Young & Hungry

ANNA MCCLELLAN by MATTHEW JAMES-WILSON

As a songwriter and performer, Anna McClellan is a complex force to be reckoned with. The 24 year old singer/songwriter from Omaha, NE has crafted an emotionally dense body of work with the two solo albums she has recorded since entering her young adulthood. On her debut, Fire Flames, Anna gives vivid detail to abstract ideas about love, loss, and anxiety while simultaneously showcasing her music musical prowess as a singer and pianist. But on her new follow up album, Yes and No, coming out next month on Father Daughter Records, the power and conviction of Anna’s voice and writing are brought even farther to the forefront, giving even more weight to the subject matter she grapples with through out the record. After a month long cross country tour at the end of last year, Anna returned to New York and has begun prepping for the release of her second solo album. I met up with Anna on a Friday morning for breakfast at B&H Dairy in Manhattan to discuss her new album and all of the aspects of her life that have helped make it the heart wrenching masterpiece that it is.

Where are you from and where do you live currently?

I’m from Omaha—born and raised. I basically lived there my whole life. Now I live here in New York. It’s been like a year, or a little over. But I’m moving out of my apartment in March, and then I’m probably not going to have a place for a while. I like not living anywhere. I mean I also, I have to acknowledge my privilege in being able to choose when I have a stable living situation. I feel really lucky that my socioeconomic status allows me to make/do the things I do.

Was there a music community where you grew up in Omaha? What led you to start performing and making music?

High school was the start I think. I took piano lessons, so I guess there was the whole piano scene with all of the recitals I would go to, haha. Then in high school I did band. I made friends there and then we sort of started doing other stuff. My boyfriend in high school was very prolific and was constantly creating stuff. His house was sort of like the hub for a bunch of us. My friends started making bands in high school. I didn’t have one because I was still scared and I was trying to figure out what my voice was. It didn’t really even occur to me that I was ever going to do it. I think art has always been intimidating to me.

Was there any specific music that was important to you at the time? Did anything convince you that making your own music was something you wanted to pursue?

Rilo Kiley probably. The first song I ever learned to play and sing was “With Arms Out Stretched” by Rilo Kiley. My sister played it for me in her car. She’s five and a half years older than me, and she played it one day for me when I was like 12. It was the first time I felt like I could do something like it, or that I wanted to. I also liked the idea that singing didn’t have to be any certain way. Whatever way your voice wants to go is cool. Then years later my friend this band called Sun Settings and my first band around that time was called Howard.

Did you start playing shows at the end of high school then?

I played my first show solo. I had written like five songs and I played in my friend Imagine’s basement. It was really cool. People were immediately responsive, so it felt really good. After the show my friends Daniel and Corey who also played drums and guitar in Sun Settings were like “We want to play with you.” so after that we stated the band. Then getting out of high school, I was in the larger Omaha scene, which was such a fun and supportive space.

When I was a junior in high school I studied abroad in Denmark. That’s where I started writing songs and where I started realizing the way I wanted to be a person in the world. I realized I didn’t want to go to college, so I made plans to travel after high school to South America, which never ended up happening. That was what I thought I was going to do, but I ended up staying in Omaha and was working at a coffee shop, writing songs and playing more music I guess. But also I was just fucking off too. I moved out of my parents house, got an apartment, and just did weird shit there. I hung out with my friends and felt depressed. It seems like most after high school experiences are like that. I felt very desperate and was searching for validation in that time. I guess I was playing shows then. I remember when it first occurred to me that I could book a show, and I didn’t just have to ask to booked. That was a big thing because I realized that I would have more control over how the show felt, which is always good.

At what point did you start working on your first album, Fire Flames? How did you approach writing the songs for that album?

All of those songs were written in that period that I was talking about when I was around the age 18 or 19. By the end I had all of these new songs and Howard had just broken up. This guy Ben (Brodin) who use to come into the coffee shop I worked at, was a sound engineer at the main studio in Omaha called ARC. He’s this super rad guy who’s really supportive and wants to work on stuff that he likes. So he made that record along with Yes and No. I feel like if it wasn’t for him helping me get really nice recordings, it wouldn’t have gone the same way. He’s such a huge part of me pursuing this more actively and seriously.

You have a really unique style of songwriting in general. Your lyrics are often really descriptive yet also really cryptic. How long did it take you to develop your style of writing?

I really like big picture—like writing about things in giant scope with universal themes. I think a lot of stuff I like to write about is the constant search for something when you don’t know what you’re looking for. You know you’ll probably never find it, but you just keep looking for it because, what else are you going to do to fill all of the time that you have? I remember for the first song that I wrote, I just asked myself how I felt, and the act of asking was the catalyst of knowing. I had to ask it, but I felt like I hadn’t really asked before. I just try to be really honest with my writing. Emoting and expressing is not something that comes easily to me, so it’s always sort of a struggle to get it out.

After finishing Fire Flames what was the immediate result of the album? How much time was there between when you finished that album and when you moved to New York?

