Meet Carly Barnette and Baz King of KiSMiT in Silver Lake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carly Barnette and Baz King.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Carly and Baz. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
[Carly] Our love story began in fall 2013 after we met in a songwriting class at Berklee College of Music. If you told my nervous-wreck-about-to-graduate-self that I would be in a band with my boyfriend from the opposite end of the world (Baz is South African) living out our dreams in LA, I would have said “good one.”

[Baz] After graduating, I started working on cruise ships as a solo guitarist and while it was clear that we enjoyed each other’s company we hadn’t considered working together until my mom suggested that we send in a duo reel.

[Carly] To quote Tina, his mom, “You play guitar, she sings, why wouldn’t you go travel the world together?” And that’s what we did!

[Baz] Over the course of a year, we traveled to 50+ cities & 20+ countries and eventually craved some grounding. Since then we have happily planted roots in Silver Lake with our home studio and inspired community of creative friends.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
[Carly] Living and working together has definitely presented some obstacles – it’s equal parts passion as it is hard work and sometimes we can lose perspective. I can take things personally, Baz can get lost in self-criticism. Balance can be hard to find.

[Baz] A ton of respect and communication has to be there while working every day together, but I think it only makes us better partners and friends. It has forced us to constantly to keep focusing on the LOVE in life our art and in each other rather than have “work” suck all the life out of the ‘why’ and the love. We’ve had to set some boundaries to not get lost in the hustle: no business talk in our bedroom, no emails after 11 pm.

[Carly] LA continues to be a very grounding city for us both, and we are constantly striving to have a balanced routine of self-love with family & friend time.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
[Baz] We like to say we are a vibrant pop-funk band, based out of Silver Lake, LA [remove please]. Carly has the ability to invigorate whatever room she’s in whether that’s by getting everyone to dance along with her or move them to tears.

[Carly] Dawww *cue heart faced emoji*. Baz carries the funk with his guitar playing, soulful singing and willingness to go along with my dancing schemes. I am most grateful for our yin-yang dynamic. I’m pretty consistently operating at a 12 and Baz lives at more of a 3 – he is calm & centered, I am a pretty spunky human energizer bunny. My zest compliments his zen, and that is something I cherish creatively and while chilling our couch.

[Baz] Musically, I think our shared love of dance-pop, funk and songwriting are the elements of our sound that I am most proud of. I have produced or co-produced all of our music, and it’s taken a while for us to arrive at having a clear idea of direction with our sound & intention – to have our songs and sounds support what KiSMiT represents to us: collectivity, fun, and peace.

[Carly] Originally ‘kismet’ – the word means fate or destiny. We are definitely big believers in the cosmic coincidences of life and surrendering to the universal flow that is bigger than us. It’s a big ol’ blessing to love the crap out of Baz and to compliment each other in business, art & in the bedroom. Staying grateful, conscious and routed in that with the help of our beautiful community of hooligan friends also making & shaking shit up around us is a huge part of what we are about.

It’s a powerful time to be making art, taking risks and making magic happen with a team of friends. I’m a passionate event producer when I’m not shimmying on stage, I put on benefit shows with my organization, ALLIN Los Angeles, co-created with my partner in crime, Mylesha Morgan, and that has given me a lot of confidence in this age of DIY – or Do-It-Together as we like to say! I’m grateful to be putting on our own shows and building the arena as a collective of friends rather than waiting for Coachella to call.

What were you like growing up?
[Carly] Ha! I was sassy, overdramatic and outgoing… so the same! I’ve been singing & dancing as long as I can remember though. I’m very lucky to have a family that embraced my love of all things performing arts-related from a very young age. My mom would take me to choir & grammy would pick me up to run me to ballet. I’ve been so lucky to have a front row audience of loved ones at every show as long as I can remember. Granted the shows were easiest to catch when they were in my childhood living room while I “directed” (bossed) my brother & cousins around.

[Baz] I was generally quite quiet unless I was on a soccer field or in band practice. In those settings I had the freedom to express myself and release the excesses of energy I was carrying, otherwise, I was not drawing any undue attention to myself. At 16, I discovered healing and longevity through music and songwriting. With each song I wrote, I allowed myself to sit with and begin to understand some of my overflowing adolescent feelings; the songs served as little remedies to my confusions. Writers only get better with age and experiences while athletes have two decades at most to thrive and I was in it for the long haul all along.