Your live rendition of “Monster” is pretty popular amongst your fans. Are there any plans to re-record it?
We’re playing like a jam version of it. We’re just extending it, really. It’s such a fun song and it’s got a really good beat to it. It’s kind of fun to just jam on, so maybe we’ll do some live recordings or something like that later on down the road. Live recordings are always a little tough to get sounding right, but maybe we’ll do that on this next run.
So, last night you had your StageIt concert and you dedicated a new song to those who were affected by the horrible tragedy in Newtown, CT. What initially inspired that song, and what do you hope listeners take away from it?
The initial inspiration, I was sitting in Starbucks one day and there was like a little cork board next to the table we were sitting at and it’s got all these missing faces on it. And I never really thought about it until then, like, “Man, this is insane. There’s this six-year-old kid and no one knows where she is.” That was kind of the inspiration for the song. It kind of came out the next day.
I actually drove up to a top of a hill and wrote the song. It all happened really fast. I remember playing it for my wife that night, and she started bawling. I was like, “Uh, I don’t know what that means. I don’t know if that means it’s bad or good.” She was like, “It’s great, but it’s really sad.” And that’s the last thing that I ever want to do with my music is make people sad. I think that music should be fun and happy, and make you feel good. But this one was really deep. It’s a really deep song and it doesn’t end well, you know?
I thought when we were doing the StageIt show and with everything that happened, I was like, “You know what, if I play this song, this is like one of the times it actually makes sense. All the stuff that happened in Connecticut and with Sandy Hook, it was so, so devastating and should not have happened, and is so crazy that I just wanted to give a little “We’re thinking about you” type of song. And I thought it definitely hit home for some of those people.
The song definitely caused a response. I came across it last night on Twitter and your fans seemed pretty moved by it. And listening to it, it is really sad, but I thought it was really poignant in that moment.
Article comments
1 - krismicklin (Linda)
This is such a fantastic interview of Kris! The interviewer really was very knowledgable and knew what questions to ask. I loved finding out the inspiration of Where Are You, Amy, hearing Kris talk about World Vision, his Christmas EP and the upcoming tour. I cannot wait to see his show in February in San Francisco.
2 - Amayesd
Thank you so much for asking great questions
And writing such a nice long article. This was
so fun to read.
3 - Joan
That was a great interview.You covered a lot of stuff that fans didn't know.Interesting that just seeing a picture of a missing child inspired that beautiful song.Even though Kris hasn't been on an official tour,I've seen him 5 times in the summer and fall in the NY area.Kris,Cale and Torres are just fantastic live and no two concerts were the same.
4 - Sahsouha1
Omg, I enjoyed this interview so much! I felt Kris was really talking to Kirsten like a friend! He's always open and talks from his heart, but he's never thar catty with lots of stories to share unless he's comfortable with a good interviewer that puts forward real meaningful questions & that really knows his music and is interested in what he has to say. So thank you Kirsten you made the holiday season for us with your great interview.
5 - Margie
Awesome interview. You asked great questions and got some great answers!
6 - NK
Great interview, thank you!
7 - David J
Kris Allen is touring America and coming to a local dive near you. The guy is playing tiny little local night club dives. His career has taken a complete nose-dive. His label dropped him.
8 - Kirsten Coachman
Thank you everyone for the kind words. I'm glad you all like the interview.