Joy and falling in love is the foundation of Bad Bad Hats. Lead singer, Kerry Alexander, shares her journey of songwriting and connecting with fans everywhere.
Transcription
KERRY ALEXANDER:
I’ve always loved music. I think a lot of people will probably say this, but there was lots of music, like in my home when I was growing up, my parents both really enjoyed music and, you know, would always have music playing when they’re making dinner, just like on a Saturday doing chores. I sit on my couch with my classical guitar.
Sometimes Chopped will be on the TV, sometimes not. I used to always write my lyrics first, but now I’ll start playing chord progression, think of a melody and then mumble along with that melody until like certain words start to pop out and they’re like, Oh, that’s a cool word. Like, what rhymes with that word? And then once you start rhyming a few words and it’s like, Oh, now this is giving me an idea for like a story that the song could tell.
Put all the pieces together until, you know, verse, chorus, verse. At that point, I usually finish like a guitar vocal, like all the lyrics, like an open mic night version, basically. And then I bring it to my bandmates, Chris and Con, and then we sort of fill fill the whole thing out. I met Chris at Macalester College where we went to school. Right here, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. We fell in love, but also we realized that we had a shared love of music. When we studied abroad, we were apart and we sent each other, mixed CDs and song ideas. And so when we got back to school our senior year, we’re very excited at the idea of starting a band. Our first show was the Macalester College Battle of the Bands, which we did not win, but it was the show that started our history as a band.
Yeah, we do feel that it Bad Bad Hats intrinsically. Minnesota Twin Cities linked. It’s such a good scene. Like the fans are especially like loyal and especially loving of local music, which is why this is one of the best scenes, I think, in the country. Fans really want local bands to succeed and they want to support you. And that was amazing for us as a young band.
That was a little, you know, rough around the edges when we first started. And I still feel like we’re kind of really learn every day how to be a better band. People ask us a lot what the experience is like in Minnesota and or, you know, how does Minnesota influence our songwriting or our experience? And it’s kind of hard to know I guess, when you’re in it.
I’ve had a generally very like positive experience being a woman. I’ve been able to sort of like express myself and tell my story. And it’s always nice when people come up to the merch table and say, You know, I really relate to that song that you wrote. And and I don’t know if it’s because I’m a woman or not, but it’s just sort of to be able to tell my story and have people relate to that story is obviously like a wonderful feeling.
But I don’t know, being a band from the Midwest for us has been awesome. It’s been a perfect place to sort of get our bearings and grow and never feeling like we’re in too big of a pond that it feels so overwhelming. But being very grateful for places like Radio K and The Current and all the arts publications throughout the years that have written about us and all the other bands, that it’s just like a very supportive scene.
We always talk about joy. The process of songwriting is like a joyful experience for me, and we want to make sure that whenever we’re doing this, you know, we’re still deriving joy from the experience of making music. And we also want our fans to feel that whenever they come to a show that they leave sort of with this feeling of happiness and that they are welcome We like to convey on stage that we would be friendly people to talk to at the merch table.
We’re not too cool, never too cool. I think that’s our our mantra is just joy from every part of the, the process. And I think if you’re enjoying making your art, people will feel that and will feel the energy of that. You’re making something special that you enjoy, and they will want to enjoy it too, probably. It’s been one of the most creatively fruitful times I think I’ve ever had.
The best thing about making music that I didn’t even realize when I got into it was how many people we’ve met and the experience you get to have, the places you get to go and that’s been really great.
