2 SLEEPS until the 2nd annual Lovecoast & Friends Christmas Benefit for Music Heals! We are so excited (and selling tickets for $10 in case anyone needs any before the show! They'll be $15 at the door) so Jess called up Kate Kurdyak from The Katherines to chat a little in anticipation. Here's how the conversation went.

Jess: How long have you been playing together as The Katherines?

Kate: So basically I started out doing music and playing by myself in coffee houses, and in high shcool I formed a band of 10 people - we had a full string quartet and had a guitar and Lauren and Kaityn were in the band. Lauren is my sister and Kaitlyn is one of my best friends -when we were little we were singing in choir together- and people went off and did their own things and the band eventually became the 3 of us. That's how The Katherines were born. But mostly became out of playing together and loving being on stage together and I realized how I didn't want to be in the music industry without them.

Jess: When did The Katherines form then?

Kate: I formed the band in 2012 and we became The Katherines officially last year.

Jess: WIth your sister and best friend in the band, how do you make decisions? Does it ever cause stress or tension?

Kate: It can be a little weird, especially with a sister - we are sisters so we fight out things like sisters do - but actually when it comes to the band decisions we all have a very similar vision of The Katherines and what we want to talk about and look like and how we want our music to be represented. It's been easy because we spend so much time talking and tetxing each other and talking about the big vision, so when it comes to nit picky decisions we generally agree. Personality-wise, we're all very different but what we love about music is similar. It actally makes it easier having your best friend and sister.

Jess: What about your personalities is different? What are your key personalities like?

Kate: Kaitlyn is very outgoing and funny anad dramatic and puts on a show everywhere she goes, and hanging out with Kaitlyn is the most fun thing you can ever do and she's also super thoughtful and perceptive. Whenever we have deep discussions about our lives and people in our lives I'm always curious about what she's going to say.

Lauren come across as the quiet one, but she's introspective and poetic and spends a lot of time thinking and she's super smart.

I don't know what I am, I'm kind of the weirdo who writes the songs and spends too much time crying and thinking about love. And I'm the one living in Squamish - living in the woods and being a hippy.

Jess: Your music isn't hippyish.

Kate: Maybe the next record will be a hippy record, but the record now is about coming out of high school and experienceing high school things.

Jess: When does the record drop?

Kate: The record is called To Bring You y Heart, it's dropping some time in 2016.

Jess: How did you pick which song is the single?

Kate: Well with Cherry Lips it was sort of the last one that got done on the record and it represented the vibe we were going with - sort of cool alt music about love and that sort of general sound. Primitive, which is our latest single (throughout the whole process of writing the album I wrote about 40 songs) that one was my favourite and I was hoping it would be the single and I was super happy when it was.

It was a group decision and that's where label and managemnt come in to play and as industry professoinals they have a lot to say about it, and we all came together to make a decision.

Jess: How was working with Steve Bays (of Hot Hot Heat / Mounties) and Charlie Kerr (of JPNSGRLS)?

Primitive... I did that one with with Steve Bays and Charlie Kerr - that was a wierd thing, I had just met Charlie the day before I went in to go work with Steve Bays and meet him. I met him the day before because he wrote this duet I ranodmly told him what I was doing with Steve and asked if he wanted to come. Actually what happened was Steve Bays had done the record for JPNSGRLS and Charlie invited me to come listen to it at Steve's studio and I was like 'Oh I'm coming back tomorrow' and it was the weirded and coolest writing session we did for the record.

Jess: Did you learn anything form them?

Kate: Steve Bays – the cool thing about Steve is he's very... especially the way he did Prmitive, he's an improv guy when it comes to vocals. I wrote the lyrics but we talked a little about melody but he's like 'Go into the vocal booth and sing whatever comes to mind' and I spent two and a half to three hours in the vocal booth just singing things and he worked it all together and I learned sometimes spontineity is best in the studio. Steve is incredible I'd highly recommend him.

Jess: And how was writing in collaboration?

Kate: It's honetly harder with people sometimes, its differnet every time. I worked with a bunch of different people and producers, but writing is hard because you'll be sititng in a room but with a producer they make the track and go. As you go you're putting down all of these tracks and you can hear it come to life as you write it. It's cool being able to bounce stuff off of other people, you feel like before you sing something to Steve Bays it should be decent, but you just go with it. I love collaborations, it makes for intersting song babies.

Jess: In the theme of the show, what are some of your and your sister's Christmas traditions?

Kate: Ooh good question, for Lauren and I, without fail it's a lot about hanging out around the fire and on Christmas Eve we usually read the Night Before Christmas, our little brother reads it and we put out cookie sand beer. Christmas morning Lauren and I and Micheal our brother will all simulteanously wake up at like 5 in the morning and we wake each other up, go downstairs, and check out the present situation and we don't open anything but look at it and try to see what we can then go back upstairs