{"id":69278,"date":"2021-02-24T05:57:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T10:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=69278"},"modified":"2021-02-24T05:57:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T10:57:58","slug":"interview-with-chez-kane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2021\/interview-with-chez-kane\/","title":{"rendered":"Chez Kane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s always a tricky situation when it comes to debut albums. Many acts we now consider to be staples of their respective genres didn\u2019t make much of a buzz with their very first offering. Think Bon Jovi, who enjoyed the enormous commercial success only after releasing their third album Slippery When Wet<\/em>, or KISS breaking through with Alive! <\/em>after three rather unsuccessful studio records. Sometimes it seems a trial-and-error method in attempt to establish a certain musical formula is initially more of an error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are also debutants who take the audience by storm, and a young Welsh singer Chez Kane is one of them. Her first solo album is yet to be released (due to see the light of day on March the 12th<\/sup> on Frontiers Music SRL) but the response to her first two singles released in advance to the record was, in her own words, \u201cmind-blowing.\u201d \u00a0Chez Kane <\/em>was written and produced by Danny Rexon, the founder and lead singer of Crazy Lixx and one of the Millenial artists responsible for resurrecting \u201880s Melodic Hard Rock scene back in the mid-2000s. A recipe for success? Looks like it! We caught up with Chez to talk the circumstances of making the album, her fascination with the \u201880s Melodic Rock and more…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hardrock Haven: So let\u2019s start from what I think is a big positive \u2013 having released two solo singles so far, are you happy with the feedback you received?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I\u2019m absolutely overwhelmed by it. I wasn\u2019t expecting the response I\u2019ve had for the two singles, \u2018cause I didn\u2019t know what to expect. Obviously, bringing back the \u201880s feel today I didn\u2019t know how people would receive the songs and the sound and it\u2019s been absolutely mind-blowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Your debut release is out on March the 12th<\/sup> and usually first albums are seen as an attempt to define oneself as an artist. So is it exactly how you imagined yourself the first addition to your solo catalog?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I love loads of different genres of Rock and it always goes back to the \u201880s for me, because the first love of Rock music was Def Leppard for me. I\u2019ve always loved these awesome infectious \u201880s songs and \u201880s music. So when Danny [Rexon] approached me to do the album, I instantly fell in love with the project. I knew it was for me and I was in the studio the next day, working my butt off… Definitely, I\u2019m really happy with how everything\u2019s come out and it\u2019s exactly how I envisioned it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And how did you hook up with Danny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Danny discovered me through doing covers on YouTube (laughs). He wanted to do this project and he was looking for a female singer to front it. He came across my cover of \u201cEdge Of A Broken Heart\u201d by Vixen and went on to contact me. Obviously, I loved the idea and I just snapped up the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: What was the collaboration with Danny like and \u2013 considering his experience in songwriting, recording and producing \u2013 do you think it was also a learning experience for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Yes, absolutely. It\u2019s been an amazing experience and Danny\u2019s a very, very good songwriter \u2013 everything that he sent my way, I\u2019ve been absolutely in love with. I love his songwriting and I didn\u2019t wanna change any of it. The songs were just absolutely perfect when they got to me and I love them. The experience has been really amazing and we\u2019ve worked together really, really well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So there weren\u2019t any cases of actually rejecting a song he sent? And have you always found it easy to adapt emotionally to Danny\u2019s songs, especially the lyrics, so that you could give a convincing performance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: (laughs) There hasn\u2019t been any songs he sent over that we didn\u2019t work on. Everything he sent just worked. And you know, sometimes when you hear music, you just instantly fall in love with it and you just know that you\u2019ve got that connection. It\u2019s because I\u2019ve always had that connection to that style of music anyway, it was just me falling in love with this music straight away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Danny described his vision for your album in terms of bringing back the \u201cquintessential female rocker\u201d to the forefront of Melodic Rock. Is it also how you see yourself as a solo artist, also further in your career?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Definitely. I feel quite similar to Danny in the respect that he feels that it\u2019s missing in today\u2019s market and the music scene. \u2018Cause obviously [the scene] is quite male-dominated. At the moment, there are loads of fantastic male-fronted bands doing this style of music, but we feel that there\u2019s the female rocker missing and I feel like it\u2019s definitely something that I want to continue with. And hopefully, if this album goes down well, then I\u2019ll do more albums in the same vein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: It will, absolutely! Speaking of \u201cquintessential female rockers,\u201d as Danny has put it, what are your biggest role models when it comes to singing and performing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: As I\u2019ve said, when I first fell in love with style of music, I actually fell in love with male-fronted bands more than female-fronted bands at the beginning. So I started off with having a massive liking for Def Leppard, Whitesnake and that kind of music. And then I remember my sister playing Pat Benatar one day, and I started falling in love with the female-fronted side. So, Pat Benatar is a big part [of that]. I also love Vixen, so I went from Pat Benatar to Vixen. And now, since we\u2019re working with Danny, he\u2019s introduced me to a few more female-fronted acts I\u2019ve never heard of, like Lee Aaron who\u2019s absolutely