Guitar virtuoso Kaki King tells Rob Mellett it's okay if people think her music has become more accessible

Once heard, never  forgotten.

That’s the verdict after a sonic tour through guitar virtuoso Kaki King’s music on her Myspace page.

Described by the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl as one of the best guitarists in the world and by US music magazine Rolling Stone as "a genre unto herself", she is a force sent to wreak acoustic rock havoc.

Known to her devoted audiences as a riveting performer, she combines jaw-dropping technique with unique compositions, passion and edge, keeping her tenuously balanced – one foot in the acoustic world, the other in rock ’n’ roll.

Kaki’s first tour to Australia, in January 2007, saw her on the front of six publications, providing the 155cm star with five sell-out shows, the result of people eager to discover what the buzz was all about.

It was a phenomenal reaction for an artist of whom so many in Australia had not heard of before.

Hot on the heels of that success, she was asked to return once again; appearing at The Great Escape and both the East and West Coast Blues and Roots festivals.

The Kaki King juggernaut was now seriously picking up steam; she played at the inaugural Adelaide International Guitar Festival and, in April 2008, the Foo Fighters invited her to open for them across Australia and New Zealand.

Kaki is on Australian soil right now, promoting her latest long player, Dreaming Of Revenge.

Squeezing the east coast into her increasingly tight touring schedule, the guitar maestro brings with her, for the first time, a backing band – Dan Brantigan on vocals and analog evi (a kind of trumpet) and drummer Matt Hankle.

Managing to fit in an interview during her packed tour diary, Kaki says she began her musical tuition at a very young age.

"When I was about four years old my parents wanted me to take music lessons, and I chose the guitar," she says.

"But I didn’t enjoy it, so when I was five I put it aside.

"I then started playing drums when I was nine or 10 and still play them today. That was how I got into playing pop music – that feel was a big influence when I did go back to guitar."

She says music has been part of her upbringing.

"I grew up with music, I never stopped. But it was when I started playing the subways of New York that my stamina grew," she says.

"It was a great place to practise, there were no distractions and it made me a better musician."

"People say it’s more accessible than other albums, but I didn’t intentionally set out for it to be like that. I suppose listeners would find it more melodic than some of my other work," she says.

"Making Dreaming of Revenge was all about challenging myself; it was about really letting go and opening myself up to a producer I needed to trust."

When she’s not playing solo shows, Kaki is also an incorrigible collaborator – working with indie outfit Tegan & Sara on their album The Con, an album by American female rap group Northern State and The Foo Fighters’ latest effort, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, where she performed on a number of tracks including The Battle of the Beaconsfield Miners.

She’s also dabbled in film score work, working on Sean Penn’s Into The Wild, which also featured the work of Pearl Jam’s frontman Eddie Vedder.

"I was nominated for a Golden Globe for my score work on the film Into the Wild. It was in the Best Original Score," she says.

And Kaki’s work on movie August Rush, starring Freddie Highmore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Robin Williams, saw her appear in the film as a guitar-playing hand double.

Touring alongside Brisbane indie shoegazers, An Horse, this will be Kaki’s first trip to the Far North, despite many visits to Australia.

"I am really excited about it," she says.

"I remember my first trip to this new continent a couple of years ago, taking in all the new sights."

She is also looking forward to airing tracks from Dreaming of Revenge to an Australian audience on stage for the very first time.

"This is what I love to do – the stage is where I’m most creative."

>> Kaki King plays Tanks Arts Centre, Saturday, from 7.30pm in Tank 5. Tickets $35 adults and $30 concession/students, available from www.ticketlink.com.au

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