Katie Rugg Visits Section 36 Music!

Section 36 Music had another visitor! Katie Rugg has single "Someone Tell Daniel"coming out this week that you won't want to miss! I was so excited that she wanted to visit with us to discuss the song, her upcoming show, and a bit more. I'm sure you'll love what she had to say.

So, let's see what happens when Katie Rugg visits Section 36 Music!

I’m incredibly excited about your upcoming single, “Someone Tell  Daniel”. What can you tell me about it?

I wrote this song a few years ago, long before I came to Berklee, and I’ve always wanted to record it and perform it with a band. Throughout high school, I played it for family and friends and because of this song, and many others that I’ve written, people encouraged me to pursue music. 

My mom has always been my biggest fan. I remember one afternoon I, very shyly, asked her if I could play her a song I’d written. She immediately loved it and told me I needed to record it and copyright it and submit it to contests. She actually taught herself music production just to help me make a demo for Someone Tell Daniel. She has supported my dreams so much and I wouldn’t be here without her. 

The first reaction that I usually get after playing Someone Tell Daniel for someone is “that’s awesome, but what’s it about?” The song was created when I came up with the line “someone tell Daniel that he’s dead.” I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but now I think it’s about daydreaming. A thread through a lot of my music at the moment is using death and sleep as a metaphor for daydreaming. But not just daydreaming, daydreaming too much, all the time. I think that many people have, at one point or another, wanted to drift off to another world just for a little while.

Do you have a favorite memory from the recording process?

Like I said before, it has been my dream to record this song with a band and I am so grateful that I finally had the opportunity to do just that. I recorded this song while studying abroad in Valencia, Spain. I almost didn’t even go abroad, but my friends convinced me to and I’m so glad that they did. 

This recording process for this song was exciting and full of challenges. I had never been in a real recording studio before so it was a surreal experience. I always tried to help out in any way that I could, though usually that meant standing out of the way of Vanessa, our engineer. Unfortunately, we had to cancel sessions multiple times because of rain. There was even one session where we had gotten the studio completely set up, we were about to record, and then the power went out. Despite the challenges, everyone was determined to see it through and still have a good time. I remember one late night we were taking a break from recording and we were all sitting on the floor eating KFC (which I had never tried, despite being from Kentucky). In that moment, I felt the love and support of all of my friends and felt so grateful for all of the long hours that they put in for me. 

You are attending Berklee College of Music. What made Berklee the right choice for you?

I had been playing music for my entire life. I took piano lessons since the age of five and did musical theatre throughout middle and high school. I always told people I was going to be a rock star. But when it came time to apply for college, I forgot about all of that. I applied to twenty-seven schools, most of them drama schools. In high school I did theatre and I loved it, I was good at it and I got to do it with all my friends. I thought that was what I wanted to do with my life. My mom told me to throw in some music applications too, just in case I changed my mind. 

During the application process for music schools, I started to remember what I loved about music: having an outlet to share my thoughts and feelings and letting my music be an outlet for others. I waited until the last minute to make my final college decision, but in the end I decided that music was far more important to me (and I can always go back to school for acting). 

Who or what would you consider your biggest musical influence?

I have had many different influences over the years, but I think the one that has had the most direct impact on where I am today and the kind of music that I write would be the Beatles. One summer in middle school, I went to an out of state summer program called Duke TIP. During the six hour drive home from North Carolina, my dad put on a playlist of the Beatles’s full discography. The only thing I really remember from that car ride was falling asleep and at some point waking up and wondering why they were singing in german. 

After that, I listened to the Beatles all the time. My grandmother gave me an old book of Beatles sheet music and it had guitar chords above the staves, so I used that to teach myself to play guitar. At some point I decided that I wanted to write music like they did, so I would spend hours and hours a day learning to play new songs and writing music. Through the Beatles, I went on to find other artists that influenced me, but I think they were the catalyst for my love of songwriting.

If you could cover any Disney song, which one would you choose? Why?

I would love to cover “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan! Mulan is one of my favourite Disney movies and the music has always been very special to me. This song in particular would be fun to play live because it has such interesting rhythms and hits. I love the march feel of the song and I think a rock version of this song would be a blast to play. 

What are your immediate musical goals?

I have a bunch of songs that I would love to record. We’ve already started working on the next single, and I’m planning to release an EP early next year. I love creating a world around my music so all of the songs will have that same thread of daydreaming and escapism. I also hope to do many more shows! I’ve got a show at the Middle East on October 9th to celebrate the Someone Tell Daniel release. While I have nothing else concretely planned, I’m hoping to do a few more shows in the coming months and I would love to go on tour once the EP is out! 

My main goal is to continue to build a community with my music. I want to find the people who daydream just a bit too much. I want to make them feel something and give them a small escape from their world and bring them into mine. 

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Building a community is such a good idea. I'm definitely in!

As always, I want to thank Katie for visiting with us, and for sending along the picture to accompany the interview. 

I'm sure you’ll all want to follow her and see what she has going on. I would follow her on Instagram and Spotify to make sure you don't miss a thing. 

Thanks again, Katie, and good luck reaching your goals!