In Conversation
with Kylyra
(Discussing Deemed Psychotic, Kypoetry,
technoky, Poets & Kids Express,
Shawky Dog etc)
July 2009.
A little background:Kylyra, my friend from Dark World International is a
busy young lady without doubt and makes my running
around sometimes like I am a beginnier.
First interviewed in the old version off ‘Setting Sun’
(
http://www.geocities.com/aen1mpo) at the end off 2007,
when this new site was launched the interview was
One of the first interviews to be transferred across
with a slight update.
Further conversations with Ky revealed
It would be worth doing a totally new interview
With her, as since her first interview at the end off
2007, a number of new projects had cropped up
And in the case of existing projects, all of them
Had being updated.
The interview of course pretty quick, and
Certainly in the case of Kypoetry and Poets
Express I have to hold my hand up and
Say I was in part responsible for both of these,
But both are fantastic in different ways and well
Worth checking out for different reasons.
More details on all of the projects can be found
At
http://www.darkworld.comThey are well worth checking out. I have the CD
For Kypoetry ‘Purple’ and it is lovely… Well
Worth the 10 Euro’s I paid out!
Cheers, Ky.
Andy N
Setting Sun:
How are things and whats happening at
The moment?Kylyra:
I'm just coming off a 10 day down period,
which feels odd! It's the first break I've
allowed myself in over 6 months, and
trying to fill my days by doing nothing was
quite a challenge to a work-aholic like me.
I managed it, with some help from my
friends and family....and that I didn't turn
on the computer at all, and had my
phones off! lol! Now I'm gearing up for a
very full autumn schedule.
Setting Sun:
Now I know since we last conducted
A interview, I know you have being a
Very busy young lady – first of all, can
You tell us a little bit about the development
Of your music in Deemed Psychotic with
Your excellent nine tracks available for
Download on Dark World International?
Kylyra:
Yeah, the new Deemed Psychotic sound is killer.
Tor and I wrote the material for the second release
ages ago, and had roughs done in the studio.
We finished up the nine tracks that are available
for download at our page,
http://www.darkworld.com/10page.html,
and our producer, Kristi, spent about two weeks
hammering in the studio on our sound.
The whole band's been remixed, and it's a
much more mature sounding release. Some of
the punk elements of The 1st have been
softened out, and it's been getting great response
on the net. 'Monsters' and 'Silly Mind Games' have
both hit number one at Sony/BMG's site, Musictrax,
in Japan.
Both Tor and myself would like to get the full release
done; we've got another five or six songs in the studio
that need final tracks put in, but our schedules have
been really full! The album is supposed to be done by the
end of the year, though, so it would be a great gift for
someone who enjoys great, full-on hard rock....hint, hint!
Setting Sun:It’s being great to see you expand into theWorld of spoken poetry. I know I am partlyResponsible for this happening but I neverExpected the way you put music into it.Can you tell us a little bit about howThe sound has developed as I knowPreviously your poetry was much moreInward?Kylyra:
Yeah, Andy, you're to blame for it! You and
Coll from BlogTalkRadio...egging me on to do
spoken word recordings.
I knew the minute you brought it up
exactly what I'd end up doing, but I never expected
the response I've got from it. I was hesitant at first; I
always am on a new project. I have to feel my way
into what it's going to be. I began using some of
my older poetry that's up on my Dark World page,
http://www.darkworld.com/port/literature/word/Poetry/index.html.
I drew a lot from my experience in Stygian Tars,
the improvisational band I was in. I didn't start
with metering, or refrains...I used my free verse,
and spoke naturally.
Then I added ambience and sounds.
I found some of the pieces ('Afternoon Tea',
'The Poet') began to pull melodies out of me,
and started to work in that direction purposefully.
As you noted, my early poetry is very inward
focused. I used to write to me, to express
frustration or thoughts I was wrestling with.
Two things happened very quickly
this spring that drastically changed that.
One, you invited me to your poetry night,
'Poets and...'.
Two, we began to discuss the beat
generation. All this drove me to google the hell
out of performance poetry; I searched out videos
of poets in the Manchester area
specifically since you'd shared with me
the excellent tip of knowing your audience. I saw
quite a variety of work, but was struck by the
overall humour and quirky language that I heard.
I also did some research on the art form
of performance poetry, and that led me back
to (gasp) the beat generation. We'd talked
of Jack Kerouac, and I finally found some
of his audio files. I also watched some videos
with Ginsberg.
