Caroline Kingsbury Talks Touring, Growing up as a Queer Person in Florida, and more.

Interview By: Emma Hintz

Photos By: Emma Hintz

I had the absolute honor of talking to Caroline Kingsbury before the New York stop of her tour with MARIS titled “Give me a Tour” named after their joint single “Give me a Sign”. I have always been aware of Caroline’s music, she’s always been someone a lot of my friends have loved, and I always thought her live shows looked like so much fun, but discovering she was also from Florida struck a new cord for me. Growing up in Florida is truly a special thing, I believe everyone who grew up in Florida has something particular to them, we can all sniff out a native Floridian from a mile away, because there truly is no place like it. 

Getting to chat with Caroline about this was very special, one of the most special things we’ve done on Small Talks quite frankly. Being able to attend “Give me a Tour” is something I will cherish forever. “This tour has been such a celebration of Queerness, everyone has been coming to these shows saying things like “wow I needed this” no, WE needed this! It’s wonderful, every night I am living the dream” Caroline exclaims. I felt this celebration the minute I walked into the venue and saw fans getting their very own face paint done in their cute space themed outfits, and when I walked further into the venue and saw karaoke happening on the stage at Racket. The idea for Karaoke is all thanks to MARIS, which I personally think is one of the most genius ideas I have ever seen. It is such a good way to loosen up the crowd, and I saw that happening that night. Every fan was so supportive of each person who went on stage to sing karaoke, and it was truly one of the cutest things I have ever seen. 

“Give me a Tour is MARIS and I sort of combining our worlds, I have a lot of aliens and space references in my music and so does she, mixing our two worlds worked well, Aliens and Astronauts, we also have a giant moon on the stage and plenty of other surprises during the show” 

Just days before this show, Caroline had the opportunity to talk to our friends at Sapphic Sun before her show at Crowbar, a staple venue in the Small Talks universe. “They are so fucking cool and their zine is professional as hell. They are master zine makers. Everyone was so kind, it was so cool to talk to a Sapphic zine publication in Florida.” Caroline recounts. I encourage everyone reading this article to go check out The Sapphic Sun and show them all the love in the world, I am always supporting my St. Pete family, even from over 1,000 miles away. 

“I used to go to shows at the Social and House of Blues in Orlando, I waited in line in the rain to see Death Cab for Cutie once, I wanted to be front row.” Caroline says. Hearing an artist as successful as Caroline talk about growing up going to the same venues I did, around the same time as I was, is pretty amazing. 

“When I moved to LA in 2017 I had just barely come out of the closet, moving to LA was very important for me. I grew up very conservative, it wasn’t necessarily that my parents were evil or anything, I am super close with my mom and she’s not like that, it was just a weird time to be growing up in a small town in Florida. The 2000’s had a very weird evangelical thing going on and I got a little sucked up into that when I was a teenager. I needed to leave, and when I did I was like oh yeah, i’m really gay.” Caroline recounts. “Chappel Roan’s Pink Pony Club is so special to me because I moved from Florida to Tennessee to LA, and I used to spend a lot of time at the Abbey in West Hollywood which is what the Pink Pony Club is referencing. Anytime I sing that song I literally feel like it's mine. This is my story. I love it because whether you are from the midwest or the south, we all ended up in LA and we are finally living our true selves.”

I was sensing this theme throughout the show, the show really felt like an escape for everyone in the room, things are really scary right now, but there’s a glimmer of light and hope when you are at a Caroline Kingsbury X MARIS show, singing your heart out to songs that mean so much to you. “As fucked up as the world is right now, Queer music is thriving, we need some more diversity but it is still wild to see where it is today compared to when I first moved to LA” Caroline says. 

“I always feel that Glimmer of hope when I play shows, everyone is so supportive of each other and it’s very sweet.” 

Caroline released her newest EP “Shock Treatment” a couple of weeks ago, it's an extremely fun time and feels perfect for this in between summer and fall weather. “Chocolate” is my favorite track, and I think it will be yours too. Listen to “Shock Treatment” here. 

There’s still a few dates left of “Give me a Tour” get your tickets here.