http://www.scribd.com/doc/25807898/DELIRIO5-METAMORFOSIS
Interview with
ANNA-LYNNE WILLIAMS Anna-Lynne Williams is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of Trespassers William, the group of shoegaze or dream pop based in Seattle who founded fifteen years ago Anna-Lynne's own with her partner and guitarist Matt Brown in South California. Last spring the band released their last EP by now, The Natural Order of Things and have recently been touring Europe. Tour that brought them to Spain in a series of memorable concerts. Anna-Lynne tells us her main projects and other topics of interest.
Around the age of 23... some sort of metamorphosis. Anything I wrote from them on, whether poetry or music, I can still relate to now.
Our issue is dedicated to The Metamorphosis. What inspire or suggest you this term or word? Do you feel any metamorphosis along your life (in a metaphorical way, of course)? I feel like there's a certain point in our lives when we start having the moral and creative voice that we're going to have for the rest of our lives, or at least the next stage of it. For me that happened around the time that we were recording Different Stars. My singing voice shifted quite a bit, and I started to formulate the feelings and priorities that I still have now. Around the age of 23... some sort of metamorphosis. Anything I wrote from them on, whether poetry or music, I can still relate to now. About when I started recording the Lotte Kestner solo album I think my voice was changing again. Maybe due to the music I was listening to, and just the natural fact of my voice getting a bit softer and higher as time went by. I think my songs have sounded quite different over the past 3 years, though the rest of me is still on the same path. How were your childhood and your younger years?
I think my relationships with my siblings had an effect on the music I would make later. My brother was ten years older and had a massive vinyl collection, always making me mix tapes and introducing me to more complicated music than my friends were listening to. And my younger sister and I spent most of our free time writing songs together, giving concerts in the driveway, and pretending to be our favorite artists. Had the music an important part in your life when you grew up? Yes, I sang every day on the playground and gave concerts to my friends in my backyard, though generally that was more about being able to mimic the voices of people in musicals, and less about having a voice of my own. And at a young age I asked my parents if I could start taking piano lessons, which I followed through with for years, playing talent shows and recitals.
What kind of music did you use to listen those years? Madonna was my favorite, hands down. And I really liked OMD and the Go-Go's. Any idol that made you want to be like her/him? Madonna, Belinda Carlisle, Susanna Hoffs, and um... Cher. How was the first time you meet Matthew Brown? Did you connect with him immediately? We knew each other in passing before we played music together. I think our first proper conversation was when I wore a Cure concert t-shirt into the cafe he was working at, and it turned out he had been at the same concert. The shirt had some super sad lyrics from one of the slow songs from Wild Mood Swings on it. It was a few months later that I ended up at his apartment with my guitar. Some friends had suggested we play music together since we were both looking to collaborate with someone else. He played me some of his recordings, I played him a few songs in his room. Then we wrote one together, right on the spot, which was quite different from what either of us had been doing on our own. Him on guitar, me singing. Which is how it stayed for awhile until I learned more chords. Tell us about those times, when you first play in a stage in front of an audience. What did you feel? It was as good as you expected? Those feelings are still there every time you are in the stage, or are better now? I got broken in gently, because I started off playing by myself or with a drummer at a little coffee shop called Java Reef when I was 17. When Matt and I first started performing, it was usually at one of the cafes where we worked in Orange County. Eventually we graduated to playing slightly bigger places in L.A. and by that point we had an album's worth of songs. After recording Different Stars, which was our second album, I developed a much more serious relationship with the material, and was so attached that I stressed out about the shows more. And we started opening for bands that we really liked, and I was singing songs that were really intimate for me. I went from being someone who wanted tons of attention to being a bit of a wallflower, this quiet singer in the middle of a bunch of louder musicians on stage. But that has really changed for me over the last few years. I've come to terms with the public aspect of making music, and our live sound has become much gentler which suits me better, and being on stage often feels more like being home than anything else.
How much of that Anna-Lynne still in you? I am still very attached to the songs, from Different Stars on out. But I no longer feel like we have to win people over every time we get on stage, and that the most important thing is to have a good time on stage and let people see how much we're feeling the music. The band move from Southern California to Seattle, why? Is Seattle a city more harmonious than Los Angeles for your music and your way of life? I'm not a big fan of the heat, and we had lived in California our whole lives so far, so a move seemed like good timing. We had just signed to Nettwerk and had some interesting things coming up and wanted a new environment. Because we tour a fair amount and music is so accessible on the internet, I don't think that trying to fit into a specific local scene is much of a factor for me. But I do think that Seattle is a more beautiful and peaceful city, so it's a more inspiring place for me to live and to write in. Then we get on a plane or in a van anyway, and Seattle is just the starting point. Your first album “Anchor� was recorded in 1999. How was the experience? Was it harder than you thought? How was the answer of the people who listened the album? Ha, yes it was much harder than I thought. We really thought we could record the whole album in one day, since we could play all of the songs in one day... We rented a studio for a single session. And we actually did record a run-through of every song and got most of the bass and drums finished, but then spent ages doing overdubs of voice and guitar whenever we saved up enough money to be able to pay the producer we were working with. We were not prepared and weren't quite sure what we wanted things to sound like, so it was slow going and not the most rewarding experience. Though listening to the cd after it was finished was immensely educational in a what-not-to-do-again way. We did get a bit of attention for the album though. We had a few local music award nominations, and a few of the songs ended up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After Anchor we started looking for a permanent band and from then on we recorded our own music and had a much more complete vision for our songs.
