Gossip & the Devil

[gossip session] | A lifetime of snapshots: An interview with singer-songwriter Jessica Allyn [part 3 of 3]

Kindle is a program sites like Amazon.com use that allows you to download e-books and read them on devices like your iPhone or iPod touch.

(This is the continuation of the interview I’ve conducted with singer/songwriter Jessica Allyn. This is part 3 of 3. Part 1 can be found here. and part 2 can be found here. Once again, I’d like to thank Ms. Allyn for taking time out of her busy schedule to do this interview and wish her the best of luck in the pursuit of all of her dreams.)

Part 3 | Technology and what it means for artists (present and future):

JMT: It’s no secret spoken word and writing have been dying a slow death since the invention of internet slang, texting, Twitter etc. While the internet is a great tool, a lot of meaning can get lost in the mix of today’s give-it-to-me-now-in-140-characters-or-less-attention-span. You almost have to capture your entire message in one song in the hope to hook your audience to come back for more. Do you agree and, if so, does this put more pressure on you as an artist to deliver?

JA: Look, I’m addicted to Twitter and blogging just like everyone else. But I cannot convey my essence in 140 characters or one song. The same way you can’t meet a person one time and know their whole life story. The record is only 6 songs for a reason; I knew a person’s attention span wouldn’t last through an entire musical. So I ended up having to try and cram 15 years into 20 minutes. There was a lot of pressure in that respect.

(It’s sort of like walking into a room of people and not having the bandwidth or the time to figure out which ones you want to deal with. But if you find those one or two people wearing Cure t-shirts you can make an educated guess and walk over fairly confident you’re going to have a decent conversation. – J. T.)

JMT: The art of buying a record is on life support, complete with a doomsday clock ticking down to the day when we’ll all be pouring out 40oz of malt beverage in remembrance. It’s sad since tangibility is part of what makes records really great—actually holding them and seeing the effort in the packaging and artwork. I think this goes back, again, to the “gimmie” attitude of society. CD and record collections aren’t practical anymore when you can download 5000 songs to your iPod. This makes things much easier when trying to get your work into the hands of an audience—but at a price. That being said, do you feel giving up the tangible part of a record is a necessary sacrifice to reach an audience these days?

JA: I actually have a hard time swallowing the reality of that. But, unfortunately it seems necessary to make such sacrifices these days. There was so much more I could have done with I Am a Camera had I not been so restricted by the rules of digital music sales. The artwork, the notations, the lyric sheets all lost to a 600×600 (pixel) front cover and a “buy now” button. I remember reserving copies of records in stores, waiting for the release date to rush out and get it, holding my own copy, cracking it open and pressing play. I definitely miss that. It makes me sad that this generation is growing up and will never have that experience; they don’t cherish it. Everything is handed to them on a silver platter, everything is quick, easy and one click away. It (the generation) lacks appreciation for the art itself. As an artist you quickly realize the sacrifice might be necessary. The reality is painfully present. At the same time there are still ways to showcase “the art that got away” as I’ve started to call it. But it’ll never compare.

Jessica Allyn (Taken from her Facebook page)

The Artistic Temperament:

JMT: This final question is asked mostly for my sheer morbid enjoyment, as I’ve been immersed in literature about manic-depression and the artistic temperament for months now. George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) once remarked: “We of the craft are all crazy.” And in fact many of history’s greatest poets, painters, architects and composers have been afflicted with some type of affective disorder. Presently I’d extend the definition of Byron’s “we” to include lyricists as well who’ve been “touched with a fine madness.” Based either on personal experience or from observation does that sound like an accurate assessment?

JA: Of all the artists I’ve known, myself included, that statement is so true. I once read a book that said: “People who are often depressed usually have a more realistic perspective on things, than that of a ‘happy’ person.” I don’t think that is true all of the time, or for everyone. But for me it’s a fact. They call it “Depressive realism:” “People without depression are more likely to have inflated self-images and look at the world through rose-colored glasses, because of cognitive dissonance and other defense mechanisms.” I also believe being “touched with a fine madness” allows you to go deeper when creating, you’ll go to the edge. You’re more willing to be brutally honest, because you’ve got nothing to lose.

(Jessica Allyn resides in New York, New York. While nothing is “official” yet, she is currently in talks with one of Long Island’s oldest lesbian bars for a possible residency and will be doing open mic nights all around the NYC area this Summer. Visit JessicaAllyn.com or her Myspace page for details and tour dates as they become available.)

