Last May, some KANM Staff members had the incredible opportunity to attend Shaky Knees Music Festival in Atlanta to interview some incredible acts. Assistant public relations directors Caroline Corrigan and Hayley Rieder interviewed the amazingly talented Zella Day on Shaky Knees day one, just a few weeks before her album Kicker was released. Hayley Rieder: This is KANM Student Radio, the college station of College Station, interviewing the amazing Zella Day! Zella Day: Hi guys! Hayley: Who is your biggest musical inspiration?  You do you draw mostly from? Zella: I would say that I've never played music to emulate anybody, so even when I started playing music earlier on in my career and when I was a child, I never played music because I wanted to be like anybody. Not that I don't draw inspiration - I think that now that I'm older, I definitely look at artists in a different way where I'm like, "oh, I really respect what you're doing." So, I have respect for Stevie Nicks, so much respect for her. So much respect for Joni Mitchell, and John Paul White from The Civil Wars, and I'm listening to a lot of Nikki Lane right now, I think she's really amazing. Mac DeMarco, he's pretty funny, he was actually playing at the same time I was today. But yeah, I draw inspiration from and I respect I guess a lot of artists. Caroline Corrigan: On tour, what has been some of your best memories? Zella: Well, I was in New Orleans playing a festival called Buku and everybody always thinks or has the impression that because I'm also touring I'm seeing the country, which is not always the case. So the second I have two days in a city I am so excited because I feel like I can actually go and like see what's up, and travel around and explore. So in New Orleans, it was the first time I had two days there - two days on tour to be able to sink into the culture. One of my favorite memories is having po' boys on the Mississippi River. So that was a really really fun moment this year. And also all the shows, we just sold out D.C., played this venue DC9, and there was like 300 people there and for me, I have never had that happen so there are just little highlights along the way that are, you know, creating what my life is right now. It's interesting. Hayley: If there was one specific venue that you could play in, like you can't play in anything else except that for your finale show, what would it be and why? Zella: I would probably go back to Pinetop, (Ariz.), my hometown, and I would get the whole town together of 7,000 people and I would play a big show on the high school football field. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's not! I've always wanted to do it, and I'd  sell tickets for like five bucks, and with that money I would bring back the music program where I live because it's gone now. Caroline: In your show today, you kept talking about your hometown. How is it like being far away from home while you're touring? Zella: So, my home now is in L.A., my mom lives in L.A., my sister does as well. The only person back at home in my immediate family is my dad.  I miss Pinetop, I think that now I'm living in the big city, I definitely realize how much of a small-town person I am. I grew up in the White Mountains with no college there, no mall, no hangout. Like, the whole town shuts down at 10 PM. It was really really quiet. So leaving, I was like "oh, I'm going to go see the whole world now, and this is where I need to be, I don't wanna be in Pinetop anymore, it's not the place for me." But I crave that now. I crave, like, the small-town people and the small-town energy. It's just very much so, non-superficial. I think that LA sometimes can get a little overwhelming because it's really competitive. And I miss the simplicity of a small town. Hayley: So you sang a song today dedicated to home. What else inspired some of the songs on your new album Kicker? Zella: Yeah, of course. I mean, all things from me moving away, my parents getting a divorce, me experiencing new relationships in my life, getting my heart broken, living on my own. I'm really kind of digging deep into some of the fiction novels I've been reading, like East of Eden by Steinbeck. I am also a big John Wayne fan, so I definitely pull from the Spaghetti Western influences, so a lot. There's a lot that's going into the music right now. This record is definitely a deep one. Caroline: From the beginning of your career as a musician, is there anything that you would go back and adjust? Zella: I think yeah, I think I would've been better off learning my way around ProTools when I was younger. Because I was always just focuses on my guitar and singing and, like I know how to do that. I know how to sit down and write a song, but sometimes I feel a little bit inept because I can't produce my own tracks. I can't sit down and start a session, I don't know how to do that. So I need somebody else for that, and that doesn't really feel good. When you have this vision for a song, I think no matter what if you're working with another producer you can also hear their vision in the song. I really want to get to a place where I don't need anybody but myself. Hayley: If there was one musician, dead or alive, who you could work with, tour with, who would it be and why? Zella: Right now, Patti Smith I think would be my ideal collaboration. I just got done reading her book Just Kids, and I just feel like I would really benefit from hearing her stories of the industry as a strong woman and also write songs with her. She is so poetic, that's what her music really is at the end of the day, it's just poetry. So I would really love to sit down with her and pick her brain. Caroline: On your new album Kicker, what song are you most excited for people to hear? [caption id="attachment_207" align="alignnone" width="318"] Kicker was released in June 2015.[/caption] Zella: I'm really excited for people to hear "Ace of Hearts." To me, when I play that song in a big room, like today, it fills every corner of the space. By the middle of the song, people are singing along, even though they've never heard it before. So I think there's something special about that one - it has some kind of voodoo to it. Hayley: What are your long-term goals as a musician? Where do you want to see yourself in five or ten years? Zella: Well I just want to be able to always play music. I think that, for me, if I'm not a superstar, that's fine. I'm always going to make music and do what I do, but I think as far as performing, it's the part of it that I love so much. I'm a writer, but I'm also a performer. I think that it would be amazing if ten years from now I would be able to sell out a stadium. That would be nice, because I want to be a career artist. I don't want to just have one hit record and then go away. Music isn't that for me. There's longevity in it, so I wanna have that longevity in the industry as well. Caroline: For this music festival, you said it's your first time here at Shaky Knees. How's it been so far compared to other festivals? Zella: It was cool! Except for the weird guy while I was walking to the bathroom who asked to take a photo of my knees for Shaky Knees! And he's like, "well I have a blog called 'Who's Knees are at Shaky Knees?'' And I was like, "I don't want you to take a photo of my knees. Please leave me alone." But it's been really cool! It's been great, all the people there watching the show were amazing. I think that's the beautiful thing about festivals is when you're on stage you have people discovering you. They're trying to get out of the heat and go into the tent and then they stay. That's my favorite, watching people that I know clearly have never heard of me before and somehow make their way under the tent and then stay throughout the whole set. So, that's cool. Hayley: So I know that you're not going to be able to see a lot of the festival because you have to leave, but if you had to stop and watch one artist who's here this weekend, who would it be? Zella: Probably the Pixies. I mean, duh! And then second, probably Mac DeMarco. And then Nikki Lane, because she is going to be here, too. Caroline: What is your weirdest encounter with a fan? Zella: The weirdest encounter? Oh man, I've had some weird encounters! I had somebody show up at a show in L.A. with my face on their T-shirt, like, taken off of Instagram. Like something I am not selling. I am not selling that shirt with my face on it. They showed up with a weird, awkward scan on my face on my T-shirt, that was pretty weird! Another one was a couple of nights ago in Chicago, I had this dad come up to me and tell me that his daughter was in the other room and he was wondering if he could take me on a date. That's weird! Men get really creepy... men are really creepy! Caroline: What did you say? Zella: I said no! I said, "I don't know who you think you are, but no." Caroline: Wow, well thank you so much for sitting down and talking with us. Zella: Of course! Thank you! To learn more about Zella Day, check out her website.