Kam

"A barefoot Kam used Snoeshoe and Lewis, more Houstonians, as her backing band and I commend the whole crowd for a job well done. Kam's voice is a sturdy-but-lovely force, setting down roots through soul songs with a touch of R&B, funk, reggae and jazz. She had the girls in the crowd dancing and the boys bobbing their heads in approval."

full article at:
http://blogs.chron.com/sxsw/archives/2008/03/underground_wit.html - chron.com

Located at:
http://houstonsoreal.blogspot.com/2007/09/grimy-styles-live-in-houston-last-night.html

"Peekaboo Theory helped out with the intro to KAM, who opened the show and promoted the fuck out of it. You wanna promote a show in Houston, get with Kam, I sure do. SHE KILLED IT! Check her out on MySpace.com/bamitskam.She's awesome, for real." - Matt Sonzala (SXSW,HoustonSoReal.blogspot.com,KPFT Radio)

SXSW Q&A: Kam
Get to know more about Houston-based, SXSW-showcasing artist, Kam.
Courtesy photo


Q.Tell us about yourself.

A. I'm all over the place. I've been a solo artist for about 7 months now and it's been going pretty well so far. But don't get it twisted, I've been performing since age 5. I grew up doing gospel and somehow found my way to punk and ska. I was in a ska/reggae band called Heptic Skeptic for about two years. Over that time I collaborated with various artists in the Houston scene including Spain Colored Orange, Los Skarnales, Free Radicals and Perseph One. I now do the majority of my live shows with Snowshoe and Lewis backing me up and will be performing with them at SXSW.

Q. What genre is your music?

A. I call it soul/indie/reggae with a little bit of folk thrown in there.

Q. Where can people typically see you perform in Houston?

Best bet is Tuesday nights at Dean's Credit Clothing downtown for the songwriters workshop I do with Snowshoe and Lewis. It started out as something so small almost a year ago and now its crowded every Tuesday night, overflowing with talented musicians from all genres.

Q. What CDs/records do you have available for sale?

My current EP, Bamitskam!, is sold out, but I hope to have some more by the time SXSW rolls around. If not then, definitely by mid-April. Full LP due out in late fall.

Q. Who are you excited to see at SXSW?

I'll just give my top 5 because there are so many: RX Bandits, The Aggrolites, Talib Kweli, Bun B and Laura Marling (check her out, she's from the UK and is amazing).

Kam performs 9 p.m. March 13 at Prague, 422 Congress Ave.

Posted by Sara Cress at March 5, 2008 01:53 PM

- Houston Chronicle

So i make my way over to Prague to check out Kam!

I was thoroughly impressed! This girl has got some soul! deep soul! She was backed up with a bad-ass band, Snoeshoe and Lewis, who has an amazing drummer, and a six-string bassist! Now, do the math…Bad-ass soul singer + Bad-ass band = Kick-ass-melt-your-face performance!

Kam’s music, in my opinion, is an amalgamation of soul/reggae/ska, and a hint of dnb; it’s well balanced, and well executed.
- misterandre.com

The lives of most average twenty year old girls involves shopping,boys,drama,and daydreams about what they want to do after college. But for Houston artist, Kam, it has been on a constant hustle to become a successful singer. Going from classically trained opera student, to the lead singer of two former Houston ska/reggae bands, to experimental soul solo artist she is now, Kam is getting closer by the moment to achieving that goal.

FLOSS: First off thanks for taking time out of your hectic schedule to
interview with IA, How have you been?

KAM: Thank you for having me! I’ve been really good, just hustling a day job Monday-Friday and trying to come up with excuses to be absent for these out of town gigs…yikes I didn't say that.

FLOSS: What made you begin your music career?

KAM: Ahhh I want to say it just came to me. I’ve been performing since age 5 doing gospel in the church. Once I held that first microphone it was on and popping from there.

FLOSS: Your style is definitely different, how would you classify your sound?

KAM: I’m a classification in process. I normally tell people that I am experimental/ indie/reggae/soul but it’s slowly becoming so much more. I’ve been tapping into everything from Afro-beat to Irish punk, 1940’s jazz standards and country recently. Soulja Boy doesn't have shit on George Jones.

FLOSS: Now lets talk about Myspace, I peeped the page and your upcoming
schedule is crazy, how do you prepare for your shows? Any rituals or superstitions?

KAM: I run around in circles and douse myself in crows blood before every show...JUST KIDDING!I am a weirdo and did opera for a little bit and eat apples and drink canned pineapple juice instead of water before every show.

