Jimmy, it's time for live in the lair.
Award-winning singer, songwriter Katie Scullin, can be found in a band with a band solo acoustic
duo performing anywhere between the Northwoods of Wisconsin to the heart of Southern Texas.
Winning her first award in 2009 with her band rivalry, Katie has won several awards on
her own terms and has forged a path to success, with no one to blame but herself.
Here is our celebration of women's history month and back in the lair for the third time
is Katie Scullin.
Katie, welcome back to Maxine Gradyo.
Thank you so much.
How are you guys doing?
It's great to see you.
It's awesome.
It's great to see you.
It's so good to be back.
Thanks for having me.
Welcome to our new home, too.
Yeah.
This is awesome.
That's like the real deal.
We're like all growing up now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think the first thing we met was maybe Wisco, back in the day with him.
Oh boy.
That's going back.
Yeah.
You've been at every one of the studios, I think, along the way.
You've grown with Maxine Gradyo.
Yeah.
First shirt.
It's been so fun.
Good to see you.
That is awesome.
Last time you were actually in the studio, you brought your son.
I did.
It was his first radio appearance.
That was a lot of fun.
Yeah.
He really enjoyed that and he talks about it all the time.
He likes to go through my Instagram feed and he's like, I remember that day.
That was so fun.
That's great.
How's he doing?
What grade is he in now?
He's doing good.
Seventh grade.
Yes, he's doing great.
He is a soccer player, hockey player, saxophone player.
Yeah, he's a big saxophone.
Yeah.
Busy boy.
Wow.
He's great.
I love it.
Katie, let's start at the beginning.
You grew up in the North Woods of Wisconsin with no electricity.
Tell us about how you survived.
Oh, no.
And then how did you get started playing music?
That's so funny.
So I did spend a lot of time in the North Woods.
I'm actually from Fort Ackinson.
However, my grandfather had what we called the farm.
And we would go up there for hunting trips with my dad and his brother and family.
The farm park falls.
Park falls.
Beautiful area.
Very, very far up there.
Just down the road from Copper Falls to Park.
I was going to say Jimmy's camp there.
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
So no electricity.
I mean, there was an outhouse and we would just go up there for the weekend.
It was scary too.
Like in the middle of the night.
Yeah.
So as a little girl, it was like you had to get over your fear of the dark pretty quick.
Wow.
But we had a lot of time to, you know, play in the woods and, I don't know, make, make
up fun songs and games and all that good stuff.
So do you ever have any crazy encounters with bears or coyotes or?
We did.
Yes.
Actually, not at the farm, but up north, my parents have a house up there and a bear
actually came into our screen porch.
Oh, geez.
Wow.
My dad was there and, yeah, he didn't make it in the house, but, you know, I think he
smashed the garage and, oh, geez, they're angry bear, beautiful, but they're, they're
honry sometimes, especially as food or cobs involved.
Yep.
And there's bobcats up there too.
Elk now.
I heard Moose.
I heard Moose.
Moose.
A moose.
Yeah.
There's a moose on the loose on the northward drive.
Elk make good burgers, Jimmy.
I think they do.
You think?
Oh, that's sad.
I bet they're good though.
Oh, March is Women's History Month and we'd like to hear some of your history in the
music scene.
Tell us about your journey, taking the step to join a band, record, and win your first
award.
Oh, my goodness.
Well, let's see, music has always kind of been a thing just ever since I was little
been singing and in plays and I guess when I graduated high school, I had to make the
big decision on what I was going to do with my life and I ended up going to school for
graphic design and then I ended up actually stopping that and pursued music for quite
a while and that's when my brother and I started our band rivalry.
At first we were sibling rivalry and then we got our band together and we started just
playing shows all over doing a battle of the bands and we did a summer fast in the
Emerging Artist series and we won, which was really awesome.
So yeah, it's been a journey that was so long ago, but I don't even know.
What was that conversation like with mom and dad and the family when you say, hey, I'm
going to quit school and play music with my brother?
I think there were some tears and I was like, I just got to try, you know, and they supported
me.
I mean, I was doing the school thing and I was also writing music every night and my dad
would come in and listen and he knew like this is a huge passion of mine.
Like I can't just ignore it.
So I had to try while I was young and the cool thing about my studies in graphic design
is it actually helped me to promote what I was doing.
I was able to design a lot of my own merch and album and all that good stuff.
That's an important part of being an artist to be able to market yourself and get yourself
out there and have people buy your stuff and come to your shows.
