Kat Marsh is a UK based professional vocalist, musician and songwriter with over 12 years of studio and live experience. She is also the founder of (and choir leader/arranger for) Choir Noir which is a unique and versatile choir made up of hand-picked vocalists from across the UK, who have a wealth of combined experience in both recording and live environments. Their album credits include the number one, Grammy-nominated album ‘amo’ by Bring Me The Horizon.
Tell us a little about yourself and your experience
I'm a musician with a portfolio career. First and foremost I'm a professional vocalist and I'm also a songwriter, session musician, choir leader, arranger and, most recently, a touring crew member/performer for Bring Me The Horizon. I've been active in the music industry for the past 12 years, mostly as a studio/live vocalist, songwriter and performer and I've performed at many major venues and festivals across the world. I was a session bass player/vocalist and songwriter for The King Blues between 2010-2012 and I toured extensively with them.
More recently my focus has been on my choir, Choir Noir, which I founded in 2016 to perform with Bring Me The Horizon at the Royal Albert Hall. We work with major artists (both in the studio and live) and release our own arrangements. I am also about to release my first full length album as a solo artist, after several years of releasing EPs and singles.
What drove you to choose your career path?
I love music and it's all I've ever wanted to do for a career. I've been singing forever, learned to play guitar and bass at 14, formed my first band at 16 and haven't stopped.
How did you go about getting your job? What kind of education and experience did you need?
All of my jobs have come about as a result of me putting myself out there as a musician. I have no formal musical training, just a desire to sing, write/record songs and perform live. My whole career started with me just making my own music and sharing it in any way that felt right. This led to me singing on other people's songs and those opportunities as a session singer led to everything else. I have formal qualifications from school and uni but none are directly related to music.
I think getting A levels and a degree taught me some self-motivation skills, which have been helpful. I think the most important skills for the kind of work I do can be learned by anyone and don't require a qualification. Being driven, personable, friendly, professional and self-aware of your strengths as a musician will take you extremely far.
Bring Me The Horizon rehearsal. Photo: Ashley Osborn
What do you actually spend the majority of your time doing?
Depending on the particular job I'm doing, either sat at a computer working on a project or sat on a plane/tour bus/backstage.
What misconceptions do people often have about your job?
Probably that it's glamorous and not boring. There are moments of glamour and excitement, but those moments require hours and hours of waiting and travelling, hours and hours of laborious computer work or hours and hours of repetitive rehearsal. All of which can sometimes be boring, but I love them all. You have to love this lifestyle to wanna do it, if you don't it would drive you crazy.
What are your average work hours?
They're all over the place. On tour, you're effectively working 24/7 because you're not at home and you're part of the tour family. You have downtime, but it's not like being at home, it's almost like you're on a really weird school trip for weeks. When I'm writing/recording/arranging, I tend to work in bursts, probably about 5/6 hours for a good session.
Studio sessions vary, they can be a couple of hours or all day long. Choir Noir recording sessions can be mad, at our last studio session I led the choir solidly with no break for 13 hours, I felt that one the next day!
Choir Noir soundcheck with While She Sleeps. Photo: Toby Rawal
What personal tips and shortcuts have made your job easier?
Learning to let go of perfection has definitely made everything easier. You still aim for the highest possible standards, but I think earlier in my career I spent too much time trying to reach a level of perfection that was actually counterproductive. There can be magic in raw performance and minor mistakes can be undetectable in certain situations. Learning how to simplify things has also been a useful skill, knowing what to leave out is an art form.
What do you do differently from your coworkers or peers in the same profession?
I really don't know. I think we all do things in our own way and we learn from working alongside each other. We all take tips and tricks from the people we work with, we become our own version of everyone we've ever met.
Do you have any advice for people who need to enlist your services?
I get contacted a lot about bands/artists wanting the choir to perform on their song or record an arrangement. This is awesome, but it takes a huge amount of work for even just one song, like months and months of intense work. I want to make sure I can deliver on every project I take on, so I currently only accept big projects that pay us properly and take the choir further in the direction we want to go in. I would definitely say get in touch though, there are sometimes workarounds using a smaller group of singers or remote recording to make it feasible.
Choir Noir in session for While She Sleeps. Photo: Peter Miles
What's the worst part of the job and how do you deal with it?
Probably the lack of sleep sometimes, especially on tour. Lots of 4am starts and travel days with multiple flights. I deal with it by sleeping hard when I reach the destination!
What's the most enjoyable part of the job?
Sharing the music with other people, so performing, releasing songs/videos, recording, rehearsing and collaborating.
What kind of money can one expect to make at your job?
It varies, major touring work can be really lucrative, you can make enough in a couple of weeks of solid touring to pay for a few months of living in the normal world. Punk rock touring pays a lot less, sometimes you only break even. Session work is usually well paid, around £200 - £300 a day, this is at the top end though. I also still do tons of unpaid work and invest to further my career, things like the Choir Noir arrangements cost me money to produce, but then lead to us getting offered major jobs.
It's a balancing act, you have to work out what's worth your time. Registering with the MU, PRS and PPL is also super important, every song I've written and performed on generates income for me in royalties and these organisations make sure I get it. I also have experience as a music mentor in education and I've used this to generate income between industry jobs. It's definitely helpful to have lots of strings to your bow.
How do you move up in your field?
One thing that you notice when you work on bigger jobs or with bigger acts is that the people who've been doing the jobs the longest are super professional, easy to get along with, great at problem solving and very talented at what they do. Anyone who is difficult to be around, unprofessional and/or unskilled tends to not stand the test of time. Touring in particular works best when everyone is nice to be around! So be good at what you do, show up on time, listen and be nice and you'll go far.
What advice would you give to those aspiring to join your profession?
If you love what you do and if you're excited by variety this is an awesome career. Be willing to work hard without expecting anything in return initially and as you gain skill and experience you can start to make a living from it. Be enterprising, don't be afraid to do something that's not being done yet. Say yes to opportunities.
When you're working with someone more skilled than you, watch what they do closely and learn from them. Be nice to everyone you meet, some of those meetings will lead to stuff. Don't be afraid of mistakes, they can also lead to stuff. Bring whatever you have to offer to the table and share it with us.