Rock Radio Northern Ireland - NI ROCKS Interview with CHEZ KANE

NI ROCKS Interview with CHEZ KANE

Published: Friday, 12 March 2021 00:00 | Written by NI ROCKS | Print | Hits: 5953

_{Welsh singer Chez Kane released her first solo album on 12th March through Frontiers Music. The self-titled album was written and produced by Danny Rexon from Swedish band Crazy Lixx. Chez Kane will be known to many as one of three sisters fronting the band Kane’d. I had the opportunity to chat with Chez via Skype on 25th February to talk about the new album. You can hear that interview on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 12th March along with four tracks from the album.} _{https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interview-with-chez-kane-on-the-friday-ni-rocks-show-12th-march-2021/}

_{The interview has been typed up and is posted below.}

_{Facebook -} _{https://www.facebook.com/ChezKaneVocalist/}

_{Playlist for the Show}

_{CRAZY LIXX – Wicked}

_{TRUCKER DIABLO – Rock Kids of the 80s}

_{MIDNITE CITY – Atomic}

_{TEMPLE BALLS – T.O.T.C.}

_{QUIET RIOT – Metal Health (Bang Your Head)}

_{HELIX – Heavy Metal Love}

_{LEE AARON – I Like My Rock Hard}

_{CHEZ KANE – Too Late For Love}

_{Interview with CHEZ KANE Part 1 (4 Min)}

_{CHEZ KANE – Rocket on the Radio}

_{Interview with CHEZ KANE Part 2 (4 Min)}

_{CHEZ KANE – Better Than Love}

_{Interview with CHEZ KANE Part 3 (5 Min)}

_{CHEZ KANE – Midnight Rendezvous}

_{KANE’D – Show Me Your Skeleton}

_{KANE’D – Reckless}

_{PHIL X & THE DRILLS – Right on the Money}

_{BRANDON GIBBS – Lost Boys}

_{BLACKWATER CONSPIRACY – All Wired Wrong}

_{APOCALYPTICA – White Room (ft Jacoby Shaddix)}

_{SWEET OBLIVION FT GEOFF TATE – Another Change}

_{LION’S SHARE – Aim Higher}

_{FROZEN CROWN – Far Beyond}

_{INFINITE & DIVINE – I Feel Alive}

_{EPICA – The Skeleton Key}

_{THE DAVY K PROJECT – The Storm}

_{PAT MCMANUS BAND – Mama Don’t Do It}

_{CORMAC NEESON – What You Do To Me}

_{LITA FORD – Cherry Red}

_{NI ROCKS – Hi Chez, thanks for taking some time to talk to Rock Radio NI. We just played the first track to be released from your new album. It’s called “Too Late For Love”. What can you tell us about that track?}

_{CHEZ - Hey everybody, thank you so much. Too late for love is the first single from my debut album, which is out March 12th. We decided to go with that one because we feel like it had a lot of sass and class and it really hits that nostalgic feeling of the 80s that we wanted to bring back. I also went over to Sweden to shoot the music video, which you can check out on YouTube. Yeah, that's basically it (Laughs).}

_{NI ROCKS – You mentioned that the new album is released on 12^th March by Frontiers Music and it has seen you teamed up with Danny Rexon from Crazy Lixx. How did you and Danny get connected initially?}

_{CHEZ - So Danny discovered me from doing a YouTube cover of “Edge of a Broken Heart” by Vixen because he had this idea of this project and he was scouting for a female singer and came across my video. And then he asked me if I wanted to demo some tracks for him, which obviously I said yes. (Laughs) I was in the studio the next day and it went from there really.}

_{NI ROCKS – I’m a big fan of Crazy Lixx and I’ve interviewed Danny a couple of times, most recently in 2019 when he mentioned that he was keen to do some producing outside of his own band.}

_{CHEZ - Ohh wow, OK}

_{NI ROCKS – He said he had some potential projects. Obviously, you were one of those projects?}

_{CHEZ - I am the project (Laughs).}

_{NI ROCKS - You are the project. Did you fly to Sweden to work with him or were things done via file transferring. How were with things done?}

_{CHEZ - So the original plan was that he was either going to come to the UK or I was going to go over there to record my vocals. But obviously COVID hit so I wasn't able to go over, but there was a little bit of a gap then where the restrictions were lifted a little bit and I was able to fly out to shoot the music video for “Too Late for Love”, which was absolutely fantastic. We were then supposed to get together in Sweden again to shoot a video for “Rocket on the Radio”, but COVID hit again and everything got locked down. So, unfortunately, there was no music video for that one.}