Yep, absolutely.
Now, did your folks, did they play instruments?
What role did they play in your kind of musical upbringing?
You know, we know they supported you later on, but what about the beginning?
So neither my mom or my dad are musically inclined.
However, I found out way later in life that my grandpa from Park Falls was in a band
and I found this really cool picture of him with his band out in front of the farm
and I swear they have Mohawks.
I want to find it, I should post it, it's a really, really cool picture.
But my parents brought home a piano for my brother and sister and I
and we all just gravitated towards it for whatever reason.
They said it was haunted.
A piano.
Yeah, so maybe like that's what made us curious about it, but we all just got into it
and I was always inspired seeing my sister in plays and then my brother got a guitar
and started taking lessons and I was like, I want to do that.
So.
And what's your brother's name?
DJ.
What?
It's Daniel.
Daniel.
And is he still playing music today too?
He does.
Yep.
He'll be playing with me this summer in a couple shows.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
And he's also in a cover band called Ultra Boy Picnic.
Nice.
Something of Boy Picnic.
Yeah.
The rivalry reunites.
Yes.
That's been a while.
Yeah.
Pretty cool.
You know, I've heard of a rivalry for a long time and I never actually knew the origin.
The correlation sibling rivalry where it started.
Yeah.
So when we started the band after that, we just cut the sibling and that's where it went.
That is so cool.
Well, let's get to live music in the layer with Katie Scullin presented by the Aaron
Weber group.
Katie, the first song you have for us tonight, it's called Bloom.
It was written during their pandemic.
Tell us about this song before you play.
Yeah.
So that was a rough time for us all.
I had just graduated and I had gotten this really great job and I had all my gigs lined up.
Things were going great, whatever, and then bam, it all went away.
And I, you know, I was going through some things in life and I was sitting in my living room
looking out the window and I saw this little bud on the tree that had changed from
the week before to something totally different and like all these little spikes.
And I was like, you know what, there's something about change that I think is okay.
And I just told myself in that moment that I was going to just embrace it and I was going
to write a song about that and push myself through it and I self produced the whole thing
through the pandemic from home, which was really scary for me to be like, I'm going to
do this.
I'm going to do this.
Yeah.
That's kind of where Bloom came from.
All right.
Wow.
Through the growing pains.
It's a cool song.
We're going to hear it right now.
Katie Scullin's live in the lair.
If you want to give us a call, ask Katie a question.
Let's do it.
844-967-2789-844-964 party call or text from the civic media app.
It's Katie Scullin live in the lair.
She said, listen close as the wind softly blows, she nodded her head when night
heard what it said, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face, we're just changing
shapes, don't you get from way came, hoping of your eyes, my love, there's a shiny
light above made through those cold, cold nights, yeah, you cut through like a knife.
She said, watch it grow, take in time, and move in slow, she gave me her hand, said
what it said, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face, we're just changing
shapes, don't you get from way came, hoping of your eyes, my love, there's a shine
light above made through those cold, cold nights, yeah, you cut through like a knife.
Don't you shy away, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face, we're just changing
shapes, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face, we're just changing shapes,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away, can't you see it in my face,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away,
can't you see it in my face,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away,
can't you see it in my face,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away,
can't you see it in my face,
we're just changing shapes, don't you shy away,
it was like, it was really intense, but just seeing that that joy of being on vacation in the Northwood's unplugged kind of off the grid really brought back a lot of memories for me and so I wrote this song Endless Summer.
That's awesome, Endless Summer is Katie Scullin, live in the lair presented by the Erin Weber group on Max and Concevic Media.
A flight flipped till my head is up clouds floating above me soaring, dragonflies, oh this Endless Summer, I keep diving in treasures of gold under tower entries,
I call it a masterpiece captured in photographic memories, I keep diving in, wish I could fly, but I love to swim only a moment,
wrapped in the arms of my love, my kin, diving in this Endless Summer, diving in, coming from under, diving in this Endless Summer, diving in.
Sun sets that make me fly skies on the water, I'm drinking it up till we're feeling high, laughter that echoes, the burn of embers are sparkling like fireflies, oh this Endless Summer, I keep diving in treasures of gold, a far away kind,
I call it a masterpiece captured in all of the magic of sunrise, I keep diving in, wish I could fly, but I love to swim only a moment,
wrapped in the arms of my love, my kin, diving in this Endless Summer, diving in, coming from under, diving in this Endless Summer, diving in.