[gossip session] | A lifetime of snapshots: An interview with singer-songwriter Jessica Allyn [part 2 of 3]

Cover artwork for I Am a Camera.

(This is the continuation of the interview I’ve conducted with singer/songwriter Jessica Allyn. This is part 2 of 3. Part 1 can be found here.)

Part 2 | I Am a Camera and the writing process:

JMT: As mentioned before, you said that Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood inspired the concept for I Am a Camera. Do you have special preparations when writing lyrics for an album?

JA: I was lucky with this record. There wasn’t that much prep involved. I had always wanted to write a rock musical, but it seemed so far out of reach. And then one day everything fell into place by accident.

JMT: Personally I’ve always written extremely concrete and detailed stories, at times bordering on over-saturation. I like my reader to be fully aware of what is happening, usually because I’m fixing to make them uncomfortable. I noticed the majority of songs on I Am a Camera were written as almost mini-stories. Do you prefer to write in stories/specifics or leave them more ambiguous?

JA: I generally don’t have a plan when I sit down to write. Sometimes I just play, ad-lib and see what I come up with. For the most part it ends up in story form but I find that you can still be ambiguous (if needed). I am definitely an over-sharer and I have to agree with you; I often push it to the uncomfortable edge. Whether it’s in writing or performance I want the audience to feel everything.

JMT: I feel loss and anger are capable of creating much more colorful metaphors. Every artist that’s ever existed knows pain, anger and loss are classic lyrical and poetic themes. You’ve seemed to focus on anger and loss in particular for this record. Do you find those particular emotions to be more conducive for writing?

JA: You are not wrong. I don’t want to sound emo—and I know I’m going to—but anger, loss and abandonment are running themes in my life. I often feel like it’s all I know. I cannot write about something I don’t recognize. Happiness and love (whatever that word means to you) are almost foreign to me. That’s not to say I’m never happy or in love. I just don’t write about it. I don’t know that it’s the healthiest way to go about things but I just get more creative fuel from negative experiences.

JMT: Are you of the mind that a writer has to actually experience something in order to make the story they’re writing believable?

JA: For me, yes. I think some people can be inspired solely by their imagination and I think it’s incredible. But I know I get fuel from real life experience. It feels honest and I like that. So that’s how I write.

JMT: Have you always felt a drive to write down the things you observe? Moreover, observation doesn’t necessarily equal personal experience. You said that writing from real-life experience makes for better writing. Does being so close in perspective ever pose a problem?

JA: I’ve documented just about everything I’ve experienced (personal and otherwise), completely oblivious to fact I was doing it. It wasn’t until a year ago that I realized I had been living my life as a camera. But I’ve been journalistic and writing poetry since I was a child. I think having a tormenting and often lonely childhood provoked the writer in me. It was a way to release. I’ve spent a lot of my life behind a bedroom door just writing. I think I often found myself appalled by human behavior and wanted to express it, but never had anyone to talk to. Writing became that shoulder to cry on in a way. It does become difficult at times to have such an “up close and personal” perspective when writing. It’s hard to not sound biased or cross the line sometimes. I’m still learning how to make it work.

JMT: For an album does the theme usually come first or does your writing tend
to dictate the theme?

JA: My writing definitely dictated the theme of this record, although I generally don’t like to pigeonhole myself to one specific theme or concept when writing an album. With I Am a Camera that Christopher Isherwood line described me perfectly and a few days later I found old scraps of paper with lyrics on them. Thus the concept was born. I was going to go in chronological order, a timeline of my life from age ten to current day, as a camera. This was a very specific project; I don’t think my future projects will be as one note.

(Follow-up: Jessica has since said that I Am a Camera is the first half of what will be a full rock musical: “I think in this case it’s truly concept alone. It’s a rock musical. Or, the first half of what will be a full musical. I really wanted to try out a few songs, see how people reacted and then build from there. So, this was definitely in all it’s insanity and glory, a full concept album. There is possibility of a part two.”)

JMT: Ironically, on your website you mention your attention span is quite short. Does that affect the recording process?

JA: Oddly enough, no. When I’m passionate about something, when I say I’m going to do something, I do it. I immerse myself in it. It becomes my life.

(part 3, including discussion on technology and how it affects artists as well as mental illness, will be posted tomorrow, so check back!)