All of this worked in combination, and the
material I presented at your night was
completely new. My words were written
specifically to be spoken live, and I found
a new metering and rhyme scheme to work
with. I found myself being lighter; I'll get heavy
and depressive with myself, but tend to be
more playful when interacting with others.
So my work included humour, I think for the
first time. I also presented the first poem I wrote
in the style of the beat generation,
'Clutched and Frosted', which I'm particularly
proud of. I won't be so arrogant as to say I
captured the style; but I will call what I did 'neo-beat'.
I'm writing more and more these days; thank
you for re-sparking my love of poetry. I'm working
heavy with the jazz combo behind me, but not
exclusively....I hate to be pigeon-holed; in fact,
I refuse to be. So I'm still doing pieces with
ambient noise, still doing pieces with techno
beats, still doing serious material along with
the humour.
I hope to be able to pull a full show together
With KyPoetry; something I could present in a
theatre setting.
Setting Sun:I love the fact you have also bought yourFirst spoken word CD on DWI called ‘Purple’.Can you tell us a little bit about thesessions for this CD and why you calledit Purple?Yes, 'KyPoetry-Purple' is available on Amazon.com.
This is a limited edition EP, and includes my first
recordings. I'll be back in the studio re-recording
and re-producing some of these pieces, so this
is your only chance to hear some of them this way!
I've learned quite a bit about how I want this
material to sound, and performing live has,
of course, changed everything for me. It's a great
sounding release, and I'm very proud of it...but I
WILL pull it when I come out with the full CD,
so get it now!
I guess the idea of calling it Purple developed
over a period of time. I'd chosen one of my
abstract photographs as the symbol of
KyPoetry quite a while ago. The original
was in black and white, and I tinkered on my
computer with the file until I came up with
purple look.
I went through a variety of ideas of names
for the release, but in the end I decided that
any title would fail to convey what I wanted,
so I went abstract. I began with purple
unconsciously....it just appealed to me. As
usual, though, my mind took the abstraction
and wove it into something new. The idea
now is to release a series of KyPoetry CDs,
taking you through the colours of the rainbow.
So expect to see Purple, Indigo, Blue, Green,
Yellow, Orange, and Red coming out. If I'm
still at it after all that, I'm not out of ideas! lol!
Setting Sun:It’s also being wicked to see Ky Poetry doGigs (I’ve being to two of them). How doThese compare to your studio recordings?Kylyra:
Performing live always teaches you so
much...I'm fully aware my live
performances outdo my recordings in
many ways. I'm far more animated
vocally in front of a live audience,
and my added theatrics and blocking just
make my live performances that much
more engaging. That is, of course,
the real reason I'll be re-recording
some of the material I've got on
'KyPoetry-Purple'. I've performed them now.
Those recordings are my first attempt
at the pieces. I've got a much better
idea of delivery and vocal pitches,
accents, etc. now. There are also
recordings that would be next to
impossible to perform live, and
I'd like to change some of that.
Setting Sun:I’ve also found it cool to hear you have aRecordings also up on D.W.I. under the nameOf technoky? Can you tell us a little bit moreAbout this sound etc?Kylyra:
Ah, TechnoKy....TechnoKy is my DJ material.
Before KyPoetry, before Deemed Psychotic,
my solo work, or Stygian Tars, I was doing
trance techno.
TechnoKy gives me an opportunity to go
back and do more DJing, which is a welcome
break from the hard writing I do in Deemed Psychotic
or the melodic work I do in KyPoetry.
It's very groovin' and has some improvisations
layered on top of the trance techno - and
no, not one vocal line.
I'll have two producers on the material;
some roughs from my first producer are
available at
http://www.darkworld.com/16page.html.
One production will be chilled ambience;
the other will be hard driving beats. I've got
more recording to do in the studio
before the first release is available,
and I'm going to try to get that done
before next summer. I'm looking forward
to taking TechnoKy live; I use
some classic equipment in it and get a
really fat sound.
Setting Sun:Somehow on-top of both of this, I know youHave found time to set up Poets Express,A one day festival in Bantry, Southern Ireland.Can you tell us how this started off etc?Kylyra:
Can I embarrass you some more? Poets Express
began because you asked about poetry nights in the
area I live, Bantry, Ireland. I was mortified to tell you
there weren't ANY poetry nights in the area, especially
after visiting Manchester and going to poetry night after
poetry night with you! I thought to myself, 'Why don't
you set something up? It can't be that hard.' lol! What
began as a simple idea kept growing and growing. In the
end, Poets Express had seven special guests (including
yourself) come in from around Ireland and Manchester,
open mic times, two bands, recorded audio and video,
catering, video footage specially created for the night,
and one hell of a show!
