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Oklahoma native, Audra Mae has made a name for herself in the world of music. By collaborating with and writing songs beside various musicians, Mae is a very well respected artist.

Spending their summer months writing in Music City (Nashville, TN), the members of Vista Kicks and Mae collaborated to produce Chateau Mae Mae. Combining Mae’s soulful folk sound with Vista Kicks’ classic rock sound, this album caters to all music lovers.

We had the opportunity to ask the members of Vista Kicks and lead singer, Derek Thomas some of our most pressing questions about the release of Chateau Mae Mae.

Open up your windows, allow the sunlight in, close your eyes, and let Chateau Mae Mae transport you to a different time.

How is this album different from anything you have released?

VK: On all of our other releases, we’ve written as a unit- just the four of us. The main difference about Chateau Mae Mae is that we co-wrote every song on the record between ourselves, Audra Mae, and different Nashville writers Natalie Hemby, Madi Diaz, Kerr Harrison, Benjy Davis, and David Borne.

What were some of your main inspirations for this release?

VK: Really, the experience of being in Nashville. Audra flew us out, housed us, and invited people over to write songs breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two weeks straight!

I guess something about lowering our walls and allowing outside people into our headspace…that was the inspiration for this release. A group effort that is something way different and way more than the 4 of us (or 5, including Audra) could have created alone.

How did you meet Audra Mae and decide to collaborate with her?

Thomas: We knew Audra from Los Angeles. She lived nearby and we’d hung out with her multiple times before she moved to Nashville.

A few tours ago, we were passing through Nashville and she came to the show, we invited her to come sing with us because Sam had been sick and he couldn’t sing for a few days. She had to postpone her flight plans and instead of departing from Nashville, she agreed to come with us to Memphis and leave from there.

While listening to songs and talking about life, I suggested it would be cool to someday make a record together. We both agreed and thought the other wasn’t serious, so we let months go by before reaching out again.

In May, I called Audra and said, “Are we doing this thing or what?” She laughed and said, “Hell yes we are.” She took it from there. Sam and I hopped on a plane and stayed with her for two weeks. No plan, no songs written, no real idea of anything. “I guess we’ll see what happens.” I said to Sam on the plane.

What was the process of writing this album and working together with Audra Mae?

Thomas: Every day at Audra’s house was packed with writing songs, cooking food, going out to bars, staying up till the sun came up, and lots of laughter.

We took any and every opportunity to make a song out of this and that. It was an inspiring time. It felt like a magical two weeks. Like a dream come true, writing with Audra and all of her friends who are now also our friends, the experience was a gift.

We didn’t think we were making a record, I think in the beginning we thought it would just be fun to make a song or two. By the end of two weeks, we had written over twenty songs.

What was your experience like writing these songs in Nashville?

VK: It was intense! Writing on the level we did… I think over those two weeks in Nashville, we wrote 20-25+ songs. But like we said, we were writing about 3 a day, one for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That’s how that city works though… they’re songwriting machines out there. In Vista Kicks, we consider ourselves songwriters over singers, musicians, whatever… so you could imagine how inspiring it was for us to be there. 

Do you feel that your sound has changed in any way because of this collaboration?

VK: Totally. I really feel a sense of maturity and growth when I listen to Chateau Mae Mae. There’s more confidence in the vocals and everyone’s playing. I think writing an album with other people challenged us in new ways but it was also reassuring and exciting to be working with such great writers.

Since not a lot of listeners knew that you were releasing new music, what made you decide to keep it a secret until the release?

VK: There was a lot of question on how we were going to release the album. I’m not sure we kept it a very good secret because we played “While we still have the time” on tour the last year or so and had Audra open a show at The El Rey singing tunes from the record haha.. Ultimately, we decided it was such a special piece of music that it just deserved to be out and listened to. This year we signed on with some new publishing and wanted to release it with them and that just happened to fall during this whole covid-19 pandemic.

What do you want your listeners to know about this release and what it means to you?

VK: Take the record as you want: we think the record is great and we’re all proud of it! We think we’ve raised our own personal bar of songwriting, recording, production etc… We took a lot of side steps from our normal tendencies… but that’s what it’s all about! Change and growth. We started recording again this last February for the next VK album —  It’s fun to see how the the Nashville record has clawed into us. We’ve definitely learned some new tricks that we’re going to take along the way… 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Vista Kicks is one of the very first bands that we ever wrote about on this blog, so this album was a very special and long awaited one for us and for many dedicated VK fans. Chateau Mae Mae is different from previous albums that they have released, but is a work of art nonetheless.

This album offers a perfect blend of heartfelt ballads and textured sounds. It’s a softer album from the “Marceline” band, but the vocals from both Vista Kicks and Audra Mae are flawless and passionate. Audra Mae’s addition to the album is a game changer, and brings an effortless tone to the table.

You can stream Chateau Mae Mae on all music platforms. You can also follow Vista Kicks and Audra Mae on Instagram for updates and other content.

We hope you’re all healthy and safe. Don’t forget to wash your hands and support your local bands!