Meet & Greet: Kay Silver

Kay Silver (Kayla Mahomed) at the Gordon Best Theatre.
Photo by: Luke Best

Staying authentic is one of the most challenging things a person has to do, doubly so as a musician who is putting out a body of work that represents themselves.

Kayla Mahomed had to come to terms with falling out of love with the music she was playing, while trying to reinvent herself and decide exactly what direction she wanted to go. The Pulse had the chance to sit down with her and talk about her reintroduction to the Peterborough music scene as Kay Silver, an authentic pop-rock artist who will be performing later this month.

What's your relationship to Peterborough?

So, I'm originally from Orillia. I was living in Toronto before the pandemic, and I met Nathan [Truax] at a show. We went on a couple dates and the pandemic happened. I actually came to Peterborough to visit for like four days, and then it was a lockdown. I ended up staying at his parents’ house, outside of Bobcaygeon and when things started to open up.

We moved to Peterborough. It was a good test of our relationship. Like just two dates in and then we’re living together basically. We live at the same place we moved into three and a half years ago, and as soon as I moved here, things started to open up again. I started playing with Jay Swinnerton right before The Garnet closed. We did a month-long residency there. The band we were in together was The Haymakers. It was like literally a week after that month that it shut down.

I quickly discovered the music scene in Peterborough was there and thriving and ready to come alive again post pandemic. Now I’ve lived here for almost four years.

Are you able to talk a little bit about your music background, growing up and what you were listening to, how you got into music and when you learned to play and started playing?

At a very early age, I was about six or seven, when I first heard a song that to this day gives me goosebumps and I was like, “oh my goodness” It was Earth Angel by The Penguins, and it was doo-wop! I was so young and didn't really understand what music was or how it was affecting me, but it had a chokehold on me. I was like, “I'm obsessed with this music” and I started singing 50s doo-wop, not like in front of people just at home.

I started performing probably a little later. I want to say I was like 17 or 18, and it was strictly 50s music. I don't know, there's something about the ballads, and the voices. Maybe not so much the production per se, but the delivery of it that I just love. So that's what I did for about five years.

It's funny, because it’s considered rock and roll, like early rock and roll, so it did kind of blend into country. And I started singing like Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn and then I fell for Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris. Then I moved to Toronto and I actually became a part of the bluegrass scene there. I met amazing musicians and used to play at The Local every month in Roncesvalles, and they had a bluegrass night every monday night, so I really fell into the country thing for quite a while.

I came to Peterborough and released my own EP. It's funny, I call it country, but it's technically americana, it’s not like Boots and Hearts country, no offence to that style.

Photo of Kayla Mahomed to promote Must Be Nice (2022).
Photo by: Morning Cup Productions

But something crazy happened to me, about two years after I posted the EP. I played great festivals! I was so excited I got to play my dream festival, Mariposa Folk Festival. In the same summer. I got asked to play at the Peterborough Folk Festival. From my old home, to my new home. I got to open for some great people at some great venues, and I appreciate it so much. I took none of it for granted.

I just started to fall out of love with the genre. I didn't feel it was very authentic to me. I'm from Orillia, I didn't grow up on a farm, I'm not a farmer girl. It’s funny singing country, you kind of have a flair, you can't help but to put a bit of a twang on, and that's kind of it. I felt phony, but it was fun. It was fun.

One thing about my relationship with music, it's always been drawn by the past, up until recently, actually. So, all my other stuff like Kayla Mahomed and the country thing was very sixties country, and then it was fifties doo-wop like early rock and roll. Just recently. I'm like, “I need to look forward, and not draw my inspirations so much of like 50 or 60 years ago”

Would you say that was why you stopped making music after your EP? You fell out of love with making it for the genre.

It was, the community was wonderful. But I felt so phony. I loved a lot of American artists, doing that stuff, but they're the real deal. I took over a year and a half off of performing all together.

Kayla Mahomed and Nathan Truax performing as Intmidators at Bar 379 in 2024.
Photo by: Luke Best

I started getting into garage rock, which was kind of sixties influenced and kind of a gateway to heavier music and Nate was all about it. We started Intimidators, and that was fun, but I knew it wasn't it. I had songs I wanted to write. But I just didn't know what direction to go in, and that stuff that, I guess, just takes time.

How did you decide that now was the right time to debut new music, and come out as Kay Silver?