It almost was too big for me to handle, but I managed
it working non-stop, and relying on the help of several
people. I was very pleased at the turn out; we had a
grateful audience of 60-65 people who loved the night.
This was the first year of Poets Express, but it won't
be the last. I'll be working on securing sponsorships
for the night so I can expand on it. I hope to take next
year to two nights, and add in some seminars
during the day.
I found while working on Poets Express that the event
was not only important for poets and poetry people in
the area, but it was also important to the community.
I chose to hold the event at Bantry Boys' Club, a
community hall that is sadly underused. Many of the
locals were thrilled to see an entire show, all ages,
set up there again, and I've chosen to continue
holding the event there. Bantry has fancier venues,
but nothing more appropriate.
Poets Express is an event for the community, for the
people. Holding it in the community hall, bringing life
back to the building, just makes the event that
much more special.
Setting Sun:I know also Kids Express has also started fromThis and come under the same umbrella? CanYou tell us a little bit about this too also?Kylyra:
Kids Express is a children's poetry
competition I held in conjunction with Poets Express.
I wanted to get school aged kids involved in this,
and interested in performance poetry.
Poetry is a school subject here, but I heard
from plenty of parents how it's very dry, and
losing the interest of most children. So I hoped
to draw some kids into the event by holding
a competition. We had two age groups, 8-12
and 13-17.
I announced the competition a bit late, but despite
that we received entries from all over Ireland, the
UK, and India! One of our local sponsors,
McCarthy Sports, donated two beautifully
engraved trophies for the winners, and the top
poet in each age group walked away with a
trophy plus a special gift from New Street
Jewellery and a special winners certificate.
They were also able to perform their winning
entries on stage at Poets Express.
Our winner for the 8-12 year olds, Ruby Sullivan,
was a real performer. I think her poetry stunned
the judges (made up from a panel of my
guest poets), but her performance blew
everyone away. I've never seen someone
that young be so poised and composed. Her
delivery was flawless, and I hope to hear much,
much more from her in the future.
Erin Barclay was our winner in the 13-17 year
old category. Erin couldn't be there on the night,
but her mom got up to deliver her poem - now
THERE was a woman with nerves of steel! If
Erin takes after her mom, we've got yet
another up and coming performer to watch,
in my opinion.
Of all the great things that have come out of hosting
Poets Express, running Kids Express was perhaps
the very best. I loved reading the material that
came in; we had an amazing variety of styles.
The maturity of the subjects from some
of these kids was awe-inspiring for me. I couldn't
help but compare my own work from when I
was that age, and let me tell you, mine fell
well short of some of what I read.
Setting Sun:Last of the main questions, I have heard a rumorYou are now involved with the excellent almostLiterally Johnny Cash meets Nine Inch Nails bandShawky Dawg.. How did your involvement withThis lot?Kylyra:
Yes, I'm working with Shaky Dawg! It all began in
the studio (as do most things for me). The band
wanted some female backing vocals; I was
there and able to fill the position. No one
was thinking I'd go out and gig live with them;
my schedule is too crazy as it is. But when
Shaky Dawg opened for Poets Express,
well, seeing them up there just looked like
too much fun to pass up on. So I told them
I'd love to gig live, and away we went! It's a
pretty easy show for me, I'm just doing the
back-up vocals. But I was right, it's loads of fun
to play with the guys. A few days after Poets Express
we got a call requesting Shaky Dawg to
open up for Nik Turner (guitarist
from Hawkwind), and of course we
snapped at it.
I only had 2 rehearsals with the guys,
but all went smoothly....Nik even gave us
a standing ovation after one of our numbers!
We've got some gigs lined up for August
and October already, and we seem to get
offers to do more on a weekly basis. The guys
are up in the studio writing new material
between everything, so the band is terribly
busy - and we love it!
Setting Sun:What’s next for yourself (apart from sleep)?Kylyra:
Sleep time is over, at the moment I'm playing
with some special recordings I got of a few of my
guests from Poets Express. I'm adding music
and ambience to the back of each poem and
producing them separately, then plan on a
large montage poem using lines and words
from each performance mixed into something new!
Keep watching our pages on Facebook and
MySpace for links and updates! Next in line –
videos from Poets Express!!
