We recently connected with Kaity Heart and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kaity thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
My whole life has been one big risk. One right after another. In fact, at this point I don’t think I could live a normal existence without the thrill of the risk. In my short years on this earth; I pursued a degree in the arts, I’ve started and ended podcasts, done radio work, sang with countless bands, opened and ran a business for 12 years with absolutely no previous experience and then chose to close it to pursue singing full time…at the beginning of another recession.
And every one of those opportunities start and stop with a simple question: ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
Seriously. Sit down and ask yourself: ‘What’s the very worst that could happen?’ You’re not gonna die if you take a job you genuinely love. Sure, money may not be as good-but if you’re happy what does it matter? Of course, circumstances are different for everyone-but for me-I keep taking calculated risks and it always works out.
I’m living one very incredible risk as we speak with a brand new original 70’s rock band ‘Sunflower Fox and the Chicken Leg’ and ‘What’s the worst that could happen’ has become the bands new motto. We have reached out to the highest echelon of mixing engineers, PR agencies, and studios around the country and by some miracle…they’re answering back.
Not only are they answering back-they’re happy to work with us. People we never thought would even speak to us. People that we had convinced ourselves that ‘No. That’s a waste of time. They’re literally never going to work with us. We’re too new’ Finally-we just asked the question.
‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
‘They’re going to say no’
‘Oh. Well it’s worth a shot then’
Because we took the risk. The risk of getting rejected again-because the music industry is frankly nothing but rejection. We are working with Grammy Award winning engineer Ron Nevison (Worked with The Who, Led Zepplin, Heart, Bad Company etc) and recording all over the country at Pachyderm Studios (Nirvana/Live), Studio in the Country (Kansas/Stevie Wonder) and Sonic Ranch (Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Dropkick Murphys)
It is literally changing our lives. Right now.
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’m going to talk about my band here since it’s more important to me than myself:
This is our official bio written by Lorne Behrman
In the beginning, or at least following the Big Bang of 1970s FM radio more than 50
years ago, there were three elements: Olympia beer, shag carpeting you can’t possibly
vacuum, and unpasteurized rock and roll. Over the years, however, we have strayed
from these essentials. Today, craft beer, Ruggables, and sterile, autotuned pop are
contributing to the fall of mankind, but fear not for Sunflower Fox & the Chicken Leg
intend to change things.
Like some sort of Naugahyde-dipped superheroes, Sunflower Fox & the Chicken Leg, a
unique gathering of topnotch, working musicians, have banded together to bring back
the thrill of undigitized rock n’ roll. While on its quest, the Minneapolis-based band has
made it its mission to visit as many iconic studios in this great land to bring back the
magic of a real rock n’ roll band tracking together in real time.
“We genuinely love the ridiculousness of the 1970s—the mistakes in the songs that
make them human, and the over-the-top musical moments,” emphasizes vocalist Kaity
Heart whose adopted surname shows you where she’s coming from musically speaking
(hint: think “Barracuda”). “It’s been such a crazy time, and we’re here to be a fun and
indulgent escape from modern living.”
Sunflower Fox & The Chicken Leg is Kaity Heart, vocals, James Gross, guitar, Mike
Schmidt, guitar, Craig Holets, bass, Kyle Primus, drums, and Al Berg, keys. The band
takes its cues from 1970s arena-rock behemoths such as Heart, Bad Company, and
Thin Lizzy who specialized in imaginatively-arranged, tough-but-catchy tuneage played
with swaggering virtuosity. Sprinkled throughout Sunflower Fox & The Chicken Leg’s
tongue-in-cheek rock n’ roll are 1970s-rock Easter eggs, showcasing the band’s
reverence for its bellbottomed forefathers.
Sunflower Fox & The Chicken Leg was born from the ennui, self-reflection, and
paranoia of the pandemic when, for the first time in many years, the musicians in the
band had nothing to do—no studio sessions, gigs, or corporate performances. Back
then, Kaity began plotting a 1970s band, and asked her best friend of 15 years, James,
who she played countless gigs with, if he’d like to help. The two sketched up musical
ideas, and then they cherry picked the perfect musicians from their tightknit working
musician scene to be in the band.
The six-piece band then demoed its album at Pachyderm Recording Studios in Cannon
Falls, Minnesota where Nirvana and Soul Asylum once tracked. But the sextet
eventually made a grand pilgrimage to Louisiana to officially record the 7-song album at
Studio In The Country where Kansas recorded its string of platinum albums featuring
“Dust In The Wind” and “Carry On Wayward Son,” and Stevie Wonder tracked his
album Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. “We did a destination recording so
people couldn’t leave,” James says laughing. “When we got to the studio, they told us
they hadn’t had a rock band there in years!”
The resulting album, Sunflower Fox & the Chicken Leg, is a beast of an album, roaring
with Kaity’s arena-ready vocals; stadium-sized choruses; burly guitar riffs; dexterous-
but-lyrical guitar solos; tastefully moody keyboards; an ultra-groovy rhythm section; and
zany, over-the-top musical interludes. The lead single, “Breathe It In,” is a moody rocker
with 1970s-Heart vibing guitars, soaring vocals, and some unique musical flourishes.
“Ah yes, the unnecessarily complicated bridge,” Kaity remembers. “A lot of those classic
songs would insert one measure of 5/4 or play some out-of-the-blue overly-complicated
breakdown, and we thought it would be funny to also do that.”
The sleazy riff-rocker, “Naughty Little Girl,” struts forward with down n’ dirty, fleet-
fingered guitar solos and Kaity’s wailing vocals singing menacingly vengeful lyrics such
as: I’m a naughty Little Girl/Who’s a coming after you/Gonna stab you right straight in
the eye/With a knife named Peggy Sue. “That song is about the music industry and how
women were treated in that period,” James says. Kaity adds: “In the beginning of the
song, you can hear a lot of Minneapolis female rock singers yelling all the creepy things
music biz types have said to them over the years. It’s like a stripper song—if strippers
had machetes.” Of course, no 1970s album is complete without an epic ballad, and
“Take Me Back” with its stately piano playing, patiently-unfolding arrangement, and its
tasty melodic lead guitar solo, more than fulfills that requirement.
Joining the sextet for its maiden voyage in recording its self-titled debut is none other
than American record producer and audio engineer, Ron Nevison. Ron mixed Sunflower
Fox & the Chicken Leg, and he is known for his work with The Who, Kiss, Ozzy
Osbourne, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, and Heart—many of Sunflower Fox & the Chicken Leg’s prime influences.
Up next, Sunflower Fox & the Chicken Leg will be chasing more Neve consoles across
the country in pursuit of 1970s hi-fi bliss. And, of course, there is the sprawling 1970s
concept album being written. Fantasy aside, though, this magic carpet ride has given
these musicians a renewed love and passion for music, putting them back in touch with
those feelings they had when they first started playing. Kaity shares: “I think we’ve all
broken down in tears of joy at some point while recording this record. It’s been a dream
come true.”
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
There are a couple of things that I and we as a band are trying to do:
1. Bring back the magic of a live room experience
Technology is so accessible (and that’s a good thing!) but it’s made it so recording and making an album isn’t as special as it used to be. Now you can literally just go to a friends basement and just record whatever, whenever and fix it in post and make it absolutely perfect. Whereas before these programs, you’d have to be well rehearsed, go in as a group-play the song together until you get it. You can capture some magical things as a group. You can really capture the humanity when everyone plays together as a unit as opposed to by yourself. There is also something to be said about the history of a location. Knowing that great musicians played and recorded in the room is humbling and electrifying at the same time.
2. Bring back rock and roll
Rock and roll has been on the back burner for a while. It’s not even shown in the Grammys anymore. Fun. Unpasteurized. Uncomplicated rock and roll for the fun of it. It’s nice to have an escape every once in a while.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
There are so many things you can do with or without paying for anything:
Zero cost things that go really far:
-Liking and following all artists platforms (this includes music streaming)
-Signing up for email campaigns
-Viewing any videos or shorts
-Showing up to no cost shows
Financial Support include:
-Buying merch (streaming pays less than a penny per stream! This helps a lot!)
-Subscribing to Patreon or helping with any crowdfunding (Tours/Vinyl Pressing etc have a lot of up front costs-this helps keep us away from taking out any high interest loans)
-Coming to shows! Of course we want to see you! People have stopped coming to lives shows and we LOVE meeting new friends and fans and it is truly one of the best parts of my job
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sunfoxband.com
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.
com/artist/ 0HyfviXTDr5JmaEm7Tk0Y4?si= AhQiAm1WQ92Fj6AoMAVJdg - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/ sunflowerfoxandthechickenleg - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ sunflowerfoxandthechickenleg - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/channel/ UC5b2qaIO6OMYv3w93ntOb6A
Image Credits
Permissions all granted and paid Emily Stock Katie Sik Nita Ann