CLAIRE WOODCOCK
Special to The Leader
I met up with Savannah in Starbucks on a grey, Wednesday afternoon. We briefly bonded over the colds we were getting over before settling into the interview. She told me about her experience touring with the 10,000 Maniacs, working with her own band, an upcoming LP and how she’s juggling it all.
Claire Woodcock: So it seems like you’re living this double life. Kind of like Hannah Montana when we were kids but just better in every way!
Savannah King: It’s totally true. I’m at school Tuesday through Thursday, and then on Thursday nights, I leave and, like, get in a van and go on tour. I leave campus to go travel and do all of these shows, and then I sit in Starbucks as a college student, so it’s pretty crazy.
CW: Probably more so now that you’re touring with 10,000 Maniacs…?!
SK: Definitely — the 10,000 Maniacs is just, like, a bump up from my own tours. I got back from the first little leg of the tour a little over a week ago, and I just started the second leg of the tour. I sing harmonies and play rhythm guitar … it’s super official. They let me open the show for a lot of them; I’m opening for them again on Saturday. So, it’s awesome that I get to promote my own music, and they let me sell my CDs and I couldn’t ask for anything better … they’re amazing people.
CW: How did that gig come about?
SK: The head of the music industry department at Fredonia, Armand Petri, [has] been their producer for 30-something years. The previous girl that had the gig was a Fredonia student — they use a lot of Fredonia students in their production and live sound crews — and they knew she was going back to school. So they asked Armand, ‘Don’t you know any singer/songwriters who would like this gig?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, Savannah.’ So he called me into his office and asked, ‘Hey do you want this job?’ and I said, ‘Yes, of course, when do I start?!’ And it was almost immediately. I literally had a week to learn all of their songs, and then I was on the road with them.
CW: So are you picking up any good advice from them?
SK: Totally. Because I’ve never performed on that big of a scale — I’ve done larger shows, but they consistently do these shows and have been in the industry way longer than I have. So, I’m just asking them a million questions and just being a sponge and soaking up everything that I can from them because they’re pros — they’ve been doing it for so long!
CW: Alright, so let’s backtrack: how’d you get your start as a musician?
SK: My parents were musicians. My mom was a singer and she did theatre while my dad played bass. We had a music room in the house growing up where my dad had all of his instruments and equipment and stuff. They would turn on microphones and I would just sing in the microphones. They encouraged me to do piano and violin, I picked up the guitar, and I just begged them for voice and guitar lessons. But they waited to see if it was really something I wanted to do, because voice lessons are expensive and it was a lot of dedication, but I just didn’t stop playing.
So I did the lessons, and I did the plays in high school, and eventually I realized I could write my own songs on the guitar; and as soon as I figured that out, it was over. So I just begged my mom to take me to open mics, like, I would look up on the internet all of the open mics going on in the area. I was 14 or 15 and these were in bars in Buffalo, so she was a little hesitant. But we went to some cafe ones and eventually I just networked with people, put together my own shows and people put me on their shows and it just sort of grew from there.
CW: When did you know that singing and performing your own music was what you wanted to do?
SK: “One of the times that I performed was at the Palace Theatre in Lockport, which is this huge, huge theatre. It was a talent show, and my guitar teacher told me about it. I would come in every week for my lesson and play him the songs I wrote, and it became more about that than learning scales or whatever because he realized that that was what I wanted, so he helped me with my writing.
Then he heard about this talent show in Lockport and was like, ‘You should sign up, you should do it!’ So I did, and I played one of the first songs I ever wrote, “Dear June,” and it’s on my second EP, the “She Sends Her Love” EP. I put it on there because it’s close to my heart. So little 14-15-year-old me was up on this huge theatre stage and the room was full of parents and stuff, and I played this song that I wrote and it was the proudest moment of my life. And it probably wasn’t very good if you go back and look at it, but just being on that stage for the first time, playing one of my songs, was when I was like ‘Yes, I need to do this.’
CW: So now you’re a senior music business major at Fred. You’ve done a lot of your own promotion and marketing, so it would be pretty dumb to assume that your business degree hasn’t helped you with that, right?
SK: It’s definitely helped. I mean, I came into the program already doing that stuff, so this program’s more reinforced what I was doing already. It was good to hear from industry professionals like Armand and all of the guest speakers who have been through it all and just the networking alone! Everyone in the music industry program hopefully will [be] going on to be in the music industry, so that’s however many people that I know now that are in the industry. Just getting the 10,000 Maniacs gig was because of my major, so I’m completely grateful for that opportunity.