There it is, Katie Scullin, live in the layer here on Max, Inc. on Civic Media, we need more people to clap,
I was over there clapping one hand with a chest while he's transitioning on the mixer there, I have to let that last guitar chord ring before I hit the mute button,
walk over here, 844-967-2789-844-964 party, call or text with a question for Katie Scullin, you can do that right from the Civic Media app rocker.
Katie, you have some great videos in your catalog and you study and graphic design program, but switch to visual communications over at Madison College, tell us about the technical Katie and your love for visual arts, technical Katie.
Yeah, I don't know, I'm just very inspired by how it all works, key framing and vector graphics and gradients and being able to create what I see in my head on the computer is just fascinating to me.
My dad is actually a designer as well, so I think we're kind of similar in that realm. I love video production, I love audio production, I love graphics and it just kind of felt right to sort of expand from the graphic design to the video side of things, the visual communication.
I like to do it all, I think. That really has to bode well for you, be an artist and getting your music out, making videos and stuff, drawing from that knowledge, and be able to something that you just said really dawn on me, because when I build a radio show like the playlist and working with rocker with interviews, I kind of hear the show before it happens a couple of times in my head.
Yeah, it does. And I'm sure you like when you're making a video or writing a song, you hear it in your head and you're piecing it together in that technical way.
Absolutely, yeah, you're just like trying, you're like throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, you're like, I know I'm hearing something or I'm seeing something, I can't quite figure out what it is and then when you get there, you're like, that's it, got it.
Okay, that's what I'm trying to do.
And I saw that you switched from graphics to video because they offered some audio classes.
Yes, I thought that was kind of my weakness in music, I got into it, songwriting, and I just wanted to figure out how do you do the recording part of it.
I was just, I was curious, you know, and there's a lot to learn, like I struggled understanding EQ in all of the technical terms and I'm like, I can't communicate what I want if I don't know what I want, you know, so that was intriguing to me.
That's how wow, that's a, that's a great inspiration for gaining that type of knowledge.
Yeah.
Well, one of my favorite shows I watch on public television quite a bit or even commercial television on, I think it's on channel 27, Discover Wisconsin.
Yeah.
And you're doing some work for them.
Tell us what you're doing.
Yeah, so Discover Media Works is like the umbrella company and we, we do Discover Wisconsin.
We have a couple of different other series.
One is called Into the Outdoors, which is an educational series for children about trying to get them outdoors and exploring and solving a lot of problems with, you know, the environment and this balance, right?
So that's been really fun and we do a lot of like corporate work as well, which is really fun.
And we have a new series called Uniquely Wisconsin, which is, you know, the other, the uncovered part of Discover Wisconsin, the unique stories that you wouldn't normally hear.
So it's been really fun.
The team is incredible.
It's just, you know, like minded individuals who like to do this kind of stuff, create and entertain.
Are you behind the scenes or are you on the camera on Discover Wisconsin?
I am behind the scenes.
I've done some voice over work.
I've been on their podcast to talk about music.
Sure.
But yeah, behind the scenes.
Wow.
You're crazy.
You are really like, wow, that is really fun to do corporate work.
You must really love these.
I know what?
It's actually pretty cool because it's a challenge.
It's a challenge.
How do I sell this product here?
Hey, well, I mean, you're selling Wisconsin.
It can't be that hard, right?
Yeah.
Beautiful state here.
Let's get back to live music in the layer with Katie Scullin presented by the Aaron Weber group.
Katie, the next song you have for us tonight, it's your newest release and it's called Unfailing.
How hard is it to really find inner peace?
Oh, man.
I saw that question.
I was like, uh-oh.
Here we go.
You know, you can continue to try and continue to try and continue to try.
I don't even know where Unfailing came from.
It was one of those songs that just wrote itself.
And I felt compelled to leave a situation that I was in because I wasn't happy, you know.
And it was, I knew it was going to be a really difficult journey.
And the song just came from that experience.
And I think it's about, you know, finding, finding yourself again, wherever that might be.
Yeah.
It's a song.
It's a song.
That's one of those songs I just, whatever, it came up.
We're going to hear it right now.
Katie Scullin's live in the layer.
It's Maxingcon Civic Media.
Did you know that a heart made of gold is unfailing?
In another town, I'm halfway gone for now.
Did you know that I love the open road I am sailing?
And the wind to my sails to sing the songs I am playing.
And I know that you were meant for me.
And I'm afraid that God would turn the key.
But you live in another town, I'm halfway gone for now.
