Little Kid

Meet Little Kid

Do you like good music? I always thought the starting to that Arthur Conley song was a bit condescending. Like if someone asked me that at a record store I would feel a tad bit insecure. Anyway my fears are neither here nor there. Today we have a real special guest for all of you. Its Little Kid! Creators of sweeping swelling melancholy tunes. I would not call them a bummer pop band, only because they seem to elevate their sound beyond what comes from other acts in the same vein. Instead we have something a bit more refined, and also constantly changing. If you have not had the chance I would just go through the whole discography. Break it up do it piece by piece, before you know it it will be time for their upcoming album! (more on that below).

Would you rather have 10 heads or 50 legs? Please explain why.

10 heads... I could sing 10-part harmonies with myself. Two legs seem like plenty for what I use them for...

What was your first live performance together like?

That’s a little complicated to answer because our lineup has shifted a few times. The first Little Kid performance was just me (Kenny) solo, and I mostly played the songs from Logic Songs (it was the release show). I remember it felt pretty tense and emotional for me, because I was playing these songs about doubting religion when I maybe hadn’t talked too openly about that stuff with most of my friends. I also brought a huge heavy organ with me from my house, which is a bit funny in hindsight, and I used a loop pedal with it for a few songs.

Our first show with the more recent lineup of Kenny, Paul, Megan, and Liam was a very fun and satisfying experience. We had a lot of technical problems and couldn’t hear each other well, but I remember feeling like we played well, and playing Dim Light with them that night felt like one of the best LK moments yet at the time.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I listen to a lot of music, and that seems to be the most obvious answer for where we draw inspiration, so I’ll list a few artists who I think have shaped our direction in more recent years:

Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Big Thief, Jason Molina, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Chris Cohen, Radiohead, Wilco, Mark Kozelek, Grouper

I feel like we have kinda tipped our hand a bit by listing all of those, because we have definitely borrowed liberally from all of them, but if anyone likes our music they would probably enjoy at least a handful of those artists if they haven’t heard them.

When I'm reading a lot of books, I feel like they shape my lyrics a bit, but I've unfortunately become a pretty slow and sporadic reader in recent years...

What was the intention with this latest album Might As Well With My Soul?

Our attitude was very much “might as well” - and that’s why we wound up going with that name (which was a joke Paul made, sung to the tune of the christian hymn It Is Well With My Soul). We had a sort of deadline since Brodie was moving away on Jan 1st 2018, so we had the impulse to create quickly without second guessing ourselves too much, and to give any idea a try. We tried a lot of different sounds out and had the goal of making a deliberately “messy” sounding album. I tend to prefer a more cohesive album with a defined mood / palette but we have essentially gone for that with all of our albums so far, so it felt like a fun twist to throw that out the window a bit. It might be a bit less accessible as an entire album for that reason, although I do think it includes some of our best songs.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be (doesn’t need to be music related)?

The power to stop climate change... Terrified about that lately.

What other great artwork is overdue for a botched restoration?

To be honest, this question is the reason I took so long to complete this email interview - I can't seem to think of a clever or interesting answer for this one.

Instead, I'll use the opportunity to mention that we are working on a live album that is tentatively called "botched restorations" (and it will be the first installment in a little series of releases that include alternate / reimagined versions of older songs)...

If the price is no option what would be the perfect dessert?

A Boston cream donut from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

What's with men always calling other men (or other people they perceive as men) "man" all the time? Like "hey man," "hey dude," etc.? People should try to cut that out because (a) some folks don't like to be called "man," and (b) even if they do, why do you have to build up this weird exclusive brotherhood/camaraderie around the fact that you are both men? Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk.