Suzanne's Website Audio Q/A Session
| |||||||||
|
Subj: question for Suzanne Hi Suzanne, In one of the interviews you gave on 'Nine Objects' you made a comment about distorting the vocal 'to distance it from the sort of things I used to do'. Why the need to consciously 'create distance'? As much as I love all your CDs (and I'm sure the new one will be no exception!) the first two are amongst my all-time favourites and so your comment about creating distance, is almost like you'd do them differently if you had your time again. Good luck with the new release.. I hope its huge and that we see you in the UK again soon. Best wishes
Simon Holderness
"That's a really good question - in fact, I had the same question when I read that interview because that's not what I said at all. What I said was that the vocal was distorted and it was probably different from the sort of things that I used to do. I would never create distance... I would never use distortion to create distance from the kind of thing I used to do. The reason that there's distortion on that song is because, first of all, the track is a very sort of noisy track with a lot of drums...and even though I'm singing as loud as I can on that vocal, we felt that the distortion helped give it an edge and helped it to sort of carry more. And the other thing is that ...it's about the experience of giving birth which is a very extreme experience - you're kind of pushed to the edge of your experience. And so, a little bit of distortion there seemed like..felt like..the right thing to do sonically. To help give the feeling of what that feels like - to give birth. That's why we used distortion on that particular song. It was also on "Birth-day" - not on "World Before Columbus" as they had said. So, don't believe everything you read...and I wanted to just clarify that quote, because even though it's in quotes, it's not something I said"
Subj: kids books/baggy pants Dear Suzanne, Hi! Thanks for the opportunity for all of us fan-type-people to ask you some of those questions that have bewildered us through the ages. I have two to ask: 1) One of the things I enjoy most about your music & lyrics is the strong imagery and storytelling. Now that you have a child, would you consider turning these talents towards writing a childrens book? ("The Queen & the Soldier" for three year olds - hmmmmm...) 2) Where did you get the groovy baggy pants you wore on the 99.9F tour and on the inside LP sleeve. You looked so cool bouncing around up on stage, shoulders going in one direction, pants in the other... All the best for the up and coming trappings that releasing a new album will undoubtably bring!
cheers!
"I'm so glad that you thought they were groovy because I thought they were too, even though I got a lot of mail from people complaining that they were not flattering! [laughs] But, I enjoyed wearing them - they're a little too tight for me right now since the birth of Ruby...But, they came from J. Morgan Puett, who is a designer who has a showroom on Wooster Street in New York City, and she does really beautiful things out of linen- and, she's one of my favorite designers, and she's my good friend as well. So, I wanted to tell you that."
Subj: Leonard Cohen Tribute Any particular reason why you picked Story of Isaac for the Leonard Cohen tribute album? What are your favorite covers of L. Cohen (including those not on the A&M tribute?) You have one of the most professional and exhaustive websites of any musician I've seen. Why? greg
"Well, the answer to that is very easy - he's a guy named Eric Szczerbinski who's taken it upon himself to make this website and to run it and to keep it going, and it's really through his enthusiasm and interest that this website continues. He doesn't do it professionally - he doesn't do this particular website professionally - he does it because he's a fan, and I don't think people really realize that. Some people seem to assume that it's from the record company or something because it is very professional...but, it's really been through Eric's own initiative and perfectionism [laughs] - that..that's why it's as exhaustive as it is. And so, I should say 'thank you' to him."
Subj: old songs. Hey Suzanne! :) Now onto what I wanna say: On the Solitude Standing album, I noticed that Gypsy & Calypso were both from 1978. I was wondering: Are you gonna put anymore older songs like that on any of your albums?
marla moore
"Not if I can help it! [laughs] Not in any of my current albums. I mean, I hope that the songs that I'm writing now stand up to the older albums that I've done. But, I think that there are a bunch of songs that I had written in my teens that I am putting on a collection that I'm planning to call 'Odds And Ends,' that will either be complete early material, or just stuff that's hard to find, mixed in with older songs."
Subj: Old members The first time I ever heard Suzanne Vega was back in Nov. 1987 when my dad just got Solitude Standing. I have been listening to that CD as well as the first SV CD many times since then. I was just wandering what happened to the old band members from Sol. Standing (L. Kaye, M. Viscglia, M. Schulman, etc.) as well as from CD #1 (Jon Gordon, Sue Evans, etc.).
