Paris-based bandleader Kate Stables of This is the Kit is our latest ‘Off the Shelf’ guest, in which we ask artists to present objects from a shelf or shelves from their home and talk about them. They recently announced their new album, ‘Careful of Your Keepers‘, produced by Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals). To be released on June 9th, 2023, via Rough Trade Records.
Careful Of Your Keepers will be available on dark green vinyl variant exclusive to indie record stores, an eco-coloured vinyl exclusive to the webstore, and standard black vinyl and CD; pre-order now here: https://thisisthekit.ffm.to/carefulofyourkeepers
Well, shelves is something we’re not short of in our house. They’re mostly filled with books, records and admin folders. But, like all shelves, a few other bits and bobs get in there too.
Here are ten items that mean a lot to me and a word or two about them.
1. ALAN BENNETT BADGE
I love Alan Bennett so very much. His writing, his voice, his sense of humour, his sense of social justice and fairness.
Some years ago now, they had a big piece on him in a newspaper. Maybe it was when the film ‘the lady in the van’ was coming out. Anyway, I was at a friend’s house with a badge maker, and so made myself this Alan Bennett badge. I wore it for a long time, and then it started getting a bit bent and pinging off from time to time, and I got worried that I might lose it. So now it lives on my wall. I love Alan.
2. DRIVING SHORT DISTANCES IN FRENCH
This is one of my favourite books ever by one of my favourite people ever.
In English, it’s called ‘driving short distances’, and it’s by an incredible artist from Bristol called Joff Winterhart. He writes beautiful and wise and well-observed graphic novels and also plays drums in possibly the best band in the world called Bucky.
I have it in English too, of course, but this copy is especially dear to me as not only was it found in a French charity shop (the ultimate treasure-hunting terrain), but it is obvious from the plastic cover and labels on the outside of the book that it’s previous life was in a library!
So to me, it encompasses all my favourite things, charity shops, libraries, the language of my adopted homeland, and Joff Winterhart’s storytelling and painting. And let’s not forget also that it is a beautiful and moving and witty and touching book that everyone should read. (Editor note – buying options can be found here).
3. STANDY
My dad is called Andy and likes very much to make things. This was a brilliant item he made for holding a piece of paper up in front of you when you’re sat at a table. Mainly for singing songs in the pub at sing-a-round type sessions. Basically a tabletop music stand. He made a few of them, and Neil (the guitarist in This is the Kit) named it “The Standy” and suggested we sell them as merch at our gigs. We’ve not got around to it yet, but who knows, maybe one day. It makes me think of the wood chuck episode of Bob’s Burgers. If you don’t know which episode I mean, then seek it out. It’s a brilliant one.
4. ORIGAMI BIRDS
Originally this was 365 origami birds that I made out of a tiny page-a-day calendar that I had when we first moved to Paris 17 years ago.
Every day I’d tear off the day and make it into a bird, and when I’d done them all, I strung them up on thread. I guess kind of to celebrate us making it through our first year in France.
Some of the birds have fallen off over the years. But we’re still here in France and still have reason to celebrate that, so it’s nice to still have these birds to remember that.
5. MEXICAN INK STAMPS
2019 was a big touring year for me. I did quite a bit of touring with This is the Kit but also a fair amount of touring with The National, which took me to some places I’d never dreamed of. One of those places was Mexico, and when I was there having an explore around, I stumbled on a kind of independent book fair/market. There was a lady there selling books and prints and wines, and she had all these amazing ink stamps for people to try out. Anyone who knows me well enough to have ever received a letter from me will know that Ink stamps is something I’ve always been very into. So these are the ink stamps I tried out in the market in Mexico City. A time I’m very grateful for indeed.
This is the Kit’s new single, Inside Outside, has an accompanying video directed by Hannah Owen. It features Kate and a pair of dancers (Ella Sophoclides & Nya Bardouille) capturing the song’s ebullient charm.
6. TAPE RACK OF TAPES MOSTLY FROM SAM
My friend Sam makes the best tapes in the world, and this is where I keep them all in this wooden tape rack.
He’s always been a master of finding out about new (and old) music and has always made the most excellent mixes, and we don’t get to see each other very often, so it’s a nice way of me feeling like I’m hanging out with him like we did when we were at school together.
This is my main source of music to listen to, if I’m honest.
All time capsules.
7. BOTTLE OF HOLY WATER FROM LOURDES
When we first moved to France, we had to find ways of supplementing our income to make ends meet, and we ended up airbnbing our flat out when we were away on tour. Anyway, one time, the person who had stayed in our flat had also done a bit of a pilgrimage to Lourdes and collected some holy water in this beer bottle. They were flying back to the States and so unable to take a glass bottle of liquid with them and so left it in our flat as a gift.