phenomenal. So I take inspiration from each, both male- and female-fronted bands, and it just goes from there really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: You\u2019ve been quoted as saying that you were born in the \u201890s to bring back the \u201880s. In our generation it\u2019s not really that common and was considered not too \u2018cool\u2019 once…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Exactly. I know and I feel I need to go back (laughs). It just really always went back to the \u201880s for me, as I\u2019ve said, and the \u201880s introduced me to Rock and I love that feel. And even though I love lots of different genres of Rock, I feel that especially at this moment in time, when the world is in such a bad place, I think the great, happy, infectious Rock classics are missing \u2013 you know, the kind of songs that you hear on all the classic movies. I feel like it needs to come back today, \u2018cause it\u2019s missing. It\u2019s that kind of music that I\u2019ve been listening to so as to pick my spirits up through COVID and everything, and I just feel like everyone needs to listen to this music again (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: The world would become a better \u2013 or at least, a happier \u2013 place because of that! So, what\u2019s your ultimate \u201880s album or a top three perhaps?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: My ultimate \u201880s album… Oh, you\u2019ve put me on the spot now, because there\u2019s so many! Okay, I\u2019d go with Robin Beck\u2019s Trouble Or Nothin\u2019<\/em>, Steelheart\u2019s debut [self-titled] album and Def Leppard\u2019s Hysteria<\/em> \u2013 just off the top of my head (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: All great albums, so that\u2019s a way to go! And as we\u2019ve obviously already mentioned Danny being a frontman of  Crazy Lixx, what do you think about the Melodic Hard Rock bands of our generation? Which are your favorites?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I absolutely love them, so when I go out to gigs, I like to go and see this kind of bands \u2018cause there\u2019s so much fun there! I\u2019ve seen H.E.A.T. and Reckless Love many times \u2013 when it comes to Crazy Lixx, I\u2019m actually yet to see them, \u2018cause they haven\u2019t been here very often and I haven\u2019t had a chance to see them yet! It\u2019s just that feel, you know, just a good feel and I love going to see these bands and I think they\u2019re doing a great thing. Keeping that music alive today is just something special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Speaking of that, do you think these bands of our generation could be able to bring the young listeners back to Rock music?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I really hope so. You know, I feel like the series like Cobra Kai <\/em>try to bring that kind of music back as well, and Stranger Things <\/em>is trying to put the \u201880s feel in there. But I really feel \u2013 I don\u2019t know why, but I kind of feel like it\u2019s coming back slowly but surely. And I really hope that I can help bring it back today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And as you\u2019ve mentioned being in love with different genres of Rock, would you say you\u2019re also influenced with more contemporary music?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I\u2019m a huge fan of Alter Bridge. I like lots of different genres of Rock and Alter Bridge is a big part of my life really. I\u2019ve got their album artwork of Blackbird <\/em>[2007] actually tattooed on my back (laughs). So I love loads of different styles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Obviously all this \u201880s vibe is incorporated not only into your music, but also the image. So not having lived through the 80s, what do you find so fascinating about the decade in terms of fashion and all the visuals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: The image back then was absolutely badass \u2013 I think it was sexy, I think it was rocking and I absolutely love dressing that way. I don\u2019t know, but there\u2019s just something really, really cool about that image. I love the big hair, the tight clothing… so this whole concept is really suited to me and how I feel and how I like to dress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Sometime in the mid-2000s or late \u201890s I think \u201880s Hard Rock started to be infamously called Hair Metal. When it comes to the term, opinions vary \u2013 some embrace it when others hate it. As your music can be also classified as Hair Metal, what\u2019s your opinion on that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I feel like people can categorize the music however they want. It doesn\u2019t bother me really if they think it\u2019s Hair Metal or Melodic Rock or AOR. It\u2019s completely up to them. As long as \u2013 hopefully \u2013 they\u2019re enjoying it, then they can say whatever they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Sure. The \u201880s Hard Rock scene was largely male-dominated and as you\u2019ve mentioned, it\u2019s the same today. Do you think we\u2019ll see more female rockers and maybe all-girl bands coming to the forefront in the next years? Do you think circumstances changed enough for that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I really hope so. I hope I\u2019ll be able to start that kind of comeback where female rockers out there can hear and see that I\u2019m doing it and hopefully that inspires them to do it as well. Because the more of us, the more we can get back out there and in people\u2019s faces again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Very true. You\u2019ve also already mentioned the role of YouTube cover videos in your career. Do you think it\u2019s a good tool to launch a career?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Definitely. Well, at the beginning, I didn\u2019t know what to expect with YouTube. I just wanted to sing some songs and I thought I\u2019ll put them on YouTube and it\u2019s then gone on for Danny to find me from that, so definitely I think it\u2019s been a good platform for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: We all know there\u2019s all kinds of complainers on YouTube, so was the feedback you received on your videos only positive? How did you cope with that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: No, got me haters (laughs). But I\u2019m okay with that. Maybe when I started off, it maybe got to me a little bit [more] \u2013 a bit back, like a few years ago… But the older I\u2019m getting, the more I\u2019m finding it funny now (laughs). I just laugh off the comments and I just think that they wanna be heard and [I] go, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s fine. You\u2019ve got your opinion. That\u2019s absolutely fine. You can say whatever you want.