KATE BOND

Image by Victoria Wai

HOPE LYNES SPEAKS TO NEO-SOUL ARTIST KATE BOND ABOUT HER UPCOMING SINGLE, FEMINISM IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND HER CAREER SO FAR

“This first EP is very political. It’s how I write the best. I can write love songs, but they always tend to call [men] misogynists.”

Bradford-via-Newcastle songwriter Kate Bond takes the melodic groove of Amy Winehouse and makes it her own, with forcefully moving vocals and powerful feminist tracks that tell of her experiences. “Feminism has accidentally become my brand, that’s not a bad thing though because I am very politically minded, so I think without even trying my songs tend to take that sound,” she explains. “It is good juice for the songwriting, because I can actually methodically write what I think men are, which is usually a prat!”

Preceding her aforementioned EP, the neo-soul artist will release new single Thinking of You on 7th January. Although different in content to her other tracks, it remains quite similar in style. If it’s anything like recent single Yasmin, you can expect a funky soundscape with a strong yet sweet vocal that is addictive to listen to.

The love story narrative may look different from her previous feminist anthems, where Kate explains the song is about her experiences of a rather toxic relationship. “I was seeing this guy and I ended up breaking up with him because he treated me like shit. This song is about battling the urge to text him when I know he’s not good for me.”

The feminism that reigns strong in Kate still plays its part in her self-respect within the narrative, and her awareness of stopping similar situations from happening to her friends or herself again. “I stand by the concept of always taking the advice you would give to a friend in that situation. I always give my friends the same advice, like ‘dump him’, but in reality if you had a relationship with him, it’s so hard to just sack him off, but you should!”

The hotly-awaited new single is going to show a softer side to Kate and explore romance in a refreshing way. “This is the first song where I’ve actually shown that I did like a boy once! Most of my songs are just savage. I feel a bit bad for any boys I’m involved with because they just get absolutely roasted.”

Kate jokingly fears that we might not get any more singles as in recent romantic experiences men have been too nice to her. “It’s bad now because I’m running out of material, all the men I see now are really pro-feminist!”

Having established her sound and become part of the recently formed NEWISM (North East Women In Soul Music) collective, she’ll be expanding her live show by being joined by a full band in the future. “I’m lucky that I’ve actually found a full band now, which I didn’t have when I first started out. It’s really going to help with arranging the songs that I’ve written live. You get a lot more experimental stuff, a lot of what I write is quite simple, then they add the seasoning.”

Kate Bond releases Thinking Of You on 7th January www.facebook.com/katebondmusic