The band name came from “the te of piglet”, the philosophy book on milne's winnie the pooh stories. Why this name? More timing than anything else. Matt and I had already started playing shows and had nothing to call ourselves. I love naming songs but have always had trouble naming projects and albums. I was reading the Te of Piglet on this grassy hillside and came upon the Trespassers William wordplay from the Milne books and thought it would work for the time being. I suppose I had no idea that Matt and I would still be playing together 15 years down the line. Do you have other influences, such literature or painting or movies or whatever, when you write your songs? I'm not struck by a lot of visual art, to be honest, but what I like I really adore. I respect literature more than any medium because of how big and linear and coherent it is. I've spent so much of my life reading books. But films probably have the most direct influence on my music. There's such an allencompassing mood that films set, from the characters to the music to the color. I've written many songs while still under the spell of a film, though the song ultimately has little or nothing in common with the film. You said that you’re a great fan of David Lynch movies. Were their soundtracks and the Badalamenti’s work influential on your work? I’m thinking in those Julee Cruise songs. The way that David Lynch approaches filmmaking is definitely inspiring to me. I often marry words in obtuse ways or don't quite say what I mean, but let the impression try to convey the meaning. I think that's a bit Lynchian. I love Badalamenti's soundtracks, and the album he did with Tim Booth was one of my favorites as a teenager.
Is this a good period for sad and intimate music? Or people just want to have fun and don’t think and feel too much? I haven't gotten into too many complete albums lately. I'm always looking for new music, and there are at least 200 artists that I actively follow and buy all their work. But I've only had a few favorites recently... I think around 2003 was when I was the most excited about what was coming out, and I hope that a wave like that happens again soon. My last few favorites, especially in terms of sad, intimate stuff, are Bon Iver and David Bazan's albums. Which album do you think is the most important in your career for now? Maybe “Different Stars”? Are you really proud of all your albums or maybe you would change something of any of them? I don't have a definitive answer for that. Different Stars has the strongest mood and seems to have meant the most to people who listen to our music. Having I think is better all the way through, and we all took some risks and crafted the songs with way more detail. And the solo album I released in 2008, China Mountain, was really all about songwriting, and I think it reveals more of me than anything else I've done, which is exciting. That one's a big deal to me. Did you like that TV series and movies use some of your songs? Yes! Thank goodness for film and television using music. It's good money and very flattering. How is the process when you write a song? Do you have to be alone at first time? When do you share a new song with the rest of the band?
I generally have to be alone. It's usually late night, so it doesn't even feel like anyone else is awake. Most of my songs are written on the acoustic guitar, with words and melody and chords all coming about at the same time. There's one song that'll be on the new Trespassers album called "Bell Under Water" that I wrote at rehearsal while Matt was making tea, and in some of my other projects when I work with another singer we come up with melodies together in a room. But usually it's me alone at night. I bring whatever I'm working on to rehearsal, and Matt usually starts trying out parts before I've even finished playing the song through. Then we try a million things and play them over and over... it's more fun than it sounds. What do you think about the influential of internet in music industry? Do you think that helps minority bands more than mainstream music? I'm always hesitant to get on board with any new technology, and I still don't really download music. But I'm a huge fan of MySpace and Facebook and being able to share new music and communicate with listeners directly. I will be sad if labels disappear altogether. But I'm glad that everyone can get their music out there. It's hard to tell which is more important... You don’t use to record video clips for your songs but there’s a lot of videos of your concerts in internet. Do you think that a song recorded alive is a better visiting card than a video clip? Music videos can be beautiful, like the ones that Sigur Ros and Four Tet release. But it's obviously expensive to do well... And it's fun having fans post the live videos, it's like having a sonic photo album of our tours. Your music is so sweet and tender, just like a bunch of lullabies for adult people. Dream pop or shoegaze, I’m not so interested in labels for a band. You obtain with your voice (as another musical instrument) and the music of the rest of band transfer the audience to a dream state. Everyone can see that you really feel what you’re singing, that you love what you’re doing. Is different each time you sing the same song? (Thanks!) It really is different every time. We played about 30 shows on this past European tour, and each night was like a different planet, and different songs affected me. Sometimes things going on in my life make a song feel new, or being able to see the audience, or being closer on stage to Matt & Rich, or whether the audience is silent or not. Sometimes I do go into autopilot if it's an off night, and then other nights certain songs hit me so hard that I just get lost them.
