By Gregg Shapiro

Contributing writer

Calling from a roadside café in Arkansas on her way to Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest Festival, acclaimed guitarist Kaki King was in a terrific mood. At one point she apologized for laughing during the interview as she watched out the window as her band members kicked a soccer ball around the diner parking lot and then inadvertently kicked it out into traffic on the highway. King deserves to be in a good mood with all of her recent successes, including some recognition for film music for “Into the Wild” and “August Rush,” as well as the warm reception that her new album “Dreaming of Revenge” (Velour) has been receiving.

Gregg Shapiro: Last year (2007) was significant in that it was the year that you crossed over into be a presence in the movies with your musical contributions to both “Into The Wild” and “August Rush.” Can you please say something about what it’s like working in another medium?

Kaki King: It’s very interesting (going from) working with a small group of people, either one producer and one A&R guy at my label, to working with many, many people that have many, many ideas. It’s been interesting watching the inside processes of how movies get made and how much work goes into them. It’s been quite amazing. I have made some great friends out of the process. Ever the student, I have been trying to pick up as much information and learn as much as I can. The other thing is that it’s been interesting is being hired to do work that has to be done very quickly, in terms of, get in, record the song, make it fit, make it right, without too much fuss. In a way, I had to draw on a lot of musical strengths that I hadn’t used in a long time, such as writing songs right on the spot or improvising or looking at a picture and working with the music and saying, “I think that this is what is right, what fits.” It makes me very happy to know that people respect me enough and know what I can do, so they can say, “She can come in, she can get the “August Rush” parts done.” It makes me feel like I can do what I do and also be a working musician.

GS: You also performed in concert and on record with the Foo Fighters, who are at a different end of the musical spectrum from you. How did that come about and what was it like?

KK: Well, Dave Grohl is a fan, actually. I’m not sure who it was who turned him on to me. The tipping point was when he also found out that I played drums. He was like, “You’re a guitarist/drummer and I’m a guitarist/drummer!” He loved that. We’d been emailing and texting and kind of teasing each other saying, “We should make a record.” I went out to L.A. to do some of the “Into The Wild” stuff and I rang him up. He said, “We’re mixing the record. Come by, hang out, we’ll have a bite.” He had this song and he said he wanted to play it for me. I thought he was going to put on a CD, but instead he got a guitar and played it for me (laughs). We’re sitting in this big room in some part of the studio and he picked up a guitar and started playing and I picked up another guitar and I started playing with him. We did “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners” and I just harmonized to a song he had written. He said, “We should record this!” And I thought, “All right,” but I had no idea it would be on the record. That was quite a pleasant surprise to find out when that happened.

GS: I recently interviewed Patty Larkin about her new album and we also talked about her “La Guitarra” project, in which you were involved. We talked about the number of queer-identified women on the disc and I was wondering if you had any thoughts about why there were so many?

KK: (Laughs) I don’t know. There are just a lot of queer-identified women who play guitar. I guess there was quite a number on “La Guitarra.” It’s one of those social phenomenons where—I always hate saying that queers are better or kind of at the forefront of doing things, especially in terms of what women do. But I think that not just being a competent guitar player, but being someone that does something that is typically something that is considered living, existing in a man’s world, is something queer women tend to do earlier than the rest of the female population? I hope I’m on the mark with saying that. That is in no way derisive of all women in general. But I do think that queer women—because it’s kind of like, “Well, I’ve got nothing to lose here (laughs). I’m not trying to attract a man. If a man finds it unattractive that I’m playing badass guitar, then that’s not a problem for me.”

GS: Your new album, “Dreaming of Revenge,” is receiving rave reviews and was the EW pick in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly.

KK: I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard all about it (laughs).

GS: How does all of this make you feel?

KK: How shall I say this, Gregg, I’m not a stranger to critical acclaim? My solo guitar records always had decent reviews. There were things to learn from them, but I tend to try to not let that be a part of the process of making records and the process of going on tour. If there’s something to be learned critically, then someone will surely tell me about it and it won’t be a journalist (laughs). I hate to say that because I have so much respect for and I’m friends with many journalists. And people have been so, so kind to me over the years. But if you start to read one, you’re going to read them all, and then you’re going to get really confused. Then you’re going to read all of the blogs that idiots put on Amazon.com and you’re going to get more confused (laughs). I think currently on iTunes, half of the reviews of the record (“Dreaming of Revenge”) are about (George W.) Bush. There is this ongoing debate about George Bush on my iTunes reviews! I feel like it’s an avalanche that I don’t want to start. So while I am ever so grateful to people who give me good reviews and it does make me feel vindicated and happy, I try to let my peers and my fans and people who I trust (comment)—and myself, because I know where there’s mistakes and I know where there are places to improve or when I’ve really hit upon something that is good. It’s a tough one, but I take them all with a grain of salt, and also with a big thank you.

GS: You can be heard singing on four of the songs on “Dreaming of Revenge.” How do you decide when a song needs lyrics or when it should just be an instrumental?

KK: Now that I’ve done two records with some songs with singing and some without, I realize that there is a bit of a process to it, because I’ve been asked this question a lot. It tends to be something where I’ve come up with a guitar part that really can’t go any further. It just can’t interest me on the level as a solo guitar song, but for some reason the structure or the way I’ve written it, I can’t really improve it as a guitar song in order for it to be instrumental. Maybe I’ve written something that is verse/chorus, verse/chorus-oriented and I go from there. Even on the new record, “Sad American” had lyrics and they were lyrics about how once upon a time America was a land of idea and dreams and people thought Americans were cool and now I’m just this sad American when I travel around and everyone just shakes finger at me. But we weren’t really feeling the song as a vocal song. It didn’t sound as good as the layered melody instrumental song.

GS: The album’s title comes from the song “Life Being What It Is,” which contains the line “Life being what it is, we all dream of revenge.”

KK: It’s actually a quote from Gaugin. I know Gaugin’s paintings but I didn’t really know much about the man himself. The entire quote is, “Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge,” or “we dream of revenge,” it’s translated. It seemed so totally tongue in cheek. Something that Morrissey would say. It’s so true and so cynical, yet funny in a way. Living this life makes you feel vengeful. But I’m not a vengeful person in any way and I never hold a grudge. I forgive and forget. I’m an entirely non-religious person but I was raised Methodist, and it was very much, “God loves you and take care of poor people and maybe Jesus was his son, but he was a great guy and he wants to forgive you, too. There really isn’t any such thing as sin. Just be good to one another and that kind of thing.” That’s the tradition I was raised in. It’s definitely not a personal statement, but I would just say that there might possibly be some people in this world who might be dreaming of revenge upon me.

GS: Well, I hope not. The new disc comes with a “dream mobile” that you can assemble.

KK: It’s really special and cool.

GS: Have you assembled one yet?

KK: Yes, I assembled mine. And we’re going to assemble more so that people can see them at the merch(andise) table. What we’re going to do is have a website where you can build your mobile and can upload photos and trick out your mobile in any way that you want. You can put sequins on it or color in the dots or take a picture of yourself with it. Dangle it from some famous monument (laughs). I feel like it’s a nice kind of little extra thing to have when you actually physically buy a CD, which people don’t really do anymore (laughs). If people are interested in buying a CD, you do get an added bonus of your own “Dreaming of Revenge” mobile.