Interview: Band Of The Week - Kate Voegele

Did you know MySpace had a record label? No? Neither did I. But they do. And Kate Voegele is one of their artists. With a voice that could wow any American Idol crowd and enough spirit to make a pop album with integrity – no committee chosen songs here — Kate has come to that poised-on-the-brink place, where she waits. One problem may be that this pop songstress is no Britney or Christina clone, and her brand of pop-rock is more rock than pop and would probably fit better on VH1 than MTV; but at just 20 years old, with a face and body that could stop traffic, it is likely many older music fans would dismiss her out of hand as just another vacuous, homogeneous pop-idol. But it would be a mistake to dismiss Kate until you have heard her debut album, fittingly titled, Don’t Look Away.

Kate is the genuine article. Honest, talented and driven, she is no clone. What she lacks in emotional maturity – she is only 20 years old – she makes up for with a killer voice, passionate enthusiasm and great pop-rock guitar driven tunes – she even plays the guitar on her album — that are, for the most part, written by Kate. Avril Lavigne without the I’m-a-teenager-and-good-at-it attitude, or Pink missing the I-can-do-anything-boys-can-do chip on her shoulder. You could do much worse than to give Kate and her music a chance.

This Ohio native has been lucky enough to share the stage with many of rock's best, brightest and most talented like: John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and Jamie Cullum. She is certainly one of the rising stars on the pop-rock horizon. I recently had an interesting conversation with Kate. I found that although she is still young, there is a down to earth quality about her that I really appreciated. Kate and I talked about life on the road, boys, spending time with her friends, trying to be a normal person and, of course, her music and debut album Don’t Look Away.

When did you get interested in making music?

I’ve always been interested in making music. I have grown up around it and it has always been a huge passion of mine. I love listening, singing it, playing it, anything. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was 15. I was on vacation with my family in Florida, and my dad — he had played guitar since he was a teenage – bought himself another guitar while we were on vacation. I just kind of got interested, and I was like “Hey dad do you want to teach me to play”. I thought it would be a hobby like “Wow, cool I play guitar.” Never really planned on playing guitar so I could get a record deal and be famous that was never really my intention.

Article Author: A.L. Harper

I'm a writer and music journalist originally from Salt Lake City, but now living in Scotland. I was a Punk/Goth in the '80s and these artistic influences have stayed with me; although a love of Chopin, chamber music, and Spanish guitar would seem to belie this. …

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