Is this the island beneath the setting sun I was seeing?
Is it trust that fills my lungs with air I am breathing loose?
And I know that you were meant for me.
And I'm afraid that God would turn the key.
But you live in another town, I'm halfway gone for now.
Katie Scullin's live in the layer.
Katie Scullin's live in the layer.
Katie Scullin's live in the layer.
Katie Scullin's live in the layer.
Katie Scullin, you said your recent work teaching, studying production, mastering, it's led to you to some of your most rewarding experiences yet.
Can you comment further on that statement?
Yeah, I really enjoy teaching, I have a few students right now and just watching them grow from point A to point B to point C in music and light up when something clicks is just very rewarding and being able to share the knowledge that I've gained throughout the years with the younger generation is just priceless to me.
This question obviously varies from child to child, but how do you find that nugget of gold in that kid to bring all that out you just explain?
Growing up at first music was really difficult for me, I felt like teaching music in black and white made absolutely no sense to me.
I really try to bring color into it and I show a color wheel as similar to the circle of fifths when talking about theory and whatnot.
I also like to teach theory and sight rating as well as using your ears because not every learner learns the same.
I try to be careful in figuring out what type of learner they are.
It has to be hard not to assume something like that too and push them off into the wrong direction or something like that.
Let's learn this slayer.
Going back to women's history month, celebrating women in business and being aware of issues that women still face today is what it's all about.
What issues have you faced as a woman in the music business and what can you tell young artists today to help them navigate these issues?
I've been through the things as a female artist, I think sometimes being kind can be like flirting or whatever.
Standing up for myself in different situations has been difficult because you're either looked at as being aggressive or whatever when you're trying to stand up for yourself.
Like negotiating contracts or costs of money issues.
Absolutely, it's been very hard to navigate and taking me a long time to feel comfortable being like okay I'm going to turn that down because it's just not you know if I say yes to everything then you you lessen your value is that something that can be taught you think.
Or is that just based on gaining the experience so you know I think a little bit of both you can gently nudge somebody to you know stand up for themselves but also being tactful about it and you learn because not everybody's going to take it the same way everybody's different everybody has different feelings about you know tones and.
Well I mean right now young women and acoustic guitars it's just a giant market yeah so what do you say about to all these up and commerce kind of out there in celebration of women's history.
How to make them stand out women stand out I keep doing what you're doing do you girl you know put your get get out there and and be strong and I guess be be a role model for other women.
Let's get back to live music in the layer with Katie scullin presented by the Aaron Weber group the next song you have for tonight has yet to be released it's called clarity is this song about dangly your feet from a life graph on a foggy day yes oh my gosh it is yes.
In the pond at the farm yeah right or the middle of the ocean or the middle yes is that what I said I like type that up so fast I was like okay but I.
This song stemmed from I actually dealt with some vocal issues and I I couldn't sing for a while and had to go through you know quite a process to sort of hear myself again and I think a lot of that you know goes in with their conversation about being you know standing up for yourself and growing a thicker skin in the industry and.
So clarity was kind of a turning point for me where I kind of like I heard myself again when I was recording and I felt like I was just out in the middle of the ocean and I had no idea you know which way was which and I had to rely on myself to find that.
Direction the right direction for myself so this is clarity well we're glad you found it Katie scullin live in the layer is maxing on civic media.
Hey wait a minute I remember now I found a little note in my back pocket.
I must put it there to remind myself it's okay to feel again oh that it was was a moment.
Time passes by just like clouds in the sky and we are often forget of the ebb and tide the souls.
I miss me that you hear me out don't you forget what it's all about it's the turning and I'm still learning from this point of view.
Hey can't you feel it out there in the distance but all I can see is the fog on the breeze I don't know which way is south from east.
Oh the distance between from this me that you hear me out don't you forget what it's all about it's the turning.
But I'm still yearning for clarity clarity.
Very nice I like that song a lot. I can almost hear the mental awakeness coming in that song.
Yeah it's pretty cool. Katie scullin live in the layer here on maxing radio. Katie's like a hard rock punk in metal.
Heck yeah. Yeah maxing kevys coming up at 10 o'clock tonight and M shells going to have an interview with casket robbery is coming up tonight at 10 o'clock here on Cross Pacific Media Radio Network.
So Katie tell us about Indie tune up. I know a little bit about this from our previous conversations in the past but tell us about Indie tune up is coming up May 1st right.
Yeah Indie tune up is awesome. It's a showcase three different artists come. There's food and like the whole production thing.
