Kaneholler may be a product of celebrity and serendipity, but the LA duo, made up of real-life couple Jon Foster and Chelsea Tyler, are blowing up beyond their connections. In 2011, they were both living in Brooklyn where Jon was pursuing acting and Chelsea (who is also Steven Tyler’s daughter) was modeling. They met at a party where they were set up by mutual friend Zoe Kravitz. “We started dating and making music almost immediately,” they said. Their love for jazz, soul, and electronica inspired a move to Venice Beach, where they set up a home studio. They just recently completed the third installment of their three-EP series, and are now on tour with the Ting Tings. Kaneholler talk to Myspace about their unusual name, their celebrity genes and the perks of making music with your fiance. 

Hometown: Boston

Currently live in: Venice Beach, California

Where does the name Kaneholler come from?

Chelsea: KANEHOLLER comes from Cain Hollar, the name my grandfather gave a bamboo forest in our family farm. So it’s meaningful and original. After looking into the name we discovered the etymology of Cain and Holler translates to “battle cry” and that’s really what sealed the deal for us.  

Did you always want to make music for a living?

Chelsea: I’ve always loved to sing but it wasn’t until I met Jon and we started mixing our sounds that I saw a real path open up. The moment for me was sitting in Zoe’s apartment in Brooklyn some time in the first few weeks of knowing Jon. He played me this beat and I just blurted a thing out over it. That song would later become “Viceology” off our first EP.

Jon: I’d been acting in film and TV for the majority of my life. There’s a lot of downtime in that industry so I would spend most of my off time making instrumentals. When I was 27, a buddy of mine moved to New York to pursue a career in theater. That really encouraged me to follow my own dream. So I packed my hard drives and moved to Brooklyn to pursue music. That being said, I hadn’t planned on it being full time until Chelsea and I had made a few songs that we were really happy with. And then a few folks with experience said we needed to dedicate all our time to it, so we did. And I completely agree now. You gotta give it your all if you want to see it happen.

What's your songwriting process? Does being in a band with  your partner help or hurt the creativity? What the perks of being in a band with your fiance?

Chelsea: The songwriting process varies but Jon is always messing with new programs and plug ins/VSTs finding new sounds, beats and flavors . And then I’ll kind of let it develop and vibe on it and eventually find a melody and then it snowballs into a song. When it comes to lyrics we usual work them out together. Twisting our thoughts and theories together and finding that perfect balance of truth without being too heavy about things. After all, we make dance music. It can’t be too serious. But it definitely should be cathartic.

Jon: We both are fully and equally involved in each song. Sometimes I’ll have written an instrumental and Chelsea will ask to hear it in half-time, and then the song takes a completely different direction. Or if she comes up with a melody, I may say something such as, “Try doing this in this section” and then yet again, the song finds its footing somewhere else. I find that kind of honesty and collaborative nature helps in both the creative process and personal relationship. It’s truly a gift to be able to make music with your partner. We make dance music all day, all night, and then drive around the country blasting it in clubs for everybody. What’s not to like?

Who are your biggest songwriting influences?

Chelsea: Lauryn Hill, Billie Holiday, Led Zepplin, Little Dragon, and the Beatles.

Jon: Crystal Method, Prodigy, RJD2, Pearl Jam, and Outkast.

How do you describe your music to people who haven't heard it before?

We call it Electro Soul.

What's the craziest thing that's happened to Kaneholler so far?

Sinbad came to two of our shows at SXSW Festival.

Chelsea, does having a Steven Tyler as a dad make it easier or harder to create and write music?

When I was younger it felt harder. Not for any kind of big negative reason, I just didn’t feel like it was my own thing so I was less interested in it. I felt like my identity was already tangled up in “Steven Tyler’s daughter.” I needed to take time to develop my own thing. Now I can see that it helped more than hurt me because I grew up on tour, around writing musician, in an atmosphere that engrained something in me that I’m only now tapping into. As far as him just being my dad, he’s loving and supportive of all of it and for that I’m very grateful.

You've also talked about having stage fright before. How did you overcome it?

Chelsea: I totally had stage fright, gripping suffocating stage fright. When Jon and I started making music I would literally well up with tears at the thought of getting on stage. It was bad. I wish I could offer up some magical solution but the truth is eventually I just did it. I remember literally just putting off the fear, every time I got nervous I would think, “Don’t think of that now, worry about that later.” And then I just did it, even if it was sloppy and embarrassing I just kept getting up there until eventually it didn’t have the same kind of power over me. And of course I have to give Jon credit, he would look at me before a show and say, “It’s just you and me up there.” He was ultimately the thing that taught me that my fear was self-inflicted and unnecessary.

I think often fear and excitement get confused. They’re very similar feelings; sweaty palms, racing heart, short of breath. That’s why it’s important to do things that scare you, to always be reminded that fear is only as real as you allow it to be.

What are Kaneholler's goals for 2015?

We’re on tour opening for the Ting Tings right now, traveling all over the United States. This is our first major tour and we’re already addicted. So we want to keep playing live and spreading our music around to as many people as possible. Also we are very excited to get on the festival scene as well.