|
Ari Scott is an amazingly talented
young singer/songwriter. Last fall she released the follow up to her
debut album. Boasting a bolder sound the EP, “i can open my eyes”, has
been making a quite buzz and rightfully so. After hearing the EP I had
to know more so I caught up with Ari via email. As it turns out,
Coffeehousetour.com is on top of things before anyone else! This turns
out to be Ari’s very first interview and a great one it is! Watch out
world cause here comes Ari Scott…and remember you heard it at CHT first!
~ By Mark Fisher
MF: How are you these days Ari?
Ari: I can't complain. Congrats to you! You have the honor of being my
first real interviewer.
MF: Your first album was eleven basically acoustic tracks. Your new EP
has a lot going on in it. Is this something you just felt was a natural
step or have you decided to approach the whole process differently?
Ari: I think it's always a natural step to do things differently each
time around. Some artists have their niche and do very well with not
straying too far from it (Enya's a perfect example) but for the most
part, artists, as people, change as the years go by, and so it's no
shock if their music does too. In my case, the changes you hear from the
stripped-down "I was only just a chorus girl" to the more layered "i can
open my eyes" had a lot to do with who I was working with: nobody on the
first, and Rob Arthur on the second. Rob had a lot of great ideas,
musical skill, and technical expertise that I just didn't possess. If it
had just been me sitting alone in a room, I guarantee it wouldn¹t have
turned out like that!
MF: If differently, how is the approach on the EP different in a
songwriting sense?
Ari: The songs on "i can open my eyes" ("and a day," "fill of love,"
"fortunate one") were written in 2002 - 3 to 5 years after I had written
the songs on "i was only just a chorus girl." Obviously, if you write
consistently enough, you're - here's hoping - not going to write the
same stuff over and over again. So there was a natural progression that
just came with time. I also have become more aware in recent years of
how people hear songs, and have had more of a concern, I guess, with the
song being one solid piece of art as opposed to a quirky little bundle
of lines. So in a songwriting sense, yes, I think the songs on the EP
are more solid and mature.
MF: Obviously, 3 songs is short even for an EP. Why did you decide to do
only 3 songs?
Ari: I suppose this is a good time to mention Chris Cofoni. Chris is an
A&R guy from Blue Note/Manhattan Records (EMI). I met Chris at a music
conference in 2002 and handed him a little demo that had a couple of
songs from "i was only jus a chorus girl" on it. He called me the next
day. He was interested in working with me, in helping me put together
some kind of demo that we could give to labels - maybe the labels he
worked for, maybe others. Eventually he introduced me to Rob Arthur, who
had produced songs for Joan Osbourne, Keri Noble, played keyboards for
Five for Fighting, and has done all sorts of stuff. Chris, Rob, and I
all decided to keep the number of songs at 3, really for simplicity's
sake. The thing that was supposed to be just a "demo" turned into the
"EP" I titled "i can open my eyes" when I decided that I had something
really special, and I wanted to market it as such.
MF: Is this EP being pitched to labels or are you “happily independent?”
Ari: It is in fact being pitched to labels, though I may have an easier
time at this if I had a manager! (Something I'm looking for these days.)
For awhile, years ago, I thought I wanted to take the DIY route that
people like Ani Difranco have made seem so appealing. Partly due to
financial constraints, partly due to sometimes just not knowing what to
do and wanting help. I have since changed my philosophy and have come to
embrace the idea of working with a label. I know that's not supposed to
be a popular idea in today's market. Believe me, I've heard all the
horror stories about labels. I hear it all the time. "You don't need a
label!" Well, no. You don't. But I'd like one.
I never said I only wanted to work with a major. I'd rather be on a
small label if it means the staff likes my stuff and pays me attention
and all that. I'm no diva. If I had a dressing room you know what I'd
ask for? A bottle of Poland Spring. That's it. Ok, fine, a big bottle.
MF: Which song of the EP best represents where you are right now in your
opinion? Why that one?
Ari: Not to sound dumb, but I honestly don't know where I am right now.
