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THE STATE OF MUSIC TODAY
EE: What do you think of the whole
music scene in the past few years since Lilith Fair happened? It was very
much focusing on women in rock and how that was going to change everything
and since then, it's been a lot of candy music.
TB: It's amazing. I'm really baffled because three years ago the
question was asked "Do you think the door is wide open for women now in
rock?" and I said "Absolutely, how could it close?. I don't even
foresee that happening." And it did. It closed hard. And I don't know
why. I could make all these theories about why like it's a backlash or
whatever but I don't know. The only females that we see that are doing really
well are the Britney Spears and the Jennifer Lopez - all the bubble gum stuff
or all the boob central stuff. For rock, it's like we can't even get arrested
and it is so discouraging. I am so completely confused about that one.
EE: Women were a trend?
TB: I was so ignorant. I really didn't think I was popular
because of a trend. I thought I really thought it was on my merits and I
think it's a combination but now when I look back it really was part of a
trend. Women were a trend and that's so weird because women in music is
nothing new. It's just that the industry, God, they just manufacture this
crap and it's weird to look back now on four years ago facing all those
questions… 'How's it feel to be a woman in rock?' That was my worst
nightmare. I hated that question. I would try new ways of answering it but…
EE: How does it affect you
since you're classically trained as a musician to see all of these other
people who probably can't play an instrument and is it hard to differentiate
yourself as a musician compared to other artists?
TB: If I let myself go down that road, I can get really
frustrated but I think I've gotten over this thing where "Gosh, I'm a
trained musician. Everyone should know that." I really wanted to prove
myself for awhile there but I had to realize that I've chosen this path where
I'm surrounded by people who don't really care. It's all about what they're
doing now. It's not really about being trained. And especially the music I'm
playing right now... it's got this dichotomy because it's dumb rock. I don't
want it to be sophisticated technical playing when I play guitar. I want it
to sound as dumb as possible because that's what I like. I really like that
ignorance in playing. I know this doesn't make any sense because I've spent
my whole life in music school and I do want people to know that I'm doing
this consciously. So I'm confused about this one because I'm a musician's
musician and I want actually to have… respect from other musicians is really
the ultimate, more than say the masses. But in rock and roll, there's not a
lot of people that would actually notice that I… it's hard to describe this
but…
EE: So you don't think the average
fan would know that you…
TB: That I was good? I question that at times because then maybe the same
person would just like freak out over Kid Rock and think "Oh my god,
he's so talented". I wonder.
EE: That's scary.
TB: Yeah. So that's why I'm confused about that because I consider what I do
completely different from what someone like Kid Rock or who else? I could
list a million of them but that's where I have to not think about it too much
because I could get really depressed and think this is music and it should be
revered. I just can't bother myself too much because it's a reality that I
have to face. People like pop culture, pop music and it's not about the
quality.
EE: I've been to a few
concerts where the artists have actually complained about the state of music
today during their shows. A Perfect Circle - and I know you worked with Josh
Freese, the drummer - the lead singer, Maynard James Keenan, stopped the
concert and…
TB: just started ranting?
EE: started talking about how
music sucks today…
TB: Wow.
EE: and how we should all go
out and buy extra copies of albums we really like to try to fight back so
that was interesting. Trent Reznor made similar comments during a nine inch
nails concert.
TB: He whines about everything, though but, no, that's interesting.
EE: In another interview, he
says things like you can either complain about it or you can go out and
actively do something about it - spread the word and put your music out there
and hope that people pay attention.
TB: True. Complaining is one thing but maybe actually schooling people is
another thing. I think that maybe people do need to hear other artists
complaining or speaking out against this because I know a lot of artists feel
really strongly about this. I think people need to hear that from other
artists. I could just go out and play my music and hope that people somehow
see where I'm coming from but I think that the business is too big.
ON MP3s AND NAPSTER
EE: Another thing a lot of people
are talking about right now is the whole MP3/Napster controversy. Do you have
any opinions on that?
TB: Well, as artists we have to protect ourselves because this is what we do.
