Meet Kaylen, Kelsey and Kristen Kassab | Founders of the K3 Sisters Band

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kaylen, Kelsey and Kristen Kassab and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaylen, Kelsey and Kristen, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Kaylen: If there is one overarching constant leading to our current successes over the last 14 years since we decided to form the K3 Sisters Band on a flight home to Texas from Disneyworld it is our penchant for taking risks both great and small along the way. One of the most dramatic risk taking moments in our early years was a band meeting we had where we came up with our “inverted pyramid” scheme to how we would operate. Basically, we took a huge risk to scrap our efforts of trying to gain exposure by performing at local city festivals and theme parks as a “live and local” act. In its place we decided to invest in getting fans on social media from a de-centralized geographic base.

Kelsey: Oh wow! I remember that meeting so well. We had been performing for live audiences all over the place in North Texas, and it was always the same thing. We were marginalized and even treated badly as local wannabes that were simply pushed on and off stages to fill early day promoter schedules which were there to fill time until the top 40 national or international headline act on a major record label performed at the evening slot. Sometimes we did an entire show with nobody in the audience, or were placed on a small stage in between the hot dog stand and the ice cream vendor as walk by eye candy. We got a huge amount of performance experience doing this which was important, but it was often so demoralizing it led to us taking the risk of our inverted pyramid approach.

Kristen: Yes, the idea was to still do local shows for fun and experience, but concentrate on developing social media fans one by one or two by two on Facebook, Vine, and YouTube. This was before TikTok. So instead of trying to keep growing our reach in larger and larger concentric geographic circles around Dallas, we looked at the entire planet as being within our reach. But the investment was risky because at first it was super slow going. But every time we got a fan online we reached out to them and listened to what they had to say. It took years, but now we have almost 2 billion views and likes in over 50 countries and growing, but only a fraction of them are from Texas. We took the risk of bypassing the usual major record label paradigm and instead took the risk of developing our unique direct to fan model. When we blew up on TikTok and YouTube all over the planet we knew the risk had paid off.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Kaylen: We have been interviewed by many reporters and music business specialists who are always trying to label or bottle the K3 Sisters Band into a specific genre to get a handle on why audiences like our creative diversity so much. They start our trying to find out what “pure play” genre we “really” are, and end up realizing that we are a unique mixture of pop, folk rock, country, Celtic, roots, Americana, western swing and rock & roll. That’s probably due to the influences of our upbringing.

Kristen: Part of our home school curriculum for years was digging deeply into the music from the 1960’s to the present in the form of “attending” YouTube lectures and watching Rock Legends shows about musical groups or singer-songwriters and then writing papers or participating in deep dive cultural and economics related discussions of their careers. In the process, we were influenced by so many styles and musical ideas that when we write new songs we are drawing from this well of musical influences. But it is not always easy. The way we ended up dealing with online bullying was to create our #K3Motto and write several anti-bullying songs. In sharing this with our fans our music tied into their personal lives too in powerful ways. And we love to connect with others on this journey of life in support of each other and to make the world a better place in which to live.

Kelsey: We learned along the way to write and perform the music that we feel and like. We invite our fans and listeners aboard our “train” to process the world through our music. If you like the ride, then stick around. If you don’t that is cool. There are many other options available to you. But our dedication is to be authentic. Of course, we are affected by actual situations and emotions, but also love to write about theoretical situations which are embedded into the lyrics of our ballads as well as what our fans have dubbed as “comfort music.” Another thing that sets us apart from others is that we perform 100% original songs. We never repeat a line up at our hundreds of concerts. Also, all our music both studio recordings and live versions are available for free listening on our website k3sisters.com or on social media.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Kaylen: We love coffee houses because the atmosphere is so relaxing and a great escape for us. We always recommend Opening Bell Coffee in Dallas as we did a one year residency their and love the fact that it is one of, if not the oldest continuously running open mics in North Texas. Their drinks and food are also great.

Kelsey: I like fine dining. So I would recommend eating at the top of the Anatole Hotel at Ser Steak & Spirits or at Crown Block on top of Reunion Tower. Both have excellent food and drink and the views are spectacular.

Kristen: If you can take a friend to the Mesquite Rodeo when in season it is the real cowboy and cowgirl thing and
a ton of fun. Bull and bronc riding is on another level for sure. Also, on the Texas scene you have to experience the Stockyards in Ft. Worth to get a glimpse of the old west, Tex-Mex food and lots of strolling and shopping fun.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Kelsey: There is no doubt that our parents and family were our initial supporter us and continue to support our careers in the the music business. When each of us were only 3 or 4 years old we were regularly performing on stage with our parents band who were active in helping non-profit fundraisers, charities, public school assembly concerts, citywide events and home school enrichment programs. One funny fact is that although we performed for dozens of public school assembly programs we never attended one day as a public school student as we were home schooled from the start. It helped that in addition to being award winning music producers and entertainers both of our parents had extensive experience and degrees in teaching.

Kristen: It might come as surprise that all of us have a great deal of gratitude towards the singer-songwriters and folk rock bands of the 1960’s and 1970’s. We have gained incredible insights from the successes, challenges and yes, failures of our musical ancestors. Topping this list is Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Crosby Stills & Nash, The Grateful Dear and Elvis Presley to name a few. But, we also deeply look up to and are inspired by contemporary acts like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, 5 Seconds of Summer and Twenty One Pilots who in their own ways have navigated the music business internationally and directly connected with their respective fandoms. That’s one reason we are so grateful for our own developing fandom known as the K3SB FAM.

Kaylen: There is one person who gave us a huge vote of confidence in a critical time in our life cycle just as we were exploding on social media. It’s Donnie Nelson former general manager of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. He’s a man who has invested his live in helping young people including getting sponsors for the 1992 Summer Olympics which included effectively working with the Grateful Dead band! Donny is a music lover and happened to be grabbing a cup of coffee at a famous coffee house where we were performing. He was on his way to watch the Dallas Cowboys play, and after a sound check stood up and started clapping and cheering for us. He gave us his card, and later we met with him several times for advice. He also arranged for us to perform at several respected music venues. Love you Donnie!

Website: k3sisters.com

Instagram: @k3sistersband

Facebook: @k3sistersband

Youtube: @k3sistersband

Other: TikTok: @k3sistersband

Image Credits
Bruce Ray Productions, Richard Rodriguez of Getty Images