Kat Whitaker’s voice has enough oomph to rock a hockey arena.
The 27-year-old sings for Raleigh pop band The Design, and NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes licensed their song “Hit.”
The track mixes ’80s synth lines, wah-wah rock guitar, hyper BPM and Whitaker’s pipes, which recall the belting Linda Perry (now an A-list song doctor) did on 4 Non Blonde’s 1993 smash “What’s Up?” The first time Whitaker heard the hockey team use “Hit,” it was blasting over the RBC Center P.A. system following a Hurricane goal.
“The energy level was up,” she says. “They were using the song to kind of keep the energy level going. It was really cool to experience that. They’ve been really good to us. We’ve had fans that have stopped me and said, ‘We were watching the game on television and we heard your song playing in the background.’ ”
The Design, which includes keyboardist Risa Patterson, drummer Bryan Smith, guitarist Paul Zizzo and bassist Kurtis Keber, released their LP “Laziest Perfectionist” in 2008. It sounds, at times, like Blondie on human growth hormone.
The Design began as a cover group playing crowd pleasers including Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me.” Back then, they called themselves Sugar—a name previously used by the ’90s project of Husker Du mastermind Bob Mould—so once the focus shifted to original music, they changed their name.
“The Design fits us better anyway,” offers Whitaker, who says she’s never heard any of Mould’s music. “We’re a very eclectic group of people. When you’re designing anything your best possible solution is going to come from team work.”
When did you realize you had a big voice?
I always loved to sing but no one ever encouraged me until I was in college. I started performing with a folk singer called Kitty West, and I did that for a while. Then I was working at a restaurant called Sushi Blues in downtown Raleigh and started doing open-mic with them, and all the musicians that showed up encouraged me to join a band. So my senior year of college, that’s what I did.
What would you sing along to as a kid?
My dad raised me on Broadway, so I sang a lot of show tunes. Then I got into David Bowie. Female vocalists…Sheryl Crow. And I love Janis Joplin. I got really excited about show tunes.
I read an old review of The Design and it said your band would occasionally slip a White Stripes cover into the set. What Stripes song?
What song is that? “The Denial Twist.”
What do you find interesting about Jack White’s vocals?
Every little thing he does is just so cool. My mother might not like his voice, but he inspires me. I’ve seen them live, and he’s an entertainer above anything else.
Yeah, my mom doesn’t like Robert Plant’s voice. What’s the next big thing coming up for The Design?
Our most exciting show that we’re all getting ready for is we’re playing Times Square on New Year’s Eve. That’s on an outdoor stage, and we’re working hard on making that a memorable performance.
How do you plan on keeping warm for that?
Well, we’ll take some socks and cut finger holes into them. (Laughs.) I don’t know. I guess we’re going shopping at Burlington Coat Factory. I’m kidding.
What inspired the title track to “Laziest Perfectionist?”
I want to do all these incredible things, but sometimes it’s just getting started. I think a lot of people go through that. They have all these really high expectations of themselves, and they don’t want to let themselves down.
The Design play Wild Wing Cafe at 10 p.m. Oct. 1. For more information, call 864-242-9453 or visit www.thedesignmusic.com.
