Artist: Kiely Connell
Hometown: Hammond, Indiana
Latest Album: My Own Company
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
When I got to play The Chicago Theater. I grew up in the region my whole life and things like that feel so far out of reach. The last show I saw at Chicago Theater before I played on that stage was Iggy Pop! If you wouldāve told me back then that 5 years later Iād be standing on that stage I would not have believed you.
What other art forms ā literature, film, dance, painting, etc. ā inform your music?
Reading is always a huge help for me. Iām a big fan of Neil Gaiman, and Anne Sexton, and sometimes just being still and reading something they wrote can help inspire me to write something different. I feel the same way about film. A month ago I was watching that new movie, The Iron Claw, and I was taken aback by all of the memories and feelings that came flooding in. That film is way heavier than I anticipated.
Iām also a lover of visual art and one of my favorite artists is a man they call āThe Master of Macabre,ā Ivan Albright. I first saw his work at the Art Institute of Chicago and I was just awestruck. Iām not sure Iāve ever been drawn to a painting as much as I was drawn to his painting titled āInto the World There Came a Soul Called Ida.ā
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
I started writing songs at the end of high school, but it wasnāt until college in my dorm room when I realized this was what I was meant to do. The support I got from my peers was unbelievable. Any time I played an open mic the entire theater department would show up just to hear me play three songs. I learned that I could take everything I love about theater and apply it to my music.
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
I love doom metal AKA āstoner rock.ā Iāve seen the band Pentagram multiple times and I even have a photo with the lead singer Bobby Liebling. I talk about the band on my phone fairly often to the point where my phone started auto-correcting the word ālikeā to āLiebling.ā
Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?
Iād want to have a greasy spoon diner breakfast with Tom Waits. Ideally there would be plenty of classic retro diner dĆ©cor and bottomless cups of coffee, so heād have all the fuel necessary to indulge me with a detailed history of his greatest endeavors. The 2003 film, Coffee and Cigarettes, gave us a taste, but Iād still like to experience it one on one in person.
Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen