KUNG-FU KITTY – Interview with Lisi Heller
First of all: Why the band name?
One the one hand it shows exactly what we are – hand-tame, sociable people who can really bite on stage, though. On the other hand we’d been searching for a band name that even more or less drunk people are able to understand when shouting it from stage, so that they can look it up online.
You are – with one exception – a band out of siblings. What is your relationship like?
Fantastic! We really love each other – whether at our parents’ kitchen table or in the rehearsal room – there is hardly a difference for us.
Does it come to cabin fever more often?
Not more often than in other bands I think. Of course brothers and sisters, too, have bad days, but we know each others quite long and know how to deal with each others.
In your video clip (you can watch “Betrayer” below) some politicians participate through masks more or less voluntarily. Are you in a way a political band?
More and more. For example, I became a vegan six months ago and that’s not because I like squirrels so much, but because I am aware of my environment and think about several processes in this world. On our next album it will be a focused topic.
On your Facebook page I read you had problems because of the video. First of all, YouTube blocked it and stopped the rerelease, then someone hacked your homepage. Please tell me what happened and how you solved the problem!
We had a lot of fun and our knees began to buckle – because it was only a PR stunt. But in times of Edward Snowden vs. NSA the story is not far-fetched and many friends and fans and even newspapers and magazines reacted strongly on the campaign. Thank god! Freedom of speech is a utopian dream in too many parts of the world. We want this human right – for everyone – without exception!
What’s the message behind “Betrayer”?
Originally it’s a story about – how boring – a broken relationship. But I like our video director’s interpretation much more. You can watch it on YouTube…
There are also many people showing messages in the video. How did they become part of the clip?
They are nice people and we invited them. You can see members of bands we are friends with, but also our mum – she has a lot to say about some abstracted themes of this world.
Your recent album is called “Massive Purple Flash Of Lighning” – an interesting name! What’s the deal behind it?
A really bad movie called “Two headed Shark Attack”! It’s a tradition for us to watch bad shark movies on tour and in this special case it is great fun pronounce the name. Try it out! You know what I mean? That’s what we want!
Your recent album release is more than a year ago. Are there plans for a new album?
Many plans, many questions, many quests, many maybe, maybe many more, more, more, more…
What about your tour plans for the future?
We’ll become famous and take Dave Grohl and his guys with us as our support act – that’s the plan.
You’ve played a lot in Austria and Germany. Are there plans to tour other countries any time soon?
This summer we’ll play Slovakia for the first time. Apart from that we concentrate on the band’s interiority. After a bustling live season, Kung-Fu Kitty has to become sober.
Please describe your stage show.
– Max is sweating, because he strikes out more than any other drummer that I know…
– I sing and jump for my life, because I forget myself and my body completely on stage…
– Andi makes himself available as a dreamboat for EVERY female guest. We don’t know how he affords it, but he seems to be unbelievably attractive for the other sex on bass and guitar. There is no gig on which he doesn’t get approaches.
– Matthias is engaged with not killing me with his equipment, while doing almost everything you can do with an instrument around your neck…
How long do you spend preparing for a gig?
Ten minutes vocal warm-up und screaming, stretching and warm-up during the sound check, half an hour for make-up… That’s the regular process…
Which is your favourite outfit on stage?
I like to be lightly dressed, so I feel free. Maybe black shorts and a cool dress with a train to wag around with or only a bustier. Depends on if it is summer or winter.
Your favourite shoes?
Flat, black boots or ankle-boots.
At Metal Female Voices Fest we asked every singer for a recipe. What do you like to cook when you really have time for it?
At the moment I like to cook Boeuf Stroganoff – vegan of course!
Which bands or singers influenced you in former times and which today?
I grew up with a big skater brother, so I was addicted to Beasty Boys, Foo Fighters, NOFX, Queens Of The Stone Age, Papa Roach and others right from the start. Later System Of A Down, Billy Talent, Jennifer Rostock, Biffy Clyro, Kings Of Leon and Fall Out Boy were added. There are so many impressive artists…
What are you doing when you’re not into music?
Max hurts himself with dangerous sports, Andi travels the world, I play unbelievably complicated board games and Matthias … makes music … he never doffs his guitar, I think… not even for sleeping…
You’re posting a lot on Facebook and give your fans the opportunity to take part on the band’s life through photos. How important are social networks nowadays for bands?
Very important! Aren’t they? More important than we think? Or even more? I don’t have a Facebook profile myself – my life is diffused enough – I’m always looking for my inner life, not my outer life, but sometimes I wish to know more about other bands for example. So social networks are good tools for exchanging information.
Is the idea of a label obsolete nowadays, because one can do everything by oneself for example with iTunes or crowd funding?
Phu… Label-people have always been important for us to get forward, at least through new motivation after a meeting. Maybe a label is not that important anymore, but it is good to use the infrastructure, if you aren’t familiar with LSGs, laws, paragraphs, CRS codes and so on.
The last words are yours!
We never were something different than ourselves and we have in common that we want to feel life in its whole expansion – the bright and the hard sides of life. Through music we get in touch with other emotions faster – doesn’t matter if you are musician or recipient. We should never stop being aware of ourselves every second of our lives. There are no wrong decisions within the here and now! So there is nothing to regret. It’s that simple. And beautiful. Amen.