British Rocker Chez Kane is set to release unleash her new album “Powerzone” on October 21st via Frontiers. The sophomore album is the follow up to last year debut self-titled release, which received much deserved critical praise. This time around, Chez is turning things up to 11, and I recently caught up with her to talk about her music, her style, and what we can expect from the new album.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, how are you doing, and how are you feeling about all the feedback?
Thank you, I’m doing well. If I’m being completely honest with you, obviously when you put out an album you never know how people are going to react to it and how it’s going to go down. So, when releasing that album, I didn’t know what people were going to say, but it went down really well. And it just feels like this whole year since that album came out, it’s just been a flash. And now fast forward and I’m already promoting the second album. It’s crazy!
Were you concerned about how it would be perceived with an audience that’s not familiar with that style of rock?
Oh definitely. You always get those thoughts. You never know if people are going to love it, if people are going to hate it, or what they’re going to say. But it seems to be going down well and we’re trying our best to expand the audience, and we’re slowly getting there!
I for one love it, and I’m so happy to see artists such as yourself bringing back that 80s type of rock vibe. Is that the style of music that you grew up listening to?
I discovered the 80 style of rock when I was 13 and I heard Def Leppard for the first time. I became a massive fan of Def Leppard; I was obsessed with them. And my sister had Pat Benatar playing all the time, so then I got into the female rocker side of the 80s. And it grew from there. I went on to love so much rock music. I have a wide range of tastes when it comes to music. It’s not just rock, if I love something I love something, but it always stems from my love for Def Leppard, so it’s right up my street.
That’s awesome. It’s crazy that you mention Pat Benatar, because I was actually going to ask you if you drew any inspiration from her as an artist.
I’m glad that it’s coming across that I have been inspired by her!
As an artist do you think it’s important to be creative and do other avenues of music, for exmaple, like with your sisters?
I think it’s fun to change it up. Mostly all my life I’ve sung with my sisters, I was born into music and there was no escaping it. It’s really cool to change it up and have recently been involved with all these other projects. It is nice to see what you’re capable of as a singer. So, I like a challenge.
You said that you were born in music, but did you ever have one moment where you said, okay this is what I want to do for the rest of my life?
Oh yeah. My mom said the second that I could start talking I was singing! I’ve always wanted to be a singer, and my sisters were singers, it’s just what I wanted to do, and I knew that it was going to be my path, I’m very passionate about it.
Was there any sort of challenge of going from playing music with your family, to your journey as a solo artist?
I would say not challenge so much, but obviously when I been singing with my sisters all my life, I told them about an opportunity that had come up, and they were so behind it. They were saying my gosh you have to go for it you can’t turn this down. They were so supportive. They are always there with me, and if I get the first bit of exciting news, they are the first ones that I call. So, they feel the excitement just as much as I do.
But it obviously was a challenge when changing over because obviously, I’m not singing with my sisters as much as I was, and I’m learning a lot about myself as a solo singer as well. Because when I was singing with my sisters we would stick to harmonies and now I’m seeing what I’m capable of doing as a solo singer. And finding yourself as a singer as well, but I am loving it. It is a challenge as well because, but as I said, I love a challenge!
Backtracking a little bit, I know that there were a lot of projects that came out of the pandemic, but there were also a lot of interruptions as well. Was your debut album a product of the pandemic, and did you run into any obstacles with this release?
Oh yes. One hundred percent. When Danny contacted me originally to do this project, nobody knew that the pandemic was coming so I thought I was going to be going to Sweden to do all these vocals, and then the pandemic hit and I was unable to go there. So, we had to adapt the way that we made this album.
Fortunately, it happened during lockdown because I think I would’ve went insane if I didn’t have anything to do, and I was fortunate enough to have the tools at home to record my vocals and send them to Danny. So, we were literally just sending stuff back and forth. It did slow the process down, but it also kept me sane during the pandemic. It was a challenge here and there, but we got there in the end.
Everyone needed something to get them through it, and it’s kinda nice how it lined up for you like that.
Yeah, because I’m the kind of person who if I’m doing nothing, I drive myself mad!
A lot of albums that were released during that time were about anger and frustration, and these highly emotional issues. Your album felt like a breath of fresh air in terms of tone and comparison. Were you Danny happy with how that turned out?
