Kiria – Interview Exclusive
Written by David Prince
Thursday, 14 October 2010 05:00
Coming across like an Ubërvixen of the highest order – one part Wendy James, one part Marilyn Monroe, with a large dose of Buzzcocks/Pistols attitude thrown in, you are still nowhere close to how much the music industry needs femme fatales like Kiria!
Hi Kiria… thanks for taking the time out to answer a few questions for the masses at Über Röck. Can you give the Über Röck Söldiers an introduction to the world of Kiria? Tell us more about your time with Suck Baby Suck and Friction and the motives behind your decision to go it alone?
Frustration!! I loved my first band, Suck Baby Suck, I learnt a lot from being around some wonderful, talented people there. I was only the baby of the band and found, as my confidence grew, little by little, I realised I was brimming underneath the surface with all these ideas and
decided to move on. I still kind of regret that because I had a horrible down period after I left where nothing was happening and all my creativity just sat there and made me go crazy. Really, crazy! Luckily I found a way to channel it all into my own band and I’ve got somewhere I like being at last, but not without a few major scrapes along the way!
Re more recent “band” efforts; there is only so long you can prop other people up or carry a whole band if you all don’t have the same drive or vision, and it becomes emotionally draining, so at last I am doing it for myself, and now I only have myself to push and to please. Although, if something goes wrong for me now, it’s all my own damned fault!!
Having worked with original Vibrators member Pat Collier and media maverick Paul Kaye (Mike Strutter) on your debut release ‘Radio’, is there anyone else you would like to work with in the future?
Hell yeah! Here’s this week’s fantasy band; I’d like to work with Timmy from The Derellas on bass, he’s so exciting, with Cindy Blackman (Lenny Kravitz’s past drummer) on drums, Captain Sensible on the guitar (naked of course), me screeching to high heaven on vocals with my Gretsch and Loulouh Pidouh from It’s Something Hell’s on the maracas!
I’d also like to record with Boz Boorer in his wonderful looking studio in Portugal, and I’d love to do a duet with Dave Vanian of The Damned – wonderful voice, and it would sit well with 
mine I think…. I also fantasize daily about singing/playing with Prince, Morrissey, and quite a few dead Rock Geniuses, so I guess that will have to happen after I kick the bucket, if I ever make it to Heaven!
Being a fiercely independent artist in this day and age is a breath of fresh air, how do you find today’s climate for such a unique musician as yourself?
A bit like what I would imagine a trip to the North Pole to be like.. Freezing cold, but exciting! I love being in control of my own life and creativity, and I’d hate for that to ever change, I’m not sure I’d cope well – what with being such an obsessive about sound and vision! It is difficult though, you face many dilemmas, i.e. the main problems, which are that to make things look and sound very exciting costs money, which I personally have never had!
I mean for example, the three videos I have made all cost under £500 each, whereas you could easily spend that on an exciting outfit or pair of shoes for a stylish pop star, and someone like Lady Gaga will spend more in the region of 500K on a video! And recording budgets for me were very tight/nearly non existent, which affects how far you can go in the studio experimenting or on musicians. Being a musician, there is hardly any support from communities/councils or anywhere. It’s considered one less in status than being unemployed! Honest, try being a kid and walking into a Job Centre and telling them you are a musician, you’ll get laughed out of there!
The other annoying thing for independent musicians is that one way or another, someone along the way will take your money (in large proportions!) if you want to be out there and be heard, with very little or no contribution in helping you to get out there and BE heard. (The wonderful Über Röck excluded here!) It’s very hard to advertise, or even create a platform that you can control to sell your own music from – or find venues and “promoters” that don’t steal from your
love of performing. For instance you end up paying out a large percentage of income on music sales/performances although the platform/venue does not actually help you at all in promoting it, which I find pretty absurd! But hey ho, all these challenges are exciting, and frustration can lead you to finding unique ways of doing things. I have actually learned so much doing this, that alongside the frustrating parts of it, it’s been a very cool journey so far….
Being retro and modern at the same time is a skill not many artists master, yet here you are with a stonking new album and a sugary slice of pop heaven as its lead single in the form of the sweet delight that is ‘Jelly Baby’ – What inspires you to write such glorious music?
I think that everything inspires me, from the horrors of experiencing major personal trauma in the past to paddling in a fountain in the heart of Rome and hearing the sirens swoop by the local streets to come and kick you out. Tension, anger, passion, fear, every day I feel inspired to create because of experiencing these feelings. If I bottle it all up it stagnates inside and I feel I’m going crazy, so I guess writing and creating music has become a way of surviving for me. And so to live is to create!
Also a fan of timeless tunes, I find it very hard to class you as simple pop, there is something bubbling underneath the surface of Kiria that speaks volumes to me. In that you wrote all of the songs and played all the guitars – one mustn’t underestimate you and your abilities. As mentioned in my intro to this piece – the world NEEDS Kiria! What is next on the manifesto for Kiria in your plans for world domination?
Ooooh, you are in my good books Mr Prince! Thank you! World domination hey? Well, I think I’ll start by bashing someone very famous up in public, gaining a heroin habit and hanging out with Max Clifford….
Nah, I’ll just keep doing what I love and eventually the kids of this messed up world will get bored of manufactured products and meet me at the table for a feast! Either that or I’ll get all the food thrown at me in a barrage until I go the fuck away!
I really want to get my new (second) album recorded asap, and get the time to designate to another project I am working on that people will not be able to ignore or be inspired by, because it’s going to be fabulous, and kick some major boring ass!
Going back to my review of your album… I mentioned a Transvision Vamp influence which I understand you were very pleased with… having spent more time with the album, I also hear a strong Fuzzbox (‘Big Bang’ era) style there : would you take offence at that or take it as the compliment it was intended as?
I F****** LOVE YOU!
Tell us a bit more about the YouTube sensation that is your ‘Live Sex On Stage’, the bawdy punk performance clip with 375,000 plays & counting……
Well, what can I say! People obviously do like to hear it how it is, and a little bit of excitement and humour obviously goes a long way! That was a great fun experience, the song music and lyrics came out quickly and smoothly for me, the recording process was natural, Paul did his vocal over the top and I loved it immediately, it all just felt right. The video was a quick rehearsal vid, and up it went! Taught me a good few lessons about just doing things when the moment feels right and not sitting on them or thinking too much about what you have just done. “Don’t think, just feel” is a very apt phrase to describe the feelings behind this vi
deo/song!
Finally, the Über Röck ‘n’ Röll test to end the interview with!!!!
Dennis Pennis or Mike Strutter?
It’s gotta be Mikey, Dennis is dead, baby! 🙂
Wendy James or Debbie Harry?
Ooooh, can’t I have ’em both?
Simon Cowell or Simon Fuller?
Wankers.
Buzzcocks or Sex Pistols?
Sex, Cocks, Pistols and Buzz please!
Facebook or MySpace or Twitter?
Facebook. Myspace is dead and twatter speaks for itself….
All that’s left for me to say is thank you for being you – A truly independent artist with the voice of an angel, the style of a glamour puss and the musical ability that put many to shame.
MMMMMWWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!