We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayti Korte a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kayti , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Music has always been a big part of my life. I grew up singing everywhere–school events, coffee table performances, sporting events; for a lot of my childhood, my main musical outlet was singing the National Anthem for events all over Montana. It became part of my identity. I rodeoed and was more well-known for my vocal abilities than anything I ever accomplished in the arena. Music was increasingly at the forefront of who I was as I grew up, but my relationship with it began to change.

I went through a period where I didn’t want to be known as just “the girl who sings the National Anthem really well”–what a calling card–and began to distance myself from that version of me and immerse myself into the world of classical music. I fell head over heels in love with classical music and the idea of honing a skill to perfection. I went on to study music education in college. Several years into my music degree, I had the awakening that many college students do–this is what I’m signing up to do forever. And realistically, I couldn’t see myself as a music teacher. Not then, or ever. I transitioned from my music degree path to interior design. Another creative path, but flexing a different, and less personal muscle.

Post-grad, I had no plans with music. I was deep into my fledgling Interior Design career, and getting my first taste of the real world. I was enjoying the work, but once again found myself questioning if this is what I was going to do forever. My boyfriend was in a fun, local soul/funk band. He was booking music at a venue, and getting his music career off the ground. I loved attending the shows and being the ‘band girlfriend’.

One day, my boss was driving us out to a project we were working on, and we were making small talk about weekend plans. This was not a boss that I ever felt particularly close to, and didn’t share too much about my personal life. She knew I came from the music world, but that’s about it. I mentioned that I was going to see my boyfriend’s band play that weekend, and out of the blue she asked “Why don’t you do that?”. It had honestly never even occurred to me. I had never thought about being in a band or writing music, but I didn’t have a good answer for her. After that, I never stopped wondering about it. Once she planted the seed, it was all I could think about.

I found myself as a backup singer in my boyfriend’s band not long after. Then about six months later we left to form our own band, which was the very first version of our current project, Desperate Electric.

I had never had anyone ask me why I wasn’t pursuing music until that moment. Once the question had been asked, it was all I wanted, without a shadow of a doubt. Although there have been intensely difficult moments, I’ve never again woken up with the realization that ‘this is what I’m doing forever?”.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Kayti Korte, and I’m the bass player and vocalist for power disco duo, Desperate Electric.

Hailing from the mountains of Montana, Desperate Electric is a blissful matrimony of futuristic R&B and retro dance grooves, their idiosyncratic approach to songwriting and production has garnered them national acclaim in the span of a few short years. The duo’s live shows are typified by effortless vocal harmonies, uninhibited showmanship, and lethal musical prowess.

Desperate Electric is a unique configuration. Two people, with the sound of a full band, electronic elements meet live instrumentation, creating a frenzied dance party.

Desperate Electric was born out of literal desperation. What started as a four-piece rock band slowly dwindled as the road wore us down. Four pieces turned into three just before our first big tour. We were left without many options, and Ben (the other half of Desperate Electric) put his producer pants on to create MIDI drums for every single one of our songs. We survived an entire tour like that, not very successfully. After that, the three pieces turned into two. In an act of survival, we began to pivot our sound toward electronic drums, begrudgingly. After a while, we started to like it. We got more creative, we started writing music with those restrictions in mind and slowly began to find our sound.

Now, neither of us can imagine anything different. We’ve released several albums we’re really proud of, and continue to grow within our structure.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Something that many of the non-creatives in my life struggle to understand is our work/life balance (or lack thereof). My career journey doesn’t include a salary, PTO, or a daily structure. It’s pretty much all in all the time, and has to be that way in order for me to survive. Our work as musicians is primarily on the weekends, so finding time to spend with non-musician friends means forgoing a paycheck that weekend. It’s incredibly hard to balance and can lead to feeling very lonely at times.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being on stage, looking out into the audience, and seeing someone connecting deeply to our music. Singing along, dancing, letting go of the day; that’s the ultimate reward. Most people enter creative fields because it fills our cup, but we continue doing it to watch it fill someone elses’ cup too. Pouring your heart into your craft and having people connect to it… there’s no feeling like that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.desperateelectric.com
• Instagram: @desperateelectric
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/desperateelectric
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@desperateelectric
• Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/desperateelectric
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/53gQkPmCflWwBwIlTk4FIw?si=p2Psd2hQRHqN0oouFdRa4w

Image Credits

Arianna Skoog
Sam Klusmeyer
Impulse Media