8.99 - channelv interview

[V]: First of all - twelve thousand dollars for a charitable organization, now that may not seem like a lot to people in the broad sense, but to a local group that is a tremendous effort. When you go to each town what is the response you get from the local community for the grass roots stuff you do?

SARAH: Um, it's pretty tangible, I mean that's one of the only reasons we do the press conference every day. It's great free press. So there's that, and I've received a lot of letters from kids and from mothers who have been helped by the charities that we have given money to. I've received a lot of really beautiful drawings from kids and stuff, so those are really kind of neat, tangible results.

[V]: When everybody was first going into the press conference, you seemed to have great relationships with a lot of people who are fellow performers and some who are coming on the tour for the first time, like Suzanne Vega. You really don't get a lot of chances to meet with these people over the course of the year do you? It's very exciting for you.

SARAH: Well, I think I mentioned that in the press conference that quite often being on the road and touring you're with your band and your crew and when I tour, I go out for a year or more and that's who you see. That's your life, that's your little bubble that you travel around in and you meet other people, but I'm so busy all the time doing what I do for a living, which is promoting the record generally. After it's done in the studio, you rarely get the opportunity to meet any of these other artists, and so this is really a selfish endeavour. And it's so nice, I mean Suzanne Vega for instance has been on every single tour from actually four years ago - the inception - before it was even called 'Lilith Fair'. She did a few shows with me and she was one of my, one of my mentors, I mean I really love her music and so it's a really nice environment to get to know these women, to get to share stories of the weird job that we have.

[V]: When you stand by the stage and watch these fellow musicians on any of the three stages and you see the audience respond, do you say to yourself "this is my baby"?

SARAH: Um, I think there's some sense of pride definitely, that I've been a part of putting this whole thing together, but I feel more a sense of pride for the artist who is on stage at that moment because they're the one, they're the person at that moment who is drawing the audience out and making them respond and I think it's sort of, for me being part of that collective. That is the most empowering thing.

[V]: Has the business side of this been a bit of a drag on your creative side?

SARAH: Well, I haven't written a song in three years so I'd say yes it has been. But at the same time it's been great for my career, I think for a lot of us as individuals it's been really beneficial, we've gotten the opportunity to play in front of way more people than we could on our own.

[V]: Any particular highlights you'd like to share over the past three years?

SARAH: Oh god there's so many. I would say the biggest ones are just getting to play with some of my idols, some of the people I have respected and admired for so long in the business: Sinead O'Conor, Bonnie Raitt, Queen Latifa, Erica Badju, the Indigo Girls, Sherly Crow, Shaun Colvin, Suzanne Vega. I mean the list just goes on and on.

[V]: The other stages of 'Lilith' have planted the seed for the next generation of song writers, are you amazed at the depth and the diversity and the calibre of women performers out there?

SARAH: No, not at all, I expect it. I think there's a lot of really great music coming out these days, and no, I'm not surprised. I'm happy to see it, I'm happy to see it rising and getting some recognition definitely.

[V]: With you taking a break from Lilith could you see other things coming up or would you see other people picking up the baton and running with it?

SARAH: Yeah, I kind of hope they do, I hope the people who participate in this, whether it's the artists themselves, the crew, the tour directors or the tour managers, or just the audience. I think there's a spirit that people take away from this and a really good energy and I hope in some way that transpires in their everyday life or in their job. This is a great organisation and I have to say it's run very well, and the people who I've been working with for ten years - a lot of the crew members and stuff - they're the guys who are running the ship and they do a very good job at it. And as far as someone else taking over, I think there's a lot of acts out there these days who are being able to put other women on the same bill. I know for one thing Luscious Jackson is taking out Cibbo Matto as their opening act. That's just one small incident of that but I think it's happening a lot more where as in the past promoters would say "no you can't have another woman opening up for you". They can't say that now because we've obviously proven that that's not an issue anymore.

[V]: Channel V, we reach 52 countries across Asia at least, some of which don't have the best track records in encouraging women's rights. If you could say one thing to the men and women in these countries, what might it be?

SARAH: Oh Lordy, respect is king or is queen. Respect is the bottom line and equality. There's no easy answer in any of these places where a system has been in place for hundreds if not thousands of years of a patriarchal society. There is no easy answer to quickly shifting that but men and women should be treated equal. I believe that and I hope that someday that will be recognised and respected.

[V]: Lets talk about Mirrorball and the live experience. I read one review that complained that the versions were not dramatically different from the studio versions. I don't get that at all. I feel that each song sort of benefits from your competence, it's almost a muscle, your muscular vocals. It's almost a type of metamorphosis of a song on the road, especially with your vocals.

SARAH: Well it's interesting that you call it using your muscle because your voice is a muscle. For me when I'm in the studio I sing the songs a couple of times, I put them on a track whereas live I'm singing every night and it's the muscles that get used more and more and my voice gets stronger and stronger and I think the performances are in a sense more confident than the ones on the studio record. They're stronger but not necessarily better because there's a beautiful sort of intimacy with the studio records where it's very fresh and almost delicate in places, whereas live it's definitely more…you almost have to be more forceful because you have to project out to so many people whereas in the studio it's like you're singing in these little headphones in your own little world and it's very much an isolated experience. So it's totally different. I loved making that record, I just went about my day usual, we played every show, it just happened to be recorded and then months later we went and listened back and tried to find good tracks that I felt really captured the live moment.