We finished making the album in, I think, early 2015 and then it came out on tape in October of 2015. Then I moved to New York in August of 2015, but just for three months, and I lived in North

Brooklyn. Then when the tape came out I went on this tour and ended up not coming back. I just stayed in Omaha because I had just gotten back together with my boyfriend.

When you first moved here, did you plan on staying here permanently?

Yeah. I mean, I just had sublets. I had just come off of this four month solo road trip and just ended up here at the end of it. So I guess I still didn’t really know, but I was just seeing what felt good. But I moved back to Omaha and was living with my boyfriend at the time in this really small apartment. We were in really close quarters and it was above this bar. I really hated the apartment, haha. I really tried to make it work because we had gotten back together so many times, it was just like, “If we’re going to do this, this is the last chance we’re going to do it.” Then it didn’t work, so I moved out and moved into this other place with my friend Alex and lived there for a while. I started getting restless again, and I had made so many friends out here that I wanted to hang out with. I also wanted to pursue music more seriously—not that New York gives you more opportunity, I don’t think that. But being here gives me a certain amount of drive that I couldn’t have, being so comfortable.

That September, after I moved out of the place with my boyfriend, I recorded Yes and No, and we did it in two days. Then we went back and did the overdubs later. The band on that record is so good. They just really work. I was really fortunate to have people who can just sort of figure it out really quickly and then be ready to do it.

When did you decide to move back to New York after that?

Well, there was this Bellows tour with PWR BTTM that happened in October of that year. They came through Omaha, and I had just gotten back from tour and hadn’t really gotten settled into my job. They offered to have me just jump in the van with them, so I did, and I ended up driving with them for three weeks, finishing out the rest of their tour, and ending up here. Through that time I was like, “Okay. I like hanging out with them and being independent and being out in the world. I’ll just move back I guess.” Felix had a room open up on that tour, so it just made sense.

What was it like moving back and starting to play shows here again?

I didn’t really play that many shows when I first moved here. I feel like I still haven’t played that many shows here. But I have a really cool band here, and it’s been a long time since we’ve played with that line up. It’s drums, bass, cello, and me, and it’s so fun. When I first moved here I wasn’t really getting any offers to play, but I get more now. I haven’t really been able to do any of them because of this play that I’m working on, and I was just on tour for five weeks. I feel like New York is a weird city for shows.

Going into making your second record, were there things that you knew you wanted to do differently with Yes and No?

Yeah definitely. With Fire Flames, that was the first time I had ever done it, so it was the first context I had for making an album. Then with the next one, I had that context of making Fire Flames. I think when I started writing songs for Fire Flames, I didn’t know I was making a record. But when I started writing songs for Yes and No, I was aware of the idea of making something cohesive. I think since all of the songs are written next to each other, that happens naturally. There’s a progression that your life has, and that’s reflected in the songs that you write. But yeah, all of the songs on Yes and No, to me, have a very similar theme, which is me grappling with the idea of romantic love and loving men.

Do you feel like the writing became more or less personal than the writing on the the first album?

If anything I think it’s more personal. For some of the songs on Yes and No I had a really hard time coming to terms with myself and the way that I feel. Making that public in such a way is hard. I knew with Yes and No the arrangement was going to be a lot simpler and more straight forward. On Fire Flames there were all of these different instruments. We didn’t really have a plan or anything. With Yes and No, in addition to piano, it was just guitar, bass, drums, and strings and that’s it. I just love how it feels very tight and closed. It’s like the circle was completed or something. We also knew what we were doing a lot more.

Who are some peers who’ve been really supportive or helpful while you’ve been starting out?

I think Greta (Kline) comes up first. She asked me to tour on the Frankie Cosmos record release, and that was huge! That just blew my world. I had never played to that many people so consistently. Also meeting her and everyone on that tour was just so cool. The way that it happened, was just through her seeing one show that I played. It led to all of this shit.

Yeah I remember her texting me the day after seeing you play for the first time and she told me I had to check out your music.

Yeah she has been such a cheerleader. Some other people who’ve been helpful or influencial are Razors, Gus and Call, The Howl, Ayomide Adekunle, Dan McCarthy, UUVVWWZ, Rachel Thomlinson Dick, Megan Siebe, Sean Pratt, The Subtropics, Mesonjixx, Outlaw Con Bandana, Sun Settings, Ryan McKeever, and Omaha Girls Rock.

When did you first show Father Daughter the album, and what has it been like working with them to put it out?

Last February was when we were “shopping it around” or whatever. I sent Jessi (Frick) the album and it took her a couple weeks to get back to me. But then she did and she said she wanted to put it out. So I was like, “Okay, sweet!” She’s just the best, so it’s been really great. The only thing that sucks is that we had to weight so long for them to be able to do it. But that’s just the way that all of this works these days. The market is over saturated, so there’s a wait. But she is just so sweet and thoughtful, and I feel so heard by her. It’s about the music, not about numbers or anything, so it’s cool. It’s cool to have resources like that. She does a lot for the bands on her label.

