Melanie Joy
Thank you for your time, Melanie. I know you're swamped right now. I've heard you've been up to a lot since the release of your album "Magic" last November. Can you fill me in?
Well, since the release of the album, I've been back in the studio, reworking some of the songs.
We had Gary Craig - who plays drums for Anne Murray, Jann Arden, Edwin, and Bruce Cohburn - come back in to do some more drum tracks for us. We redid some vocal tracks too - just revamping the first singles Falling In and the title-track Magic. Then I signed a national distribution deal with Bullseye Records of Canada in April and starting talking to director Stephen Scott from Spy Entertainment about working on a video for Falling In. Stephen's directed videos for The Trews, Shaggy, Delerium, Ron Sexsmith, and Chris Martin of Coldplay. He's amazing!
The plan was for my album to hit music stores across Canada - including HMVs - early August - so, about this time, really. But then, I realized how much stronger the newer mixes are and I thought, okay, I want people to hear only the very best. If this CD is going across the nation, I want it to be my finest work. So, I decided to head back into the studio, rework the rest of the songs some more, remix, remaster, and remanufacture the album before it hits stores.
So now, we've added some outstanding musicians to an already killer line-up. Our new additions include Marc Ganetakos on electric guitar - he was lead guitarist for Nelly Furtado and now works with acts like Madviolet - and Kevin Fox, cellist for talents like Danny Michel, Damhnait Doyle, and Chantal Kreviazuk.
These guys, combined with Gary Craig on drums, Rob "the Bubba" Brown on bass, Alex Cheung on violin, my co-producer and manager Peter Linseman on guitars, and, of course, my piano-tinkerings - it's sounding really cool. We've also got Phil Demetro from Lacquer Channel mastering the album, so overall - very exciting.
We're aiming to have the bigger, better "Magic" album done by early October and in stores by the end of that month.
Yikes. I'm out of breath. And that's the short version!
Your original release of Magic has been received with many rave reviews. Tell me about some of your inspirations for the album.
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Well, because "Magic" was my first big solo project - I've worked with other singers for years previous to this - the collection of songs on the album span a good ten years of writing. Songs like Cactusman, Salesman Sanctity, and Elevators & Cherry Pie were written when I was in high school, while Falling In, World's Breaking Through Me, and Three were written more recently, in the last few years. The other songs fall somewhere in between. I suppose it makes for an interesting variety. It was very difficult to choose which songs should be on the album because I have so many - and they're all so different. |
As for inspiration - well, it comes from all sorts of places - from literature, philosophy, and dreams - to my own personal experiences in lust, love, joy, heartbreak, and disappointment. I think so much music and art - at least the stuff I love - is created heavily out of longing. this infinite sense of longing. Longing for what? I don't know. To feel connected, maybe. To feel part of something bigger. It's mostly vague. But, I think, that feeling is so much a part of the human condition. Some feel it more than others. For me, that's where music enters, swells, and fills.
With a distribution deal now firmly in place and growing interest from the industry, the times must be very exciting for you. How will you be channeling this positive feedback? Songwriting? A tour?
We're planning on releasing the first single Falling In to radio and video and then touring in support of the single and the album as a whole.
With this industry, you just keep building on what you've got. Positive feedback is nice - it's a confirmation that you're on the right track - but whatever the feedback - good or bad, you listen, absorb, evaluate, make changes where necessary, and then move on. Keep learning, keep growing, and keep moving forward. I don't think there will ever be a time in my life where I'll feel like I've reached "my goal" and I can sit back and relax or be complacent in any way. I'm very ambitious. I set targets, and when I complete a project, I reward myself, but I move onto the next. Balance is the key. That's always been my biggest challenge. I'm getting there.
Your songwriting abilities are clearly very strong. Have you been approached by anyone hoping to use your material?
Not recently. I'm beginning to get more comfortable with the idea. I will probably start looking to write songs for other artists in the near future. The music publishing industry is another world we'll be working on.
