Episode 21 - Kim Virant - Viva La Heart

My guest in this episode is the well-known and much-loved Seattle musician Kim Virant. In her own words she is “an Air Force brat” who arrived in Washington state in 1980 after a four-year stint in the UK where the music scene had been transformed by Punk and Thatcher’s Britain was kicking off.  After college and 3 months back packing trip around Europe Kim decided to follow her passion and become a singer. As she describes in this episode, her first live performance was in her mid-twenties at Murphy’s on 45th in Wallingford – which just happens to have been my local pub when I lived in Seattle. Here is what Last. FM have to say about Kim If you were a rock fan in Seattle, WA in the early nineties you were a fan of Kim Virant and her band, Lazy Susan. With their Stonesy double guitar stomp and Kim’s charismatic vocals, Lazy Susan ruled the club scene, working their way from small venues to routinely selling out 1000 person capacity rooms and opened up for artists such as Pearl Jam.The band broke up after a recording deal fell through, after which Virant reinvented herself, or at least her music. Her solo albums were based on an alt-country/rootsy guitar sound with the 2007 album “Songs from a Small House” being a highlight along with the 2014 single “Pilot”. The self-proclaimed “queen of benefits,” Virant has played alongside many artists and continues to be locally active and acclaimed in SeattleKim is married to Chris Friel (“my good looking husband, he helps keep my dream alive”), an accomplished drummer who has played with The Rockfords and Goodness among others. Kim’s latest project is a band called Rosso Viti which she formed last year with long-time friend and collaborator Bryan Cohen who says this about the band “Our music is a fun mix of catchy songs, crunchy riffs, and DIY garage attitude. It harkens back to early 80’s rock with all the fun and none of the hangover!”Their first EP “Viva La Heart” was released in February of this year and it certainly lives up to Bryan’s description and Kim’s voice is better than ever. Take a listen to the EP on your favourite streaming service but only after you have listened to this equally great episode 😊 Enjoy! You can hear all the artists/song we talked about here - 3 hours of musical delight !https://open.spotify.com/playlist/23GY1qNl7NmTSAiXoI4aSA?si=jeVee0CdQsujFgk6doXQIQ