This is our livelihood so I am scared of it and I really hope that there is a
way that we can figure out how we can not let money that would help us do
what we do not just go somewhere else. But the thing is, I'm actually
flattered when there are bootleg tapes of me. I come from that era of trading
tapes and being so excited about a band that you bootleg them and then give
or sell them to someone else. It's really kind of flattering to me because,
if someone cared that much, then that means they really like my stuff. But
obviously that's not very smart or I don't protect myself if I think like
that, so I'm kind of on the fence with it all.
EE: So there's a bit of a
difference between somebody downloading your entire album without purchasing
it and somebody taping your show and trading that among their friends.
TB: Yes. Exactly. I find that different. Yeah. Yeah. So downloading my whole
record without having paid anything for it - that kind of pisses me off.
EE: Right now there's
Metallica on one hand and there's no happy medium.
TB: Right. It's just kind of a free for all.
TRACYBONHAM.COM &
MERCHANDISING
EE: You have a website
located at www.tracybonham.com. Are you involved with your website production
at all? I saw you have a tour diary.
TB: Yeah. Exactly. It's the first time I actually went on the other day and
ranted about the state of music and I'd never done that before because I
thought maybe I should be really PC on my diary and one day I just said
"fuck it" because I really did see the Kid Rock video the night
before and I just couldn't even sleep. I was just like 'Oh my God. That
asshole. What is he doing?" I actually got more responses from that
diary entry because a kid from college said to me in person - he was
interviewing me - he said "It's really good for us to hear what other
musicians think. We can rant all we want and journalists can rant and this
and that but when you hear an artist speak out, it kind of has a little more
importance" to him at least. So I thought that was very cool. Setting up
the Internet site was really exciting. It seemed like it took forever. I just
wanted it out there but we worked together. I put my ideas in and my husband
drew the little icons and I chose the photos. I wanted to make sure that it
was really interactive and I could go on the message board and stuff. So I do
[have involvement].
EE: Do you have merchandise
available too?
TB: Yeah. Yeah we do. Over on the right. (Tracy points to the
merchandising tables beside us.) There's a drawing of me from the video
where I have the strap-on keyboard and then we have cute little baby blue
t-shirts that have "Behind Every Good Woman" but they're in little
cartoony - there's a "behind" and then the words "every
good" and then a naked woman - cartoony.
EE: Does your merchandising
company present you with designs or do you go and tell them what you want?
TB: I went ahead and did it and my husband's an illustrator as well so he he
drew those and we did them together and presented them to my merchandising
company and they basically said okay. I like to be involved. It's important
to me. I don't want some stupid looking thing out there that represents me
whether it's a t-shirt or poster or definitely not a video or anything like
that. I'm not very hard to work with but I think I'm becoming a little more
involved and I want to make sure that people are doing their jobs.
WRITING AND INSPIRATION
EE: Are you writing a lot on
the road? Or bits and pieces?
TB: Well, not really. I started to think about it less than a week ago and I
really was almost getting down on myself because I haven't even thought about
writing and that scares me that I can do that. It scares me that I can go for
months without even having an idea and I don't want to scare myself right out
of out of writing but I know I have to keep those channels open. I have a
notebook. I have the pens. I have everything that will inspire me to go to
that notebook but I guess starting this tour it's just not where my head is.
I'm not at that point where I'm thinking about writing.
EE: You're more focused on
performing?
TB: Playing. Performing. Yeah Touring and [we're] a new band so we're getting
to know each other and we're having a blast. I think because the touring
thing is wearing on us, even though we've only been out for a month, that's
when I started to feel like writing again. I find that kind of interesting. I
became a little more introverted this last week where the past four weeks
we've just been partying and hanging out 24/7 and now I've decided I wanted
to put on my headphones and listen to more music and that's what's been
inspiring me to write again.
EE: So are you listening to
other people's music and that's inspiring you?
TB: Yeah, exactly. That's what's doing it for me.
EE: What are you listening
to?
TB: Right now? Well, I was working out this morning and I have this on my
headphones. My CD player. (Tracy opens the portable CD player she has in
her pocket. She also has been wearing large headphones around her neck.)
It's nine inch nails - the last one - and that started to get me excited
about making a record again.
EE: Really?
TB: Yeah. With those textures and stuff.
