Conversing with Chloe Chaidez, frontwoman of the LA-based rock band Kitten, about music feels like talking to Quentin Tarantino about movies. Every sentence is packed with musical references, every observation fully grounded upon the paleontological striations of music history.
I spoke with her outside of a studio in North Hollywood, while she took a break from recording vocals for her upcoming album. We reclined on a dusty car seat and shared a rolled cigarette as encyclopedic musical knowledge burst out of her like a leaky dam.
This girl Knows music. I left with no less than 10 new bands listed in the notes program of my iPhone, and with a general sense of having just received a serious education. This might be expected if I were talking to a veteran like Keith Richards or Win Butler, but Chloe is barely 18 years old.
If there’s anything Chloe knows as well as music, it’s Los Angeles. Born and raised in Pasadena, and recently graduated to Echo Park, she shared her favorite haunts, hangouts, and, of course, food spots.
So, you’re from Pasadena?
Yep, I like Pasadena. There’s a lot of cool kids there. I grew up with a lot of kids who were exposed to shows and music and stuff which was cool because, y’know, there’s not a lot of teenagers in Echo Park.
Are there a lot of artists in Pasadena? Because your parents, your father, at least, is an artist, right?
Yeah, he was in a band. There are just as many artists in Pasadena as there are in Echo Park, really.
Really?
Well, not as many as in Echo Park. But there’s, you know there’s a bit of a culture there.
How do you think growing up in LA and being exposed to music from such a young age sets you apart from other musicians?
I think it hurts you and it helps you. I think it hurts you because it’s not as dangerous as it would be if your parents were accountants, and you’re like “No, I’m gonna be a rock star!” y’know? So the danger element is taken away from it a little bit.
But, obviously, you benefit by having so much music exposed to you at such a young age. My dad and I, when I was just 8, I was a gymnast, and we would drive really long hours to my gym, and just listen to the whole CMJ CD, and classics like David Bowie and [she winces] The Rolling Stones. Who I don’t really like—I don’t really like classic rock that much at all. But for me when people talk about the classics I’m like “I know,” but for others they didn’t discover that stuff until years later. For me that was just the foundation. From there I was able to branch off musically and find myself.
I don’t know if you know this, but everyone thinks you’re seventeen. Is that true?
Well, I used to be 17, two months ago, but I’m 18 now. Yep.
So for someone who’s a little bit younger, do you go out a lot in LA?
No, not really. I’m not a big partier. I mean, if I’m going to a gathering it’ll just be some of my friends. I think I also kind of got that out of my system when I was 16 and 17 in bars and clubs. I was, the reason they put X’s on kid’s hands.
It was like that Strokes song Meet Me in the Bathroom. I’d just find someone who saw a show, they didn’t even necessarily have to be a fan, and they’d say “great show!” and I’d just be like, “get me a drink!”
When you do go out, what’s your favorite part of LA?
Downtown, definitely. There’s a real Brooklyn vibe down there which I like a lot. There’s this all ages venue called the Smell. I started playing there when I was 13; just came in with a guitar and an amp and started playing. That strip is really cool, there’s a lot of good restaurants. I really love food.
Where downtown do you like to eat?
There’s this really good sausage place, Wurstkuche, and Little Tokyo is really awesome too. Really unique.
Speaking of local things, one of my favorite lyrics from “Cut it Out” is “sleeping all day with the radio on/local jokes but not for long.” What does that mean?
That song is about an old bass player that’s now in kind of a cool punk band, but I won’t share the name. I used to look up to him so much but, writing that song, I realized he was not really a person to look up to.
I was 15, and he was so cool to me. He represented everything that I wanted to be, but then I realized he was kind of a loser, and came from a somewhere where he was kind of a loser too. He treated me good sometimes, but then like shit other times. So it’s kind of about him.
When you sang that song at the Echo recently you and your band had a ton of energy. Are all your shows that high energy? Or was the Echo a special night?
Well, it was a special night and not a special night. It was packed, but a lot of those folks were A&Rs for the other band, and usually I don’t like playing for that kind of crowd. I like it when the crowd is just as energetic as we are, which usually happens when its not full of industry people.
What was your best local gig to date then?
Probably our last night at the Bootleg, doing our residency. Because, for one, it was kind of like an Echo situation where it was completely over capacity and it was the most they’ve ever had there. And two, just to be playing for an audience that you know is yours is really a good feeling. Before we opened for Charli XCX, which was cool because I love Charli XCX. And we’ve played with other cool bands like Twin Shadow.
You’re aiming for stadiums, right?
Yeah, I’d say so. I think there are a lot of bands like BRMC [Black Rebel Motorcycle Club] aim for something cooler than their music lends itsself to. They end up putting themselves in a trap. But I’m like, fuck it dude, I want to play the Staples Center.
What’s coming up next for you?
We’re going to South By Southwest. We’re playing like seven or eight shows there, so that’s going to be really cool. And then, we’re going out to tour with the Joy Formidable and Paramore after that. After that, we will finish the album. That’s, of course, a huge thing. We gotta do that.
Kitten performs next at The Roxy on March 2nd.