_{NI ROCKS – I noticed that the album was mastered at Blowout Production by Erik Martennson from Eclipse and W.E.T. Another great name to be associated with on your first album.}

_{CHEZ - Definitely, yeah. Awesome. I was so chuffed that he's mastered it.}

_{NI ROCKS – That was another link obviously that Danny brough in?}

_{CHEZ – Yeah, definitely (Laughs)}

_{NI ROCKS – Did Danny write all the tracks on the album or were you involved in that process as well?}

_{CHEZ - So Danny wrote all the tracks on the album. I was offered to change bits and pieces if I wanted to, but to be honest, everything that Danny sent me was absolutely perfect and I didn't want to touch it. I was like, they're too good. I'm not changing anything!}

_{NI ROCKS – You mentioned that Danny had a concept in his head and in the Frontiers press release Danny talks about looking for a modern day female hard rock singer like Lee Aaron, Lita Ford or Robin Beck. It must be nice to be mentioned alongside names like that.}

_{CHEZ - I'm still taking it all in. It's absolutely crazy because I've looked up to these amazing 80s, great female artists since I was really young. So it's crazy that I'm being classed in in the same category as these amazing women.}

_{NI ROCKS – Who else do you have performing on the album with you?}

_{CHEZ - So all of the instrumentation was done by Danny apart from the saxophone, because there is sax on a couple of tracks, which was done by Jesse Molloy, so yeah, Danny's done everything. He's a multi-talented man.}

_{NI ROCKS – He is indeed! We’ll play another track from the new album now. Do you want to pick a track and tell us something about it?}

_{CHEZ - Yeah, sure. OK. So we'll go for “Rocket on the Radio” because it is the second single and it's a good fun radio song. So let's do that.}

_{NI ROCKS – You mentioned the Covid pandemic and it has obviously had a big impact on touring, but are you hoping to get out performing the tracks from this album live at some stage?}

_{CHEZ - Yes, definitely. So I recently held band auditions to get my band together because I wanted to get that ready, so we'll be doing some rehearsals as soon as we can - when COVID let’s us. And then the plan is to get out on the road ASAP because that's what I love doing.}

_{NI ROCKS – You’ve kind of covered my next question, which was - any ideas who might be on stage with you. Are you still doing auditions or have you picked somebody?}

_{CHEZ - No, I’ve picked my band. So basically I held the auditions because obviously I know many musicians I could have asked, but I really wanted to see new talent that really loved the same style of music that I did and I wanted to see their passion for it in their auditions and I really feel like the auditions did that. So I have the line up and all will be revealed in the future. (Laughs)}

_{NI ROCKS – Very good, we’ll look forward to that. The initial Frontiers press releases indicated that you’d been signed for a multi-album contract. What can you tell us about your future plans with the label. Are we looking at solo albums or collaborations with other artists perhaps?}

_{CHEZ - So more albums is definitely on the cards. It is something that Danny and I have talked about and we're hoping that if Frontiers are happy to go ahead with the second album, that we will. I feel like the response has been amazing for the first album so far, so I feel like that's more of a possibility than not. When it comes to collaborations, there's nothing in the pipeline at the moment, but I'm open to doing that as well.}

_{NI ROCKS – Frontiers are very good at bringing different artists together. Do you have a wish list of people that you’d like to work with if that was the case?}

_{CHEZ - Ohh, there's so many. Frontiers have so many amazing singers. I would be up for collaborating with anyone to be honest (Laughs)}

_{NI ROCKS – Any favourites?}

_{CHEZ - I've gotta say Danny, haven’t I (Laughs).}

_{NI ROCKS - (Laughs) Yeah, you better.}

_{CHEZ - I've gotta say, Danny, I'll go with Danny. He's fantastic. And I love working with him.}

_{NI ROCKS – A lot of people of course will know you as one of three sisters fronting the band Kane’d. That band has been around for over ten years now. How did the idea of having three sisters fronting the band first materialise?}

_{CHEZ - So obviously the three of us are sisters, so we've always been singing together. We actually started off with a trio with no band when we were quite young and we've all grown up on rock music. And one day we thought, why don't we do something a bit quirky and try and put a band behind us? So we did and we loved it. Obviously, when you start singing in front of a band, you can't go back because it's the best feeling ever. So, it just all started there, and that's where Kane’d were born.}

