In a sea of female fronted bands, it’s not always easy getting noticed. In some cases, it’s just a novelty, which hurts a lot of the truly talented women out there. In other cases, the sex card gets played to the max and that also hurts the truly talented women out there. Then, along comes a female fronted band that doesn’t play the sex card and has a lead vocalist with the chops to rival quite a few men in the same field. Throw in an added twist of the beast of a lead guitarist being the brother of the lead singer and you have the makings of the Chicago based band Romantic Rebel.
The band consists of lead singer KT Paige (pronounced Katie), lead guitarist Alex Vincent, bassist Danny D and drummer Marcus Lee. Their blend of aggressive riffs, melodic hooks, passionate and gritty vocals and a rhythm section that is seasoned beyond its years has caught the attention of quite a few people. The band is wowing critics and fans alike across the US and they are set to release their much anticipated self-titled debut album later this month. I managed to get the dynamic KT Paige to sit still long enough to hammer out this interview. This lady has so much energy that it makes Monster and Red Bull envious.
Hey KT, it’s great to finally catch up with you and get to talk.
Hey Johnny, thanks so much for wanting to talk. I hope you’re doing ok?
I’m doing great! How about we jump right into this interview so that I don’t waste any of your time? I know you’re a busy woman, so let’s get right to it. What does Romantic Rebel mean? Is there a story behind the band’s name?
There actually is a story and it’s a silly one. My brother started this band and he was in a couple of other bands before this one and they didn’t work out. I was actually in H&M, which is a clothing store, and I saw this shirt that said Romantic Rebel. At that point, I knew that if Alex ever asked me to be in a band, then that would be our band name. It’s kind of silly, but it worked out pretty well.
Who would you say are some of your musical influences?
Well, as for myself, I tend to channel a lot of people when I get on-stage, definitely Joan Jett. I also channel a lot of guy rockers including James Hetfield, Ronnie James Dio and Danny Worsnop from Asking Alexandria. I’ve seen lots of videos and I’ve seen them perform live and it’s so inspiring. I love the raw energy that they propel from the stage.
Your self-titled debut album is being released on April 29. What can fans expect from that album?
We had recorded and released an EP before our drummer Marcus (Lee) joined the band. Matt Walker from The Smashing Pumpkins drummed on that one for us. It wasn’t really what we wanted it to be sound wise; it wasn’t really heavy and we weren’t even sure if we could be that heavy and pull it off. Marcus isn’t on this one either as we got Gil Sharone from Stolen Babies to handle drumming duties on it. This album is the sound that we were going for.
I want to talk a little bit about the fact that this is a band with siblings in the ranks because your lead guitarist and founder of the band is your brother, Alex Vincent. What time of dynamics do you think that brings to the band?
I think it’s pretty awesome! Although we’re three years apart in age, I feel like we’re twins. We really do have this almost psychic connection when we’re on-stage. We know and can anticipate where each other will be and we work really well together; even when we do harmonies on-stage, they’re totally on point. We’re also the ones who write all the music. Alex will come up with the music and give it to me to write the words and it just happens very easily.
I think you just segued into my next question because I wanted to ask if there was a particular writing style or process that you used? Is that usually how it happens?
Well, sometimes I may get a general idea of what the lyrics are going to be and Alex will come back and add his input and we’ll finish it together lyric wise. It’s funny because there’s a song on our album called “Sorry”, it’s a ballad, and it started out as an instrumental that Alex wrote. We never really wanted to have a ballad on the album, but our producer Ulrich Wild wanted us to give him as much as possible to work with. One of the things that we gave him was that piece and Alex didn’t want to put lyrics to it because he thought it was horrible. Usually, Alex likes everything that he writes, so the fact that he didn’t want to put lyrics to it kind of convinced me that it wasn’t even worth it to even try to. Well, while we were in the studio, I ended up going outside with my water and my tea and wrote this song that ended up being one of our favorite songs on the album.
Why did you initially not want a ballad on the album?
