I think Nine Inch Nails was a really big one for me, when I was 18. They really inspired me to start making my own music.
Katie StelmanisIn political sense, it doesn't really matter what I do on my own, but it's so important to rally some sort of collectiveness and reignite a collective vision, and I think that's something you can do effectively through art and music, and through writing and entertainment - and just through like, pop culture. It's about spreading ideas and making people think differently, essentially.
Katie StelmanisUsually the song is totally done. I'll do absolutely everything, backing vocals - everything - but in gibberish. A lot of times its based on the mumblings that I sing. Even though I sing in gibberish, it kind of makes sense.
Katie StelmanisI was listening to a lot of really early house music tracks. Like Chicago house and Detroit. And Marshall Jefferson has a track probably from 1980 - somewhere around there - that doesn't actually have any electronic instruments, no drum machines, nothing. Just a drummer and a piano player and they're playing this house music, but they're actually playing it. I really love that aesthetic and wanted to bring that into the album.
Katie Stelmanis