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Interview May 2001
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Stress and Inspiration.... You've started recording your next project. Can you tell us what it's all about and how it's coming along? I'm basically recording with my band 'The Shamans'. We're getting some interesting sounds and I want to capture that. It'll give me something to listen to in my old age so I can remember the people and the sound and maybe make some sense of it all. It's not as cynical as it sounds. There's one persepective you get when your in the moment in your life and another when you look back or forward. The interesting thing about recording is that it captures you at a certain age. It's not about trying to be a pop star. At some point the process becomes a part of you. Other people relate to it in their own way and if they listen to it in 20 years it may give them a 'backwards' insight too. I've become very philosophical in answering a simple question haven't I. Lets start again. Whats the new project about and how is it coming along? Pretty slow at the moment. I guess that doesn't surprise anyone. These days I try not to spin out when life takes me on a detour. As long as everyone around me is basically in one piece and I'm feeling healthy I figure I'm ahead where it counts. I can't seem to give you a straight answer today. I'll start again. I'm recording with my band instead of doing most of the instrument parts myself. I'm wanting to capture what's going on musically at the moment and enhance it. I'm leaning towards a bluesy textural sound for this CD. It wont be as diverse as the last CD. Some songs are nearly authentic blues and others have a Grace Jones influence giving color and space to the grooves. Will we be seeing singles or remixes on this project? I don't even know if it's going to be a CD or an EP yet. Haven't thought about remixes and I'm not a singles girl at the moment. While some of my stuff is catchy I think it's too rootsy for the mainstream. Maybe next time.
You dont' really have a routine and your dealing with the business side, recording, performing and writing as well. How do you cope with all that? You know there's a song called 'The Gambler', well I'm thinking of writing 'The Juggler'. I must be sane because what I do could easily drive you crazy if your not carefull. Either that or I'm crazy enough to do it for so long in the first place. Basically I just do what I can and I try not to take it all too seriously. I guess if my goal was to be a huge poop star then I've be a ravinig loony by now. But my goal is to be free to create my music to my own standard and to enjoy the process as much as possible. The diversity (of tasks) in what I do is really quite good if it's kept in balance. Performing can be very adrenaline inducing so there's a bit of a 'bungy jump mentality' amongst the office work, songwriting, arrranging and the recording sessions. What inspires you, when you write and record? I think I write music to be inspired rather than writing because I'm inspired. The same for arranging. I'll work on an arrangement until it inspires me. Lyrics are different. I have to search for inspiration and that's a bit of a shock for me. I didn't get seriously into lyrics until I was about 27 years of age, where as I'd been writing music since I was 13. I've never gotten used to writing lyrics, the process doesn't seem natural to me. However, the same principle still applies...I write until what I've written inspires me. |
