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Though she lives on 130 acres in Maine, surrounded by quiet,
Kate Schrock is one busy musician.
"I do everything myself", Schrock explained. "It's my own
label, I do my own booking, my own marketing. I've been doing
this the last 3 years - booking tours and going out on the
road. I had to be resourceful and find things on my own.
So, it's due to my own tenacity. I don't want to get caught
up in the industry web. I just want to be putting stuff out,
and writing and doing my own thing."
Schrock recently released her third CD, "Dames Rocket," and
is driving across the country, three-piece band in tow, to
showcase her unique approach to music.
In a phone interview from Little Rock, Arkansas, the singer/songwriter/pianist
discussed philosophy, "women's" music and the evolution of
her sound.
"I started playing piano when I was about five. I only had
about four lessons in my life," Schrock explained. "I didn't
like the lesson part of it, so I just learned my own thing
and taught myself. I always loved the sound of the piano
- I always heard it in rock 'n' roll. The Who, The Rolling
Stones - all that stuff. So, I just had an ear for that.
Then, I got into writing poetry in my teens, but it wasn't
until I was in my 20's that I started putting it together.
I started getting into the process of songwriting and realizing
how interesting that was. So, it evolved organically."
Schrock spent two years studying philosophy at the University
of Chicago - and experience that shaped her mind and her music.
"My mind works in a philosophical way," she said. "It has
since I was a kid, which is why I was interested in studying
philosophy. That's what turns me on - looking at things in
a philosophical way. So, that's my bent in writing - it probably
comes out that way because that's in my nature. I don't consciously
think about it, but that's my orientation. I have a very
curious mind."
While in School, Schrock found herself by arguments over
the "best" philosophers, finding a universal quality in a
range of works.
"When I went to school, it was all the old German men - Hegel,
Kant and all those guys," Schrock said. "It left me addled
in a way. I read a lot of Nietzsche before I went to college
- really heavy existentialist type of stuff. Later, I evolved
towards an Eastern bend and have studied a lot of zen, which
resonates with me. I think everyone is basically trying to
say the same things."
Books and bands
Schrock wasn't just hitting the books in Chicago, she was
also pounding the keys in a local band.
"I was in a band in Chicago that was together for two years",
Schrock said. "When the band broke up, I began writing my
own style, which is still the style hat I have now. It hasn't
changed dramatically, but it's evolving slowly. I guess,
it's an amalgam of the stuff I was listening to back then
- Roxy Music, Velvet Underground and Miles Davis. I love
space and I love simplicity and I love poetry. I wanted to
create something that had some simplicity and some depth to
it."
Schrock is supportive of the recent movement in so-called
"women's" music, but doesn't consider herself a member of
the Lilith Fair crowd.
"I'd like to believe that my music is gender non-specific,"
Schrock said. "I don't like to lump things into gender.
I think the whole quote-unquote 'girl-movement' has been important,
but I think at a certain point you have to get away from gender
politics and start looking at art for art's sake. Good art
and bad art have nothing to do with gender. So, I really
appreciate the movement, I support it, but I don't really
identify with it. I feel like I am sort of outside of that."
When she is not on the road, Schrock lives in a small fishing
village on the coast of Maine. Though the setting is an idyllic
one for writing music and rehearsing, Schrock unjoys the rattle
and hum of life on the road.
"I think I'd go crazy if I stayed at home and never left,"
Schrock said. "I'd go out of my mind, you know? On the other
hand, I'd probably lose my mind if I were touring all the
time as well. The balance for me is really good - to be out
on the road and then to come back home. There is no - one
I live on 130 acres and it's very, very quiet. That's great
but after awhile I get antsy and want to go back on the road."
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