CW: Okay, so I feel like I have to ask: You’re so busy. I mean, I think that I’m busy, but next to you, there’s no comparison, you know? So how do you manage everything?
SK: To-do lists. To-do lists are like my number one thing right now.
CW: Are you a chronic list maker?
SK: Yes, I have at least twenty of them written down at home and pictures of them on my phone.”
CW: You sound just like me!
SK: Yeah, I need to plan out my weeks way ahead of time. My grandmother will ask, ‘Do you want to have lunch?’ and I’ll say, ‘I’m free in, like, three weeks on Tuesday, can you do 6?’ I was busy with my own tours, but now it’s my own shows on top of band practices, on top of 10,000 Maniac’s band practices, on top of their shows, on top of their tours, on top of school, on top of just having a life. It’s pretty crazy! And I recently put my own band together, so then there’s rehearsals with that, but that’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
CW: Oh yeah? Tell me about the band!
SK: Well I’ve been solo for a really long time, but playing with a band has been something I’ve wanted to do for so long! Playing solo has its benefits — it has its perks — but I got tired of just always being solo. Plus, its fun to play with a band working off of other instruments!
Loren Metzger was my assistant — she got intern credit for going on tour with me. And then all of a sudden she said, ‘I play drums by the way,’ and I was like, ‘Oh okay, cool.’ And then it turned out she was actually the most ridiculous drummer I’ve ever seen and she’s a girl, and girl drummers are awesome. So I was like ‘Please, join my band!’
My guitar player is Mark Bamann. He’s in the music industry program and graduating in December with me. Mark, Loren and I have toured together in the past. And then we found Scott Gergelis — he plays upright and it’s so, so good — and it just fell into place so well. Nothing is forced with this music.”
CW: How did that formulate?
SK: That was a hard place to get to — finding a band. Because you not only have to gel as people and personalities, we have to gel musically. It also depends on the spots we’re at in life, the time we can devote and all of the members just fell completely into place. They’re fantastic. They’re all Fredonia students or alumni. I’m so proud of them. Even though I write all of the songs, we arrange them together. They’re our songs. I give them to the band to rearrange them. Everyone’s so proud of them.
CW: Have you announced any dates?
SK: Our first gigs are coming up in November! We haven’t played out yet, so we’re pretty excited. November 20th is the Tudor Lounge in Buffalo, and then the 28th is in Niagara Falls at The Evening Star. I can’t wait to get it out in the world because I’ve been working for so long behind the scene, and I can’t wait for people to see it. It’s just more fun being onstage with other people, and they’re like my best friends, too, and that’s awesome.”
CW: Your voice has been compared to those of Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, Fiona Apple and Sarah McLachlan. Would you consider these women some of your inspirations?
SK: Oh, they’re definitely inspirational to me. I’m still finding my own style and my own path that I’m going down in music, so I don’t know if I’m like any of those artists 100 percent. But definitely I can hear it in the tones in my voice and how I sing. So it’s an honor any time anyone says that to me, but I’m foraging my own path — trying to, anyway.
CW: What would you describe your voice/style as right now?
SK: People have called it contemporary folk — not really sure what that means because it sits in a really weird spot. My guitar player is very jazzy and so is my bass player, and I come from a really folky and poppy place. So all of those things put together, I don’t know what to call it yet. And every song has a different twist and style and that’s what people who have heard our rehearsals, that’s what they’ve said. There’s something for everyone.
CW: So you’ve already released 3 EP’s, but soon you’ll have a new album coming out?
SK: We’re putting a full band album together that’s due out in the spring. We’ve just demoed so far, so I don’t want to put any date out, but it’ll be a full-length album. I’ve put out three EPs, so I’m kind of tired of putting out five songs, so yeah, we’re going in and starting to record that and starting to do live shows. I just walk around all day and I’m just so excited to record and perform with my own band.
CW: You seem like you’re in pretty good shape for graduation.
SK: It’s all a pretty good wave to ride on coming out of college, so just working on my own band and touring and working on my own music and hopefully not having to get a day job that I hate. Hopefully not having to work for an office or something. So, hopefully I can do enough with the music to make that my main focus every day.
CW: Well it seems like you have so many good things going for you!
SK: I’m trying, I don’t sleep at night, but I’m trying.
CW: Same Savannah, same.