(Cord Magazine's questions are in blue. Artist responses are in grey.)


So how do you find touring with Matt Good, say as opposed to your tour with A Perfect Circle?

I’ve had many tours with many different people throughout my life, but this is my first thorough, intense, true Canadian tour, and it only started last night so I don’t have enough of a report, although I do feel already the friendliness and lack of stress. We had soundcheck, and then we had time to get to know each other, and go for dinner and met his (Matt Good’s) wife and puppies, and it was so civil. I’ve never had time to do that with any other band I’ve toured with, so there seems to be magically more time in the day, and a lot of friendly people.

  Is there a big difference now versus touring in America, or with the big American groups? You did Hole, The Smashing Pumpkins…

  I’m very sensitive to my environment, so every country is wildly different. Being in Holland is different from being in Belgium is different from being in Canada is different from being in the US, so of course there is a difference, yes, but like I said this is my first Canadian tour. I’ve done Edgefest and Summersault before, but that’s not as thorough as what we’re doing here in, from Kamloops to Newfoundland. I’ve never done it with a very traditional and popular Canadian band, so it’s very unique to do.

  What do you think about the all ages shows?

  Great. I wish every show could be all ages; it’s just hard to get the right venues for that. Music is for all people, but really young people are the ones that need it most, in terms of what huge role music played in my life in my teenage years. It’s brought me to where I am today; it gave me direction, it gave me friends, it brought me excitement, it brought me inspiration and education. So I think it’s absolutely crucial to have as many young people there as possible.

  You’ve spent a lot of your career in what I would call the shadows of some really big figures in rock; how do you feel now that you’re in the spotlight?

  I don’t see it from the outside perspective, so you may see it as in and out of shadow, but it’s a much more complicated perspective from my position, so the biggest change right now is that my relationship with music has evolved, but my relationship with music has been evolving ever since I was playing at ten years old. I was in a high school band, I was in a choir, I was in a local band in Montreal, and I was in the Pumpkins, and in Hole, and now I’m here. It’s just another important but equally satisfying and exciting chapter of my life in music. It just so happens that right now, being in the centre of the music means that I have more responsibility musically, plus all the other things that come with being in charge. I’d say the biggest change is just that the music comes from my centre, and when you’re in a supporting role in a band, your role is to nurture and hold up and present somebody else’s musical senses.

  Do you think that your live shows or your stage presence has changed since you started doing your own music?

  I think it evolved, just like my bass playing evolved over the years, but I’m a big believer that you’re the person you were born (as). The way you come into the world is half of who you are, the rest of you is nurtured and taught. I’ve definitely learned a lot this year in terms of how to communicate with the audience, to use my voice as a tool of expression, where before I was more comfortable just using the instrument as a connection to people. So yeah it’s evolved, but I’m still essentially the same person, just maybe a more developed version. With a much more hoarse voice, I sound like Grover.

  There’s a lot of focus these days, especially in the pop world, with female singers who are really nothing more than a body. Do you feel pressure at all to follow in that?

  No, rock music has nothing to do with pop music. I’ve been surrounded by the world of true rock music since I was fifteen years old, and long before rock music was on the cover of glossy magazines. Long before my idea of what real rock is was on the cover of glossy magazines, so there’s no pressure. The only pressure is that fact that it’s still a man’s world, and rock music in particular is still a very male dominated world, so it’s just a novelty that I’m a female. So there’s an awareness that it’s kind of odd, but in terms of beauty and all that, that’s so the pop world that I have nothing to do with - I’m not aware of it.

  Is there a specific message, or an overlying theme that you wanted to get out when you started doing your own music?

  Yeah. It’s very broad and abstract obviously, but my main motive to make this record, and the plan behind me choosing to self-finance and self-produce and to do it all myself was to protect my innocence and honesty, basically. Not wanting any outside corporations, or even people, affecting my direction. Me as a human being on the planet just being the best I can be and be the most honest I can be. So I think the overall theme running in the music or my lyrics that can come from very personal or emotional places is just to be open and be honest and be unafraid to be yourself. I guess the overall theme is just be yourself; it’s very abstract but it’s just a very personal and emotional project, and all I wanted to share with the world is how important it is to know yourself and to be honest.

  Now that you’re having complete control over the process, do you think there are any advantages or disadvantages to having a changing lineup, or not having a permanent band?

  Yes. Specifically in my situation, it’s a solo project, and I had many different people come and record on the record, and now I have a solid touring band, which is absolutely necessary for touring. Not only for keeping personal relations and stability, but just for keeping people invested in it - they want to know they’re here for the long haul. The advantage to having a permanent band is getting to know each other musically, and being able to experiment a bit. The disadvantage is that I’m somebody who wants to continue to grow and evolve through meeting new people and collaborating with new people, so for my touring world I’d say it’s absolutely necessary to have a solid lineup, and for my writing and recording world, it’s absolutely necessary that I don’t have a solid lineup, so the two worlds are very split. Everyone knows the world of touring and performing live is half of what the music is, and the other half is inside the recording studio, and so I try to split the two worlds and treat them very differently.

  After this tour, are you going back into the recording studio?

  After this I go back to the United States; I still have some duties until the end of the year, and then come winter I plan to hibernate in freezing cold Montreal and start writing and recording my next record, because the record was released in February in Europe, so I’ve been on tour since January, and the songs are growing a little old. Even though I wrote some of the songs ten years ago, when I recorded it, it was still very fresh in my mind because I’d never really put it out there. Now that it’s been out there and we’ve toured ten months straight, I guess I’m craving new things based on the things I’ve learned this year from performing live with these songs. I’m very eager to go back into the studio this winter and start writing.

  You’ve been in groups before where the celebrity aspect almost outweighs the music. Is this something that you see yourself changing?

I’d say my project has nothing to do with that. The biggest one was Hole, obviously, people knew Courtney better than they knew her music. Her life story was much more well known than her band story. I don’t think any person could compare to the extreme of that; Courtney is one of the most weirdly famous people on the planet. So, I don’t know about me changing anything, I just know that music is (my) number one priority, and I think I’m known for being a musician over anything else.

Elsewhere

By Ryan Ince
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : January 2005.