Music off the Backburner: A Musician’s Tale
By: Madeleine Foster
This interview exemplifies the transitional journey of Rachel Kline, a local musician who has developed greatly over the time she has spent here at The Lab All Ages (since her first open mic at the age of 15). Rachel is an individual who’s development is exponential and she continues to grow both as a musician and as an individual, due to a personal desire. This is a bit of her wonderful story.
Convergence: As you were growing up, did you imagine music to be a party of your life, how?
Rachel: Its actually kind of funny because when I was little I said I was going to grow up and be a singer, I would just sing around the house and my dad was super into music too, but as I got a little older my entire focus became soccer and music was kind of on the backburner. Then when I started taking guitar lessons again I was like ‘wait why was I not paying all of my attention to this, this is what I love to do,’ it took a little while to kind of break it to my parents like ‘that thing that you thought I was super into, I’m not actually that into it’ but they were so supportive.
Convergence: Tell me a little bit about your music.
Rachel: I write my own music, based on my own experiences, I don’t write happy songs, and people are always making comments about it. It’s just how I express the negative stuff in my life. I write a lot about mental illness stuff and just different life experiences. This past EP is all about different people who left my life and how I have dealt with that.
Convergence: Do you hope that your music has an impact on others?
Rachel: At first, I do it just to get something out and express myself, but afterwards I’ll try and tweak some of my songs so that they are able to be more specific and become more relatable. It doesn’t matter as much if they take away the same thing but I hope people can take away their own interpretation to help them in their lives.
Convergence: Who are the individuals who have had the biggest impact on you and your musical career?
Rachel: Definitely Dan Abh, he’s been just the most amazing friend and mentor and a person that I really look up to. This whole community (The Lab All Ages) is really based off of his vision. He cares so much about the community, to him it’s about young people, and art, and giving people a place, who don’t necessarily have a place. I know for me in high school I didn’t have friends. I was pretty much a loner, and was dealing with a lot of issues and the Lab was a place where I could just be myself and be around people who I felt really cared. Being around art was really cool and I felt like I could express myself for the first time, without feeling judged. I think the whole DIY scene and community has really shaped my ethics and morals as well as what I do. This community has also given me the mindset that it’s about art and not about what people think, or making money or getting famous. It’s about sharing your expression with a group of people that will appreciate it.
Convergence: Do you think his vision has impacted you and how you see music?
Rachel: I go to school in Minnesota and it’s really interesting because a lot of people have the, “oh let’s get famous and make tons of money” mindset and I probably would have had that mindset had I not discovered this (the Lab) so young and now because of this community I have come to see it a lot differently!
Convergence: What has The Lab at Convergence done for you?
Rachel: It’s done like everything for me! I started coming to the Lab when I was definitely going through one of the hardest parts of my life, I think it saved me. It allowed me to put my life in more of a positive direction, instead of coping with things in a negative way I was able to be around people and feel okay here. When things were really tough, I would feel like ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna get through this week, I can’t do it’ I would be like ‘oh but I have the lab open mic on Thursday’ and that kind of just kept me going when I didn’t think I could keep going.
Convergence: You mentioned that you had never performed publically before you came to the Lab. Was your first open mic scary?
Rachel: I had been looking for places to perform and my guitar teacher was like, oh hey I know this dude named Dan at the Lab and they do open mics every Thursday, come check it out, so I went with him. I was shaking and I have a really obnoxiously loud voice when I sing, but for the first time I was really quiet. I definitely feel like that is one of the things the Lab has done for me, it has definitely helped with my confidence and stage presence and just feeling more comfortable sharing my art.
Convergence: You mentioned you try to come to all of the shows here at the Lab, what keeps you coming back?
Rachel: Ever since high school it has really been a safe place. There is a lot of cool stuff happening in NOVA right now with venues and what not but the Lab has just felt the safest and the most like home. It’s always refreshing to be around likeminded people and get to see people expressing themselves at a place where I feel so homey and safe.
Rachel is currently in school at McNally Smith College of Music and is committed to her music and to sharing her experience at the Lab with others. Rachel told me that she while she has been playing in bars to get her music out there the environment is so different from what she experienced at the Lab that she is left wanting more. Too frequently, after pouring her heart and soul out on stage she has people coming up to her and hitting on her, instead of responding to the music itself. This has led her to create a supportive community similar to the Lab where she is now.
Rachel says she has taken that negativity and transformed it to help foster a positive environment, similar to what she has had at home. She has found a really small place with similar values of all-inclusiveness, listening, and being open. She worked with a friend to book shows there and is hoping it will become a good outlet for individuals like herself, instilling some of the values she has acquired from Convergence into a new environment.
To hear Rachel’s music visit her website – https://rachelkline.bandcamp.com/
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