Kawehi keeps it small after finding viral success in Nirvana
Kawehi shot to fame two years ago, when the Hawaiian-born artist’s cover of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” went viral. She and her husband had been living in Lawrence for less than a year, but the Kansas City scene was quick to claim her as our own.
The Internet response was due to Kawehi’s particular rearrangement. Using a microphone, a live-looping setup and her voice, she re-created the song without a traditional instrument. In the years since Kawehi’s breakthrough, she has responded to her newfound stardom by pretending it doesn’t exist.
In February, Kawehi released a new EP called Interactiv. Ahead of her show Saturday at the Tank Room, I called her at her Lawrence home to talk about the record and keeping it DIY.
The Pitch: All seven of your albums have been funded by Kickstarter. Why is that the right format for you?
Kawehi: I feel like if you’re a musician nowadays, you have two roads. You can do the traditional thing and try to get everything behind a record contract, or do it DIY-style, through crowdfunding. I’ve gone down record-contract road before, and I haven’t really liked it. I have gotten some really crappy experiences through it, and I kind of vow now to do the DIY thing. I’ve found my groove, and I really enjoy that I can create the kind of music that I want to.
Part of the rewards and perks for backers on the Interaktiv campaign was letting contributors name songs and provide material. What led you to that decision?
I’ve really had a good time keeping it small and DIY, and with this last EP, I thought it would be great if I heard what everyone else wanted to hear. There’s a reason why I’m able to do what I want to do, and it’s because of them [the fans]. I wanted to know what they wanted to listen to, because I felt like they deserve a say.
How did you go about creating a cohesive album based on the suggestions of so many people?
It definitely was difficult finding a middle ground because I was dealing with almost a thousand people chiming with their ideas on what they want to hear. It took organization and dedication to get everyone to respond. I did a list of the top 10 ideas that people came up with, and put those to a vote.
I’m pretty fortunate that, with the fans and supporters, we have a like-minded view on life. So it was pretty easy to write. We have the same beliefs and feelings about things. I feel like nowadays, a lot of people are really hungry for something authentic and something tangible, and that’s one of the things that I take pride in and enjoy doing, keeping in touch with my fans. I do everything DIY, so without them, I wouldn’t be around. It’s really important for me to be in sync with them. And [with Interaktiv] they’re excited to be part of something musical. It turned out well — there were ideas that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own.
You got Internet famous for your cover of “Heart-Shaped Box” two years ago. Tell me about how life has changed for you since that went viral.
The “Heart-Shaped Box” video just really expanded my audience in a huge way. Really, if that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be able to do it my way, DIY-style. We moved from L.A. to Kansas [three years ago] because we were dead-ass broke. We had to sell our house, and we couldn’t afford to live anywhere else. We wanted to do music and do it for a living. Now I’m able to do this for a living for real and pay the bills and not worry about losing our house, and it’s a great thing. I want to do this for the rest of my life, and I want to make records and tour and do it until I die. I think you can do that nowadays, with the Internet, as long as your goal isn’t to become the next big hotshot. That’s possible. That’s all I shoot for, and that’s my dream.
You’re pretty proficient at the whole one-woman-band thing by now. Does the process ever get boring? Have you considered collaborations or building in a band?
I definitely think about collaborating. I’ve done the band thing, and it’s hard to get five knuckleheads together in a room and rehearse every week and just kind of have the same goal. It’s easier, in some sense, to do it all myself. But it’s also hard because I get really freaking nervous when I’m on stage. If I fuck up the bass part, I can’t blame the bass guy — I blame myself. So it’s a give and take, but I feel like I learn so much, and I grow as a musician so much this way. I probably wouldn’t learn how to use these different software programs and play these different instruments if I wasn’t forced to, so it’s made me grow.
