Interview: Clinton Kane on his debut album 'Maybe Someday It'll All Be Ok'.

"Everything's just fucking hard man," opens Clinton Kane on his debut studio album, 'Maybe Someday It'll All Be Ok' - setting the tone of reliability and reflection for the rest of the album ahead. With a year long delay and many a bump in the road, Kane felt more than ready to release the record, sharing: "That was supposed to come out a year before it came out, so sonically, and the topics of what was being talked about were things that I've already moved on when we released it. So if I'm being honest, like a week after the album came out I was already done with it." 

Here for his first time in New Zealand, Kane talked to us ahead of his show at the Powerstation about his debut album, getting over someone and truly knowing someone...

COUP DE MAIN: You've described the album as "consoling for me and therapy for you" - what do you want listeners to take away from the album? 
CLINTON KANE: This is going to sound very corny, but that other people are going through what they're going through as well. I realised it too before I started songwriting, and before I had that little thing to help me - I always felt like no one gets me, no one understands me, and I was being quirky like, "I'm so different." In my head I thought I had nobody and then I opened myself up to this whole new world. I just want people and the fans and everyone who listens to understand that I'm writing about this shit and this is exactly what you're going through, and we're all going through the same shit at the end of the day.

CDM: In 'Keep It To Yourself', you detail someone moving on while you're still thinking about them and resentful of that fact - do you think we can ever truly be over someone completely? Or will we always feel a connection of sorts to them?
CLINTON KANE: I feel like it depends on the person. I can have a connection with someone but based on the treatment of how they've treated me in the past, and if it's bad, I'm someone who can just put a pause on that and be like, "I'm done." That's also specific to me because I've always lived that way because of the way I grew up and I can just be like, "Hey, I'm done with this. I'm gonna move. I'm gonna keep running and keep moving" - it's not healthy. I think there are people in your life when you truly have that connection and when you truly love that person, I don't think you can really get over them. When you meet them after a couple years later, you're back at it again and you're like, "Fuck, I've fallen back into this shit."

CDM: Do you have a favourite track from the album? 
CLINTON KANE: '14'.

CDM: I love the title of the album. It's the perfect balance of both pessimistic and optimistic with 'Maybe Someday It'll All Be Ok'.
CLINTON KANE: Exactly! The title kind of just embodies me as a human being. I joke about depressing things all the time and self-deprecate, but I'm really not that... I'm kind of vibing with life. 
CDM: Do you feel any more security in the certainty of it being okay someday?
CLINTON KANE: The thing is, I don't know if things are going to be okay - that's why it starts off with "maybe". There's no security anywhere because I don't know how life is gonna play out. I only know what I can do in my life, and what I can keep doing, what I can strive for and what I can dream about, but I don't really know how life's gonna go. Every single time something happens I go like, "Well that's probably the worst of it," and then fucking next week something worse happens so I just don't know at this point. I've given up just trying to figure it out. 

CDM: In 'Go To Hell' you sing, "I'm trying hard to hate you / But I can't stop loving who I thought you were" - do you think we can ever fully and truly know someone else? 
CLINTON KANE: In the past with relationships and stuff I have realised after a year in, I'm like, "Wow, this has been a really long relationship, it has been pretty good, I feel like I know you," and then something happens like the way I brush my teeth she gets mad over or I say something... I just feel like it's a never ending cycle of getting to know yourself and people around you. I honestly wish there was a computer where I could just read everything about someone, but there's nothing. 

CDM: You've talked about always being a very open person with your emotions - do you find it harder now to be open with those emotions with more eyes and ears listening and relying on you? 
CLINTON KANE: With songs, I feel like it depends on the emotion behind the song. Whenever it's about a girl, I don't care, like "fuck it, go ahead it's about a girl," but when it's a song like '14' or emotions about myself; it's always hard. With more eyes, it has definitely gotten harder for sure. 

CDM: Now that your album has been out for a few months, do you find your relationship with it has changed? 
CLINTON KANE: Very much so. Fucking don't listen to any of them. I don't give two fucks. 
CDM: As soon as a record is out in the world, does it feel like it is theirs and not yours anymore? Is that how it is? 
CLINTON KANE: Honestly, maybe it's different for me because the album was incredibly delayed. That was supposed to come out a year before it came out, so sonically, and the topics of what was being talked about were things that I've already moved on when we released it. So if I'm being honest, like a week after the album came out, I was already done with it and that was a couple months back. At this point, I'm moving onto this new phase of new music.

CDM: Have you had the chance to see any New Zealand sights yet?  
CLINTON KANE: I haven't! Our flight got delayed last night, we were supposed to arrive at 11am but we ended up coming in at 7pm - I got to the hotel and I just didn't want to do anything so I ordered room service and got food. 

Clinton Kane's debut album 'Maybe Someday It'll All Be Ok' is out now - listen to 'Keep It To Yourself' below: