Kristina Cottone — On her own…for now
Stage presence has never been an issue for Kristina Cottone. One look at a live set from her band Honey & the 45s will confirm that. But as she takes the leap into the world of the solo artist with her new EP, Bow, and a gig at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC on Friday, the Chicago singer-songwriter admits that this new journey is taking some getting used to.
“To be perfectly honest, it’s terrifying,” she laughs. “I love playing with the band, playing off each other, listening to each other, improvising, and I love those moments on stage when we’re so in tune with each other and we can build. There are so many things that having a full band brings to the stage. It’s a different kind of energy. But playing solo is really unique because I’m connecting completely with the audience. So instead of picking things up off my bandmates, I’m looking directly at the audience for that energy. It’s really unique, I like it a lot, it’s very different, but yeah, it’s pretty scary sometimes.”
Past history indicates that she will be just fine, both in the studio and on stage, with Bow representing an opportunity for Cottone to take advantage of a fortuitous meeting with engineer Jeff Breakey after recording a podcast, some studio time at Rosebud Studios, and plenty of songs that were ready to see the light of day.
“I was thinking about doing solo stuff for a while and I had some songs I wanted to record, and then the project just got going and we kept making more and more music,” she said. “I had been writing for a long time, and I just happened upon an opportunity to get into the studio and enjoy working with Jeff, and the ball just kept rolling.”
Now it’s time to test Bow out on stage, with Cottone’s triumphant return to New York for the first time in seven years a particular highlight for the Windy City native.
“I’ve been wanting to get back to New York for so long,” said Cottone, who lived in the Big Apple for a month and a half while she studied acting in college. “I have a lot of friends there and I’m kind of testing the waters. I’d love to bring Honey & The 45s out sometime this summer, so this is like a reintroduction to New York for me. I haven’t been back for seven years, so I’m really excited to be back.”
And yes, Honey fans, you can rest easy. Cottone is not leaving the popular band. In fact, they’re getting ready to record a new EP and they have big plans for the rest of 2017.
“We took a break from gigging to primarily focus on writing,” she said. “I write songs all the time, and sometimes I’m like, these are a great fit for Honey, and sometimes they’re not. And these songs were not really the right fit for Honey, but I still wanted to record them, and I thought, ‘Why not.’ But the band were really, really supportive and they said to go out with the intention of seeing if this would be a good fit for us to play because we all know that as we’re recording this new EP, we’re gonna start planning some tours for later this summer.”
Honey & the 45s have never played in New York, something they want to rectify as soon as possible, and with their musicianship, hooks and optimistic approach to the business, they will be a breath of fresh air in a time when everyone could use a smile or two or ten.
“I think everyone in our band is pretty positive,” Cottone said. “We’ve got a positive outlook and we want the audience to feel good. Music can be a powerful tool in being political and being active and releasing a feeling. But it also can be a really powerful tool in taking people out of all the negative stuff. And we want our shows to be a release. We want people to feel good when they come to a show and we want them to come back and chase after that feeling.
“Are we opposed to writing powerful, political or non-optimistic songs?” she continues. “I don’t think we’re opposed to that and, if you dig a little deeper, some of them have deeper meaning. But in general, music for us is our release, our way of feeling good, of vibing, and so that’s what translates into an optimistic listener experience.”
Kristina Cottone plays Rockwood Music Hall in NYC on Friday, Feb. 24 at 8pm. For more information, click here.
For more information on Kristina Cottone, click here
