Sisters Kristen and Carrie Watt curate and host both the Seattle Living Room Shows and Seattle Secret Shows, both of which have grown from small 15-20 person performances beginning in 2008 to bigger – yet still intimate – 100-200 person shows to date. They’ve booked bands from St. Paul De Vence to Damien Jurado. The Monarch caught up with the Sisters Watt to ask them a few questions about the great things they got going on!

Jake Uitti: You two are the co-founders of Seattle Living Room Shows and Seattle Secret Shows – can you tell me how this all came about, and what is the distinction between the two showcases?

Carrie: We started Seattle Living Room Shows in April of 2008 after seeing the need for an intimate and non-traditional space for musicians to perform. A listening type room was pretty rare and we really wanted to provide an environment for music to truly be heard, without the chatter and noise of a bar, while building a community of music lovers and supporters. We also loved the idea of partnering touring acts with local artists to assist in expanding each other’s draw and build further connections.

We had our first show with two touring artists from the UK (Sebastian Rogers of Come Gather Round Us and Andrew Balls of Red Cassette) in Lake Stevens, WA. We had maybe 15-20 friends gathered around a small living room and it was such a powerful experience for the artists and everyone attending that we knew we had to keep this going. Over the years, the shows have expanded from only 15 attendees to over 200 at some events! As attendance increased, the show locations have changed to include larger living spaces, art galleries, lofts, dance studios, private venue spaces, recording studios, and more, and we are always adding to our roster of host spaces. You never know where you’re going to end up!

Kristen: We decided to launch Seattle Secret Shows in the beginning of January 2013. Seattle Secret Shows are completely secret concerts in unique locations around the city. None of the musicians performing are announced until the guests arrive, which is different from Seattle Living Room Shows, where you do know who is performing ahead of time, just not the location. This has allowed us to get bigger named musicians that may have blackout dates at other venues and has provided an even greater sense of exclusivity and excitement for our guests. It has also allowed our guests to discover potentially new music and build an even greater fan base for our artists.

The way both Seattle Living Room Shows and Seattle Secret Shows work is that you have to be on the list in order to get into the event. The way you get on the list is by RSVPing by email for the event, at which time the ticketing link and password is sent to you. The location is sent out after you get your ticket. Since our shows sell out so quickly, the best way to be the first to know about them is to sign up on our mailing list. Our mailing list guests are the first to find out about our upcoming shows, so we always encourage people to sign up on the list, especially for 2014 as we have a lot of really cool things in the works!

JU: You two are sisters – have you always been able to work well together?

Carrie: We each have our own unique strengths that really compliment each other and that helps with the day to day. We also have the same taste in music, passion for the community, and the ability to communicate with just a glance which makes running events go really smoothly. We’ve talked about working together since we were little kids when we made up our own radio show that we recorded on cassette tapes!

Kristen: We’ve been really lucky to have such a close relationship; we literally talk most of the day (whether it’s email, text, phone or in person) so you kind of have to get along in order to do that! Of course we drive each other crazy sometimes too, but it’s usually short lived. I feel really fortunate to be able to work with my best friend!

JU: What was your cassette radio show like? I used to do one too!

Carrie: (Laughs) Well, we used an old boombox and we stuck a pencil in one of the speaker holes to use for our microphone. We each did our own characters for the show including interviews and made up our own commercials. I think I must have been 5 when we started it? We would also occasionally sing.  Kristen would sing Believe it Or Not and I would sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

JU: What were some of the most difficult issues you had to get through to put on these shows?

Carrie: Once our shows began filling up quickly at 60-70 people, we had to start looking for larger spaces. Initially, it was a struggle to find unique spaces that could hold over 100+ people, wouldn’t charge us an arm and a leg, and still maintained the environment of a listening room. Over the last year or so, we have been lucky to partner with some really great new spaces that share our passion for music and community and have been willing to donate their space to us. It allows us to have pop up shows in all kinds of crazy places, like art galleries, coffee warehouses, private event spaces, lofts, and more.

JU: Do you have a favorite moment or two of some recent intimate shows?

Carrie: One of our most memorable moments this last year was definitely when Damien Jurado took his pants off! This may sound inappropriate, but it was during one of our events that was live-streamed with Melodic Caring Project. They live-stream concerts into children’s hospital rooms that are in isolation with life-threatening illnesses. Damien had long johns on underneath and he said that he wanted to show solidarity to the children. It was a very heart warming and moving moment. There was barely a dry eye in the room.

Kristen: On top of this, all of our shows really have something special to them. It is so hard to just pinpoint one.  But I think I can speak for both of us when I say that our two Marc Broussard shows, were over the top incredible.  The 1st night we had Mycle Wasteman open and the 2nd night Bradford Loomis opened up for him.  Both nights were sold out and had several standing ovations.

JU: What’s coming up next for you two?

Carrie: We are so excited for 2014! We have a ton of amazing shows already lined up and are excited to be expanding on Seattle Secret Shows as well. We’re working on a few new partnerships with other local music curators and are looking forward to our Seattle Living Room Shows showcase at Folklife Festival. We’ll also be launching in other local cities this year so keep an eye out for us outside of Seattle!