FLOSS: Which do you prefer the stage or the studio?

KAM: Definitely the stage.

FLOSS: Do you play any instruments?

KAM: No I attempt instruments. I can fake drums and piano but I'm not fooling anybody with my guitar skills...awful. I am awful.

FLOSS: What upcoming projects/events are in the works from KAM?

KAM: Ohhh man...so I am currently working on a few projects with Perseph 1 and I am trying to wrap up tracks with Fat Tony, Babel Fishh and my boy Redd The Vulture. My doowop group The Pearls [http://myspace.com/thepearlsofhouston] begin a series of public shows starting on mothers day. I'm doing a country project with Katie Stuckey.I'm working on a Dub album with Del Vuelo (the alter ego dub band of Perseph One Producer Mark Sound aka Andacc) and my own album with Snowshoe and Lewis (the band I play with when I do my live shows). On top of that I am getting more and more heavy in the dubstep scene as an MC thanks to Gritsy [http://myspace.com/Gritsytx] and I hope to release a few dubstep tracks before I release my album. Now event wise 2 major shows are going down this summer!!!Last night I found out I was going to be opening up for one of my favorite bands,RX Bandits, at the Meridian on July 20th.Its a pure example, in my opinion, of SXSW being what you make it. I went from being just another fan to playing alongside them 4 months later. Then August 1st, I am throwing this huge show at Fitzgerald’s called "Leave Your Genre At The Door" showcasing a ridiculous assortment of artists in the scene including:Myself, Peekaboo Theory, Nosaprise, Fat Tony and Deerail, Two Star Symphony, The Fucking Transmissions,Snowshoe&Lewis,Perseph1,Evak 1,Lower life Form,Evak1,Television Skies and Satin hooks! Sorry I know that was a lot to take in.

FLOSS: What would you like to see accomplished in the Houston music scene?

KAM: For these artists that make it a habit to stop hating on other artists that are out there hustling and getting shit accomplished. They need to focus on themselves and what they need to do to get better.I say if so and so gets all these shows and all this hype, ask them how they do it, and or watch them, learn from them, and then do it better. Nobody ever got anything accomplished by bitching...excuse my bluntness.

FLOSS: You might win a 2008 Houston Press Music Award, what would that mean to you?

KAM: I'm still waiting on the nominations ha! If the stars aligned to where I did win, it would be a really good feeling and it definitely wouldn't be something that I would take for granted. I would see it as "okay I have their attention, now I need to take it to the next level and give them something more!"



FLOSS FIVE
1.Erykah Badu or Jill Scott....damn both of them together i.e. Dave Chappelle's block party!

2.Fave. Venue to play in Houston...Warehouse Live is nice but Fitzgerald's is home

3.Hill, O'Bama, or McCain...Obama

4.Fave. Ice cream flavor...Cookies and Cream

5. Any Hidden Talents…I know an obnoxious amount of TV theme songs…”It’s a rare condition in this day an age, to read any good news on the newspaper page!” Name that song?!!!!!(Family Matters!)Yes, it has been decided that I’m ridiculous. Well, you didn’t say it had to be a good talent!

full interview availible at :http://internetapproved.blogspot.com/2008/05/bam-its-kam.html - Internet Approved- http://internetapproved.blogspot.com/2008/05/bam-its-kam.html

Pop quiz: What do Los Skarnales (a Latin Ska band), country music, and the Baptist Church all have in common? If you said, “White people love them all,” you’d be, well, we guess technically you’d be correct, but in this instance, you’re wrong. The actual answer is Kammera Franklin. Known more succinctly in Houston music circles as Kam, this relative newcomer to the scene joined her first band in 2004, but the sometimes standard-R&B, sometimes neo-soul, sometimes experimental hip-hop head has used an all-encompassing approach to carve out a niche. Her latest EP, Bamitskam, falls directly in line with her flibbertigibbet M.O. “Jam” is a nu-black ballad that, if you squint, intermittently sounds like Me'Shell Ndegeocello, while “Rollup Ninja” is the type of progressive hip-hop that could make Bahamadia green; moreover, neither song sounds like anything else on the EP. But for all her bouncing around, mostly Kam doesn’t come off as forced. (We’ll pretend like we skipped past the Freddy Jackson-esque “Understand.”) And what might be criticized as her less-than-stellar voice somehow resonates as more enjoyably raw than amateurish. All in all, Bamitskam gives reason enough to anticipate a full length CD. - Shea Serrano

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2008/06/recession_thursday_at_numbers.php#more - Houston Press