Music Q&A:
Kate Ellis

What informs your music and songwriting?
Mostly emotion. Most of my songs come from a desire to embody a certain emotional truth or a place inside me within the music and the words.

How have you evolved as an artist over the years?
I got into writing songs very much as a way of connecting to a part of myself. I still very much do that, but as I do more performing I also feel excited about connecting with other people and experiencing them connect to my music. I love how music can function like an emotional transporter – a machine that can transport the listener to the same emotional places that the writer was in.

What are you up to at the moment artistically?
I’ve been doing a number of shows around the release of my debut album, Carve Me Out – for instance, we’re in the middle of a run of UK dates to promote the album coming out on vinyl this month. I am also working on another video and a stealth online music project that I can talk about soon. And of course working on new songs for the second album!

What’s on your rider?
I’m pretty low maintenance, to be honest. What I care about most is to be able to play in front of a listening audience that loves the kind of music I make in an intimate venue that feels special.

Tell us your most embarrassing or surreal experience.
Most surreal was probably getting lost in the middle of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City when I was seven years old. I have memories of a large Snoopy floating overhead as I was trying to find my mother.

What song do you wish you’d written?
At the moment it’s Hurt by Nine Inch Nails. We cover that live and, every time I sing it, I wish I’d written it.

What’s your worst lyric?
I had a look through some old songs that never made the cut and found this line, “I’m trying hard to replace you, but I find I can’t erase you”, which is seriously bad! Also: “If you were the weight of the world, I’d pick you up and roll you down the street.” Hmm, actually I might still work on that one…