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| Artist Statistics |
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Artistopia Rank : 57
Member Since : 11/2006
Last Login : 1/3/2010
Views : 11,798
Songs : 3
Events : 2
Alliances : 3
Releases : 1
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Artistopia URL :
http://www.artistopia.com/ethel-ann |
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| Latest Music By Ethel-Ann |
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Rambambi II
Published Date : 08/ 2009
Total Downloads : 71
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News Article |
Artist News Home |
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Interview with Ethel-Ann |
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| Published on 10/6/2009 |
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| By Artistopia |
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Q. At what age did you realize you wanted to become a music artist and why?
Probably around 3 years old. I got lots of pictures with me and red guitars. But really, it was when my boyfriend went off on a 6 month long acid trip and left a Hummingbird and I learned Dylan’s version of “The House of the Rising Sun.” I was hooked, gone, amazed and 13, but still, instantly addicted.
Q. Most music artists have that special someone or thing that influenced their decision to do music. Did anyone or something in your life play a major role in influencing you to go into the music business?
Mama’s a painter and poet, although she couldn’t do it for “a living.” I can’t say she encouraged me to play guitar, but she certainly didn’t discourage my playing. She wanted me to play piano but I didn’t care about Mary’s little lamb, and now wish that I had, in terms of being a pianist. I’m from the mountains of North Carolina. I think sometimes, Morrison wrote that we were “perched headlong on the edge of boredom,” so growing up where I did, with nothing to do, but in the era that I did, with all these tremendous shifts in the arts and consciousness, made me think deep, feel deep, or “grok” deeply, and gave me the idea I could get beyond the mountains. Also, literature’s always been an immense influence in my life. Two, my younger brothers were in band and they kept me fresh, ya know. I kept hearing new stuff, jazz, Charlie Parker and Orney Coleman, expanded my musical “vista.” Gonzo view, man. Fred Rumfelt, John Oxford, and Larry Peterson really created a “spread” for me.
Q. In terms of the music, which major artist(s) influenced your style and why?
Everybody. And everything. I mean, listen to a bird. The kind with wings. They got backbeat in the chirp. Sound is phenomenal and I can’t reduce influences to people. But obviously, some journalist once referred to me as a “Dyladonna.” Sounds like a sex toy, but I know what he meant and it’s flattering. Dylan, obviously, from a songwriter’s and vocalist’s perspective. And he plays the right kind of rhythm. Rhythm guitarists are underrated by some folks. Old black bluesmen sittin’ outside Woolworth’s on a Saturday morning, playin’ and singin’. Man, they got me. Robert Johnson. This black lady in the neighborhood, Frances Tate. Damn, she can SANG! And Joplin,
Wanda Jackson blew me away; Mother’s Finest is the greatest rock band I’ve ever seen or heard.
Q. With so many independent artists trying to make it, what makes you stand out from the competition?
Because I’ve got nothing left to be afraid of! I’ve shared a mike in the studio with Nona Hendryx. Lemme tell ya . . . whew. I’ve slept with homeless folks in “The City.” I done the smooth thing too, lifestyles of rich, famous, and respected. I got challenged to a songwriterthon with Butch Hancock in Austin out at Joe Ely’s ranch and held my own: for about 14 hours straight. I’d not be afraid to sit in a room with John Hiatt and trade songs. Trade, not compete. I’m not competitive about my work because it’s good stuff that writes me. Wish I was, the pedestrian me, was as smart as “my” songs. I copyright these things but they’re so much smarter than the temporal me: heck, they got my graduate degrees’ daddy! Also, I’ve matured. I know the industry can be corrupt. So what? All industries are potentially corrupt. (Split infinitive.) Besides, I’m the president of a non-profit music publishing company, and if somebody is too STUPID to see those dollar signs, I don’t want to deal with them. This is a business, music. It’s not just about getting up there, looking good and sounding good. It’s business and I love the business. It can be damned unlovable but loving is about loving the unlovable, IF one truly loves.
Q. Music industry professionals are quick to say that being an artist means to gracefully fit a marketable niche in the industry. If you were offered an opportunity that asked you to be something you are not, would you do it to get your foot in the door?
I can be a lot of “things” of the “somethings” that one can be. And I can’t be some things of those “somethings.” I won’t do anything. Geez. Paid my dues. Would I do a funk cover of “Delta Dawn”? Oh yeah.
Q. Making music is one thing, selling it is another. What types of strategies do you use in promoting your artistic work and getting it heard by the proper professionals?
I will create a venue out of a piece of sidewalk. In fact, one of my favorite photos of Child Bearing Hips is outside NMS 10 in Times Square that some journalist took. We made a sign on cardboard that read, “LP OR BUST,” opened two acoustic cases for change, and Pam beat her snare drum. Great photo. Got us some attention. Made some noise, even though we were playing a showcase at NMS. As I’ve said a billion times, it’s about making noise. We did a benefit for a battered women’s shelter once in an 18-wheeler garage. “Garage band.” Got attention from media.
Q. In regards to wheeling and dealing, how important do you feel business knowledge is to making it in an industry filled with much heartache?
I don’t have an MBA, nor would I want one. BUT if ya don’t know and love the business of music, just hang it up. There are musicians who don’t know and those who know they don’t know and don’t care. They might as well go back to tha house. Like a seven option deal is good to ya? NO. No. Ever look at a Poll Star? Gazillion bands nobody ever heard of—with 7 option deals. Publishing companies that just shatter-shot songs. What a waste!
Q. Let's fast forward to 5 years from now. What advice would you offer to struggling independent artists?
Go to some seminars, call SXSW offices because they do a bunch of them. Send in CD but if you aren’t invited to play a showcase, pay and go anyway. Attend some decent workshops and get smart about the business. Regardless of your chops, attitude counts more, because attitude can’t be taught, while technique can. A flexible, highly adjustable attitude is needed for this business. Be your Self, heck, develop a Self and be that Self relatively with the Other. Whatever ya think ya know, deconstruct it. I recommend Derrida or Julia Kristeva. Read some Kristeva: abject and then redeem your own abjection. Make it glorious! If you’re addicted, go ahead and OD and be reborn.
I’m a Blake freak and a Wilson Harris head, so I’m liable to advise folks to take it to the limit and see what they find out if they live. Again. Live “numinously” beyond these petty deaths.
Q. Most successful artists are involved in charitable organizations that stand for a cause that hits close to home. In that regard, once you reach success, what charitable cause(s) would you like to be involved in and why?
The mission statement for Elephant Patch Music, Inc. encompasses most of them as it is a 501(c) 3 dedicated (20% beyond operational costs with profit) to other non-profits. Domestic violence, for sure, via battered/sexually abused women’s, men’s, children’s shelters. The American Red Cross and any disaster relief agency. Elder abuse and definitely substance abuse. Everybody’s “recovering” from something, but addiction to drugs, and alcohol IS a drug, and I mean addiction, not social use, desperately needs funding. We can treat the disease of addiction. I know. Up close and very personally, I know this disease can be treated, especially with biopsychosocial models.
Well, we thank you for taking the time to interview with us and certainly wish you the best in your music career endeavors. There you have it ladies and gentlemen, an inside look into the mind of an independent artist struggling to bring their hard work to fruition in an industry where perseverance and thick skin means survival. No one said it would be easy.
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| No Credits or References were provided by publisher |
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