By Sophie Martin
Known for his gentle indie-folk style mixed with some of the most disgustingly heart wrenching lyrics I’ve ever heard, Kevin Atwater first found fame with his song ‘Star Tripping’ going viral on TikTok in 2022. Since then, he has gone on to release the single ‘why did you invite me to your wedding’ with an accompanying short film, along with his first full length album ‘Achilles’ earlier this year, complete with music videos and a literary companion. He’s a very busy guy, clearly, and yet was lovely enough to make time to speak to me about his most recent album, along with his US tour and upcoming London shows in Hyde Park and Camden this summer.
As much as I would love to publish the entire transcript of our 30-minute conversation, the finished word count landed at a hefty 4000 words…so here is a more or less abridged version of my interview with Kevin Atwater. Enjoy <3
The ‘Achilles’ Album
Sophie Martin: I feel like we have to jump into the album first. How does this one differ from your previous EPs and works?
Kevin Atwater: Yeah, I mean, it’s my first full length album which I guess in itself is a different thing. But I was specifically writing music with the specific intention of it being a full project with its own world and its own stories attached to it. Whereas when I’ve been doing my other EPs in the past, it was like I was writing music and then piecing it together, half being like “oh, the songs I felt like people wanted the most from me that I’d teased a little bit or like just what I happened to really like at the time” and then trying to find a theme afterwards to parse it together which worked and was really really creative and fun. But this [album] was specifically writing music with an overall story and world already created in my head.
Martin: What [song] took you the longest, […] which one was the most complex and the one you had to keep going back to?
Atwater: There’s a song called ‘Call of Duty’ on the album that I wrote […] three years ago. […] I’ve never done that with a song where I’ve just let it sit for years and then come back and keep trying to make it work. So probably that one. But then, of the songs that I wrote at the time we were making the album, probably ‘Jamie’s Daydreams’ because it was just really hard trying to get the drums to make sense and for me to explain that to everyone who was working on it. I was like “it should sound like a musical theatre song, I don’t really know how to explain this to you guys, but it just has to be dramatic”. So that one was the hardest to get what I wanted in my head onto the actual song.
Martin: Obviously you did do musical theatre, […] how does it still seep into your music?
Atwater: For me, it informs a lot of what I do. It informs my relationship with music and artistry. […] I really love storytelling. I think the medium of storytelling through music is one that is really really beautiful and interesting and I’m always looking to how to best get across what I’m feeling in a way that takes people on a journey instead of being like a flat idea – and that can be incredible too, but I really love a journey. And I think, with musical theatre, that’s the whole thing. It’s like, why would you sing when you could just speak? It’s because there’s no other way you can convey what you want to say. And it’s just the drama of it too. I mean, people will tell me a lot of the time that my songs feel like they have different characters in them and stuff and I appreciate that because I put a lot of time into fleshing out the people in my life that I write about so that it never feels like I’m just singing about the same person over and over again, even if I am occasionally.
Martin: With the album as well, you obviously have the music videos for ‘The Cage’, but you also have the literary companion. What do you think those add to the album and the concept and the whole storytelling, and how do they complement it?
Atwater: I think it is super super cool to just let one avenue of art lead you to different worlds, maybe? I know that sounds super conceited. But I mean I picture my songs as their own little worlds when I write them and am creating them and I want to invite people in in different ways. And it feels really nice to take a piece of art and give it to somebody and just let them interpret it in their own medium. […] Having a bunch of people just submit their work to me which is one of the most inspiring things ever because I did sit and read all of them.
Martin: Every single one?!
Atwater: Yeah, it was…many days. But then that is cool because that is informing me and giving me inspiration and changing me and making me want to make more music. It’s just like a never-ending web of giving art to people and letting it change them – hopefully. Or, people are like “oh that’s cool, I’m not reading all that,” and then they move on. But that’s okay too!
Martin: Yeah, I read the ‘Origami Roses’ one, literally earlier today.
Atwater: That author has a book called ‘Open Throat’ – insane book.
Martin: It’s on my reading list now! […] On the topic of ‘Origami Roses’, obviously it’s a beautiful song but it’s also very scary and very vulnerable in what you’re talking about. […] Do you ever find that sometimes when you’re trying to get vulnerability, you take it too far to the point where it’s detrimental to your mental health and you’re sharing too much or do you always know where to draw the line, if there is one?
Atwater: That’s an awesome question. Usually if I’m writing about something, it’s because I’ve typically had time in my life to process it because I find that I need space from things usually in order to write about them honestly. Because, usually when I’m experiencing something I’m a little biased towards however I’m deciding to feel in that moment and it’s easy to write alongside that bias until I have some space. So, with that one in particular, that happened a really long time ago, so I’ve had a lot of time to deal with it and move on and process. But I made the decision not to play it on tour because we were rehearsing it, it didn’t feel good to sing. […] And that was something I learnt early, thankfully, and then I didn’t play it on tour because there is that emotional boundary. So, I guess it’s just a learning process.
