Palehound is the moniker for guitarist/songwriter Ellen Kempner and she brings a much reinvigorate way to write personal and emotional songs. Those songs are on her debut album, Dry Food, which was released last year but it’s now being released in the UK on Heavenly Recordings. We caught up with Ellen about her record and her beginnings as a musician.
Talking a little bit about yourself, you started playing an instrument when you were around 10 years old. What led you to music and inspired you back then?
I think I was just trying to find a place for myself at that age. I was kind of living in a community that was very into sports and I was not very into sports. [laughs] So I found my way to fit in and kind of do my own thing. My dad plays guitar and I love my dad, so I was very inspired by me and I just started to play guitar. I was raised listening to people like Joni Mitchel who is very inspiring to me and actually Avril Lavigne. [laughs] It just kind of felt what I wanted to do.
Before you started this band, you were a student in Connecticut. How was the transition for you go from being a student to forming a band and moving to Boston?
It was kind of scary at first because I moved to here not really knowing anyone. It was very different… I’d been in school all my life up until then, which is like a very kind of dreadful social thing. I moved to a city where I didn’t have a job yet so I had to find a job and I had to find friends, and it just was very stressful, but it ended up working out very well. I found a very cool job really quickly and made some friends for going to shows. I ended up just feeling perfect and I love Boston now. It’s great.
What things do you like to do the most in Boston?
I like Boston because is small and so it’s very easy and calm. I really like going to shows that my friends are playing and there’s a really good house shows scene here with kind of a more punk scene than I’m used to, so it’s been cool to adjust to that and getting to know the bands here. Just very recently I discovered a Board themed Cafe and I’m going to try to go more. [laughs] So that will probably be something I’ll do a lot this winter. [laughs] I like spending time at home and hang out with friends, just keeping it low key.
What wasn’t low key was 2015, which was a breakout year for you. Your debut album Dry Food was included on the “Best Of 2015” lists for a bunch of publications, and you even won “Best New Artist” at The Boston Music Awards. Were you expecting such amazing feedback from your record?
No, I wasn’t! [laughs] It’s not like I was expecting anything, I was expecting nothing really. I was more like “I hope people like it” and I wasn’t expecting them to… I just try not to freak myself out too much. When I started getting really positive feedback, it was awesome and it was one of the best feelings. I worked really hard on the record because I wanted to create something that people like too. [laughs] I don’t want just create something that I like or that satisfies me. It’s really important to me what people think just from the same point that I want people to relate to music and find comfort in that.
Looking back to what you went through, which inspired you to write this record, how do you feel at this point now that Dry Food got such overwhelming reactions?
It feels kind of like writing a journal in a way and looking back on it and being like “Wow, this was a hard time” and reading it a few months later and feeling like it all paid off and that all happens for a reason. That’s kind of how it feels. I had a couple of bad years and it felt like it would never get better, but then when I wrote the record and put the record out it just felt like I was pounding myself of that and then paid back kind of made it seem like a lot of the struggles that I was having I wasn’t alone in that. People are relating to that and it was really interesting and very rewarding.
“I think people are now realizing that it is not cool to be sexist, it would make them look bad.”
Dry Food is such an amazing record, musically and lyrically wise, and you played everything on Dry Food aside from the drum parts. Tell us a little about the important aspects of writing this album and how was the experience for you.
I love recording like that. Actually, when I record the demos I record the drums too, but I’m not good enough at drums. [laughs] My drummer Jesse [Weiss of Grass is Green] is amazing and so obviously I wanted him to be part of it. I love playing keyboards and the best part of making a record for me is when I write a song I kind of know what I want everything else to sound like already. It’s not just the guitar and the vocals, I kind of have an idea of a bass line and other things. I always record like that and it’s actually a way for me to zone in on everything. I feel really attached to it.
How did you get together with your bandmates, Jesse and bassist Nick Koechel?
When I moved to Boston, I was just out in the UK, but I didn’t really looking for bandmates. I found Jesse through my friends and he played in one of my favorite bands. He was around and wanted to hang out and play music. It was perfect. And then I found my bassist Nick Koechel and he was a friend of Jesse’s and I met him through Jesse. It just worked out really well.
You signed to Heavenly Recordings and Dry Food is going to be re-released in the UK, following of a European tour. What can you tell me more about that?
I think Heavenly Recordings is amazing. I was shocked and super excited when I found out that they wanted to put out the record. I was thinking about putting the record like it was in auction, you know, like I’m supposed to “Oh, that would be great” but I didn’t think that was a possibility and then I heard from them and it was just really exciting to get to work with them. I think they’re an amazing label and everyone who works there are just super nice and super passionate. They have a very small staff and they work really hard. Heavenly just felt like the perfect next step and everyone who works there are just very involved and passionate about the bands and artists.
This is probably something that you got asked quite often, but I would love to know your take about being a woman in a male-dominated scene, especially in the music scene?
I think I’ve been very lucky to be in a music scene that is very accessing of all people and I think at the beginning when I was first playing shows that’s when I thought the most, because I didn’t know who I should be playing with and where I should be playing. So that’s kind of when I experienced more creepy guys and, you know, people not thinking that I knew how to work my amp. [laughs] At this point I think I just play shows that I know that are going to be good… One of the best parts about on being well received is that just opens up my possibilities for touring and get to play in cooler places that may be more accepting of women in music, not just like a house show in Texas, you know? [laughs] Just the other day I got a tweet from this guy that was like “PM for sex”. It’s stupid, but it’s not something that I experience a lot. I think people are now realizing that it is not cool to be sexist, it would make them look bad.
What are your goals for 2016? Are you working on new material?
Yeah, I’m working on new songs. I have a lot of ideas for songs that I need to finish, but I really hope that I’m gonna finish writing the next period of time after touring for a while. It’s going to be like in March and April, so I’m hoping to really finish the songs and then start recording shortly after that.