Featured as one of Kerrang! Magazine’s Breakthrough Acts of the year in 2017, The Kut have noisily been going about their business of winning over rock fans and media alike with a gang of videos, legendary tour dates, singles and EPs which have culminated in the long awaited debut full length album Valley Of Thorns set for release through Cargo Records on Friday 13th April.
Dubbed the ‘hardest working woman in rock n roll’ Princess Maha leads The Kut with a reputation as one of the UK’s nicest, but most rocking front women ever to grace these shores, and those across Europe’s continent.
Rock category finalist of the UK Songwriting Contest 2017 and current semi-finalist of the International Songwriting Competition, The Kut have put together a future classic album, produced by James Le Rock ( Skindred / Def Leppard / White Zombie / My Vitriol) which is poised to put these ladies over the top.
Infamous festival performances have included Download, Camden Rocks Festival, Rebellion Festival, Hard Rock Hell, Glastonbudget, Nice N Sleazy and Strummercamp and last year was spent mainly on the road across the UK, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Cargo and The Kut partnered with Pledge Music to set the release in motion. The campaign, which has already surpassed the 100% target, sees special exclusives for supporters, including rehearsal hangouts, signed lyrics and The Kut jackets as worn by band and crew on recent tours.
If you don’t yet know about The Kut, get this record and turn the volume up for one hell of a ride. The Kut are Princess Maha (Lead Vocals / Guitar), Stella Vie (Bass / BVs), Diana Bartmann (Drums / BVs). Valley Of Thorns is out on Cargo Friday 13th April. Check out Mind Games from the upcoming album below!
We managed to catch up with The Kut as they talk about their latest single, upcoming album and more!
How has the release of Mind Games gone down so far?
Aw yeah, it’s all been really exciting this month. With ‘Mind Games’ being the single to launch the album, it has just been amazing to see it getting so much support in the run up to release. We reached out to Johnny Doom at Kerrang! Radio to premiere it as an exclusive – he’s been really awesome with playing The Kut tracks on his show and his previous TV show. I listen to him a lot as well, so it was perfect to have the single launched by him. I was getting lots of messages and texts all week, so I’d say it’s all gone down really well so far. Yey!
It’s also been humbling to see so many DJs we love and respect playing it. Sean McGinty and the team at BBC Introducing Lancashire have been supporting The Kut records for the last few years, but it’s always a great buzz when they like and play a new track. It just never gets old. I’ve now heard this week that it’s been added to the NACC Chart in the USA, which is the college radio charts, and being played on over 85 stations, as far as Australia. It’s incredible really. The music video editing was all going on concurrently, and now this video is scheduled to premiere on Scuzz TV this week, so I really couldn’t have hoped for a better reaction.
Tell us something about the single no one else knows?
Oh wow, that’s a tough one. I mean, it’s not a secret, but it’s not public knowledge.. Some of the actors in the music video are members of Vikings MC – one of the largest bike squads in the UK and possibly the world. When the storyline for Mind Games was being planned out I reached out to some of my friends there and asked if they’d be up for being in the video, which they were. The guys are absolute gents and it was a really fun day of filming – we got to ride around on Harley’s and hang out in a 1950s diner for a lot of it.
How pumped are you for the release of Valley of Thorns?
I’m really psyched. I’m a total perfectionist when it comes to making music and quite possibly my own worst critic – so the fact that the debut album is ready, sounding beefy and exactly how I wanted it to sound is brilliant. I really can’t wait for it to be released, and I hope that everyone loves it. It’s been such a long time coming, and my friends and supporters have been there every step of the way. It’s a pretty emotional time to be honest. On a scale of 1 to 10 of excitement, I’m at about 300%.
What is your favourite track from the album?
I don’t really have a fave track. They are all different and I guess it depends on what mood I’m in. I’d be interested to see what anyone else picks as a favourite though ; ) ‘I Want You Maniac’ has been getting a lot of attention lately though, and was selected for both the UK Songwriting Contest Finals and the International Songwriting Competition (ISC) Semi-Finals over in the States. I wouldn’t say it’s the best track but I can’t imagine a live set without it now. Contrasting that with a track like ‘Love in the Rush Hour’, is like picking between a picnic and a rollercoaster when you like both.
If you could work with any band on a new single, who would it be and why?
Oh wow, well that’s a tough question. I’m really liking what I hear from so many new and established bands at the moment. I’d have to say something like Deftones, BMTH, Linkin Park (RIP Chester) or Pendulum, purely because I’d love to see how they would sound with female vocals and a bit of gritty distortion. But then I’ve also been keeping some tabs on new bands and am really liking the sound of bands like Blossoms, Sons, The Virgin Marys – there’s loads of great music out there at the moment.
What show are you most looking forward to playing this year?
We’ve got quite a lot of shows booked in for this year already, but my favourite show is always ‘the next show’ and basically as long as there’s a next show, I’m looking forward to that. Next up is going to be the album launch party, so that is massively exciting. I haven’t announced the venue or date yet, but I’m hoping that everyone is going to be as thrilled about it as we are. We also have some very special guests from years of touring, so I’d say that’s definitely something to be very excited about. There’s so many cool festivals and events in the calendar at the moment too – it’s going to be exciting to head back to Rebellion Festival, Nice n Sleazy and Strummercamp this year, as well as play some festivals for the first time, including Amplified Festival, Byline Festival and then playing the launch of newer events including Wemstock and Hashrock Festival.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Ah that was seeing James play – and probably a defining experience for me. My sister and her husband, then boyfriend, were huge fans and invited the band to stay in my parent’s hotel while on tour. Good times! I miss that hotel too. James turned down their 5 Star accommodation at the Hilton to do just that, and came along to stay with us, with a 60 strong crew! There were band members, their families and kids, engineers, lighting technicians, stage crew… It was a pretty incredible experience to absorb. They’d play their instruments around the hotel and I remember showing Tim Booth some songs that I’d written when I was about 4 haha. It was him that insisted I would be safe at the gig, and I got to watch it from a private balcony. The gig itself was awesome. So many of their fans missed their last trains home though, but the band went to play for them on the train station platform – Tim gave his coat away to a fan. I think that’s how it’s meant to be done.
What do you think bands can do to keep small local venues open?
That’s a good question. The Music Venue Trust has been doing a lot of work on this, and I was really happy to be asked to take part in their first event at the end of last year over at The Horn, St Albans. I think it’s going to be a mix of things that are needed though. The general consensus is that less people are going out to gigs and that many venues need protection from developers and from closure due to noise complaints.
It’s quite hard for bands to know how best to help though, but I think working on making the shows worth coming to is a very good start, whether that’s because of the songs or performance or both, or because many good bands of a similar genre are on the bill. Also bands can be helping to promote their shows and not thinking ‘that’s the promoters’ job, which is a mind-set that doesn’t benefit anyone. Also, not overplaying the same town or city helps – it’s not rocket science to know that if a band is playing the same town every week that the promoters and venues are the ones who bear the brunt of that.
What do you get up to in your spare time when not working on music?
Hahaha. Maybe ask me again in a few months. I can’t even remember the last time I had any spare time aside from the odd night out, but I think that’s the price I have to pay for self-managing The Kut and the whole release campaign through my label, Criminal Records. It’s been grueling and I’ve sacrificed a lot of things in my life for it – but if all these years of hard work end up with the album being heard and a busy touring schedule for me and the girls, then that’s all worth it.