It keeps changing. A few months back, I was channeling PJ Harvey in one
song (can you "channel" someone who's alive?). After that, I wrote a
little song called "a good love song" that was totally inspired by
1950's love songs. After that I wrote "never having known," which has a
jazzy-7th-chord-Norah-Jones-esque feel to it. I don't know how much of
this is a conscious decision, but I never want the song I'm writing to
sound like the last song I wrote. So I don't know, but I can say that
the more time that elapses, the more distant I feel from those songs on
the EP. I will say that "fortunate one," the softest of the three,
performed on a Rhodes, is the one that I like the best as far as
performing it goes, as well as from a songwriter's standpoint. I think
it's the most songwritery song of the three. (There, I just made up a
new word.)
MF: Your lyrics are truly as impressive as your music. What part do you
feel the lyrics play in music? Are they as important as the music or
does the music take precedent?
Ari: Thanks. I guess my lyrics have always been a bit more important
than the music, but that doesn't diminish how important the music is to
me.There¹s a reason I'm not just a poet, or just an instrumentalist. The
art of songwriting has to do with the combination of words and music,
and I strive to combine them the best way I know how... you know, I'm
composing this answer, and trying to decide "what's more important?" and
I can't decide. There is no answer. It's like saying "What's more
important, painting this picture of the sunset with color or with
shape?" Well, both are important. A really well-done black and white
drawing of a sunset might be ok, as would a misshapen rendition with
extraordinary use of color, but neither would be as good as a painting
with all the elements intact (I guess depending on what you¹re going
for). I can't believe I'm comparing my songs to the sunset but you know
what I mean. I hope.
MF: Is anything off limits when you write lyrics? Some artists like
to keep a bit of distance between the “real stories” and the songs, even
if they do reflect their personal lives.
Ari: Well... short answer is, yes. Some things are off-limits. But I
don’t think of it as “I’m not allowed to write about this.” It’s more
like, “Eh, there’s no point in bringing this up.” I admit, I do consider
the people at my shows who will be listening to the words coming out of
my mouth. I¹m not going to write “My ex-boyfriend Milo was such an
asshole,” if Milo and I are still on good terms and there’s a chance he
might come to a show (that was an example; please note, I do not have an
ex-boyfriend named Milo). But I still might want to write about how Milo
done me wrong, so maybe I¹ll make up a tune about a girl who was treated
badly by a guy and put it in the third person.
A song on my EP, “fortunate one,” is a song I wrote while I was
considering how a boyfriend¹s ex-girlfriend might feel about me. But
instead of writing “I wonder what your ex-girlfriend thinks of me,” the
song is from her perspective: “I’m happy that you didn’t stay.” You can
have her big smile and her sweet apple pies. You’re the fortunate one.
Hurray! That’s her speaking about me.
So I think if you’re not comfortable being nakedly straightforward,
there’s always a way to write about something. That said, sort of on the
same topic, I’ve never used a curse word in a song. It’s not that I
don¹t use them in real life, or that I never will, I just never felt the
need to. There was always an alternative word to use. I also don't like
to be sexually shocking. It may also partly be knowing that my parents
are likely to be in the audience at my shows. Hate to say it, but I
think that’s part of it. Something about saying “I love how he fucks
me,” in front of my parents seems, I don¹t know, um, awkward. So instead
I say “I want the world to shut up. Sometimes I want to just sit back
and let your hands do the storytelling” (from a new song called “just
simplify”). It’s more poetic anyhow. Anyway, I’ve never been about shock
value. Shock value is so old! Yawn!
MF: When you write a song, what is what the listeners takes from the
song the most important thing or is what the song means to you most
important?
Ari: Both are important. Honestly, whenever I hear an artist say "I
don't consider the audience. I only write what I want and don't care
what they think," I'm like, "Yeah right." That's bullshit. Every single
person who goes out there to try and make a living at being an effective
communicator (because that's essentially what good writers and singers
are) and getting people to listen had better care what the audience
thinks. You have to consider what people will think. Of course I care
what people think. I want them to like me. I want them to buy my album.
So yes, I want the listener to get something from it, but at the same
time, I want to be able to live with myself. I have to like what I write
too. It's a constant balance. Some songs wind up being less "I hope they
like this" and some are more. The best ones are satisfying to everyone.