It’s been on our shelves ever since, and I love it. I like to think it has magical powers. But mainly, I just like it being around. You can’t beat a bit of holy water.
8. CARVED FACE HEAD FROM SEATTLE
Whenever we have played in Seattle in the past, we have always stayed with our friend Chris who lived right by Ballard Locks. I can’t explain why, but it’s just one of my favourite places. Maybe it’s all that rushing water or just the sheer engineering beauty of locks?
Or maybe it’s the fact that they have a fish ladder for the salmon when it’s migration season.
Also, one time I saw a sea lion there. An actual enormous sea lion. It blew my mind and was very thrilling. Apparently, they cruise up from California and wreak havoc with the salmon population in the Seattle Sound (did I make that up? Is that what it’s called?). So what they (the humans) do is submerge a huge model of an orca whale in the water there to scare away the sea lions. It obviously hadn’t worked on the one I saw. Maybe they were repainting the orca.
Anyway, one time me and Rozi were having a walk around the locks and met a guy sitting on a bench carving things out of wood and selling them. He was doing polar bears and owls and all sorts, and one of the things he had was this face head. A bit of a bear, a bit of a human, a bit of a mystery creature. I loved it, and when I picked it up, it had a curve/dip in the back that fitted perfectly into my hand. So I paid the man on the bench the price he was asking and have had this face head person keeping me company ever since.
MY WATER BOTTLE
When I travel or tour or just leave the house, I like to be ready for anything, and so this object kind of represents the things I always have with me in my bag. I always have a drinking bottle, a cup, and some chopsticks, a knife and a spoon and a handkerchief. It’s just part of my policy of being ready for any eventuality. Even if those things won’t necessarily be useful in every eventuality. It’s nice to feel some kind of ready and self-sufficient.
This is the kind of thinking and tendency that resulted in the name ‘thisisthekit’, I think.
The idea of having what you need with you and being on the move.
And as you can see, this bottle has accumulated a few dings and stickers over the years of touring.
RED TAMBOURINE
I really love tambourines. And over the years have accumulated quite a collection. This is my favourite one. I love its colour, its sound and its size. Alas, it’s too small for me to play with my foot which is what I usually do at gigs. But that’s actually for the best, as it means it doesn’t get trashed like the ones I use for gigs. It’s just for playing on my own for the pleasure and practice of it. I’d love to be really good at playing the tambourine one day.
A huge thanks to Kate for sharing her ten objects and for giving us this brief glimpse into her world. Here she is on a Paris walkabout session. Live dates and more are below.
Careful Of Your Keepers will be available on dark green vinyl variant exclusive to indie record stores, an eco-coloured vinyl exclusive to the webstore, and standard black vinyl and CD; pre-order now here: https://thisisthekit.ffm.to/carefulofyourkeepers
More in our Off the Shelf Series:
Careful of Your Keepers Track Listing
- Goodbye Bite
- Inside Outside
- Take You To Sleep
- More Change
- This is When The Sky Gets Big
- Scabby Head and Legs
- Careful of Your Keepers
- Doomed Or More Doomed
- Stuck in a Room
- Dibs
UK / Euro / Festival dates below
19 May Minack Theatre, Matinee Show, Portcurno, UK
19 May Minack Theatre, Evening Show, Portcurno, UK – SOLD OUT
16 Jun Black Deer Festival, Kent, UK
16 Jul Folk By The Oak, Hertfordshire, UK
27 Jul Warwick Folk Festival, Warwick, UK
29 Jul Deer Shed Festival, North Yorkshire, UK
UK TOUR
08 Nov Assembly Hall, Worthing, UK
09 Nov Junction, Cambridge, UK
10 Nov St. Laurence Church, Reading, UK
11 Nov Tram Shed, Cardiff, UK
12 Nov Glee Club, Birmingham, UK
14 Nov Neuadd Ogwen, Bangor, UK
16 Nov Cyprus Avenue, Cork, IRE
17 Nov Roisin Dubh, Galway, IRE
18 Nov National Concert Hall, Dublin, IRE
19 Nov Mandela Hall, Belfast, UK
21 Nov Summerhall, Edinburgh, UK
22 Nov Sage, Gateshead, UK
23 Nov Irish Centre, Leeds, UK
24 Nov Academy 2, Manchester, UK
25 Nov Barbican, London, UK
2024
03 Feb Bristol Beacon, Bristol UK