2010 Nominee Q+A: Mama Kin
| 2010-09-27 08:30 | Written By:
Australian singer-songwriter Mama Kin [pictured right] is nominated for Best Blues and Roots Album at this year's Jagermeister Independent Music Awards for her debut LP Beat and Holler. The music video for her song 'To My Table'' is embedded above.
Ahead of this year's awards night - more details on that at the bottom of this post - we briefly caught up with Mama Kin (a.k.a. Danielle Caruana) to talk independent music.
What's your favourite song of 2010 so far by an Australian artist, Danielle?
I am on my last day of a National Tour with The Cat Empire, and the other support band was Clairy Browne and the Bangin Rackettes.. And I am loving one of their songs at the moment.. It is called.. 'Stephanie' (or 'She Plays Up To You'). This band is amazing and I believe they will go a long way.. So watch out for them!
Favourite musical moment of 2010 so far?
A couple of days ago I was at the Reggaetown Festival in Cairns and Nicky Bomba did an all-stars set and he pulled so many different artists up and into it with his incredible knack of being able to fly by the seat of his pants and take a stage full and a room full of people with him. Joining him onstage were Harry Angus from The Cat Empire, Carlo and Sal from Blue King Brown, John Butler, Silas from Nea Combo Diffuzion (New Caledonia), Brother Michael and George Servanis from my little outfit.. And many others. It was so infectious and so joyous. I loved it.
And just last night we played a Union of Soul show with The John Butler Trio, The Cat Empire and Blue King Brown, and at the end of the night John called a whole lot of us up for a few songs.. It was like a party on stage and all the people in the audience felt it and we were all celebrating together. So much fun.
What does being independent mean to you?
It means earning everything you do every step of the way. There are no short cuts.. But there are also no doubts that you are where you are because of talent rather than because some big company has thrown some money and clout and muscle your way. It means lots of hard work and being across every aspect of what I do, and it means building a great team one by one who are the core of everything I do.
As a musician, what would you ultimately like to be known and remembered for?
Someone who just did what they felt like doing and made the music that was truly mine to make. I just want to be true to what moves me, rather than being fixated on what I think will move others.
Which Australian independent act deserves to be the 'next big thing'?
Tin Pan Orange, and Clairy Browne and the Bangin Rackettes.
Finally, who do you think is going to win your category this year? Who deserves runner-up?
I reckon its gotta be Dan Sultan. I love his album and I love his music and I think he is a great guy with a great story and a beautiful spirit.
Thanks for your time, Danielle! For more info on Mama Kin, visit her MySpace.
The 5th Annual Jagermeister Independent Music Awards are held at The Forum Theatre, Melbourne on Friday October 1st, 2010, featuring live performances from British India, Cloud Control, The Amity Affliction, M-Phazes, Sally Seltmann and Joe Chindamo. Doors open at 8:00pm; tickets are $29+BF and available now via Ticketmaster.
For more info on AIR and Australian independent music, visit http://www.ausindies.com.au/
