Could you give our readers a brief history of how you got to where you are today?
I grew up doing choir and having my mom take me to musicals every year in New York City. So I basically sang in choir and dreamed of being in Broadway until I was in high school. Then I learned how to play guitar, and I decided Screw this. I’m gonna write my own songs.
What different genres of music did you listen to growing up?
It’s kind of all over the board, I guess. I listened to a lot of pop music and oldies.
Did you have any funny or regrettable phases?
Oh, for sure. I listened to Barenaked Ladies. I remember one of my first boyfriends going through my CD’s and throwing them out the car window and going, “You’re going to thank me later.”
Cleaning up house.
For sure.
What was it like going back into the studio with Greg Weeks at Hexham Head and rerecording some of your songs off your debut for Because I Was In Love?
It was pretty amazing. I mean, I never really got to work with someone else before. I was kind of scared to let go of the comfort of my room, but he was super sensitive to what I wanted and what the songs were. He offered ideas, and I offered ideas, and we always agreed on stuff, so it was really natural and comfortable.
What was the process of deciding which songs you would keep from your debut album to rerecord for the new LP?
Well, Greg asked me to send him all the songs, just a bunch of songs. I gave him a CD of all the songs I was considering, and he picked out five that he wanted or something like that. Then I picked out, like, five or six, and together we just came up with it.
I never recorded an album's material twice. I would imagine that process would be very challenging to recapture the same feel or mood of the original track. I was very impressed with the recordings that Greg did and how some of the rerecorded tracks came out sounding even better. Where there any worries, surprises, or disappointments?
There were some songs that I didn’t even think anybody would ever like them, like the song “Tornado.” I always thought that me and the guitar wasn’t enough. He heard a guitar part on there. He came up with all these other parts, and I got to do more vocals on it. It changed the song entirely. And now I can’t play it ’cause I want to have all the instrumentation live. That’s definitely being reconsidered, not always being solo.
I noticed the added instrumentation on some of the songs. How did that come about?
Yeah, it was mostly him. He’s super sensitive and tasteful. I did guitar and vocals, pretty much. I think I did tambourine and the sizzle, the little crash thing. It’s definitely him that made everything so much more lush.
Congrats on your album Because I Was In Love receiving a 9 out of 10 rating on the kevchino site a few weeks back. Your lyrics seem very honest and personal. Where do you come up with the words for your melodies? Free writing, journals, poems?
Yeah, sometimes I use old journals, and I don’t even notice, but I like to go back into them, and then I hear more rhythms in it sometimes if I’m just reading it over and there’s the accidental rhythm that sometimes sparks melody in my head. Other times I think about if I have, like, an intense emotion in my head, I think about what I would say to somebody if I could, but I try to make it conversational. I don’t try to be overly analytical or anything. I want to be really straightforward, like I’m talking with somebody.
How was your European tour with Great Lake Swimmers in May?
It was amazing. It could have been a disaster because I had never met them before, but I knew their music. I showed up, and they happened to be the most the nicest people in the world. Now we’re friends for life. They really took me under their wing, and they asked me to sing on some of their songs, and they sang on some of my songs. We got to have story time. I got to read out loud to them. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.
Could you share with us one of your favorite tour or travel stories?
The actual meeting of them is really funny. Because right before I opened up for them, I opened up for Shearwater and Beirut in London. The drummer Shearwater had just played a few shows with Great Lake Swimmers before we met up in London, and he could tell I was really nervous because I had to fly to Berlin by myself to meet up with them. I didn’t have anyone there to introduce me, so I had to say, “I’m the girl that’s jumping in your van for three weeks.” He said, “I have the perfect icebreaker”—this is Thor, the drummer—“I’m gonna draw a portrait of Great Lake Swimmers with giant penises!” I was like, okay, that sounds funny. I was kind of nervous about it. He did draw a picture of the Great Lake Swimmers, and so I took it with me. Thor was a sweetheart. He made me laugh about it a little bit.
I got to Berlin. I got to the venue, and I got there a little early, and the Great Lake Swimmers weren’t there yet. Eventually a van pulls up, but only two people get out of the van. I realize nobody knows who I am. It was Erick, who plays second guitar and banjo, and Dick, the tour manager. And I said, “Oh, hi. I’m Sharon,” and they said, “Oh, hi. Sorry the other guys aren’t here yet. Our van broke down in the Netherlands, and we had to go pick up the new one. They’re all taking public transportation to the show tonight. So, just to warn you guys, they’re kind of, like, not in the best mood. But nice to meet you.”