Martin: On TikTok, it was ‘Star Tripping’ that got you initial growth. […] As a viewer, I find there’s more and more artists who are going to short-form video content, TikTok, platforms like that – do you think that’s affecting the music industry and the rise of social media?
Atwater: It is definitely changing the music industry. I mean with any tool, I guess, if you want to look at social media as a tool for an artist to get their music to people who are willing to receive it and ready for it, I think it has its ups and downs. […] Sometimes it feels like I have to be really careful to not start thinking about how I’m going to be performing a song on TikTok when I’m writing it because that is not good for my art. I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but if I catch myself being like “oh, well, that’s a little too long and maybe I’ll shorten the verse because it’ll be quicker for people to see it on their screen.” And I will occasionally start thinking that when I’m writing and I’m like, “get rid of that thought, it’s not helpful or informative to the art that you’re making.” […] People do have patience and people do relate to music that is interesting and that isn’t necessarily what is hot or popular or trendy. There is an audience for any kind of music – as long as you’re being authentic, it’s going to reach people.
The Achilles Tour
Martin: Of course we have to touch on the tour. How was it?
Atwater: Incredible. […] It was my first time in a lot of those cities too so to have my first time being there being embraced by a community I didn’t even know was there was really really special. It was exhausting. [Laughs] but it was amazing. I could not have asked for better audiences and better people to just be around. It was so great. Everyone says they have the best fans, by the way, and I just want to make it clear that I literally do. It’s not up for discussion. People at the venues – working the venues – were like “that was the best crowd, like the sweetest people, oh my god,” like every venue. I was like “well it’s my fans, not me, it is them, it is literally not me.”
Martin: Did you get anyone dressing up? What kind of outfits were they turning up in?
Atwater: Oh my god, like so many, I can’t even begin. Lots of Brokeback Mountain, lots of Challengers. I also did both of those, so I was happy people did. A lot of Marceline and Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time. Those are the ones I feel like I saw the most.
Martin: Is it cool seeing them in person as opposed to on-screen?
Atwater: Yeah, oh my god, yes! It is amazing and it is always incredible getting to see the real people in front of you. I mean, it is awesome to be sharing a song online and see people reacting to it but it is a really special feeling playing music for people right in front of you who are there to listen and receive the story and sometimes share their own stories right back at you which I think that’s what it’s for. It’s about connection, so yes. My answer is yes!
Martin: Also on your tour, you had the openers Renny Conti and Aubory Bugg. They’re incredible. I was listening to Aubory’s EP this morning. So beautiful. How did you come about discovering them and also inviting them on tour, and how was that process?
Atwater: I was determined to bring people that I really liked [laughs]. I was like “I want to have people whose music I’m obsessed with because I want that connection to be authentic and real.” And, you know, it’s a business, and it doesn’t always work out that way. And I really really lucked out because I wanted them both and they both said yes! […] I’d known Aubory […] on TikTok beforehand for a while. And Aubory had already said yes, and I was in the car and my friend put on a Renny Conti song and I was like, “who…is this? This is incredible,” and I was like “oh…that name sounds so familiar to me,” and I’d seen that someone on my team had sent me his stuff and I hadn’t listened to it yet and I listened to the album and I was like…well, this is the best thing I’ve ever heard. […] I got super close with both of them. It was great. All good vibes, love them both. They’re amazing. So talented.
UK Shows
Martin: When did the conversation open up to expand the touring to the UK?
Atwater: I guess it’s been a conversation for a while, but I mean, but I was also like, “I don’t think I can afford it,” because that is a lot of money. […] But then when the Hyde Park thing happened, I was like okay, I guess it’s time to really go and we’re just gonna make this work. I was like, I want to do a show for London – if I’m gonna be there already then I want to do my own show if there’s any way to make that work. I was like, “is this even possible, is it too late? Is it too hard to book something this short in advance?”, but then we just made it work. It was not a hugely pre-planned thing; it was really like a boom, boom, boom. When I announced the Hyde Park thing, I’d found out about it like a day before.
Martin: What is next for you, or are you taking a little break now after the UK thing?
Atwater: Um, I’m not taking a break in the sense that – wait, how can I talk about it? There are things coming. [laughs] Even if it seems like I’m not posting things about things…
Martin: Okay?
Atwater: Of course there’s more music, I’m always writing.
Martin: Things behind the scenes are happening is what I’m going to take from that.
Atwater: Yeah, there are things coming.