Kathryn Frazier had really, really bad hair in the ’80s. And she’s not afraid to bust out the floppy old photo album filled with yellowed concert-ticket stubs and share images of her crispy coif of yore with a writer about to pen her story. In fact, within the span of a 45-minute interview and tour of her Biz 3 Publicity offices (upstairs in the building she lives in), it becomes quite apparent that good-humored Frazier is pretty much fearless—a characteristic that’s surely what landed her in this position: Representing nearly 100 artists (from Justice and Chromeo to The Cool Kids and Atmosphere), as well as five standard-setting record labels (Vice, Mad Decent, Fool’s Gold, Rhymesayers, and Def Jux). The Chicago-based Biz 3 is arguably the most prevalent PR firm in independent popular music today. While a roster like hers would be enough to drive any hardworking woman into a constant, spiraling frenzy, the 38-year-old mother of two (whose hair has long since recovered, thank you) is actually quite peaceful as she sits and talks about the challenges and milestones that spur from this kind of responsibility. And she does so while breastfeeding her one-month old.
“Sorry,” she says with a shrug and a smile as she settles into her chair. “It’s challenging to be the mother of two, run a house full of employees and still make sure nobody’s art falls between the cracks. You’re responsible for presenting someone’s art to the world [so] you have to make sure that you’re conveying them the way they would want to be.”
Most of Frazier’s artists openly rave about the amazing things she has done for their careers—and some of them even do so on the record. In a recent interview with URB, Biz 3 client and glitch-hop producer Prefuse 73 said Frazier is “doing an amazing job at helping blow artists up that would have never had the chance, and unfortunately, 99-percent of this fucked up industry is run and marketed by assholes who happen to be men for the most part.”
But things for Frazier weren’t always about snagging cover stories for hipster superstars and proudly watching 27,000 Coachella-goers freak out over Aesop Rock (one of her first artists). As with any business woman starting out, Frazier came from humble beginnings, learning publicity over the phone from a woman who worked for Nirvana out of her bedroom. She interned with Chicago nightclub mogul and mentor Joe Shanahan, whom she worked for while paying her bills as a fine dining server. It’s something she says every human being should try, to learn humility. In 2001, Frazier’s hustle afforded her a building from which to run her fledgling business. But the hard work was just beginning.
“I didn’t have any money to get contractors to rehab [the building], so I did most of it myself, doing drywall and pouring concrete at like 5 or 6 in the morning every day until about 10 or 11,” she says with exasperation. “Then I’d go to Biz 3 and work until 4 or 5, and then go to the restaurant and work until midnight. I did that for two years. It was pretty hardcore, but I was really driven. I’ve never been spoiled—I was raised by women who were always making it happen on their own.”
Frazier is now one of those women, and it’s likely she and husband John Herndon (of the band Tortoise) will pass the DIY trait down to four-year-old Hollis and one-month-old Angus.
“I don’t know what the future holds—but we’ve got a little bit more cache now. We have a lot of people approaching us who want to do some things that aren’t publicity-related at all, but they’d be divisions of Biz 3,” Frazier says, before our fearless heroine adds: “Eventually I really want to be a therapist.”
Maybe for musicians who are going crazy in this business?
“Oh, there’s a lot of them.”
By Jen Boyles
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