In our minds, we thought that ballads were boring and we love having this high energy, heavy and driving guitar sound that we thought people wouldn’t want to hear a ballad. It ended up being more of a power ballad and it worked out super well.
The high energy description makes me want to play psychologist and ask about your childhood. Were you the shy, introvert type or the ham who constantly craved attention?
We were both pretty shy growing up, Alex more so than me. I was shy until the point where I didn’t care what people thought of me. You know, to the point where they looked at me and thought I was the weird kid? People were also really confused at our musical tastes because kids our age were listening to pop music and the Backstreet Boys and we liked older music.
By looking at some of the YouTube footage of the band on-line, it’s hard to think that you were shy. I mean, you’re a total bad-ass when you take the stage. Are you always like that or is it a zone that you slip into when you hit the stage?
I’m definitely not that shy girl anymore. I guess I’m pretty much the same off-stage as I am on-stage; I can be pretty obnoxious sometimes. It’s one thing to be up there, commanding the crowd and getting people to get their hands up, but when I’m off the stage I do bring it down a bit. I am very appreciative of our fans that cover over to talk to us and I thank them for their kind words, but I definitely hit that bad-ass mode when I’m up there.
Fans of Metalocalypse and Dethlok may recognize the name Brendon Small, who appears on a very cool song on your album called “Lies”. How did that connection happen?
That was so awesome! Our producer Ulrich does all of the Dethlok and Metalocalypse stuff and we met Brandon while we were in the studio. One day, he was coming out of the studio as we were going. Ulrich mentioned that it would be cool if Brandon could come in and do a solo on one of the songs and we thought that it would be amazing. He pitched it to Brandon, he agreed to it and wrote the solo that he performs on that song and it sounds great.
ROMANTIC REBEL: Album Teaser
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That’s pretty cool! There’s another cool thing about you and the band that I have to give props for and that’s not playing the sex card. I think you’re proving that you don’t need that to get people’s attention. You can still be sexy, but sometimes less is more.
Thank you so much for saying that; I was actually asked my opinion on women in the music scene in another interview. Even though a lot of those women may be talented, they wear as little clothes as possible and swear every two seconds on-stage as they try to be this thing that just isn’t sexy at all. If the talent is there, it’s getting buried and people don’t notice it. They are getting attention for all the wrong reasons.
After the album comes out on April 29, do you have any plans to promote it that you can share with our readers?
Actually, we are going to be going out on tour in late May through June. I can’t really announce any details right now other than that, but you can definitely expect a tour.
That’s great news! Now that you’ve baited the hook, we’ll all have to try and wait patiently for those dates. Now, how about some really tough questions now that we’ve softened you up a bit? If your career in music was over today and you had to go into pro wrestling, what would your name be?
Oh my goodness, let me see. I think it would be merch Girl and there’s a funny story to go along with that. I’ll be at our merch table before our shows and I usually have a beanie on and maybe a scarf and people have no idea that I’m with the band. People will come up to me and ask me if I know where the band is or what time Romantic Rebel is playing. It’s funny because they will come back over after the show and tell me that they had no idea it was me earlier. I mean, I only had a hat on, not a mask. I guess it’s my alter ego with my nerdy glasses, kind of like my own Clark Kent/Superman kind of thing.
How about three albums that have influenced you as an artist?
I think I would definitely have to pick Led Zeppelin III and Led Zeppelin IV because they’re so amazing and, come one, it’s Led Zeppelin. A third one? I would have to go with Shinedown’s Sound of Madness.
One last question; how about a closing message for our readers?
Facebook is the best place for everyone to keep up with all Romantic Rebel info. Alex, maracas and I are also on Instagram as well. We wouldn’t be where we are without our fans and their amazing support. We’re not famous rock stars yet, but we’re not where we used to be playing for five people on a Monday night. Thank you all so very much and keep on rocking!
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By: Johnny Price, RockRevolt Magazine Lead Senior Journalist
