KITTEN AND THE HIP
Many people know Kitten & The Hip from The X Factor.. How did you find the experience and would you encourage other singers and artists to enter talent shows like The X Factor and The Voice?
We have two very different views about these shows, but also a similar conclusion. Ash hates them, but he's a grumpy old git who's come up from live playing and working your ass off to get anywhere, so he sees these shows as a shortcut to oblivion.
Scarlett is more pragmatic and realises that although music seems to be democratised and it feels like anyone could have a hit from Soundcloud (and that can sometimes happen, but very rarely) in reality, it costs a lot of money to break a pop act and the people who hold the keys to the wallet are still there, and still holding the keys. Simon Cowell happens to be one of those people, so if you get asked to take part in his show, it's worth a bash, and we both agree with that. That's how we ended up on The X Factor.
The process itself is quite humiliating and dehumanising, they use pretty crude psychological methods to ensure that the participants are pretty much on edge all that time. Ash reckons that they probably break several human rights laws per episode.
Lets rewind for a moment, what were your earliest musical memories?
Ashley was raised on a diet of country music, bluegrass, easy listening and country music, bluegrass, easy listening and dixieland jazz. He also remembers his dad having lots of musicians over playing with his dad, who could play anything with strings on it.
Scarlett grew up with an indie loving mum and dad, so Stone Roses, Elliott Smith, REM, Neil Young, Tracey Chapman, Lauren Hill and The Posies. She also used to go and see her dad's band, Blow Up.
What plans do you have going forward for the band?
We want to keep making tunes and videos, keep on being out there. Hopefully a lot of touring over the spring and summer, we love gigging for many reasons. We love performing, we like traveling together. We love meeting new people and don't love sleeping in mud or in stranger's shockingly filthy beds
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-- Rokuro
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