The last 18 months have been a whirlwind for The Kut. Having scored a number one album in the UK Rock Albums Chart with their second album, Grit, theyβve also wowed arena crowds with Electric Six, and have recently blazed a trail across the UK as support to Shonen Knife. Devolution Magazine recently spoke with vocalist/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Princess Maha prior to the bandβs recent gig at Bedford Esquires.
What are your earliest musical memories? What fired up your interest in music?
Growing up there was always music in the house. Weβd always sing along to the Beatles, or the biggest tracks of the time. My mum had a piano in the house, and Iβd always play on it.
Who inspired you to pick up a guitar?
I donβt know. I tried out a lot of instruments, I played the violin, the clarinet, the drums, and I liked them, but I didnβt really connect with them. I thought they were great instruments but they didnβt really accompany the vocals I was doing, and the songs that I was writing. My sister and her then boyfriend, had a guitar and a bass, and once she left home this guitar was just hanging around, I picked it up one day, and discovered that it was I was looking for to accompany the vocals. I was always into guitar bands, The Stone Roses, The Smiths. Picking up the guitar was more a product of what I was listening to and the people around. Growing up in Blackpool there was two groups; indie and rock, but I kind of liked both, and Iβd dip in and out of both groups. But once I found the guitar, Iβd play it until my fingers bled, and then a bit more.
Did you feel isolated growing up in Blackpool, and did that help you form a unique style?
The first band I ever saw live were James, they stayed at my parentβs hotel, my sister was a massive fan and reached out to them when they were on tour. Then I didnβt see many bands until festivals came along. Not that many bands passed through Blackpool, though itβs a lot better now.
Last year you released your sophomore album, Grit. How do you feel about it now itβs been out in the world for a while?
Itβs been amazing, especially with it doing so well. I loved it anyway, but now it feels like a breakthrough album for us. Weβd been playing some of those songs around the first time we were touring the first album, so the album had already been developing, so when we got the funding [from The Arts Council] we were able to add in some more, so some of those songs were part of the journey as well. Itβs been great touring it, the reaction live has been even more satisfying than the chart placing.
Do you feel playing the songs live adds an extra dimension to them?
I guess thereβs two types of band. Thereβs the band who is better on record, and there are bands who are better live. I love the records, they sound great, but Iβm not sure if they catch that full feisty live vibe. When we play live, itβs not as if we just stand around and you might as well listen to the CD, when people come to our gigs, we want them to feel the energy that we feel.
You wrote and played most of the instruments on the record. As an artist, how do you exercise editorial control on your own work?
I guess it is a fine art. Working with a producer to record it, really helped in that respect. When I used to record and produce stuff myself, even though Iβve produced other artists, I did keep changing bits, and it would just be an endless process where it would never be done. Working with someone who does have finite time, schedule (and budget!) can say βThatβs done, letβs move onβ.
How does Grit slot into your discography? Is it part of the creative cure, or have you gone off on a new tangent?
I donβt really see too much difference between the two albums, but Iβve been told there is one. I feel like itβs an extension of the same body of work thatβs developing and becoming more of its own entity.
Grit has garnered praise from both the mainstream and alternative press. To what do you attribute its crossover appeal?
I guess we fall into the middle ground where weβve got elements that are influenced by rock and metal, thatβs the stuff I always listen to, but thereβs also a more pop/rock influence, the kind of bands that would have got you into rock. On [debut album] Valley Of Thorns there was probably more metal influences, and elements of frustration, but I donβt think weβve moved away from that on Grit.
Although you had a little funding from The Arts Council, how easy is it to survive as an independent artist?
Itβs almost impossible. There is this movement towards the idea of a βbroken recordβ, how the industry needs to work together to fix streaming, and to support live acts. Weβre in a fortunate position where we go out, get paid for shows and sell merch, and we can survive that way. Iβd say itβs very difficult for independent artists, itβs not impossible but you couldnβt do it if you didnβt love it. It is very hard, and Iβm not going to pretend it is not.
By the same token, how is it surviving as a female artist? Obviously, you have a lot more pressures than men would have. It still feels like a male dominated industry.
I feel like thereβs definitely a divide. If you look at some of the festival line-ups, youβll see that if you take out the male performers, theyβll be virtually empty. But thatβs just the tip of the iceberg. What we should be looking at as an industry is how many management companies are supporting female artists, what about the independent labels, what about the major labels? If weβre all happy to support female artists who look like Barbie and Mariah Carey, thatβs great, but if weβre talking about female instrumentalists, producers…tonight weβve got a female engineer, which is brilliant, but it is so rare. What weβd want ideally, is that female and male musicians are recognised equally, and it shouldnβt be about gender. There was a figure that said 13% of festival headliners had female members, which I found shocking. Luckily, for us weβre breaking through at this point, but how long would it take for us to become festival headliners? And could it have happened five years ago? Itβs not that there arenβt female musicians out there, itβs that when they exist, theyβre not supported the same way through management, signing, funding, and thatβs why many female artist donβt appear on the festival bills.
Thatβs why your dates with Shonen Knife have been so great. Itβs an all-female line-up.
Itβs been amazing. If it wasnβt for bands like Shonen Knife, itβd be even more difficult for female bands to exist today. So, what they are doing is amazing. Theyβre incredible. Their songs are great, theyβre lovely to work with, and it has just been a pleasure to be out with them. And you know that the people in the crowd have already got over the sexism thing, they wouldnβt be here if they hadnβt got over those things. If weβre out here filling venues every night, and we are an all-girl bill then why canβt festivals have more female artists?
It seems that things are slowly changing, and just by the dint of being a female band, do you think you are helping to know walls down?
Iβd like to think so. When The Kut started as a project, weβd turn up at venues and people would be like βAre you girlfriends of the band?β, and Iβve genuinely had someone, who is a fan (and very lovely), looking for the male guitarist who was playing my solos, and had to come for a second time to believe that there wasnβt another guitarist. Weβve spent over a decade on the road, and I hope that the things that were happening then arenβt happening now. Change is definitely coming.
Years ago, women in rock and metal had to conform to a fluffy stereotype, so it was great when a band like L7 came along to blow it all away.
L7 have a good vibe. The thing is we donβt need to be pigeonholed in these ways, Iβm definitely not going to turn up in a bikini and perform, thatβs not what Iβm about. Women have fought for a very long time so we donβt have to take our clothes off to sell what we do. Iβm a developing artist, and to keep on evolving is all that matters to me, sometimes we do dress up for videos, but thatβs not all there is to it. Weβre musicians and weβve worked hard over many years, and I hope that when people come to the shows or hear the record, they can open their ears to that.
Grit was so well-received that itβs going to be a difficult album to follow up. Have you started thinking about it yet?
Well, I write songs all the time. The thing is, with Grit doing so well, thereβs no hurry for us to release another album. Iβve got a Patreon site, and Iβm happy to share demos on there and see what the consensus is. Last year one of the Team Raisers gave me a grand piano, which now lives in our studio, and it totally blew me away. So, Iβll probably write some songs on the piano as homage to that wonderful gift and put them on Patreon to see what people think. Nothing is set in stone about a new record, and I donβt want to make promises I canβt keep, but Iβm not ruling it out either.
What are the rest of your plans for 2023?
This tour is coming to an end, which is such a shame because it has been amazing, if we could keep going then Iβd love to. Weβll get home and have a bit of a reframe, then weβve got a new single coming up in June. I run Criminal Records, and thereβs a few releases coming up, so taking care of the roster. I did stop the record label for a while because I felt like it was side lining The Kut, but now I feel like Iβve found a way to do both, itβs all about having the right people around.
Interview by Peter Dennis