Your live performances include several exceptional covers, each with an interpretation that is strongly Melanie Joy. How much time do you spend working on these compared to time spent working on your own stuff?
Strongly Melanie Joy? I like that! Well, as you know, the only song I didn't write on my album is Weezer's "Say It Ain't So". I've always loved doing just a stripped-down piano-vocal version of the song, so we added it to the album. It's a nice change of pace.
I actually really enjoy performing some cover tunes each show because I've lived with my songs for so many years now that it feels refreshing to play some Radiohead or Coldplay or Johnny Cash or whatever. I don't really work on arranging the covers, though. For me, I'm so at home with my piano that whatever song I hear - from The Beach Boys to Queens of the Stone Age - the melodies just translate naturally for me on the piano. Whatever comes out, comes out. I don't really think too much about it. Maybe I should think more? I do think I gravitate more toward songs that aren't piano-based because it makes my version of it that much more interesting.
Which artists have you been listening to these days?
Well, anyone who knows me knows how much I adore Radiohead. I actually wrote my M.A. thesis on OK Computer. The Dissociatives are incredible. Daniel Johns is a genius. I'm infinitely inspired by Blind Melon, Coldplay, Bjork, Ben Folds, and Beck, so I've usually got one of those CDs on. They're my staples.
Lately though, I've been listening to a lot of Imogen Heap, Metric, Stars, Feist, Danny Michel, Aqualung, Stabilo, The Trews, Our Lady Peace, and Pilate. I'm a big supporter of Canadian music.
"Concern for the purity of the creative mission" is cited as a driving force among indie artists and fans. Is "independence from commercial pop music and mainstream culture" somewhat of an illusion for some indie artists and aficiandos? and in your experience, have you sensed that major labels are micro-managing artistic content?
I think these two questions can be answered in the same way: independent artists obviously have "a concern for the purity of the creative mission." The democratization of music technology, as every Joe Black can now record a great sounding album in his living room on his computer, has made it possible for artists to go their own ways and avoid major label mood swings.
But what separates the independent artists who are selling records and touring the world from the ones still stuck in their backyards? I think there are really two types of independent artists - the lower case "indie" artists and the capital-I "Indie" artists. "indie" artists rarely get major radio or video spins and the labels they're signed to are not distributed by a major label, if they're even signed, that is. Then, there are the "Independent" artists and bands. They're signed to "Indie" labels like MapleMusic or Arts and Crafts, which are distributed by major labels like Universal or EMI. These bands get radio and video play. The problem is that right now both types of independent bands fall under the same independent umbrella, which means that "indie" artists are applying for grants, loans, and festivals, and their competition are "Indie" artists like City and Colour, Metric, Stars, Pilate, Feist, and Martha Wainwright. How to compete?
It's a contentious issue in general. If an independent artist is exceptionally popular on mainstream media -- the big radio stations, music television, and entertainment shows -- and yet continues to work with an independent label, that is directly distributed by a major label - do you still consider that artist independent? What defines an independent artist? Does an artist stop being independent upon reaching a certain level of success?
There are many misconceptions about the independent music scene in this country. One of the biggest Canadian independent bands has sold only 10,000 copies of its album. Most people would assume that number would be remarkably higher. There are wildly popular Canadian Indie bands and artists not being able to make money in Canada and that's why an increasing number of them are heading to the U.S. or, more notably, overseas. France is becoming quite the expatriate hotspot. It's strange because Canada's music scene has never been hotter. The amount of Canadian talent we have in this country is astounding. When I was in California recently, people in the industry were referring to Toronto as the new Seattle. The world is listening. But, the support system for artists in this country, particularly at the federal level, needs serious rethinking and development.
For more information about Melanie, her music, or her upcoming gigs and CD release parties, visit her websites: www.melaniejoy.com or myspace.com/melaniejoymusic.
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