We’re looking forward to introducing you to Katie Cole. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Katie, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What is a normal day like for you right now?
Ok, so I’m in the middle of making a brand new record “Forest”. I’m not on the road again touring til the very end of September. So I firstly wake up and have mild panic attack about what needs to be finished before I leave for tour. I feed 3 hungry cats, then if they allow it, I eat. hahah
I know I get my best work done in the Mornings. I then workout for 45-60 mins. Then it’s time to decide if it’s a studio day, writing day, working day, catch-up day. If it’s a studio day this could mean, vocals, strings, guitar or keys. It can be be a full day or just a half day of recording. This week my producer Howard Willing and I did an acoustic guitar overdub session and later this week we have a string session for the final song to be added.
On a writing day, I usually meet a co-writer at a studio or writing space and we will through spaghetti at the wall til we have a song we both love. Sometimes I write for me, sometimes for the cowriter and sometimes as a pitch for someone else.
Catch up days are a mix of all the things I failed to complete the previous week. Emails, editing, updates, socials…. all that stuff. The boring stuff. But it has to get done.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Katie Cole. I was born in Melbourne, Australia, moved to L.A. and now live in Nashville, TN. I think of myself as a songwriter first, then a recording artist, then a touring musician. Some people know me solely for my recorded music, but many have seen me open up for Glen Campbell, America, Billy Corgan or have seen me play as a musician in the Smashing Pumpkins. I like to vary what I do creatively and I have been so fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to do so many different things and travel the world.
There is zero % chance I ever thought I would have been to do even a quarter of what I’ve done in my life. 10 year old Katie who liked to sing, dance and make up songs about nothing just thought she would just do something normal like work in a store. 15 year old Katie started playing live gigs and getting paid and no longer knew about what she would do. 20 year old Katie was about to start writing songs for international artists and working with local Australian artists. I was also hired to play guitar for a local artist one a label and I thought traveling around Australia playing on TV was a career pinnacle. At the time it was. But, when you are young you really don’t know that you don’t know anything hahahah.
When I look down the road that I’ve walked on, I know I didn’t wear the right shoes, but I’ve kept going and I’ve kept my integrity. After I managed to land my music on the UK airwaves, BBC Radio 2, I think it was then that I realized I had no idea of what I was truly capable of. So I’ve been sure to aim higher than I can even see.
As I said earlier, my focus right now is on FOREST and getting that finished, mixed and mastered for 2026 release. This project is a massive undertaking with strings and other lovely instruments on some songs that I put a whole year or more into writing. I can’t wait til it’s completed!!
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I grew up in a pretty low-income single parent family. My sister and I didn’t have much, but we also never went without. I was never taught to believe I was special or different or talented. My Mum loved us, so that’s about the best support a young person can have.
I was a pretty quiet and anxious child. I definitely had a lot of internalized thoughts and feelings I wasn’t sure how to express. I really thought it was best to sit back, watch and then speak. I was terribly afraid of being embarrassed. When I hit my tweens and early teens I think that increased as I never addressed it. So I got quieter and more unhappy. I did start drawing and writing poetry. I think I truly believed I was not really worth anything and somewhat invisible. I’m sure this is a common teen process. I had been around music my entire life, singing, school musicals.. all that, but one year I decided to really teach myself to sing. So after school, I practiced and practiced and sang and sang. Our house on the street was clearly the one that blasted music constantly. If it wasn’t me, it was my Mum or my sister. Or all of us at once. Delightful ahhahah.
But I taught myself to really control my middle voice and belt range. I remember auditioning for my 10th grade musical and I was asked if I had been receiving singing lessons. No. Well, yes, from myself. But it was at that moment with that small token of validation that I realized I need to practice and I could do much more than I thought I could. In that moment, I knew I was worth something. I knew there was more . I just wasn’t sure what it was yet.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Humility. I have had many moments in my adult life where I have been pushing the boundaries of high-functioning stress while working. My mum passed away May of 2024, but while touring in 2016, 2018 and 2019 she had cancer and I was unsure if I would have to go back to Australia after several calls, operations and treatments. In those instances, she was too stubborn to let her illnesses take her. And in 2022 and 2023 mum’s health and cognition were really slipping. I won’t go into details, but I committed to call her on the phone very single day at roughly the same time to “check in” and towards the end these calls were incredibly difficult. I’d speak to her and wouldn’t be able to hang up til she was calm and back “in the room” and not thinking she was somewhere else or that something bad had happened. Then I would walk on to the stage with the Smashing Pumpkins and play to 10-20k people.
In those difficult moments, what is important is abundantly clear. Being present for the ones you love takes precedence, but also takes an enormous amount of energy. I think I got used to stress and having massive spikes of it on a regular basis. No, it wasn’t great, but life has a way of showing what you can handle, at inopportune times. When she passed I had to fly home a second time, then was in the studio the day after returning, then shortly after was back on tour.
Strength comes from stepping forward despite the challenge, despite the tears in your eyes, despite the lack of a paved road in front of you. My mum was the greatest inspiration to me with her love of animals, music, film and art. So no matter where I travel or what I do, I always try to take a pause and question if I’m doing enough. If you don’t do the most you can to help or be a good soul or say the thing you want to or inspire enough, is there any point to any of this?
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
It’s about 80% of me. The other 20% is probably a bit goofier. I spend a lot of time in the garden and taking care of my animals. Honestly that 20% of me, is for me. I don’t believe in showing and telling everything. My favorite artists have always inspired and there is always an element of mystery. What you don’t know about someone makes you lean in. To want to know or hear more. Think about it, if in the early 80’s incarnation of David Bowie there was instagram, would you want to see a pic of what he was eating for breakfast? Cmon!. Less is more. Maybe I should scale that 80% down to 70% hahah.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: How do you know when you’re out of your depth?
I think I have been out of my depth so many times I’ve lost count. In my career, I’ve taken the plunge (so to speak) into unknown waters countless times. I traveled to L.A. on my dime to start recording my first US EP “Lost Inside a moment”. I didn’t have management or direct guidance. When I landed music on radio in the UK, I booked myself a little acoustic tour and radio tour. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I hired PR to do some press for me and spent more money than I had to try to push a train up a hill. When I was asked to open up for the Smashing Pumpkins I said yes, not knowing if their audiences would throw literal pumpkins at me hahahaha. Then when that quickly evolved into me playing Bass for them also, I said “Yes” and then practice practice practice.
I remember opening up a show for the Pumpkins when the opener pulled out and I have 3 hours notice. Or playing a full show in Paris after I had severely burned my hand on my curling iron minutes before I was due on stage. Cool, so yeah, I am still a bit of klutz. it’s fine hahaha I’m working on it.
I think with any great feat there is a potential for failure. Sometimes you will fall, crash, get it wrong. But you tried and most of the time you will achieve more than you think.
Being frightened to me, or afraid, is often a marker for something great about to take place. so like always, I will just jump in. Despite most of the time being completely out of my depth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.katiecoleofficial.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiecoleofficial
- Twitter: https://www.x.com/katiecolemusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katiecoleofficial
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/katiecoleofficial
Image Credits
Dire Image, Liz Anne Hill,