It's a very intimate setting. Indie tune up started back in the day. Dale stick you know so sonic and all of that.
It's been great you know he has been building this up for quite a while you come in and you perform live for an intimate audience and it is videotaped which is really cool and it can be streamed.
Yeah. That's it. That's at the same place just off greenway cross whatever. Yes.
It's all sonic the listening room. Yes. Tell that used to MC that way. Yeah she did so there's a new MC I have not met her yet.
It's actually in a new building now which is eventually going to be the copo facility. Oh interesting. Yeah.
Yeah. Dale bought a large building out there very close to where sticker brothers was and it's going to be like part school, part performance.
Yeah. It's really a large place. We should get a lot of that. Yeah. That'd be pretty cool.
So what else is that that's on location right or excuse me online right.
Actually it is a live performance. Yes. Yeah. How do you find out about you know.
Indie tune up dot com I believe.
Otherwise they're on Facebook. I'll have a link to it on my website.
Now you released a few singles but you're officially working on a new album spill the tea about that. I mean what can we expect and what can we expect.
I know I was like do I say this or do I not say this. So I.
I'm like putting all the pressure on myself. I actually launched a Patreon.
Let's see 2022 ish and I've since released three songs and I have five other songs in the works right now and a handful of songs in the repertoire.
And I feel confident to say that another album is going to be coming.
The actual release date no idea but I am hoping either by the end of 2023 or really 2024.
Give a shout out to your Patreon backers because they're awesome. Yeah. It is so awesome.
It really I mean it holds me accountable as well which is great and they get to see all this like behind the scenes stuff.
They see the rough cuts and the bloopers and they get little snippets of the song as it's being produced.
But I love that because then that builds connection allows me to connect with you as a fan.
Yeah. And people love that kind of stuff.
Yeah. It makes you human. Yup. Absolutely. Yeah.
Let's get back to live music in the air with Katie Scullin presented by the Aaron Weber group.
The next song you have for us tonight. It's called Cornerstone.
Another yet to be released song. Tell us about Cornerstone.
Cornerstone. One of those songs that kind of wrote itself.
Cornerstone. Cornerstone.
Yeah. Right. This was like a turning point in life.
And I think it stems from my first initial step into the music scene in Madison playing open mics
and just like getting into the world of music.
And all the things that have happened since.
Here's a fun fact. Rocker was in a band once called Cornerstone.
Oh, no.
Oh, Jimmy. Wow. He comes up with a little fun fact.
It's true. Is it? It's true early 90s cornerstone.
Can we hear it somewhere? Yeah. It's online.
We played a lot on them. Nice. Awesome.
I would love to hear it.
Katie Scullin's live in a layer. We would love to hear you sing another song on Maxing Radio.
In my youngest out there on my own in the city.
In my heart of all the charm.
Put my makeup on.
Played my favorite song I was ready to begin.
But I keep going back knowing what I had before I met my match.
Play the cornerstone. Walk the street I know where you live my cigarette.
I strolled into a bar. I didn't live in the war in the warm glow.
I'm playing on a silver screen.
The strangest shuffling through. Left, it's age I've been in the moment.
I laid eyes on you. I keep going back knowing what I had before I met my match.
Play the cornerstone. Walk the street I know where you live my cigarette.
I saw you the other day. Oh, when you look my way I could see something in you's changed.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
I keep going back knowing what I had before I met my match.
Play the cornerstone. Walk the street I know where you live my cigarette.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Played in white photograph a thousand words screaming over the silence that don't change the past.
Now tell me what you're going to do knowing that the day is gone, the day is gone.
Dance around this town as it comes pouring down raining on my parade.
Played in yesterday I find my foot in looking growing a thick skin
Rain down on my parade.
Played in yesterday sometimes they don't care to see any true friends a few between.
And deep down it's a shot in the dark all the time it takes behind the scenes.
One day you're going to wake up knowing it's all about to give it's overflowing.
And where will you head along?
Dance around this town as it comes pouring down raining on my parade.
Played in yesterday I find my foot in looking growing a thick skin
Rain down on my parade.
Played in yesterday.
Dance around this town as it comes pouring down raining on my parade.
Played in yesterday I find my foot in looking growing a thick skin
Rain down on my parade.
Played in yesterday.
Katie Scullin live in the air thank you Katie so much.
Thank you.
Stick around Max and Kevin is coming up next.
It's Max and ContaVig Media we are local music.