How did you start working on the play that you’re involved with right now?

Dude, the play is crazy! It’s by this director named Elena Araoz. I met her in Omaha, because there’s this avant garde theater conference that happens every May, and she started coming to that. So me and the other people that are working on it—we did plays for her in Omaha where we’d have just a weekend to make it and then we’d perform it once. She just keeps asking us to do them and now, since a bunch of us live here where she lives and works, it’s worked out to do more. We’ve just been really lucky because it’s been really amazing. The work is so fulfilling and different from playing in the typical rock outfit.

We had known we were going to do it since the fall I guess. We started writing it in December before the holiday. Then for the past two weeks we’ve been putting it all together. It’s really stressful and there’s so much work and it takes up your whole life. It’s really interesting trying to agree on all of these little things—or even just trying to explain what you’re saying. We just get so caught up in things like “So, are we doing it two times before the progression or three times before the progression?” But we’ve figured it out by now, so it feels really good. Once you have it all and you see it all come together, it’s really gratifying—especially since there are so many parts of the theater, like light cues, actors, and the director. You’re not just answering to yourself. It’s just so different, but also the same. Also I get to play this really nice piano, haha. It’s weird to go into work every day.

What do you think keeps people from putting their work out into the world when they’re younger? How did you get use to releasing your music and performing in front of people at a young age?

I don’t know. For me, with everything that I’ve done, as soon as it occurs for me to do it, I’ll be like “Okay, let’s try that.” When it occurred to me to tour I had to ask “How do you do that? What are the logistics of doing that?” I think a lot of it is just that there’s a lot of work. I think it’s often laziness that keeps people from doing it, more so even than their fear. I guess laziness and fear go together or something? There’s so much about doing music on the DIY level that you have to do yourself that’s not even music. A lot of it doesn’t involve playing music at all. So I think that probably keeps people from doing it.

I feel pretty comfortable with it all now. It’s weird trying to remember a time when I didn’t. It’s hard for me to even think of being afraid of showing people my songs or something. But that definitely was a thing at one point. Now I’m just so in it that it’s mostly fun. I spent a lot of time by myself a couple years ago, just trying to figure out what I really want and believe and stuff. There were so many times where I was trying to get shows and feeling like a dumb baby, haha.

What was your experience like touring for five weeks at the end of last year?

It was so awesome. It was a perfect storm of people and music and experiences. We were all really surprised by how well the shows turned out. What I hoped when I started my first tour was that this thing would just build on itself, and I think that that’s finally true. The more people that you know, the more it adds to this giant web. It’s sort of a small circuit when you think about it. You start meeting people who all just know each other all across the country. I love it. It gives me life to be a part of that. Now more than ever, there are so many bands and people trying to do it, so “making it” has to have a different meaning. “Making it” has to mean connecting with people. If you’re doing that, then you’re doing it right, in my opinion.

Are there things you feel like you still struggle with as a songwriter or as a musician? What hurdles do you still see ahead of you that you want to overcome?

I think my weakest thing is rhythm. It’s hard, haha. A part of me is just like “I don’t think I’ll ever be good at it.” I just don’t really have it. But the play has been really good for that. There are a lot of weird time signatures, like we play in 5/4—which isn’t that weird, but I usually just play in 4/4. Pitch also sometimes gives me trouble. I think the other thing is playing with other people. I usually write alone, and I usually write my songs by myself. It’s hard for me to come up with stuff when other people are around. I get really self conscious. Also, up until recently, no one has ever asked me to play their songs—I was always teaching other people my songs. So leaning music that I didn’t make was hard for me. Feeling comfortable with other people and music, rather than just myself and music, is something I think I’m still figuring out. Trying to be a more versatile player is a constant thing to strive for.

What stuff are you working on right now that you can talk about?

I’ve been trying to learn guitar this whole year. I got a guitar on tour in May, and so I’ve been doing that a lot. It’s interesting because I can only play like seven chords or something. Trying to write songs with that limitation has been really fun. Trying to write songs with progressions that have been used forever and have been so done and trying to make them interesting— that’s been something I’ve been trying to do lately. I keep trying to get more and more simple. With piano I’ve been trying to write more stuff without singing. I haven’t really been able to write “song” songs on piano lately. I don’t really know why. I guess it just hasn’t been working. They all sound really dumb, haha. But I’ve been getting into more instrumental pieces. I think the next thing is going to be a combination of those two.

Are there any projects you’d like to embark on that you just don’t have the time or money for at the moment?

I don’t know… I guess I imagine having a place—like my own studio or whatever—where I could just make a thing. I guess “shed” is the term, right? Blocking off a month of time and forcing the thing to be done at the end, and just seeing what it is. Other than that, not really I guess. This year is all about touring, so having more money for that would be cool. There’s basically none right now, haha. I think about video projects a lot. I’d like to do some weird video project, but I don’t really have any resources for that. Mostly what I want to be doing, I’m doing right now. So it’s been pretty good.