EE: The instrumentals [on
nine inch nails' The Fragile] were some of the most beautiful things
I'd heard in a long time.
TB: Yeah, really, really nice stuff. Nice sound bytes and textures coming in
and out of there.
EE: I went to the one concert
and people in front of me were sitting down during the instrumentals and they
were complaining about them, saying things like "why can't he play the
good stuff?"
TB: Oh God, people are always going to have trouble. Those people probably
just can't wrap their heads around it and they want to hear the hits. They
want to hear the easy stuff. It's funny. Crowds are so weird because I've
noticed now that we're playing to people that don't know the new stuff and
it's frustrating. I read a Supergrass interview recently where they said
their first tour, I think, of the States on their new record people just
stood there. But they realized that it was because they were taking it in.
This is the good part, they were trying to convince themselves, and I think
it's true, that when people aren't familiar with it, they stand there and
they soak it in. It's only when they're really familiar with it and they can
sing every word and they don't have to think that they start bopping up and
down and that's when the band thinks "ooh, gosh, they like us". So
it's kind of a mind trip because you immediately think that they hate you if
they're not jumping up and down. We've really had to get over this because
we're playing to a new audience. They only know "Mother Mother" and
a lot of them are not bopping up and down. And sometimes we go off stage just
like "oh fuck, they hated us" but then people will come up to the
bus afterwards and say "wow, you were great". So, it's really a
learning experience.
EE: I've noticed with your
lyrics that you can listen to a song again and again and you get something a
little different or deeper. There are many levels to them and they're a bit
more cryptic than the average pop song.
TB: Good. That's what I mean to do. I like lyrics that do that. I like
poetry. I like it when you can find the different levels each time you go and
maybe it's something that you find that I might not have even meant but if
it's for you then it's yours.
EE: Do you find it awkward
when you find that people think completely different things about what you
wrote?
TB: Yeah. Actually for "Mother Mother" - very frustrating - always
defending that I don't hate my mom. A lot of people didn't get the joke that
it's irony. It's supposed to be funny. "Everything's fine." I'm
screaming, yes, that sounds aggressive but it doesn't mean that I hate my
mom.
EE: So people really thought
that you hated your mother?
TB: Yeah or people thought "yeah, I hate [my mom] or my mom's a bitch,
too." Even Howard Stern. I went on his show and he was like "I just
love the way you scream at your mom like that. Yeah, I scream at my mom.
She's a bitch" or something. And so even people on that level, not to
say that he's the smartest guy in the world but he is pretty clever, and like
in Europe in certain countries, like Germany, I found it was interesting they
didn't get the joke. Maybe they just don't have the same sense of humor but I
was hoping the video kind of helped with that because it is my real mom in
the video and it's a funny video so most people got the joke but a surprising
amount didn't get it. Now the same thing [is happening] with the song
"Behind Every Good Woman" that we're trying out as a single. A lot
of people think I'm a man-hater or that I "ooh, trail of men… you must
be a man-eater" and I am just trying to convince these people that it's
a joke. It's supposed to be funny.
EE: It seems very
tongue-in-cheek.
TB: Yeah. Exactly. I think people, actually especially in America, are
afraid. Maybe they don't even see past this thing where it's like
"Strong woman? Oh my God, what do we do? She must be lashing out. She
must hate everybody." They don't even see past that and see that there's
actually humor. And that's what I'm having the biggest frustration with now.
And I think people are pretty uptight. They don't know how to categorize a
strong woman. She's either a bitch or she's a lesbian feminist. And there's
nothing else. I'm trying to break down those barriers but it's really hard
especially playing in some of these midwestern towns where you just walk on
the stage and immediately they're going "Show us your tits" and
yeah I know that I've got my work cut out for me.
EE: Are those college crowds
or regular crowds?
TB: A little of both. I just point to my guitar player now and I say
"Danny they want you to show them your tits" and he's like
"Okay". It's my favorite reaction to that one though.
EE: What are your plans
following the Live tour?
TB: I don't really know what my plans are for the summer yet. Going to Europe
soon…
EE: Well thank you. I really
appreciate your time.
TB: Thank you.
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