WOMAD: Mama Kin

Sun 21st Feb, 2010 in Features

Mama Kin, aka Danielle Caruana is heading to WOMAD and in her kit bag are some bittersweet melodies soaring with stomping piano and swampy beats, all the while traversing the riotous, the raw and the intimate. Danielle talks about the juggling act of being a mum and musician.

Is it a bit early for a rock star? “Um, it’s a bit early for a mum whose kids are still sleeping. It takes me a while to swing in to my morning’s let alone the year. It usually takes til February where I feel on track. Christmas and New Year’s feels like such a vortex, is it the same for you? It feels like everything just gets thrown up in the air.”

It probably sounds to business like but have you set any goals or the like for 2010? “I did do a bit of that actually, this year is about finding a balance between being a musician and a mum, working and being fully in to whatever I’m doing. If I’m with my kids I’m fully with my kids and when I’m on stage I’m a hundred percent on stage. I’d rather do that than trying to do to many things at once.”

Is it hard finding that balance between being a mum and a musician? “I think parenthood is fraught with guilt no matter what you do, well to me anyway. I’m always second guessing myself and always wondering if I’m doing it right or whether I’m creating long term damage, I’m just so unsure about it some times. I’m following my heart and where I should go that will make me a better person. It’s challenging keeping all the balls in the air and grabbing them if they look like falling or hitting the ground. I’m not a good juggler so I wouldn’t come to my show if you’re expecting juggling.”

How do you get on touring for long periods? “I’m very selective about what I do or whether I take the kids or leave them with their grandparents. It’s strategic about how you it, when you do it but at the end of the day they love what I do and I love what I do and I think we’re better for it. It’s an unspoken thing, an unexpressed energy and if there is anything unexpressed they feel the tension of that.”

So, are you the cool mum? “Um, I’m often the late mum as I can’t seem to get that nine o’clock thing at school working. I have a lot of fun with my kids, we jump around a lot, dancing and jams and a lot of good times. At the same time I’m still their mum and have to put them in their naughty spot if required. You do your shit and at the end of the day you hope they don’t hate you when they’re a teenager.”

Have you been happy with the reaction to your first single Tore My Heart Out? “I’ve been thrilled with it actually and it’s great to hear that a lot of people resonate with the song. It’s really nice when people tell a story and people go ‘oh yeah’.”

Are there plans for an album at some stage? “The album comes out in July. I think Tore My Heart Out is a good taste with that intimate, vulnerable melody style and it has a bit of a harder groove orientated style. There are lots of different flavours on the album but it does seem quite cohesive.”

Tickets are selling like hotcakes to WOMADelaide 2010 and are available from Venuetix.