_{NI ROCKS – The band has now released three albums, the latest of which was “Show Me Your Skeleton” in 2018. What’s happening with the band at the moment during the Covid pandemic and when might we see a fourth album?}

_{CHEZ - Unfortunately, it's been very, very quiet throughout COVID for Kane’d because none of us have been able to get together, which has been really frustrating. Obviously, I've been quite preoccupied making the solo album as well, but there is definitely plans to make a fourth album in the future. It's just a matter of when at the moment.}

_{NI ROCKS – We’ll play a track from “Show Me Your Skeleton” later in the Show. Which one would you pick and why?}

_{CHEZ - Oh, we'll go with the title track, “Show Me Your Skeleton”, because that one means quite a lot to me as I was the one who started that song. When we write songs together, one of us will start a song, and then we bring everyone else in to put their ideas in as well. So I'm going to pick “Show Me Your Skeleton” because I love that one.}

_{NI ROCKS – We’ll play that one later. Right now we’ll play another track from your new solo album. Do you want to pick a track and tell us something about it?}

_{CHEZ - Yeah, I'll go for my favourite on my debut album, which is “Better than Love” and the reason behind that is because it is the first song that I demo’ed and it was the one that made me fall in love with the project. So this is “Better than Love”.}

_{NI ROCKS – We mentioned a few 80’s rock singers earlier, but who would you say were your influences - when you first started singing and then when you formed the band, who were your influences?}

_{CHEZ - So I was firstly inspired by more of the male fronted rock, so the first band that I fell in love with was Def Leppard when I was about 13. I then went on to loving bands like Whitesnake, because Stephanie, my sister, was a big fan of Whitesnake, and then Stacey, my other sister, was a big fan of Bon Jovi. And then you had my dad, who loved Rainbow. So I loved Rainbow as well. So, I was highly inspired by the male fronted bands, but then one day my sister Steph was playing Pat Benatar and then that's when I got inspired by the female fronted rock bands, and I really wanted to be like her. And then then I discovered Robin Beck, who was absolutely badass and then I discovered Vixen. And it just all went from there. So I was inspired by that kind of thing. But I've gone on to love loads of different styles of rock music now. Heavier music. Bits of metal. I just love lots of genres of rock.}

_{NI ROCKS – Can you remember what the first concert was that you went to and the first album that you bought?}

_{CHEZ - Yes, I can. It was Def Leppard.(Laughs)}

_{NI ROCKS – Where were they playing?}

_{CHEZ – They were playing the Hammersmith Apollo in London. I I can't even remember how old I was. I must have been about 15, I think because I fell in love with them when I was about 13. My parents bought me their greatest hits album literally that week because I was like, oh, my God, - “Pour Some Sugar on Me” - it's amazing. And then I managed to get to see them a couple of years later.}

_{NI ROCKS – And the first album you bought?}

_{CHEZ - The first album I bought, yeah, it was probably that one, that I can remember, yeah.}

_{NI ROCKS – And what bands or artists have you been listening to recently? What would we find on your Spotify playlist?}

_{CHEZ – Oh, Spotify playlist at the moment. It's gotta be Crazy Lixx. I have really been listening to them; I'm not just saying that honestly! (Laughs) No, I work out to Crazy Lixx quite a lot. H.E.AT - I absolutely adore H.E.A.T. Def Leppard, Alter Bridge. I've been listening to a bit of Vixen recently, Lee Aaron, there's so many.}

_{NI ROCKS – Sounds like a good playlist. Wales seems to have a very good music scene with a lot of great young rock bands around. Those Damn Crows springs to mind for example. Are there any local bands that you’d recommend people check out?}

_{CHEZ - Yeah, definitely. There's a great female fronted band called Beth Blade and the Beautiful Disasters. Have you heard of them?}

_{NI ROCKS - No, I haven't.}

_{CHEZ - Yeah, they're fab, you should check them out. Obviously, Those Damn Crows are amazing as well. Yeah, there's so many. We've got lots of music in Wales. I love that about Wales.}

_{NI ROCKS – Yeah, there is. It’s like Northern Ireland. We have a very good scene here too. We mentioned covid earlier and hopefully we might start to see a return to normality after July, fingers crossed! What does the rest of the year look like for you in regard to recording or performing?}

