|
MLL: Well no, I can play a lot more songs than I could at a gig,
because some gigs I know that there will be press or industry now, and I can't really play
a shitload of folk covers. Like I couldn't play a bunch of Lois songs, because it's too
close. I do a lot of obscure covers. But I'm only be able to get away when I'm on the
street in front of a crowd not aware of who might be by. I don't know, it's like this
unspoken thing.
CB: You mean, once you're on stage if you
covered too many songs, you'd be accused of copping someone else's schtick, but on the
street it doesn't matter as much because everyone just wants to hear you play good songs?
MLL: Exactly. So now that I'm take more for
real, they expect me to be more professional and I can't do a lot of the dorky songs
that I would do if I were playing in the street.
CB: Do you try to take requests?
MLL: I always take requests! Joni Mitchell
says that songs are like children, and I feel sort of like a foster parent to these songs
that I do. When people start yelling out requests it's like, "Oh there goes Mary Lou
marching down to the B-side orphanage again."
CB: I think you're considered by most people
to be a part of the indie-rock scene, but it seems like your influences are much more
traditional musicians.
MLL: I didn't listen to too much punk, I
missed it. But I listened to more of the less-noisy music. I think I might have enjoyed it
much more if I'd heard it when I was younger, not so much now. Guided by Voices are my
favorite band, and I was going to go home, but they invited me to tour with them.
CB: Are you touring with a whole crew and
road manager and stuff?
MLL: No, not this time. I'm travelling by
myself, except yesterday Guided by Voices drove me down from Portland. |
|
CB: So Rick Rubin sent you something, right?
MLL: Yeah, he sent me a metronome. I don't
know whether to take that as an insult big-time or as a friendly little... so yeah.
The other interviewer in the room with another zine:
How did you and Juliana Hatfield hook up?
MLL: It's weird, we both went to Berklee
College of Music, and we both had the same voice teacher.
CB: Is it weird having to constantly deal
with A&R people from different record labels?
MLL: It was weird at first, I was completely
flipped out, but now it's like, well, I really want to think about it first. And I wanted
to see how this record would do, how far Kill Rock Stars could get. The other bands on
Kill Rock Stars don't want to do any promotion at all. But with me, Slim has freedom to
promote me however he wants. We hired some independent record promoters, and we just
wanted to see how far we could get. So before I sign, I just want to see how far we can go
without some big record label pushing the record.
CB: Because when you're on a big label with a
lot of money they can create a buzz about you and make people want to hear music they
otherwise might not care about. In a sense, they can create a market for you.
MLL: Right. And these people we have helping
us out are people that the big record labels would give anything to get. They're really
really good at what they do. They do it because they believe in it, not just because
they're getting a shitload of money. They really like the music they promote.
Other Interviewer: So up at YoYo a Go Go in 1994 we
saw you play out on the sidewalk. Do you like playing outside better?
MLL: Yeah! Because I can do it whenever I
want, and if I |
|
