We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andie K a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Andie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Haha! Well… I must’ve been 9 or 10 years old, sitting in a mathematics class, trying to understand the math problem my teacher was discussing. I’m sure my eyes had glazed over because I was bored out of my mind. Suddenly this woman I had never seen before comes into our classroom. She announces that anyone who wants to audition for the school play should come with her. No one moved. No one showed any interest whatsoever. So she starts to leave. At that moment, I realized if I went with her I didn’t have to stay there and finish that math lesson.
In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to go off with some woman I didn’t know but luckily she wasn’t the accomplice to a guy who owned a white paneled van. She sends me into a room where there is another teacher and a guy sitting at a piano. “What are you singing for us today?” they asked and 9 year old me froze. I just wanted to get out of math class, I had no idea what an ‘audition’ was or what I was supposed to do. So I was honest…ish. I told them I didn’t know what I was singing. The very kind man at the piano asked if I knew Tomorrow from Annie, and I did. He played, I sang and the next thing I knew I was cast. Those moments getting to sing as he played, that’s when it clicked for me.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am the lead vocalist and half the songwriting team for the rock band, The Key of F. My bandmate, Marie Pettit is the other half of the songwriting team and she plays many different instruments but she’s most comfortable on rhythm guitar. Marie and I met through a mutual friend and we hit it off immediately. Everyone hits it off with Marie immediately, she is one of those people who just radiates kindness and warmth. We started singing together and joking around that we should start a band. We joked about it for years until in 2019 we decided to really go for it. We released our first single called LIES in 2019 and it’s been a whirlwind since.
In 2020 we released another single called FEELIN’ THE MOOD and got put on Music Connection’s “Hot 100 Unsigned Bands and Artists” list. That really stunned us but it was also very validating. It meant we were doing something right. One of the things that keeps us both going is the people who listen to our music. It’s incredible to hear that people can relate to our songs, that it’s helped them through their own difficulties or just made their day.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Entertainment is at everyone’s fingertips these days, as a society we are so fortunate for that. However, there is so much out there that it’s easy to get overlooked. Working as an independent artist, you don’t make much money….or any money. Personally, we don’t do this to be famous or rich. We do it to make a difference.
There is so much that society can do to support an indie artist or band. If that band has merch, buy a t-shirt. It’s 20 bucks and most of it goes to the band to use for studio fees, gas to get to gigs, or equipment they need. You can also buy their music off iTunes, the band gets a much bigger percentage than just streaming ( which is something like .000002 of a cent ). Go see them play live at local venues too. If you don’t have much money, that’s cool. There are still a dozen ways to be supportive that won’t cost you anything. Tell your friends about them, share the bands posts on social media and invite others to listen to their songs, create a playlist on Spotify or Apple Music and add their songs- then blast about it on social media. Maybe you work in graphic design? Offer to do a single cover pro bono for them and watch how they sing your praises on their socials. The possibilities are endless and keep listening to their music
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Okay…this is gonna get a little dark.
I’ve spent most of my childhood being viciously bullied. Getting bullied doesn’t end when you get out of school, there are adult bullies too. It gets easier in adulthood, but there are still those people who just need to feel powerful because they are insecure…or have a personality disorder. Take your pick.
I’ve been in that low place where each and every day for half a year I wanted to end my life. I just wanted the emotional and physical abuse to stop and I didn’t see another way. But there was. Music. It was a huge part of what helped me take one day at a time. Music let me know I wasn’t alone in what I was feeling, that one day, somehow, it would be okay. I realized suicide is a very permanent solution to a temporary problem. If I’m being honest, spite also made me wanna stick around and not let the people who hated me have any satisfaction.
I had heard too many times that I wasn’t good enough to be the lead vocalist of a band, I wasn’t pretty enough, not talented enough, blah, blah, blah. The saddest thing was, I believed it. So I never tried to be the frontwoman of a band. As I said, it was the music that kept me going and one of my favorite bands is KMFDM. In 2019 when we were thinking about starting The Key of F, I was terrified. I guess I was terrified that maybe all those people were right and I was going to fail. It was the KMFDM frontwoman, Lucia Cifarelli who gave me the confidence to do this. I realized that I was holding myself back and I needed to stop doubting myself. If I fail, I get back up and keep moving forward with purpose. Which is what life is about. Keep moving forward with your purpose and don’t let anyone tell you who or what you can or cannot be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thekeyoff.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekeyof_f/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/band.thekeyof.F
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thekeyof_f
- Andie’s Insta: https://www.instagram.com/andie_k/
Image Credits
Alexx Calise Daniel Corey Christopher Gregson Anabel Dflux