Katrina Marie Band
Katrina Marie Band have been making a strong impression on the southern New Hampshire/northern Massachusetts music for just over a year now. Their lead vocalist, who goes by the name, Katrina Marie, has a voice that seems born to play old school R&B and soul. Its rich, soulful, deep, and rangy. She is also a self-taught musician and singer-songwriter who penned the eight original tunes on her 2017 release When There Is No Color. Her efforts were validated when that album was recently nominated for the best soul and R&B album by the Independent Music Awards in New York City.
Katrina Marie has a teaching degree and has worked in education, teaching science, but she has also always worked in music on the side. “For a few years, when I moved to Boston, I just played my guitar and made money off of that and lived off that for a couple of years,” she said. “I sang solo in Boston taverns.”
Now, while using office jobs to support her singing habit, Katrina Marie has ramped up her Katrina Marie Band into a force of nature. She plays with her band mates everywhere from Cobblestones in Lowell, Massachusetts, to the Old School Bar & Grill in Windham, New Hampshire, to the Wakefield Inn in Wakefield, Massachusetts. “We do quieter, romantic love songs, like Etta James, Otis Redding stuff,” she said.
When asked why she formed her Katrina Marie Band and began playing out as a unit, she said “I get lonely when I’m playing by myself. I didn’t really like it,” she said. “I used to play by myself a lot. I just love being with a group and being with a team. I just love getting out there and gigging as a full band. It’s just so much fun. I love that full sound too.”
Katrina Marie’s influences as a vocalist includes just about anyone with “soul in their voice and can evoke emotion with their voice,” she said. Etta James was an early favorite then later Amy Whinehouse became a new favorite. As a songwriter, Katrina Marie was influenced by the female singer-songwriters who emerged during the 1990s when she was growing up during the Lilith Fair era.
“Any of those amazing female singer-songwriters. We had such a rush of that. Shawn Colvin, Sarah McLachian. Lauren Hill was another great songwriter as far as soul goes.”
That kind of R&B music and those 90s era women songwriters are what Katrina Maries reaches for to heal her emotional wounds during hard times. She also finds that kind of music most effective to communicate what she is feeling to others.
“It’s the easiest music to relate to other people and invoke emotion in other people and to make that connection,” she said. “You can have a great moment with the people that are listening to you and that is the genre that is easiest to make an emotional connection with people who are listening to you.”
Katrina Marie’s intense interest in and great efforts at songwriting was something she just dove into in high school, a time when she was shy. It was a way for her to share her voice. “It’s been kind of a personal thing,” she said. “I never took any classes in it.”
The songs on her CD When There Is No Color were inspired by a lot of hardship and life challenges. She was writing from the heart because she had to vent about what was going on. Previously, she would write through the eyes of other people.
Katrina Marie Band
“I thought that maybe I would be a songwriter for other artists,” she said. “I would write music for other people, and I would just write about anything. Going through a rough personal time, I wanted to write something that was authentic to me. So, I just kind of poured out my heart. I was just a great outlet.”
After Katrina Marie sorted out her feelings in a basic song format, she’d bring them to a writing partner named Dave Cohen. Cohen would listen to her music and assist her to adjust things here and there until each became the best song it could be.
“I was taking really genuine emotional songs to him,” she said. “I remember at one point he looked up to me and he was like ‘Um, I think this album is turning into a blues album.’ I was like ‘OK. Maybe my life’s a little rough right now.’ That was the first time that I was ‘Oh, this is great. We’re really getting some soul sound.’ We have one song that is straight blues, some R&B in there. It was a cool moment that we were getting some great genres that I’ve always wanted to venture into. I had a great time making this album.”
Her efforts were rewarded with a busy gig schedule, greater and greater name recognition, and her recent award nomination. Being recognized by the Independent Music Awards when they nominated When There Is No Color for Best Soul-R&B album for 2017 came as a shock to Katrina Marie. Her former producer Karim Georges had entered it without much fanfare. Katrina Marie will be heading to New York City in two weeks to attend the three day event. The singer-songwriter is still not sure what to make of the whole experience.
“I don’t know. I just always try to put out the best work that I can,” she said, “and write music that’s fun for me and my team and also that’s going to be fun to play live so people can enjoy and dance and have a good time.”
Katrina Marie said her band is made of of very cool guys to work with, and she had something to say about each to prove the coolness.
“So, John Goggin, that is our bass player. He is actually a doctor. He’s a baby doctor. He brings babies into the world,” she said. “Dave Barber, he is our guitar player and my favorite thing about him is he is just an amazing performer. We just have a great connection on stage. He’s just so fun.”
“Bob Martin,” she continued, “he’s our drummer. He’s like a our sports guy. He’s always into sports and talking about the games.”
“John Libby“, she went on, “he is our keyboard player. He is always making songs all the time. He gets samples and creates music all the time. Pretty much every day he sends the band a new song that he’s working on. They usually have an R&B influence and they’re usually like a 60s or 70s nature.”
Katrina Marie was recently accepted into Berklee College of Music and will be starting her course work this summer. She’ll juggle her classes, her day job, and her band. Her plans for her music are equally ambitious.
“For the band, I would really like to have the opportunity to play bigger shows. I’d love to get to that point where we’re playing for larger groups of people. Also, I’d like to personally be a songwriter. I’d like to write for myself, and I’d also like to have a career in songwriting and write for other bands, other artists.”
http://www.katrinamarieband.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/when-there-is-no-color/id1189187067