So I was trying to space myself from them all as they slowly arrived, and I was slowly trying to introduce myself but being a little shy about it. They’re like “Oh, hi,” like, whatever. They had no idea who I was. At this point I realize nobody knows I’m getting in the van with them. And I found out later, two days before, Julie, the keyboard player and backup singer, had her laptop stolen in Sweden. The next day the car broke down, and that’s when the lead singer, Tony, decided to tell everyone someone is jumping in the van. And he also thought it was three days, not three weeks. And I love Julie, so this is not talking shit or whatever. She said, “Who is this girl? She better be fucking cool!” Everyone had the same consensus. That was a funny greeting, and there was a little tension in the back room when they realized I was the one jumping in the van. Then I said, “Oh, wait. I almost forgot. I have a present from Thor!” And they’re all “You know Thor?”, and that kind of broke the ice a little and I gave it to them, and they all busted out laughing. It really helped the situation.
Yay for Thor and the penis drawing!
Yay for Thor of Shearwater!
How many treks have you had across the pond prior to this tour?
I had one last January. I got to open up for Meg Beard for a UK tour, which is how I Met Greg [Weeks]. But I never had been to Europe outside of playing there.
In your experience, is there a difference in the audiences’ receptivity to folk music in America versus the UK? Sometimes when I’m out in New York, I get really mad being an audience member when someone has a real soft song and someone is talking and drinking really loudly while someone is playing so intimately.
For sure. There are a couple spots in NYC that aren’t really like that. There’s a place called Zebulon’s in Williamsburg where people are pretty respectful for the most part. But in England, for sure, people are really polite and pretty quiet and super friendly. There was only one show that was kind of rough for me in London, and it was the last night.
What happened in London?
One night we went to our hotel after the show, and they couldn't give us our rooms because we didn't know the mystery name they were under. We waited in the lobby for a couple hours, super tired. I was eating Ben & Jerry’s and drinking Grolsch. Then there was another band hanging out, and we exchanged commiserations for this kind of thing, and we asked what band they were in . . .CURSIVE! Cursive in England. Totally random. They were my favorite band for a long time. But it was still a lot of fun. I’ve been playing a lot more electric. For the most part, everyone was really quiet over there. It’s kind of creepy in some ways because it’s like . . .
So quiet you can hear a pin drop.
Yeah, made me feel a lot more red in the face. I feel like London’s like New York, though, just ’cause it is a big city, and they drink and hang out, but they’re, like, more low-key because the bars close at 11:30 and stuff like that.
Wow, they cut them off at 11:30. I never knew that.
Yea, it’s very responsible. They just start earlier out there.
My friend’s an art history professor, Professor John Senseney from Urbana-Champaign. He believes people are either chickens or turtles. What do you think you would be? And why?
I guess a turtle. I move around a lot. My mom always makes jokes about wherever I go, I want to move, or I dream about moving too. It’s so different and alluring to me. I don’t really feel like I have a home. Also, I kind of like to hide sometimes. I’m a Pisces, and most Pisces I know kind of disappear for a while, but it’s kind of understood too.
I’ll let you know after he watches this video what he thinks. I'm always surprised by the outcome.
[Professor John Senseney result: Your result is turtle.
Your guitar, voice, and mien show a restraint that you do not impose for artistic reasons. Rather, your restraint is internal to you, unifying a total expression characterized by a natural languidness that brings forth a delicate flow underpinning your unfolding, moment-to-moment presence. This character is not contingent upon setting or tempo, meaning that your performance at least leaves the impression of constancy regardless of background (river, stage, subway, etc.), accompaniment, or audience. Combined with the appeal of your composition and vocal talent (both technically external to this analysis), the result is an aesthetic anchored in a kind of truth that works by unveiling, revealing layer by layer a deeper sense of what you give at the start. This last point applies equally to chickens, but only those who stay true to their chicken-like nature by expressing fluttering erraticism that's antithetical to your tranquil, self-contained bearing: liquid in the sense of a current within a larger body of water from which it's inseparable. Like a turtle, you're not slow or at rest. Instead, your pace is in scale with the passage of the sun and the breeze on a mild day, reflecting the calmer processes of nature in a way that allows us to hear and see their movements.]
Your self-released debut LP, Home Recordings, featured a woodcut-looking artwork done by Alison Vuocolo. Your new LP features drawn artwork credited to Flatland Kitchen. Is that a collective of designers, or is it one particular artist who goes by that name?
It’s a husband-and-wife team in Indiana. It’s one of my best friends, Rebekah Kolp, who did the drawing, and her husband, Erik—
Look out! Trees!
(Laughter as a the boat drifts through some tree branches in the pond and they almost clip Sharon’s head.)
—did all the design work for it. So they’re a husband-and-wife team that has a company they just started. They just got married, and they just had a baby. They’re just this really amazing young couple in Indiana that just do some of the most beautiful stuff I’ve ever seen.
Are you very involved in the process of designing your album covers? Or do you just let your friends take it from what they get out of your music?
