gave you the idea to touring? What'd your family think?

Ever since before I started working with Velvet Blue Music I knew that I wanted to be on that label and use it as a catalyst for touring. The whole idea was that playing live is an art medium in and of itself, and the only way you can become good at it is to tour relentlessly. So it made sense to begin doing it as soon as possible.

My parents are still terrified by it. And I totally understand why. The more I've toured the more friends I've had who've either had members of their bands killed on the road or were in near fatal accidents (all as a result of a drunk driver - not in the band but the other vehicle). I know an alarming amount of people who have come ridiculously close to dying on the road. It's a hazardous job.

How did you go about organizing and setting up your first tour? How many dates was it?

My first tour was with a label mate called MAP. We went on the road for 10 wonderful days. The tour was organized by an amazing friend of mine who believed it was something he needed to do to support me. He did the whole tour for free - which is totally unheard of - and we had a lot of really amazing shows.

What's one of the harshest lessons you've learned on the road?

The single harshest lesson I've learned is to make sure that I don't retreat into myself, but make sure that I am paying attention to the needs of everyone around me. It's very easy to almost naturally get into a selfish mode when you're on the road. You're constantly relying on other people to help out with things because it puts you in often vulnerable and helpless positions. The actual road can be very hypnotizing as well, and I am often lulled into long silences by it which depending on the person touring with me can also be a bad thing.

We were chatting a few weeks ago at The Revue in the Tower District, and
you mentioned that one's body undergoes dramatic changes after a couple weeks on the road. Tell everyone what you're talking about.

Oh my goodness. I have to explain first that both of my parents are therapists and so this kind of thing is really interesting. After about 10 days of being on the road (and producing a lot of adrenaline in order to get by during those 10 days) your body begins to believe that you're in danger because you're using sooo much adrenaline. What happens as a result of this is that one can become irritable, needy, extremely lonely, one's hormones get charged up because you're body thinks you need to procreate in order for you to survive... all sorts of crazy things happen, and I've watched it occur with the people around me on almost every tour I've been on. Then when you get home it can be extremely hard because you begin to go through adrenaline withdrawal. I get paranoid, I can't be around large groups of people, and I can't drink caffeine because it makes me dramatically anxious and nervous. It can be really hard to deal with. I can't be social at all the first few days of being home. But then it goes away and I want to be on the road again.

Describe a day-in-the-life of being on tour.

Wake up, drive to the venue, meet the promoter, plug in, play, sit behind your merch table and meet people, go to sleep, do it the next day. That's the way at first. It's actually a lot easier for me now that I know so many people all over the U.S. and I can book dates that are closer to each other now, which is wonderful so there aren't that many 9-14 hour drives. So now touring often consists of meeting people I really respect or re-connecting with friends I haven't seen in a long time. That part of it makes all the work totally worth it.

What's been your mode of transportation through all these jaunts?

SHANIQUA! She's my wonderful white & pink conversion van. I love her.

What role has networking with other musicians played in your touring career?

I think it's totally invaluable. When I work with the musicians instead of the promoters themselves I have way more confidence in the shows that I'm going to. I know that those musicians are really promoting the crap out of the show and going to bring their audience and when it's the right band it really works wonderfully. When one just contacts the promoters they often don't put that much work into the show and then you show up and there's a cover band or a band that is completely wrong as far as generating a good show is considered. Then you don't have fun, the band doesn't have fun, and it's not as much fun for the audience.

Do you currently have a booking agent? If not, have you ever worked with one?

I do not. I've had three booking agents so far. Booking agents are really interesting. You have to get the right fit. It's really important to find someone that you trust and who trusts you.

How do you go about doing press promotion in the markets you perform?

Ideally, one wants to be playing radio shows and in-stores before every show. This is not always possible. One also wants to be playing on the local college radio station for a few months before you arrive in town and doing interviews the day of a show or a couple days before on the phone. Realistically, it's often not possible w/o a press agent. I don't have one right now, so the bulk of our press consists of people on the street team making posters and passing out flyers before we get to cities. Which is pretty effective also.

Have any of your tours been profitable?

You know, I'm not sure. By the grace of God I've never had one that didn't break even. I have had a lot of friends who've had to come home early from tours before because otherwise they'd be stranded in some city in the middle of the U.S. and I've heard of bands having to move to the cities they were stranded in and get jobs in order to make enough money to leave and get home. I guess I'm an anomaly. Whenever we've been ultra strapped for cash the exact amount that we've always needed has been delivered. I've got weird stories about it. Like strangers walking up to me and giving me $200 because they felt like they were supposed to.

What's been the best thing about touring?

Meeting people and making friends. If that doesn't happen on a tour or if I'm not able to affect people's lives touring feels utterly worthless to me. I've felt like there was no point to it before but then a few months after the tour I get to see everything that came of it.

Why do you think it is that more Fresno musicians don't tour?

Well, I don't usually recommend that bands tour unless they're on a label really. So I think that plays a big role in it. Touring is hard enough without there being a built in audience ready to see you for the first time at a venue. It's always nice to meet fans of the label that I'm on who come out to shows and I'm grateful for their support.

The other thing is that booking a tour is really really hard work. I can't begin to describe the difficulty and I'm sure that gets discouraging. It's totally discouraging for me when I'm doing it because you might not see the fruits of your labor for months.

Got any advice for emerging bands/artists that wish to start touring but don't know how?

Take is SLOW. Work hard on developing yourself in Fresno first. I would say work your way out in concentric circles. Play shows closer to Fresno first and slowly work your way out. If you're supposed to continue out farther, the need will be made apparent. But move carefully. There is no need to rush things. When the train comes and you get on it you might want off. It's a pretty intense and fast ride. DO NOT GET INTO HEAVY DRUGS ON THE ROAD. Bands that do that break up. It causes too much drama. (Case-in-point: Watch the documentary DIG. It's totally true.)

You're moving to Nashville March 15th. What's that all about?

My boyfriend lives there. For personal reasons he can't move here (even though he loves Fresno) and we've been together for two years, so I'm moving there. I think it's the right time too. Represent Fresno on the eastern part of the U.S. for a while.

Any upcoming events you wish to plug?

My last show in town is Tuesday, March 14th @ The Revue in the Tower District. Aspen Hollow (another Fresno songwriter who I'm bringing on tour with me) and Hotel Underground (from Riverside) are also playing. And then I will play my last set in town. I'm going to be using the time to talk a lot about art and the process of making art as well as answering people's questions (you can ask anything) and I will be explaining the meanings behind the songs before I start playing them. I will, of course, be taking requests. It starts at 7:30, but it's going to be PACKED because The Revue is really tiny, so you might want to get there early and mark out your seat.