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Kim Ware and the Good Graces have been a staple in the music scene for over a decade. With their catchy melodies and thoughtful lyrics, the band has built a devoted following among both indie and roots music fans. Ware’s clear, twangy voice has always been her band’s greatest asset, and she’s been compared to artists like Neko Case, Bright Eyes, Phoebe Bridgers, and the Weepies. She has cultivated a dedicated fan base who love tight harmonies and skilled instrumentation. Her lyrics are introspective and often deal with themes of love, loss, and hope, and the band’s live shows are high-energy affairs that always leave audiences wanting more. If you’re looking for a new band to fall in love with, look no further than Kim Ware and the Good Graces.
What’s the song “Like a Bottle” about?
“This song emerged from a workshop I took with Phoebe Hunt. We had an assignment to talk to a friend about trauma or old wounds, then journal about it, then see if we could create a song from the conversation and journaling. I talked to my friend Wyatt Espalin about a few things, but the topic that we focused most on was sort of a cycle of bullying — me being bullied as a kid and then later bullying someone else. I had never really thought about it as a cycle, exactly. And honestly, I don’t think I had ever been very honest about either situation. The whole experience of talking about it and then writing the song was very eye-opening. It helped me see the person who had bullied me with much more empathy, understanding that they probably were just repeating something that had been done to them. I decided to construct the song to follow that cycle, so that’s why it sort of changes from me being the victim (me being “spun like a bottle”) to me mistreating another person (me doing the spinning of the bottle) to finally just an understanding that maybe looking at it this way makes it all make a little more sense.”
“I was most influenced by modern-day indie-folk music that’s really honest. Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus come to mind. But when we recorded it, I told Jerry to make it sound sorta like Radiohead.”
“This song changed greatly from my initial guitar and vocal recording once Jerry added all his bells and whistles. I ended up retracking my parts after his were there, as it just seemed to need a slightly different feel. It was such a joy to hear it take shape; I really had no idea how it might end up. But it was also one of the harder ones to get it to a place where we felt like it was “done.” There are just so many different treatments we could have applied to it. I’ve only played this live a few times — each time, it’s been quite an experience for me and for the listeners; it’s just so intimate and personal. This is one of my favorite songs that I’ve ever written. It really opened my eyes to the idea of writing a song for the sole purpose of seeing something from a different or more complete perspective, without any concern for whether the song was “good.” When I was writing it, I wasn’t sure it would ever even be recorded; I simply hoped it would teach me something. It definitely did.”
Big Takeover is excited to host the premiere of “Like a Bottle” –
