Actress Stana Katic plays a captivating detective on the ABC show “Castle”. Whether in character or in her own personal life, music guides her emotions and is an important reference point for musing on the complexities of love. It’s also a tool she uses to communicate with her co-stars. Currently, Stana can be seen in the indie film For Lovers Only.
For More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Lovers_Only_%28film%29
Castle: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/castle
Tracks
1. Vangelis - Chariots of Fire
2. Florence & The Machine - Cosmic Love
3. This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren
4. Paolo Nutini - Candy
5. Erik Satie - Gnossienne No. 1
Transcript
Raul: Hey it's Raul Campos from KCRW and I'm here with actress Stana Katic star of the TV show Castle on ABC and the indie film For Lovers Only. Today we're going to talk some tunes that have inspired her over the years as apart of KCRW's Guest DJ Project. Stana welcome, how are you?
SK: Thank you, I'm great.
Raul: So you brought in some tunes and it's supposed to be five but you brought in all kinds of stuff today!
SK: Yeah, thank you. I'm always the person that is deejaying spaces and moments and stuff and so I love-- I'm crazy about music. And to figure out five instrumental pieces that would speak everything was difficult. So, I thought, ‘okay, let me concentrate on a theme.’ LOVE. (laughs)
The first one I brought in was "Chariots of Fire".
SK: I think I remember the first song that I ever loved. I was TINY. And I fell in love with this song. I've never seen the movie either, by the way. I know it because I've seen like small clips because as I got older I wanted to go and find the song again and read a bit, a blurb here and there. Now I'm inspired to actually go and watch the film.
But, I didn’t know anything about the film, I was just this tiny kid who was listening to a classical music station. My parents would play the classical/jazz music station and "Chariots of Fire", I remember that being one of my first favorite songs ever and just dancing around.
I think that's probably why my parents' eventually put me into dance class and stuff like that because they saw this little tot kinda freaking out.
Song: Chariots of Fire -- Vangelis
Raul: That was Vangelis with the title track from the movie score for "Chariots of Fire". So, up next you picked Florence and the Machine. How'd you come across this track "Cosmic Love".
SK: "Cosmic Love" came to me because my co-star in For Lovers Only, the indie film that we did in France, and I were doing press for the movie. In doing that, what we did was, we said let's interview each other and let's make a CD for each other.
I made one as my character to his character and he made one as his character to mine and we picked 13 songs that we wanted to dedicate to each other, that we wanted to speak to each other with through our characters. This was one of those powerful pieces that spoke to how crazy she was, my character, for him and also how devastated she was that it didn’t work out.
And it's just like another powerful, ballad piece. And then there's this beautiful touch of magic in it that I thought was really intoxicating alongside this powerful source that's behind Florence's voice.
Song: “Cosmic Love” – Florence and the Machine
Raul: It's KCRW.com, the Guest DJ project, with Stana Katic right here and you're going to have to school me a little bit on this next tune. Talk to us about "Song to the Siren".
SK: "Song to the Siren"…This Mortal Coil. It's an intense piece, I think it's from the early 90's.
I wanted to share this one with everyone because it speaks to the concept, at least for me, of having been open to receiving love having approached love and then realizing that that wasn't what it was and having to find a way of reopening yourself to that. Even the lines, as you hear this girl sing, it's one of those kind of pieces that maybe almost has this almost Celtic kind of feel to it and it send s you to a space that's really enchanting and mysterious and stuff. But, in the en,d it's about keeping that channel open to engaging with someone like that. And I wanted to put this one in the mix because I felt it kinda spoke to that eternal in love.
Song: “Song to the Siren” – This Mortal Coil
Raul: That was This Mortal Coil with "Song to the Siren". So next we're gonna get into a track from Paolo Nutini, "Candy". Now where'd you find this?
SK: "Candy" came to me because I was visiting my brother in Milan in Italy and I got really sick and my other brother was stuck taking care of me and feeding me tea and lemons and stuff like that.
While I was there on the bed, they had the TV playing and I saw the music video for "Candy" for the first time - this was like two summers ago I guess -- and it was beautiful. It became one of those songs that was like a "go-to" if I was feeling like tired or bummed or anything like that. It had a real uplifting quality to it that just put me in the right space to go and create.
Song: "Candy" - Paolo Nutini
SK: We went to France a year later and I shared t with my co-star and I was like, "Oh this song is great, you're going to love it".
It was an Indie film so we had to go and do a lot of things like go and change, like not in a trailer, but in a hotel. And stuff like that. We were on our way back to the hotel walking Parisian street and I hear the song coming out the second floor of one of those beautiful Parisian apartment buildings. And the shutters are closed, but the window is wide open and we stopped. And I was like "Oh my gosh." And there were these two people and I guess they were just making sweet love to this song. And it was so incredible because we were sitting there talking about the project which is about lovers getting together and this song, which was a personal favorite, came on right above us and it was a sweet memory. So, this one for me, is a personal favorite that I always enjoy playing in private moments.
Raul: That was music from Paolo Nutini with the tune, "Candy". Now you're going to have to help me with the pronunciation for this final track.
SK: Gnossienne
RC: It's Erik Satie an incredible pianist and just a gorgeous tune, but talk to us about it.
SK: I was trained on piano, that was part of grade school and high school and growing up and stuff, so the sound of the piano is always something that is a real kind of comfort food for me.
Song: Gnoissionne No. 1 - Erik Satie
I found myself again in Paris, alone. So “Gnossienne” comes from the trip to France. It stunned me. I walked into the music shop and as I was looking around at the CDs I heard this song and I was stilted. I couldn't move. It was fantastic. It's a beautiful, beautiful piece that I think speaks to first of all my history with playing the piano and also just classical music in general. And then just loving to soak up as much of a country and as much of those experiences as I can and take them home and share them with people I love at home.
Raul: Again, I want to thank you for coming through and these songs were incredible. It was fantastic to meet you and have you here at KCRW.
SK: Yeah, thanks for having me. I really think you guys are incredible so it was neat to come here and be a guest.
Raul: For a complete track listing and to find these songs online go to KCRW.com/guestdjproject and subscribe to the podcast through iTunes.