It actually has been a long time coming. About a year ago I knew I wanted to start solo stuff again. But it was actually Jacquelyn [Craft], my boss at Neighbourhood Vintage. She was like, “do you want to do a market? Do you want to play at a market?” and I'm thinking, that would be a really good twist of the arm to get in the groove again and sing ‘nice’ music, no offense to Intimidators, but I wasn't ‘singing’.

So I did the market, it was all covers and it was nice, like, soft, easy rock, which was fun. And then Calvin [Bakelaar] kept popping in every now and again to the shop [Neighbourhood Vintage]. He's such a nice guy, He'd ask, “How's your solo music?” I think after I stopped doing the country stuff. He was always a bit curious, like, “are you going to perform again?”

He gave me a good twist of the arm just asking about any updates. And I was like, “well, I'm writing some new material.” And he's like, “Okay, well, would you like to be a part of my show on March 28th?” and that was back in December he asked me, so that gave me plenty of time to get my shit together.

What’s crazy is January 1st, I started writing a song every day, and it was like, I have like a switch in me. I don't know where it came from. I can't really explain it, but it's just like, “Oh! This is the direction I want to go into” so I said yes to the show before I even knew what direction I was going into, but I'm very grateful for Calvin and that little twist of the arm. I'm the type of person that needs a little push. To have a deadline, you know, I work better that way.

And how did you decide to go by the name Kay Silver?

When I first started performing, I went by with my first and middle name. Using your real first and last name is pretty personal—there’s other things that are tied into that, like family and other, non-musical things, and I used to be an Irish dancer growing up. And I needed a new, fresh start.

Kay Silver.
Photo by: Luke Best

I wanted to go by “Kay…something” my nickname in high school and growing up was Kay. When I was working The Neighbourhood Vintage one day, a vintage top from the 1960s came in and the tag read “Kay Silver”. I loved how it looked and how it sounded — and I decided to go with that for my stage name. So it wasn't like silver means so much to me. I'm actually more of a gold person. But I thought it sounded cool. And it can't be hard to spell and say, because everyone, even the most professional events, would get my last name wrong. It ticked me off.

What are some musical Inspirations behind this project? What piles are you grabbing from?

I actually recently recorded a demo and it was so hard to describe what my sound was and what inspirations I was drawing from because It's a lot! This demo. When you go in the studio and you layer some other instruments on it, you get the overall vibe of what I'm going for and essentially it's pop rock. Pop is such an exciting thing for me, because I've been so rootsy for so long. I really like Courtney Barnett. I really like this the sing-songy, kind of talky, and a little synth.

I was thinking this on the walk here. I'm like, “he's gonna ask me my inspirations” and I don't really know how to explain! I know this is so cliche and cheesy to say, but my songs are coming from like a piece of a page in my diary, so they're just very personal, but hopefully, relatable. They're not very literal, but they’re my own diary and my own melodies that have been stuck in my head.

You sort of teased this already saying that you recorded a demo, but the plan is to release music under Kay Silver and not just perform?

Actually, I have a show coming up, and I'm playing all originals. I have enough material for an album now, and I'm debating if I want to release an EP first or just do the album. There'll be some singles. I want to get recording soon, but it's funny, I want to perform them a bunch to get them polished, if that makes sense?

Yeah, that makes sense. Can you tell me about your upcoming shows?

March 28 at the Gordon Best with VANCAMP and I, The Mountain. It's my debut show as Kay Silver, and I'm so excited / nervous but nervous in a good way, I'm not unprepared, I’m prepared, and Nathan will be accompanying me on bass and synth, and I'll be playing my new guitar. And I do have another one lined up in April, but I won't announce it until after the Gordon Best show.

What do you think about the other bands that you’re opening for on this upcoming show?

I'm very excited. I'm playing with friends. They are both Peterborough Folk Fest alumni too, which is very fun. Calvin is just a sweetheart and just a good dude and my buddy Warren [Frank] plays drums for him.

I've never met I, The Mountain. I haven't seen them before, and I'm very excited to. I've heard their music and it sounds fantastic. And hopefully I'll fit in with the genres of the two, being pop-rock. I’m not really indie, but I feel like it'll be a nice addition.

I think so. Anything else that you want the world to know?

I am on Instagram, it's @itskaysilver I haven't started really posting yet, but there's going to be shows. There's going to be posters. There's going to be events, and music coming. So, follow me there! I'm excited to show the world. What I got cooking!

Kay Silver.
Photo by: Luke Best

You can catch Kay Silver at her debut show opening for I, The Mountain and Vancamp on March 28 at the Gordon Best Theatre: https://www.ticketscene.ca/events/50626/

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.