Founding the popular party band B-52s in Athens, Georgia, has kept singer Kate Pierson a busy girl over the years. She constantly toured with the band that brought us hits like "Love Shack" and "Roam" along the way. While with them, she has worked with Iggy Pop, REM and David Byrne on hits, among many others.
Now with her first solo record she takes to the road again. Guitars and Microphones is an album full of quirky songs that come together. Some of the material has her teaming with the sassy songstress Sia Furler while Pierson's fiancée, Monica Coleman, provided photography for the record. They run two properties together—Kate's Lazy Meadow in New York and Kate's Lazy Desert in California—and have been a couple since 2003.
Pierson called up Windy City Times to reflect on her career and talk about her upcoming appearance at City Winery.
Windy City Times: Hi, Kate. I'm so excited to see you playing Chicago again.
Kate Pierson: I love City Winery. I just did one show there in New York City and it was such a great venue. People are relaxed and drinking their wine but they pay attention. It is kind of like Joe's Pub in New York. People can get up and dance, even though I'm not sure there is really a dance floor.
WCT: You can tell stories and the audience will pay attention.
KP: It is so refreshing to me. I am not really a big storyteller. I have never really done that with The B-52s; we banter. I don't like to tell long stories or anything but I want to be able to say things and not have to shout into the audience. No screaming, "Hello, Chicago!"
WCT: Are you performing any B-52s songs or are you just focusing on the solo work?
KP: I am adding a few secret songs. I will give away that I will do "Roam." I will add a couple more that are associated with me.
WCT: Since you are from New Jersey, how did you wind up in Athens with The B-52s in the first place?
KP: Fred Schneider [and I are] both from New Jersey and he wound up going down there to study forestry until he realized it was not what he thought it was; he then worked at the health-food store and dropped out of school.
I drifted down there after hitchhiking through Europe. I had this beautiful house there. It was a love shack, set back in the middle of a field, it was a funky old shack with no running water. It had an outhouse with a view of a cowfield. I lived about five hours outside of Athens. I was completely isolated when I lived there from town. I had my neighbors, garden and chickens. I then met the rest of the band and we started jamming.
WCT: You always wanted to perform?
KP: Music is always something I wanted to do. I knew I would do it since I was a little kid. I wanted to be a singer. When I lived in Athens with chickens and goats I wasn't sure how that would happen. I had always written songs and music but at that point I didn't know if it would be a profession for me.
No one in The B-52s said, "Let's form a band, you play a keyboard and you play bass." It just sort of happened one night, we started jamming and came up with a song called "Killer B's." We started playing a few parties, then New York City, then ba-boom!
WCT: What took you so long [to do] a solo project?
KP: It didn't take me that long to write; in fact, it was a quick writing process working with Sia. We went to different writing partners she had written with before, mostly for the instrumental parts. Dallas Austin worked a lot collaboratively on lyrics too.
The reason I didn't do a solo record before is a mystery to me in some ways because I always wanted to do it. I had made several attempts in the past and written several songs. There are a lot of forces against that, one being the integrity of the band B-52s keeping it together because we had been touring endlessly. We took time off but there were things in our lives that came up. It sounds like excuses but I finally gave myself permission to do it. I finally was able to go for it and take the time to do it.
There was an element of fear involved because I was very comfortable being in a band for 38 years. We always get a reaction from the audience and they always dance. "Rock Lobster" they go crazy. It is a great thing. I feel blessed to be in the band. People would come up to me and say how the band helped them. That was an unexpected byproduct. We didn't start with that intent. We were just having fun ourselves. We worked really hard but we didn't expect this kind of reaction from people. It is comforting being in the band so stepping out was a bit like walking the plank!
WCT: I think it meant a lot to gay fans in the South to have Fred be so outspoken with The B-52s.
KP: Yes, and Ricky and Keith were both gay as well—just maybe not as outgoing. I think it was the whole persona of the band. We have a very gay sensibility and sense of humor. We were inspired by Fellini movies, science fiction and the '60s. We would go to the thrift store and buy crazy wigs. We did things in Athens; although we weren't art students, we did things that they do. We were a large group of friends that crashed parties. We had jobs but we were the deadbeat club. We would hang out and drink coffee and iced tea. To amuse ourselves we started the band but then it became more serious about working it and doing it.
We always wanted to be inclusive and the fact was we were outcasts there in a way. Athens was a small town with very little happening. There were two feed stores and the university was separate. We were rebellious and I think people related to us.
WCT: RuPaul has come a long way since appearing in the "Love Shack" video.
KP: Coincidently, he was spotted in Denver and I texted him to come to the show. We got to hang a bit. We have been big fans of his since the beginning.
WCT: For your video "Bring Your Arms" it is animal rights-inspired?
KP: Yes, it is all about saving the sea turtles. Sia wrote it before we started writing together. She wrote that song based on a trip that my partner Monica took together with her to Tulum, Mexico. We witnessed a sea turtle rescue. We were running with flashlights so that is where the line about "burning with a lightbulb" comes from. Part of the proceeds from the record will be donated to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
WCT: Talk about the photography your partner Monica did on the album.
KP: It was really great to work with her. We are getting married in Hawaii in August. To work together on this record has been amazing. She's a great photographer. She really honed her Photoshop skills with making the video. She learned Final Cut Pro. She directed the "Mister Sister" video. "Bring Your Arms" is really a lyric video but she did that too. The whole process of working with my partner creatively has been great.
She manages our hotels Kate's Lazy Meadow and Lazy Desert. She does all the work for that and a lot of the decorating. I bought every crazy thing that is in there!
WCT: Is new B-52s music in the works? I know the group tours a lot.
KP: One of the reasons that I was able to do this solo record was because we have stopped touring as much. Keith Strickland retired from touring. Greg Suran is playing guitar now and he is awesome, but we are doing three shows a month. No one but me is wanting to tour as much, so now I have my own shows now.
We just played the Portland Zoo, the Seattle Zoo and Bellingham, Washington, at a theater. In August, we are going to play California; then in September, three nights at the Hollywood Bowl with the Psychedelic Furs and the Philharmonic Orchestra. That will be three very special shows.
I don't know if we will be doing music together but, if we do, it will be a collaboration with someone. It would be great to do a song with Sleater-Kinney or the Foo Fighters.
Tell people to come on down to the City Winery. From the shows I have done people seem to know the lyrics and that has been heartening. I hope people will dance, too!
Come see Kate Pierson at City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph St., on Tuesday, July 21, at 8 p.m. Visit www.citywinery.com/chicago for tickets and stop by Pierson's property at www.lazymeadow.com .