Yeah. I feel like when the pandemic hit obviously there is a lot of music out there that people tend to listen to when they’re emotionally drained and a lot of the music changed over the years, so we put out this 80 style. Which there was some emotion, which does work for people when we’re feeling down and want to get our emotions out. Basically, with the pandemic, I felt like everybody was so low, but with this style of music, it was uplifting.
I played all the albums I listened to growing up and it got me in a good mood, and it helped my debut album a bit. Because people wanted to hear that kind of uplifting music, and 80s were sort of coming back with shows like Stranger Things, and Cobra Kai. I feel like it was uplifting, and people needed it then.
People for sure needed it back then and that is one of the many reasons I’m sure why it got such an amazing response. It’s great that you’re already following up with your second release. Did you have any leftover material from your last album, and why did you decide to release a second one so soon?
Danny contacted me through finding me through YouTube and he wanted to start producing music and he came across a video of mine and he also had some that he wrote for his band that didn’t use, and he wanted to see if it works for me. But this time around he’s written a bit more towards my voice. And I think that’s really the difference between this album and the first album. He’s got to know me, and I feel like you can hear the growth between the first album in the second album with how he’s writing now, with more towards how he hears me. If that makes sense!
For Powerzone, were you involved in any of the writing process?
I didn’t write any of the songs on the debut, or this one. I did have the option to, but Danny writes the song so well, and he is so into the style of music I just let him do his magic. He comes up with magic and I’m more than happy to sing what he’s coming out with. I think it works really well this way.
Given everything that happened during the pandemic with the first record, what was it like working on the second album with him?
It kind of went down the same way. Because it went so well without changing it. The only difference was that I actually recorded the second album in a barn! But it worked so well the first time and we continued to do that back and forth of sending things but we knew what we were getting into this time, so it worked out a lot smoother.
I’m sure you guys deftly had a grip on the whole process this time around. Is Danny also doing the instrumentation for this album?
Yes, he has done everything on there apart from the saxophone.
The album opens with I Just Want You, which is an incredible power ballad. Why did you choose this song to open the album?
I feel like it’s got a bit of a ballad in there and it was the second song that Danny sent to me to demo for this album and I instantly got excited about it. So, when I get that excited about a song, I just know instantly that it’s got to be one of the singles. Plus, I got to do a video for it as well, and I’m really pleased.
I’m sure when creating videos there is just an endless source of inspiration for you. From the big hair, the clothing style, even the arcade setting for The Things We Do video which was really cool.
Yes! We deafly didn’t record very long and there. We are all excited to just play the pinball machines.
It came out really cool for sure. Do you feel like visuals are a very important aspect for your music?
I don’t know. People have their opinion on things, but I love the videos of the 80s. Like if you go back watching videos of Lita Ford, and watching videos of her, I was inspired by that kind of thing when I was younger. I always wanted to be like these ladies, and I thought that I never could be. And I feel like I’m kinda getting there with that. I feel like music videos are just fine, and I feel empowered when doing them. And to be able to do them in the category of these people that I looked up to is just insane, but I don’t think it’s important.
People like music, and they like music. They do not think oh, I’m listening to music but the music video was not very good, so I’m not going to enjoy it. This is just something that comes along with it, and I’ve had so much fun making them.
So you’ve done a lot of really fun covers, but if you could choose any artist from the 80s to cover one us your songs, who would you choose and what song would you like for them to do?
Oh wow. I think it would be great if Joe Elliott was able to take on, Rock You Up. There’s some vibes there and I think I’ve been inspired by him, so be really cool to see how he would sing that song as well.
Soon you’ll be kicking off your first ever headline UK tour and I’m sure you’re so psyched about that. Can you tell us more about it and what fans could come to expect from the shows?
The tour starts a week after the album release of Powerzone, and it’s going to be a 10-day tour across the UK and as you can imagine, my stress levels are quite up-and-down preparing for it! But I’m more excited than stress so that’s a good thing. But this is my first headline tour and I’m excited to get out there, and I haven’t been able to do many shows because of the pandemic, and I didn’t even get to tour the first album. I’ve only done I think, six shows since the debut which is really sad. So I got all this energy built up, and I can’t wait to let it out on tour.
I’m excited for you, and I’m sure everyone is going to be having an amazing time there. Thank you again for speaking with me today. Is there anything else you’d like to say about the album or to your fans?
I just want to thank everbody, and thank you as well for the support. And I hope that everyone is going to love the album as much as I feel passionate about it. And I hope to see you guys sometimes at a show, and it would be awesome.
