Kelly Zutrau is a creature of habit. The lead singer and chief songwriter of NYC based indiepop trio Wet — whose gorgeous debut album Don’t You has been racking up raves for its dreamy, introspective tales of romance gone wrong — generally prefers to stay within her comfort zone, especially when she’s on tour. “Once a city becomes familiar to me, I kind of like to stick with the places there that I like, and not explore much further,” she laughs.
We caught up with Kelly on a day off in Seattle, where she did her SPIN photo shoot for Gap styld.by #liveinsummer. She filled us in on her favorite things about Seattle, and also expounded upon some of the other cities where she finds a similarly “familiar” and welcoming vibe — and excellent coffee, too!
Seattle, WA
Why I Love It: Seattle feels like a laid-back West Coast city, but it still has an edge to it, like Boston or New York; it’s fast paced, but it also feels relaxed. I think it has a good balance of both things.
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Favorite Eateries: There’s a place called Thai Tom that’s really good and one of my go-to eating places, and there’s Storyville Coffee Company on the water at Pike Place. I’ll go get a coffee and then walk around the market.
Favorite Music Venue: I’ve seen shows at Neumos and like that place a lot. It’s intimate, but big, and exciting bands still come through there.
Perfect Day: I like to stay on Capitol Hill to be close to shows and restaurants and waterfront. I like to go to Victrola Café on 15th Ave. E, walk to Volunteer Park and climb the water tower lookout, visit the Asian Art Museum and check out the Conservatory. I also like Alki Beach; it’s a great place to sit and have a coffee. I love being by the water, and you can see the whole city. That’s a nice spot!
Seattle, WA Why I Love It
Seattle feels like a laid-back West Coast city, but it still has an edge to it, like Boston or New York; it’s fast paced, but it also feels relaxed. I think it has a good balance of both things, and great coffee.Favorite Eateries
There’s a place called Thai Tom that’s really good and one of my go-to eating places, and there’s Storyville Coffee Company on the water at Pike Place. I’ll go get a coffee and then walk around the market.Favorite Music Venue
I’ve seen shows at Neumos and like that place a lot. It’s intimate, but big, and exciting bands still come through there.Perfect Day:
I like to stay on Capitol Hill to be close to shows and restaurants and waterfront. I like to go to Victrola Café on 15th Ave. E, walk to Volunteer Park and climb the water tower lookout, visit the Asian Art Museum and check out the Conservatory. I also like Alki Beach; it’s a great place to sit and have a coffee. I love being by the water, and you can see the whole city. That’s a nice spot!
San Francisco, CA
Why I Love It: San Francisco is another one of my favorites. When you’re on tour, you rarely have a whole day to yourself where you can explore a city. So when that happens, you just want to get outside and walk around, because you’ve spent most of the week in a van or a motel or a club — and San Francisco is the kind of place where you can just walk around and look at stuff all day!
Favorite Eateries: I’m a vegetarian, and San Francisco has great vegetarian food. When you’re on tour, you eat so much bread and cheese and just bad food on the road; when you’re in a nice city that has restaurants that serve vegetables, that’s pretty much all I’ll want to eat!
Favorite Music Venue: I love the Independent; it’s my favorite venue [in San Francisco], and a lot of really good bands come through there. It’s intimate, but it still sounds really good – and it’s in a fun area near Alamo Square.
Perfect Day: I like to find a good coffee place, walk around and find a burrito in the Mission — the burritos are really good — and find a nice park to hang out in.
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New York, NY
Why I Love It: Even though we’re from New York, we rarely get to spend time [in the city]. So when we do hit there on a tour, it’s like coming home — and it’s the best place to have a day off!
Favorite Eateries: My favorite place to get lunch in New York is Angelica’s Kitchen. It’s a great vegan restaurant in the East Village; I used to work there. Also, Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos, which is a tortilla factory in Bushwick; they have really cheap, delicious tacos and burritos and it’s a great place to go! For dinner, Seraghina in BedStuy, Brooklyn is one of my favorite restaurants in New York — pizza and Italian food. They’re super friendly and accommodating, so we’ll get a big group of friends together and go for hours and drink and have pizza. My bandmates Marty and Joe live just down the street, and I’ll be moving back to that area soon. It’s just like home for us!
Favorite Music Venue: I love Baby’s All Right, which is a small venue in Brooklyn, just south of the Williamsburg Bridge. We know Billy, the owner, who also owns Pianos on the Lower East Side. He’s a great guy! He always makes us feel taken care of, and puts on really good shows. Special bands will come through there — the kinds of bands you wouldn’t think you’d be able to see in such a small venue — and you’ll hear about it at the last minute.
Perfect Day: I usually get coffee at Think Coffee, which is right by Cooper Union, where I went to school. I’ll go by my old school, and maybe go into the library and look at some books. I’ll walk over to Tompkins Square Park, go to the dog park and watch the dogs play. And then I’ll meet up with some friends for lunch or dinner.
Los Angeles, CA
Why I Love It: L.A. is my other favorite place to stop on tour. I have friends in town and I’ve spent a lot of time working with people and recording there, so it’s sort of a second home for me at this point.
Favorite Eateries: Café Stella is always a fun, dinner experience — classic French food and really good cocktails. I bump into people I know whenever I’m there. And a bar called Taix in Echo Park that’s also a French Restaurant; I’ll go to the bar and meet friends for a beer.
Favorite Music Venue: The El Rey Theatre; that’s been my favorite place to play in L.A., and my favorite place to see music. It’s a little bit bigger than the places I usually like to see shows at, but it has this great old theater feeling — it has big red curtains that open up onto the stage. It just sort of feels dramatic and fun, like you’re really at a show.
Perfect Day: Start with breakfast at a place called Kitchen Mouse in Highland Park; they have great coffee and breakfast tacos. And then I would head over to Echo Park to see friends. There’s a bookstore called Stories I like to hang out in, maybe work on lyrics, or buy a book and read. I’ll also meet friends at Fix Coffee, which is nearby, and grab dinner after!
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