Interview: Damned If I Do It For You With Kississippi
Photo by Morgan Kelley
Interview by Lindsey V. Britt
Zoe Reynolds, known for performing as Kississippi, with hits such as “Cut Yr Teeth”, and “Last Time”, has recently released her new EP Damned if I do it for you, and has been on the road with talker which will continue this fall, while also working on new music.
Your new EP Damned if I do it for you just came out, what was it like creating it?
It was a really special process, it was like the most collaborative thing that I’ve done in a long time. I had a couple of songs that I was working on from home and I ended up bringing them to a couple of friends, so I ended up finishing writing the EP with my friends Sarah Tudzin and Maddie Ross who live out in L.A., and they helped me round out the rest of the songs. I also got a little help from my friend Dan Campbell who plays in a band called The Wonder Years on “Jesus Freak”. It was really fun. I had two friends Rachel Wild and Joshua Hayes who played drums and guitar on the new songs, they absolutely crushed it.
One of your songs on the EP is called “Jesus Freak”, where did that song come from?
I developed a crush on a friend and it was like an impossible situation. This is not a thing that’s going to work out. So I was in a little dream world about it, and I just decided I was going to write a song that was absolutely chaotic and obsessive almost about that feeling where you really want someone but you know you can’t have them.
When writing your songs do you draw inspiration from real life or written in fiction?
For me, I think for the new EP it was a little bit of both. “Jesus Freak” was definitely my sort of fantasy song, but the rest of the EP is pretty true to stuff I was going through at the time that I was writing it.
Photo by Brooke Marsh
You just finished a West Coast tour, how was it?
It was really fun! I loved touring with talker, we’re actually planning some more dates for the East Coast and Midwest for October that I’m really excited about. We shared a band and kept it really tiny it was really fun.
When researching, I never saw where the name Kississippi came from. So what’s the story?
The name is from an episode of Parks and Recreation, it’s that song that’s like, I’m sitting next to my mom’s dog, so I’ll sing it about her, Zoe and Diamond sitting in a tree, K-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-I.
Do you have a favorite Parks and Recreation episode?
It’s been a while since I’ve watched it. I mean, that one was definitely one of my favorites. I don’t know, I’m kind of across the board with it. It’s been a while; I’ll have to catch back up and reassess.
Being from Philadelphia I have to ask if you watch the series It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia?
I actually don’t watch Always Sunny. I probably should. I definitely have been lacking a good TV show lately, I watch a lot of trash reality TV honestly.
Photo by Brooke Marsh
You’ve been in the industry for some time, how do you think it’s evolved since you first started?
I think that there’s been a lot of changes even since the last release that I had. It’s just become a lot more social media heavy than I remember having to keep with in the past. Especially with TikTok coming up and stuff like that. It’s definitely changed a lot and I’m sure that some of it’s for the better, some of it’s for the worse.
Summer is coming to an end, what has been your favorite memory from this summer?
My favorite memory from the summer was probably the trip that I just did. I went on that tour with talker and it was just four days and they were pretty spread out. So the time around it, I spent in L.A. and I worked on some new songs with some friends who I’ve written with in the past and friends that I’ve toured with in the past. It was really fun to catch up with old friends and work on new music.
Do you have any other projects in the works like an LP or additional tour dates?
I’m definitely trying to work towards a full-length album. I’ve got a couple of songs that I’m like putting in that direction right now; we’ll see what it ends up being in the grand scheme of things. Other than that, just planning another small run for October with talker again.
Final question, do you have a recommendation? it can be anything from tv series to advice, a place to visit, a restaurant, anything you want.
The first thing that came to mind is I’ve been watching The Wedding Singer a lot lately. That’s kind of been like my comfort movie, so I think that my recommendation is The Wedding Singer.
You can stream Kississippi's new EP Damned if I do it for you now on your favorite music streaming platform, and catch Kississippi out on the road in October.
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