Damn straight. And that’s what we do here, friends – trade in the straight and narrow for a lot less ordinary. And supremely rock, naturally, which automatically makes it bad and sweet, if you catch my drift. Now, I ain’t saying that neo-soul, Old English, sugar-lipped rhythm and blues is ultimately bad, but when Katrina Chester’s beltin’ out the jams, you better believe it’s laced with a little bit o’ sex, steel, grit, and burn, and those are plenty bad, if you ask me.

To put it bluntly, Katrina’s got the best female voice on this planet. And that’s saying a lot, considering I hold Linda Perry and Amanda Marshall in such high regard. You may want to lump her in with the Sheryl Crow’s, Diana Krall’s, and Joss Stone’s of this world, but believe me when I tell you that that’s like comparing Pavarotti to Vince Neil, for Christ’s sake. And she’s sexy as hell to boot, which is really all you could want in a woman – someone that looks like they could strip the lacquer off a pole with a voice so deep, poised, and sultry that it’ll rise your pole every time you hear it. And that’s really all it’s about when it comes to Katrina Chester – the voice and the true artist wielding it. While her hard rock band Luxx is on a certain hiatus, Katrina is set to release her solo EP. Almost two years in the making, Katrina’s five song solo effort is a culmination of family history and haunted inspiration* that is a true soul sensation. It’s bare, homely, raw, mellow, brash, and vocally mesmerizing.

I feel so great about this EP. I feel so confident and excited. I’ve found my genre. Once I let it all out of me – who and what I am – then it all started coming easy. I’m definitely singing more, so if you liked me in Luxx, you’re going to love me now.

How have you adjusted to being solo?

I like the team aspect of band. I liked being the front person and so going solo sounded like the worst to me. I wasn’t even sure I liked my name. It felt really consuming and self-absorbed and too much about me. It took me a year before I even agreed to go solo. It never was all about me in Luxx and that’s why I flourished. It feels much more serious to be Katrina Chester.

So did you ever consider any other names for your solo project?

I also tossed around Kat or Katrina or even my real name, Katrina Gurciullo. But I’d be running from the exact thing I was trying to embrace. Now I’m trying to envision my name in magazines and billboards. I mean, it’s always appeared there before, but this time is different.

Ok, last time we talked we went on at great length about both your place in music as a woman in the active rock genre and about a woman’s place in music in general. Has anything changed at all, especially now that you’re playing a different kind of music?

I thought it would be easier, but it’s not. Unless you have a gimmick it’ll be way harder for you. I still say talent will prevail but I don’t think the genre I am in is any easier.

Are you going to get a gimmick?

Fuck no. Where am I going to get one? Do you have one? My gimmick is that you’re not going to get me anywhere else.

All right, but now that you’ve gone all bluesy, are you any less feral? Is it all candles, black and white photos, and reading in a meadow, or will you still give me the finger at a show?

Abso-fucking-lutely. There’s no way I can change who I am live. If I feel like telling you to fuck off then I will. I can’t change that. What has changed though, is that the music I sing now evokes different emotions. With Luxx, I was always singing about angry things. I just don’t feel as angry right now. This is where I’m at in my life.

You recently spoke at the Global Entertainment and Media Summit on artist autonomy and independence. What was your message?

I basically talked about how to do everything without a label, from PR to booking shows, to organizing a street team. I think a lot of artists are in the head frame that getting a label will save them, but it won’t. I’m not saying labels are bad. You just need to find the right one for you and even if you can’t, you can still make it.

You had the good fortune to appear in a Sex and the City episode. Did you get nude with any of the actresses?

No, my scene wasn’t nude. But I did get a chance to meet them all and they’re all very sweet.

Damn. Ok, you know, we recently interviewed some other NYC bombshells (Molly Crabapple and Jillian Ann). Is there some sort of trendy, sexy rock chick commune I should be aware of?

Yes, we meet Monday nights at 10:00 on the D-train.
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I knew it. Ok, if Katrina Chester formed an all-girl sleaze rock band, what would you be called and would you breathe fire or spit blood?

Why does it have to be an all-girl band? I’d put Luxx back together. And I’d name it Luxx, because clearly I’m not good at coming up with names (see above re: Drop Dead Daisy). As for breathing fire and spitting blood, I’d like to do both. That would be awesome.

If I gave you some really strong smelling salts and some jumper cables, which rockers would you resurrect to form a super group?

Oh wow. Freddie Mercury. I would definitely want to resurrect him. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix too. I’d resurrect Beethoven. Freddie would be my boyfriend. I know he’s gay but it’s my fantasy.

If you caught me looking in your window late at night, would you invite me in and take care of me or stuff me in a sack and toss me in the East River?

If it was you? I’d go outside and say, ‘Jeff, what the fuck are you doing?’ And then I’d invite you in.

What if it was some creep?

I’d go outside with my shotgun, cock it, and say, ‘You have two choices: go away or die.’

You have a shotgun?

Yeah.

Have you ever used it?

No. I also keep a knife under my mattress. I’ve always believed I’d be murdered somehow. I always have dreams of being stabbed. It’s really more about when I’m asleep. It’s a control issue. I always need to know I’m in control and when my eyes are closed I don’t have control. But if I’m awake I’ll beat the crap out of you.

Have you ever kicked anyone’s ass?

Oh, yeah. I was suspended from school three times for that.

Tell me about the last fight you were in.

It was three years ago, when I was with Luxx. We were playing with another band and the chick in it was saying rude shit to us. She looked like she was going to do something to me so I hit her. But most of my fighting was done in junior high. I came from a family of aggressive girls.

Ok, so besides beating on other chicks, what’s the most badass thing you’ve ever done?

Drugs. Drugs from people I didn’t even know. I never shot heroin or anything like that but I was on coke for a while. I was never a pothead but I was into uppers. But that was stupid and I would never do that now. I grew out of it.

*Her father was Gary Chester, one of the most influential session drummers in the 60s and 70s. Says Katrina: “I still can't believe it, as I look back, at some of the people that had been very normally at my home when I was a kid: Jim Croce, Patti LaBelle, Burt Bacharach. Some of the great R&B and soul legends were my father's colleagues and personal friends. My dad was my first teacher and he groomed me with the likes of Etta James and Billie Holiday from the very beginning." Katrina also owes a lot to her role as Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway hit, Love, Janis. "Singing the blues woke up something in me that I'd forgotten I had. I was five years old again. I remembered everything I had forgotten. I would leave the show so inspired, I just kept writing!"