An Interview with Kira Mac
I caught up with Kira last summer at a Wolverhampton Country Night and we had a chat.
Keren - Hi Everyone, tonight for Forever British Country I am talking to Kira Mac
Kira - Hello
Keren - Hi Kira how are you?
Kira - I'm good thank you.
Keren - I'm really glad to meet you tonight cos we did have a brief chat didn't we.
Kira - Yes we have kind of met in passing and we have talked over social media but we have never actually sat down and chatted.
Keren - No. So it will be nice tonight. So how are you and how did you decide to be a musician?
Kira - Basically, I have just got back from Nashville
Keren - You as well
Kira - Yeah it seems like everyone has gone because its been CMA Fest. It was crazy but amazing. A proper music city. There was music everywhere and I was lucky enough to play in a few bars and a few venues, a few tents and things like that and have a few radio interviews and that's gone really good but how did I get into music, when I was 13 I had my guitar for my birthday and I grew up in a musical household, like my dads a dj and he kind of plays drums a bit, he dabbles and my mum was always into soul and motown and my dads a metal head and he is into rock music
Keren - So that's where you get your influence from
Kira - Yeah that's where the rock comes from and he used to listen to Garth Brooks. I've got such a broad music range, I literally like to anything and I know things like Richard Marx and people say well how do you know him, well he toured with Stevie Nicks and I'm a big Stevie Nicks fan so its kind of just grown from when I was little. I've always sung, my mums side of the family are welsh so its just like a million different factors have come together and it was inevitable really that I was going to be into music, so like I said, I had my guitar when I was 13 and Taylor Swift had just come out with Bus Story so country was huge at that time, it was the biggest number 1 for a long time.
Keren - Yeah she's bought it to a wider audience hasn't she.
Kira - Yes and honestly is like oh that's country music and its a bit like its a whole new thing cos if you had said country music to me when I was 12 or 13 I would have thought of Dolly Parton straight away and obviously Dolly Parton she is a legend now and its an old craft what she did so for Taylor Swift to come up and do this new whole kinda country thing for the younger audience its my gosh I love it so I started learning some of her songs and then I started writing and then it snowballed to where I just ended up gigging when I was 18 in pubs and clubs and open mics and yeah it just snowballed and then I went to college and uni and I am at uni now and then Nashville.
Keren - So what are the bands plans for the rest of the year?
Kira - Well we have Buckle & Boots next weekend, I never thought I would get main stage straight out the gate but I'm so grateful to them for having me, but the band are so excited because the band rarely get to play big stages they played the EP launch but they are so excited and we have a 3 hour practice on Wednesday so I'll whip them into shape.
Keren - I will see you there. (Laughs) We will have a drink.
Kira - Oh god we will (laughs) there will be plenty flying around but I plan on staying over the saturday night as well so it's going to be good. The rest of the year I am running up to a single launch at the end of the year.
Keren - Wow that's good.
Kira - Yes I'm going to have a single out by the end of the year I'm not sure what its going to be yet, it might be one I have already written, it might be a new one I am kind of undecided, we are just trying to get a video put together as well so we have got a lot of things coming up plus the rest of the festivals, gigs and everything and then in 2018, this has kind of been my introduction year with getting the EP released in January so normally obviously for a year and then promo one EP and then you go on to make some new stuff so I am so excited and kinda rolling with the punches at the minute and see what comes along and obviously we've got a few gigs lined up and I am writing new material all the time and practising with the band. My boys. So we are trying to get tight as well cos me and the band have only been together since February so trying to be a tight unit. It takes years to get a band completely down so we are working at it. We keep pushing through.
Keren - So if you were to take a well known song, any song you like and make it country what song would you choose?
Kira - Well its funny you should say that because at uni we have a module called performance in context where you have to take a song and make it into a different genre, a different time signature, change everything about it so its kind of unrecognisable but you kind of still know what it is and we got Jolene came out of the hat one week and everyone was doing like a metal version or an r&b version but we did a version and made it even more country. I don't know whether you know the band Black Stone Cherry, they are southern rock and Blackberry Smoke well we did Jolene but a rock Jolene and I loved it. It was great so I probably wouldn't do that song but if they gave me a song that's what I would do to it.
Keren - You will have to put it in your set.
Kira - Well I can play it acoustic. Me and Jay can't play it together because we haven't practised. That's standard.These last few months have been kind of hard because I am coming to the end of uni but the summer is here now so we will be ready to roll and we will be practising and working hard.
Keren - I tell you what we will have that for Buckle and Boots and it will be an exclusive on the podcast.
Kira - That's next week, oh don't even joke about that. (laughs)
Keren - That's not a joke. We must do something different. So where can people find you on social media?
Kira - I'm everywhere. Kira Mac on Instagram, Twitter, my EP is on Soundcloud if anyone wants to stream it for free cos I'm a student, I know what it's like, it's on Apple Music, any media platform that you can think of the EP will be on there and obviously you can just follow me on all my social media's, I am not the most exciting person but we do have some funny run ins and different things so follow me, see where I am up to, see where I am.
Keren - That will be great. Thank you for chatting to me and I will definitely be having a drink with you next week and hearing this song and I'm Keren Morrall for Forever British Country.