-Matt Hubbard
"Lenny Kaye is right now on tour with Patti Smith, ...that's how he began, was, as her guitarist. Mike Visceglia will be on tour with me this fall (the bass player) - he also tours with Curtis Stigers. Marc Shulman and Frank Villardi are both playing with Jewel, you'll be happy to know. John Gordon has recently gotten married and is now doing production, of his own. He was the guitar player from the first album and did the solo for 'Luka.' And Sue Evans, I believe, is still doing percussion for various people, and I think she still... she had done percussion for Radio City Music Hall, and does a lot of other things besides that. She is very versatile. So that's what happened to the old band... And, Anton Sanko is doing his own productions... I think he just produced an album for Lucy Kaplansky. And I think that covers everyone and I hope I haven't left anyone out. [laughs]"
Subj: Question to Suzanne Dear Suzanne, Once you said : "These days I'm trying to use the language as though it were a piece of wood, and I craft it, I hone it down. I sand it, I polish it, and I make sure there are no cracks, no extra pieces or frills that might fall off." I think you did that in your first three album, and in my opinion you were close to perfection in 'Days Of Open Hand'. But it seems that since '99.9F' you have changed your goal, and at the same time you do not write any more songs about the difficulty of using words to communicate (or am I mistaken ?). Do you have changed your relation to language ? Do you rely more on the meaning of the words now than you did before ?
David B.
"This is something I said a few years ago - that that's what I was trying to do with language. I'd say yes, it's still what I'm trying to do with language. This person who wrote in seemed to think that since 99.9 I had changed my "goal" - I didn't change my goal, I just changed production. But, I still think that in terms of the lyrics I'm still always trying to make sure that the lyrics still have what they need and not anything else. Not anything extra. And, it's true that I'm not writing as many songs [laughs] about how difficult it is to use language and that's mostly 'cause I don't have the time right now... I guess I feel there are other more important things to write about than the difficulty of using language. So, the answer to that question is 'yes' - it's...my goal is still the same."
Subj: Q/A Session: 9 Objects
Yes, I did the unthinkable--to study your lyrics before hearing exactly
how they come together in an album. The soundbytes on the net helped
put it all in perspective, but far from completion. From the lyrics
alone, I seemed to get a perspective of fruition--of desire blossomed
into a new and unique creature. With the album's framing by "Birth-day"
and "My Favorite Plum," I had the feeling that birthing was intrinsic in
the theme of this album. Did you have this in mind when working on
"I'd say yes, it did, definitely. Not only because of the subject matter, which has Ruby in two of the songs,
those two songs are 'World Before Columbus' and 'Birth-day,' which is about giving birth, but also in the
way that I wrote the songs because I think they're probably not as intellectual, or as cerebral, as ..this new batch of songs is not quite as intellectual, maybe, as some of my other songs. The reason for that is when you have a small child who does not speak any language, [laughs] - you find your linguistic skills kind of going out the window for about a year and a half. Because it's not really needed. And instead, you have to use other parts of your psyche, like your heart to try and figure out what this small person wants and needs. So, I think it does change your approach to songwriting, or at least my approach to songwriting."
Subj: questions to suzanne vega
Dear Suzanne,
Would you please be so kind to answer the following two questions:
1)
The cd single of 'Cheap Thrill' contains three other songs which have been
released in other versions before; to be precise, each one has been released
as a seperate single as well and are more or less well-known. Why has been
chosen for this rather 'easy' way of filling the cd single instead of
including some new songs, live performances, demos or whatever? IMHO it's
not very friendly to your fans to sell them a cd with your three biggest
hits, which they probably have already. Do you have any vote in what
additional tracks are released, or does the record company decide?
"The reason I did that is because I had assumed that most people did not have all my albums. Most people who have 99.9 don't have the previous ones and some of the people who have some of the the early albums didn't get 99.9. And that was my impression, both from looking at the audiences and also from some marketing research that somebody did somewhere. So, I was trying to provide a sampler that showed the consistency of the songs. I was not trying to [laughs] 'rip-off' the hard-core fans who have all the albums. My intention was to sort of widen my audience and not 'cheat' the people who have all the records..so far. The other thing is that I don't really have that many new songs that I'm willing to release until they're finished, until they're worked on."
Subj: Query for Suzanne Vega
Ms. Vega,
Are you comfortable with what the public and the industry seems to
like best from your own work? Does it matter to you that you are
remembered for "Luka" or "Tom's Diner," rather than "Cracking" or "The
Queen and the Soldier"?
...Or do you avoid the game of favorites entirely?
--Kenneth Bogle
"Yes, I'm comfortable with being remembered for 'Luka' and 'Tom's Diner.' I feel that they're smart songs, and especially 'Luka,' I felt was a really important song for me in my own life. I'm happy that people are familiar with the other things as well - like 'Cracking' and 'The Queen And The Soldier' - but I think that to be remembered for 'Luka' is not a bad thing. And, I'm glad that it was that song instead of, like, 'The Rent Song' or some horrible song that I wrote from my early twenties."
| |||||||||
Please send your comments, suggestions, submissions to:
VegaNet.
Up to The Suzanne Vega Home Page
VegaNet@aol.com