KATE FRENCH
BW&BK recently hooked up with CHASTAIN singer Kate French to talk about the upcoming new album, In An Outrage, which has just been released. She discussed the reasons for the extended delay between Chastain albums - the last one, In Dementia - was released in 1997 - her inspirations, and her plans for the future.
On the extended delay of In An Outrage:
"This album has been ready for a long time, over a year, and the songs are even older. My son was born in 1998, so that slowed things down for Chastain, but after he was born I got really sick. I was feeling chunky and tried losing weight by taking diet pills - they were from Canada, oddly enough - and they pretty much wore my body down. I was REALLY sick and I came pretty close to dying. The recovery from that took a long time, but David (Chastain) was really supportive and understanding through the whole thing."
Feeling inspired:
"I wrote all the lyrics on In An Outrage, so a lot of them are based on personal experience and views. They're pretty aggressive, actually, touching on everything from the events of 9/11 ('In An Outrage') to my getting sick ('Lucky To Be Alive') to the idea of lost love, wondering what might have been ('Tortured Love'). I'm going through a divorce right now, so the emotions behind that kind of made their way into my voice when I recorded my vocals."
"Two of my biggest inspirations have been Zakk Wylde and Rob Halford. I love Zakk's Book Of Shadows album; I put that album on and it just takes me away. I like his Black Label Society stuff, but I hope he goes back and does another album like Book Of Shadows at some point because I just love those songs. His voice, the music, everything. As for Rob Halford, he's God (laughs). I love the first Fight album; it's just so aggressive, so heavy. Songs like 'Contortion' and 'Into The Pit'...I know a lot of Priest fans don't like the Fight stuff, but I think the first album is some of the coolest, heaviest stuff he's ever done."
Into the future:
"At some point I plan on doing a solo album - I play guitar as well as sing - but I'm not 100% clear on the direction I'm going to take with that. Maybe it'll be Book Of Shadows meets Fight (laughs). Right now, though, I'm waiting for the release of In An Outrage, and the new VAINGLORY album (featuring guitarist Corbin King). I'm the new singer for Vainglory, and I can tell you that the new stuff is amazing. We actually do a cover of Halford's 'Resurrection', and I think it's going to blow people away. I'm not sure when it's going to come out, but I'm hoping it'll be by early next year."
In An Outrage will be out through Leviathan Records in North America and Massacre Records in Europe.