_{CHEZ - Who knows? (Laughs) I don't know, to be honest. I'm just taking every day as it comes. I'm keeping myself very busy at the moment with lots of interviews and obviously the promo for the album release. I've just literally taken every day as it comes. I can't even imagine when I'm going to end up on a stage, because it's been so long. I'm hoping it's not going to be too far away before I can start gigging again.}

_{NI ROCKS - Hopefully good news. Some festivals are saying that they will go ahead in August or September. So hopefully fingers crossed, we get something this year.}

_{CHEZ – I really, really hope so. Keeping my fingers crossed.}

_{NI ROCKS – We mentioned that you’ve had quite a lot of interviews recently as promotion for the new album. Are you getting a lot of interest internationally as well as from the UK?}

_{CHEZ - Yes, it's been amazing. I can't believe my stuff is reaching worldwide. I've done interviews in America, Japan, Poland, Germany, Sweden, France. It has been mental.}

_{NI ROCKS – We’ll finish by picking two more tracks to play. First of all, something else from Kane’d. Which track and why?}

_{CHEZ - We'll go for “Reckless” because “Reckless” is a feel good song and we can just party to it. So why not let's go with “Reckless” for Kane’d.}

_{NI ROCKS – And finally, something from your new solo album. Which track and tell us something about it.}

_{CHEZ - I'm going to go with “Midnight Rendezvous” because I feel that one's another upbeat, fun song and I feel like it's the ball breaker of the album.}

_{NI ROCKS – Thanks for taking the time to chat with me. Good luck with the new album and hopefully we’ll see you over in Northern Ireland sometime in the not to far future.}

NI ROCKS Interview with CHEZ KANE

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChezKaneVocalist/

NI ROCKS – Hi Chez, thanks for taking some time to talk to Rock Radio NI. We just played the first track to be released from your new album. It’s called “Too Late For Love”. What can you tell us about that track?

NI ROCKS – You mentioned that the new album is released on 12th March by Frontiers Music and it has seen you teamed up with Danny Rexon from Crazy Lixx. How did you and Danny get connected initially?

NI ROCKS – I’m a big fan of Crazy Lixx and I’ve interviewed Danny a couple of times, most recently in 2019 when he mentioned that he was keen to do some producing outside of his own band.

CHEZ - Ohh wow, OK

NI ROCKS – He said he had some potential projects. Obviously, you were one of those projects?

CHEZ - I am the project (Laughs).

NI ROCKS - You are the project. Did you fly to Sweden to work with him or were things done via file transferring. How were with things done?

NI ROCKS – I noticed that the album was mastered at Blowout Production by Erik Martennson from Eclipse and W.E.T. Another great name to be associated with on your first album.

CHEZ - Definitely, yeah. Awesome. I was so chuffed that he's mastered it.

NI ROCKS – That was another link obviously that Danny brough in?

CHEZ – Yeah, definitely (Laughs)

NI ROCKS – Did Danny write all the tracks on the album or were you involved in that process as well?

CHEZ - So Danny wrote all the tracks on the album. I was offered to change bits and pieces if I wanted to, but to be honest, everything that Danny sent me was absolutely perfect and I didn't want to touch it. I was like, they're too good. I'm not changing anything!

NI ROCKS – You mentioned that Danny had a concept in his head and in the Frontiers press release Danny talks about looking for a modern day female hard rock singer like Lee Aaron, Lita Ford or Robin Beck. It must be nice to be mentioned alongside names like that.

CHEZ - I'm still taking it all in. It's absolutely crazy because I've looked up to these amazing 80s, great female artists since I was really young. So it's crazy that I'm being classed in in the same category as these amazing women.

NI ROCKS – Who else do you have performing on the album with you?

CHEZ - So all of the instrumentation was done by Danny apart from the saxophone, because there is sax on a couple of tracks, which was done by Jesse Molloy, so yeah, Danny's done everything. He's a multi-talented man.

NI ROCKS – He is indeed! We’ll play another track from the new album now. Do you want to pick a track and tell us something about it?

CHEZ - Yeah, sure. OK. So we'll go for “Rocket on the Radio” because it is the second single and it's a good fun radio song. So let's do that.

NI ROCKS – You mentioned the Covid pandemic and it has obviously had a big impact on touring, but are you hoping to get out performing the tracks from this album live at some stage?

CHEZ - Yes, definitely. So I recently held band auditions to get my band together because I wanted to get that ready, so we'll be doing some rehearsals as soon as we can - when COVID let’s us. And then the plan is to get out on the road ASAP because that's what I love doing.