Yeah, totally. When I first started, I was hand-doing all my CDs. I’m not a visual artist, and so I was like, You know what? I have friends that are amazing. So I just said, “These are the songs that are going to be on it. So listen to it and create something you think would sum it up well.” The Home Recordings, my friend made this. It’s actually a paper collage so all the colors are little pieces. I wish I could afford to do that for every CD.
So this one here (I pull out a repress version of the Home Recordings CD), all these would have been different pieces of paper?
Yeah, these are all different pieces of paper. This is a cutout, this is a cutout, and this is a cutout. Even the shadow is a cutout. These are the original colors. I did a repress of it so that it was different from the first pressing.
And this was Alison’s design?
Yeah, this is Alison Vuocolo’s design. She’s based out of Philly. She does nice posters for me too.
So I heard you mention at your show at Union Pool last week that “I Fold” was about living with your mum and dad. How long were you out of the nest before you had to return home?
I was away for about six years in Tennessee. Then I moved back home to save money to move to New York for about three years. I moved to New York two years ago, but most of these songs were recorded at my parents’ house, in their basement.
Are your parents very supportive of your musical aspirations?
They’re amazing about it. I think, at first, they were skeptical, but after being away and coming back and then realizing it wasn’t a phase because I was definitely a kid that wanted to do everything. But this is the one thing that stuck. My dad will come out to New York to see me all the time. My mom is a teacher, but when she can, she comes out. They’ve been amazing about it for sure.
Back in April you contributed vocals to the theme of a feature film called Woman's Prison, a song called “Coming Home.” How did that come about?
My friend Jeremy Joyce is a songwriter, and he said that he wrote this song for this movie, but he said it would make more sense to have it from a woman’s perspective. So he asked me if I would sing it. His friend Katie Madonna had studio space at SVA in Manhattan, and they just invited me out to sing it and play it. So I like the song and thought the melody was really beautiful, and I thought it was perfect for the film, so I said yeah.
Who played guitar on the track?
I play the guitar on the track. He added all the nice . . . I think it is lap steel or something, or pedal steel. He added all these really nice pieces to it.
Did you get to go the premiere for the film?
I was in Europe when they had the premiere. But I know they’re showing it around right now, and she’s traveling with it. She’s an Indiana lady, somewhere out there screening it.
I heard a few tracks you sang on for Brooklyn's The Antlers. How did that come about? What a great band. That song “Two” I can’t get out of my head.
He’s a genius! Peter Silverman [of The Antlers http://www.myspace.com/theantlers]. He did a My Bloody Valentine cover that I heard. I forget where I heard it. I heard the cover, and then I found him on MySpace, and I just wrote him and I was like, “I think you’re . . .I really like your music,” geeking out or whatever. He invited me to a show, and I met him, and he’s the sweetest guy in the world. We started going to each other’s shows, and then he just kind of offered—“I’m going to be doing a new album would you like to do vocals on it?” I was like, “Are you kidding me? You, Jeff Buckley Jr. guy?” So I just went out there to his apartment and did some vocals kind of shyly ’cause singing with him is kind of crazy.
I also read that you played a few live shows with them too?
I got to play. I got to sing with him for the CD release he had at Union Hall. I only got to practice with him once before they had a whole choir of people singing. It was really nice, really epic. He can put on a really good show.
Is there anyone else that you have collaborated with?
My friend Jessica Larabee from She Keeps Bees. We did a song together for a compilation called Let’s Kiss And Make Up, and she’s one of my favorite female singers for sure. She’s touring England right now, kind of hanging out in England for three months just trying have a following there, playing shows. She’s an amazing bluesy singer.
Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with?
Jessica Larrabee from She Keeps Bees and Shilpa Ray, two of my favorite singers for sure. And they're from Brooklyn, so who knows? Maybe one day.
Who did you work with on making the music video for your song "For You"?
Michael Palmieri. He is a genius. He does everything, from music to videos to documentaries. He has one out called October Country right now that he worked on with Donal Mosher. It is wonderful and sad and intimate. http://www.octobercountryfilm.com/
Were was it filmed at?
Michael and Donal's house in Portland, Oregon. They were sweet enough to have a set in their home and take all day long to shoot it because we were on a tight schedule. Total sweethearts!
I love the slowed-down, stylized cigarette smoking scenes. Very David Lynch. What kind of cigarettes do you smoke?
Ha . . . I go back and forth from Winston Lights, Camel Lights, and Marlboro 27s.
Do you have any recipes, guitar chords or anything you'd like to share with the kevchino readers?
My first favorite chord was the C9.
Oh wow! You know all those crazy math ones?
Not really. That’s the only one. I didn’t know what it was when I first learned it, but I remember thinking that was my first favorite chord ever. I would play that one chord for hours.
Thanks so much for doing the interview with us.
Thank you, Kevin. |