We are back with Part II of Movie Music Movement where I sit down with Kaki King and discuss her musical contribution to the film, Fish Out of Water, a film that tackles the taboo subjects of religion and homosexuality. My first interview (with director Ky Dickens) discussed the mechanics of finding the right artist to score the film and also how to entice that individual with appropriate food and beverage choices.
I can’t help it. Food is definitely on my mind today, the week before Thanksgiving, as Kaki King speaks to me from her familial home in Georgia. Her dog romps playfully in the background, begging for a ball to chase and I can almost hear the gravy bubbling on the stove. It is the perfect moment to discuss the recipe for an independent film score.
“It was well after I was involved in the process that I saw the entire film,” explains King. “But having seen snippets of it along the way, I felt as misinformed as the rest of population and you’re talking to someone who went to a Christian high school and had studied the Bible for four years in a row. I was blown away by my own ignorance. It was very powerfully made and incredibly smart.”
King, who has been called a “Guitar God” by the likes of Rolling Stone and who cut her film scoring teeth (is that like a bicuspid?) working with Eddie Vedder, generously agreed to turn over her entire catalog to the Fish crew. “I was on tour in Chicago. They came backstage and hung out and it was a done deal. I said, ‘take whatever you need.’ I told my record label to waive all fees.”
With an artist’s appreciation for the bigger picture, King finds a lot to love about Fish Out of Water. “There are so many people that are in the film who are reaching out. I think that people that are gay and also have a spiritual side can identify with Christianity and the Bible and want to feel connected to that community but don’t because they think the Bible thinks of them as an outcast. For someone like that to witness this film and think ‘this is a tradition that I can be a part of,’ I think it’s very powerful. I also think people who are moderately on the fence about a lot of things need to be informed about what it actually says as opposed to what the preachers say and what society says,” she muses. “But, I really don’t think you’re going to convert Fred Phelps.”
Probably not. And maybe we should all be a little bit thankful for that. After all, no singular figure has made us look better than Pastor Phelps and his crazy family at the Westboro Baptist Church. Amen.
Pass the gravy. (fishoutofwaterfilm.com)