\u201d You have to laugh it off, otherwise they\u2019ll just eat away at you. And I think it\u2019s just the way for them to be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And what kind of advice other than that would you give to aspiring singers and musicians who perhaps posted their first YouTube video today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I would advise them to keep going, because the first YouTube cover I did was a Metallica cover and I didn\u2019t do another cover for about a year in a half \u2013 I didn\u2019t do any other videos for a whole year and a half. And I feel like I could\u2019ve done more, but it was just a confidence thing, so I didn\u2019t know how I was going to do it. I put out my first video and then I thought, \u201cAhh, nobody wants to see more videos\u201d (laughs). I\u2019ve lost confidence. But then I got it back and I thought I\u2019ll do another one, and then I just kept going… And sometimes you just gotta keep going. So my advice would be, \u201cDon\u2019t listen to your thoughts when you doubt in yourself and just keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: You\u2019ve mentioned confidence, and self-confidence and body positivity both are what frontmen and frontwomen surely need that a lot. What\u2019s your secret to feel comfortable on stage, during photo sessions, video shoots etc.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Recently I\u2019ve had a bit of an issue when I lost a lot of weight and I was at the gym all the time. I wasn\u2019t very confident \u2013 I completely lost my confidence for a while… And my way of dealing with that was hitting the gym a lot!… I was literally living in the gym. If you\u2019ve seen past photos of me, you\u2019ve noticed that I\u2019ve lost a hell of a lot of weight. I dropped it quite quickly. So I\u2019ve always had a bit of a body issue. But I feel like the way that I deal with it now is just trying to eat as healthy as I can and trying to stay on top of my body while I\u2019m not overdoing it. And it makes me feel more better and more confident when it comes to photo shoots and video shoots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Recently I interviewed another interesting young female singer Cassidy Paris, coming from Melbourne, Australia, who said making music empowers her as a woman. Would you agree?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Oh yeah, it definitely does. It\u2019s a great way to feel confident and to let out a lot of emotions. That\u2019s one of the reasons why I love being on stage \u2013 \u2018cause it lets out all the emotions and you can just feel the vibe of your audience and it\u2019s just the best feeling in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: In the wake of your solo career, what\u2019s the status of the band Kane\u2019d you\u2019ve been fronting alongside your two sisters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Kane\u2019d still going ahead \u2013 at the moment it\u2019s a little bit quiet because we\u2019re a seven-piece band and we\u2019re not able to get together very often because of COVID. But yeah, we\u2019re still very much of a band and we\u2019re hoping to do another album at some point later down the line, when we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: You and your sisters aren\u2019t surely the first siblings to play together in the band, but is it always smooth sailing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: Yeah, we get on really well (laughs). We get asked this a lot \u2018cause people are like, \u201cYou\u2019re sisters, you must argue.\u201d But to be honest, we don\u2019t. We get on really well. We may have a discussion about, \u201cYou\u2019re not wearing that\u201d or \u201cYou\u2019re wearing that and I\u2019m not wearing that\u201d or \u201cYou\u2019re wearing my clothes\u201d (laughs). But it works really well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: In the future, do you see yourself juggling both fronting Kane\u2019d and your solo career in the future, or perhaps focusing on one or another?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I\u2019m just taking each day as it comes. I didn\u2019t know how the solo stuff would be received and at the moment it\u2019s being received very well, so I\u2019m just gonna take each day as it comes. I want to get out on tour with Chez Kane solo project and see where it takes me and then, if I get some time in, then we\u2019ll go and do some Kane\u2019d stuff. I\u2019m literally just taking each day as it comes, \u2018cause every day is different and I really wasn\u2019t expecting this response. It\u2019s crazy! I\u2019m hoping that I can juggle both, but we\u2019ll see how it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: You\u2019ve mentioned a solo tour \u2013 are there any specific future plans when it comes to that and promotion of the album?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I\u2019d love to get out on tour, but I haven\u2019t been able to set up anything. Still, there was an announcement yesterday in the UK that they\u2019re hoping to lift all the restrictions from lockdown in June. So I\u2019m hoping that gigs will start to resume over here and then I can get out on tour to promote the album. This is what I wanna do now, so it\u2019s quite frustrating (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Fingers crossed for that to happen! Is there anything you\u2019d like to add in the end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chez Kane: I would just like to say \u201cthank you\u201d to everybody who is supporting this kind of music today. I really feel like it\u2019s missing and everybody who\u2019s pre-ordered the album or is sharing my videos has been amazing. So let\u2019s bring this music back today! Let\u2019s do it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo credits: Harry Scott Eliott<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Chez Kane on Facebook<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014 It\u2019s always a tricky situation when it comes to debut albums. Many acts we now consider to be staples of their respective genres didn\u2019t make much of a buzz […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":69280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15335,15336,12866,203],"class_list":{"0":"post-69278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interviews-recent","8":"tag-chez-kane","9":"tag-danny-rexon","10":"tag-frontiers-music-srl","11":"tag-interview"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}