You were recently touring through Europe. I was lucky to see you in concert in Madrid. I really love that concert. How was your experience in Europe? Best time ever. I fell in love with most of the cities and most of the shows were magical, apart from Matt and I both getting the flu during the first leg. We were with all the right people, with the right audiences, and we got to play a bunch of new songs and revive some others we hadn't played for ages. Europe definitely treats us right. Since Having (2006), apart of two EPs (Noble House and The Natural Order of Things), you don’t have a new album. Why? When we will be able to listen new songs of Trespassers William? Will be any change in your music for the next album? A little bit of metamorphosis? A new direction?
Well we turned out the lights for awhile... we had just finished an EP and then we separated from our rhythm section and weren't sure whether to look for new band members, continue as a twopiece, or take a break. Matt and I were both performing in Seattle with other projects as supportive members and doing a bit of touring. I recorded an album with Robert Gomez out in Texas. Then I spoke with Gizeh Records about putting out The Natural Order of Things and all of a sudden we had this amazing tour lined up and I started writing a bunch of new songs. The twoman Trespassers has always worked and always will. I'm guessing the next album will be more intimate and organic than anything we've done in awhile. And all of the new songs work well live because that's sort of how they were born. You’re the kind of those musicians that really love what you’re doing. Tell us
something about your other projects: Lotte kestner, Ormonde or Tunnel-Tunnel. Can’t you stop to make or play music? No, not stopping any time soon. Ormonde is the newest project, that's the album that Robert and I made in February last year. We rented a house out in a desert town in Texas and did all the writing and recording for the album on the spot. It was like music boot camp. It really revived me as a songwriter. Before that I was working on Tunnel-Tunnel, which is like bedroom dance music. But due to personal reasons that one's on hiatus... And Lotte Kestner is the home of all of my solo folk songs and a handful of cover songs. Things that I record at home and want to share. It allows me to give in to my most feminine side and not worry about my band mates feeling uncomfortable.
How was working with other bands and singers like Anomie Belle, The Chemical Brothers…? Collaborating with other artists is a very different art form for me. Usually in my case, someone else has already written the music and I am to come up with the words and melody for it. Which means having the mood and key handed to me. Which sort of sounds like half of the work is already finished, but for me that is a much bigger challenge, to not set the starting point and the general arc. It's about fitting into a space instead of creating a space, and I have less practice with that. But often exciting things happen. I recently sang back-ups on a Terri Tarantula song and I love how it came out. She let me sing as much as I wanted to and she kept everything I did; and it's just a really good song to start with. I’d read that you wish to collaborate with people like Leonard Cohen and Thom Yorke. What these artists bring to your music? Had Yorke listened your amazing cover of Videotape? Ah, I think I'd said something about Leonard
Cohen and Thom Yorke being the people I admire most, but so much so that I would be too intimidated to work with them, or that I would rather leave them to their own magical thing. Collaboration for me is more about working with people that I am comfortable with and admire, and who fill my head with new melodic ideas by giving me a new starting point. And I generally assume that the artists I've covered have never heard my versions of their songs. Maybe that makes me more comfortable. Now I want to know something about your facet as a poet and a writer. You had published a book of poems and songs titled “Split Infinitive”? How was the experience? Are you working on a new book? What are the differences, for you, between literature and music? I put out a book of poems and song lyrics many many years ago, and haven't written a lot of poetry since. I wanted to collect everything I'd been working on pre-Trespassers and keep it safe from getting lost, flooded, burned, etc. Some of the things in it I think are really beautiful (post-metamorphosis) and other ones
are embarrassing and naive, but it was fun to edit them and put them together and let people read them. I'm not working on a book now, though I still write poetry from time to time. What I'd really like to write is a novel, but I'm a few years off from being prepared to undertake something like that. For me, I've always thought music was easier than literature... because if someone likes one element of a song (the words, the melody, the voice, the energy) they can get into it. Written words are vulnerable and don't have anything to dress themselves up with. I really admire writers. I ended up putting all of my emphasis on writing songs rather than poems when I realized how much easier it was for me to communicate with people when melody was involved. Do you have something to tell us for the end of this interview? We're working on the new Trespassers William full length right now!
http://www.myspace.com/trespasserswilliam