The censor in me comes early in the writing process, so I never wind up
with a song I don't like anyway.
MF: NYC is definitely one of the coolest places on earth. It is also one
of the hardest places to make it as a musician. Why did you choose NYC?
Ari: New York City is THE coolest place on Earth I admit, I¹m biased,
seeing as though I¹ve been living here for years and have hardly
traveled anywhere else. For all I know, Qatar is REALLY cool, I just
don’t know it... yes, I agree that it is extremely, ridiculously,
frustratingly difficult to "make it" here. There is one main reason for
this: there is an abundance of talent. It¹s supply and demand, plain and
simple. I know the nice thing to say is "There’s room for
everyone!" But no. There’s not. We¹re running out of room.
I can’t say I ever really "chose" to live in NYC. When I was growing up
on Long Island, my family would travel to NYC on occasion, either to
visit a museum or friends of my parents. I knew two things: that I would
be a success and that I would live in New York City. I just knew I would
live here. It wasn’t even a question, it was just, "I will live here
someday." It was also a logical place to go for what I wanted to pursue.
MF: What kinds of things do you hope to inspire in people when they hear
your music?
Ari: On the surface, there's the selfish aspect: I want people to listen
to me and understand me. But I also want to help people learn something
new about themselves and open their minds to new ways of thinking.
That's actually a hell of a lot harder than it sounds. If someone can
listen to my songs and come away from it just a tiny bit altered -
whether they've heard a surprising chord progression or a unique lyrical
idea or something else - then I guess I've done my job.
MF: Being a female musician- harder road than it is for a man? In what
ways is it more of a challenge?
Ari: You want to know the truth? Being a female rules! I would recommend
it to
everybody! Seriously, I never consider whether it's harder or easier. My
whole life, I never not did anything because I was a girl. I really
truly honestly don't think it matters. Maybe, in some cases, it's easier
being a female because you can flirt with all the men who dominate the
fields of booking person/venue owner/dj/manager/agent/label rep, etc.
But, like Madonna once said about flirting, "It may have gotten my foot
in the door. It didn't keep me in the room." At least I think she said
that. I'm sort of joking about flirting. I suck at flirting. Too bad,
too. I could've been a star by now.
I'd like to think we've surpassed the days when females aren't taken
seriously as musicians. Ani Difranco said that when she was starting out
(15 or so years ago?), she couldn't even step foot in a guitar store
without the employees thinking she was buying strings for her brother
(or something like that). It's not like that anymore. At least I don't
think it is. That said, where are all the all-female bands? Rock radio
doesn't play females at all. (Maybe the occasional Hole for nostalgia's
sake.) I just read an article in the New York Times about radio not even
surveying women anymore. That pissed me off, especially since I
sometimes listen to (and rather like) a NYC-based hard rock station.
After reading that, I was all the more inspired to save up for an iPod
(I'm one of 7 people in NYC who doesn't own one). So, yeah, obviously
something about the industry is way off.
It's all cyclical. In the mid-90's, female singer/songwriters dominated
without question. Lilith Fair, anyone? There were no male solo artists.
In fact, when Ricky Martin came out with "La Vida Loca," I remember
thinking,"Finally, a solo male artist!" And today, what do we have?
Radio is chock-full of solo male artists. The females on the radio
today, for the most part, don't write their own stuff. Which all has its
place. Everything has its place. It'll swing back. And then back again.
I like to think of popular music as many different pendulums, all
swinging back and forth, all at different speeds, and sometimes smashing
into each other. The smashing is what makes it exciting.
MF: Thanks for your time. I can't wait to hear a full length. Do you
have any parting thoughts?
Ari: Wow. My first interview, and here I have the opportunity to say
anything I
want! I'm stumped... but how's this: guess what I'm doing right after I
finish this? Going out to see a band at CBGB's. The band are a bunch of
friends of mine - Mike Sandwich - and it's the first and last time
they're playing there. It's pretty much certain that CBGB's will be
closing soon. They lost their lease. I'll take my camera so look for
R.I.P. photos on my site sometime soon.
So on that cheery note, thanks! Bye!
Http://www.ariscott.com
|