NI ROCKS – You’ve kind of covered my next question, which was - any ideas who might be on stage with you. Are you still doing auditions or have you picked somebody?

NI ROCKS – Very good, we’ll look forward to that. The initial Frontiers press releases indicated that you’d been signed for a multi-album contract. What can you tell us about your future plans with the label. Are we looking at solo albums or collaborations with other artists perhaps?

NI ROCKS – Frontiers are very good at bringing different artists together. Do you have a wish list of people that you’d like to work with if that was the case?

CHEZ - Ohh, there's so many. Frontiers have so many amazing singers. I would be up for collaborating with anyone to be honest (Laughs)

NI ROCKS – Any favourites?

CHEZ - I've gotta say Danny, haven’t I (Laughs).

NI ROCKS - (Laughs) Yeah, you better.

CHEZ - I've gotta say, Danny, I'll go with Danny. He's fantastic. And I love working with him.

NI ROCKS – A lot of people of course will know you as one of three sisters fronting the band Kane’d. That band has been around for over ten years now. How did the idea of having three sisters fronting the band first materialise?

NI ROCKS – The band has now released three albums, the latest of which was “Show Me Your Skeleton” in 2018. What’s happening with the band at the moment during the Covid pandemic and when might we see a fourth album?

NI ROCKS – We’ll play a track from “Show Me Your Skeleton” later in the Show. Which one would you pick and why?

NI ROCKS – We’ll play that one later. Right now we’ll play another track from your new solo album. Do you want to pick a track and tell us something about it?

CHEZ - Yeah, I'll go for my favourite on my debut album, which is “Better than Love” and the reason behind that is because it is the first song that I demo’ed and it was the one that made me fall in love with the project. So this is “Better than Love”.

NI ROCKS – We mentioned a few 80’s rock singers earlier, but who would you say were your influences - when you first started singing and then when you formed the band, who were your influences?

NI ROCKS – Can you remember what the first concert was that you went to and the first album that you bought?

CHEZ - Yes, I can. It was Def Leppard.(Laughs)

NI ROCKS – Where were they playing?

NI ROCKS – And the first album you bought?

CHEZ - The first album I bought, yeah, it was probably that one, that I can remember, yeah.

NI ROCKS – And what bands or artists have you been listening to recently? What would we find on your Spotify playlist?

NI ROCKS – Sounds like a good playlist. Wales seems to have a very good music scene with a lot of great young rock bands around. Those Damn Crows springs to mind for example. Are there any local bands that you’d recommend people check out?

CHEZ - Yeah, definitely. There's a great female fronted band called Beth Blade and the Beautiful Disasters. Have you heard of them?

NI ROCKS - No, I haven't.

CHEZ - Yeah, they're fab, you should check them out. Obviously, Those Damn Crows are amazing as well. Yeah, there's so many. We've got lots of music in Wales. I love that about Wales.

NI ROCKS – Yeah, there is. It’s like Northern Ireland. We have a very good scene here too. We mentioned covid earlier and hopefully we might start to see a return to normality after July, fingers crossed! What does the rest of the year look like for you in regard to recording or performing?

NI ROCKS - Hopefully good news. Some festivals are saying that they will go ahead in August or September. So hopefully fingers crossed, we get something this year.

CHEZ – I really, really hope so. Keeping my fingers crossed.

NI ROCKS – We mentioned that you’ve had quite a lot of interviews recently as promotion for the new album. Are you getting a lot of interest internationally as well as from the UK?

CHEZ - Yes, it's been amazing. I can't believe my stuff is reaching worldwide. I've done interviews in America, Japan, Poland, Germany, Sweden, France. It has been mental.

NI ROCKS – We’ll finish by picking two more tracks to play. First of all, something else from Kane’d. Which track and why?

CHEZ - We'll go for “Reckless” because “Reckless” is a feel good song and we can just party to it. So why not let's go with “Reckless” for Kane’d.

NI ROCKS – And finally, something from your new solo album. Which track and tell us something about it.

CHEZ - I'm going to go with “Midnight Rendezvous” because I feel that one's another upbeat, fun song and I feel like it's the ball breaker of the album.

NI ROCKS – Thanks for taking the time to chat with me. Good luck with the new album and hopefully we’ll see you over in Northern Ireland sometime in the not to far future.

CHEZ - Oh, I hope. So and thank you so much for the interest in doing this interview with me.

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