Kristin Hersh Cultivates Her Muse
By Bret Booth

Allow me to be bold. Kristin Hersh is the godmother of "alternative" rock. Although never quite realizing the full-blown mainstream success of some contemporary female songwriters, Hersh has endured 14 years in an often unkind, disposable, pop star industry. Much like the commercially inept Velvet Underground, Hersh is a revered artist whose name is often dropped by other musicians and music connoisseurs as being highly influential. She has played music on her own terms, while not getting caught up in any of the transient music fads. Her music has always been truly alternative, well before the genre label was ever coined. 

Hersh began making music in the early '80s, when she and her sister Tanya Donnely formed Throwing Muses in Newport, Rhode Island. The band soon moved to Boston to pursue music more seriously. In 1986, Throwing Muses released its first, self-titled album on 4AD records and became the first American band to sign with the distinguished British label known for its patronage of dark-art oriented musicians. The Muses quickly became cult favorites on the college circuit, playing a unique style of music that laid the roots for the modern alternative rock explosion that occurred later in the '80s. 

Throwing Muses went on to produce three more records before creative differences between Hersh and Donnely led to the dissolution of the band in 1991. Donnely joined the Breeders, and soon moved on to form Belly, a band which received momentary pop stardom. Hersh, however, reformed Throwing Muses, and the band went on to make three more studio albums. During this time, Hersh also launched her solo career, releasing the intuitive "Hips and Makers" in 1994. 

After attempting a Throwing Muses reunion, which yielded 1997's aptly titled "Limbo," Hersh decided to leave the band for good and continue to pursue her solo career. Hersh recently released her fourth solo effort entitled "Sky Motel," probably the most textured and cohesive work she has produced yet. Playing the majority of instruments herself, Hersh has created a dreamy electric pop record that seems to elicit a spiritual consciousness. 

Hersh's talent primarily lies in her songwriting ability. She is an extremely prolific artist who is able to create a multitude of songs without sacrificing quality. The best description of this compelling chanteuse is that of an anti-Lilith Fair poet with an unusual knack for painting metaphor soaked musical pictures. Hersh is a traditional folk storyteller in the sense that she is able to incorporate music into a complete artistic presentation. 

Musictoday recently spoke to Kristin about the current tour, her kids, making records, the pitfalls of the music industry, dreams, and the rise of the Internet. 

by Bret Booth at musictoday.com 

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Kristin Hersh Interview 


Music Today: So, you're in the middle of a tour right now? 

Kristin Hersh: Yeah, today I'm actually home. 

MT: So, where's home now? 

KH: In Providence, RI. 

MT: How's that going? 

KH: Really well. We spent three years out in California and then it was time to come back. 

MT: Did you get fed up with California? 

KH: No, actually we miss it very much, but my 13 year old son was here and it was too far away from him, at least for the time being. 

MT: Do your other two kids come on tour with you? 

KH: Yeah they do. 

MT: How does that work out? 

KH: They have their little back packs and their coloring books and snacks. They deal, they're good at it. They're used to it. 

MT: How's the tour going? 

KH: Really well. I'm enjoying it. It's pretty much like a family vacation that never ends. It's just us in a car. My husband (Billy O'Connel) is my tour manager and my roadie. 

MT: I saw you play out in Baltimore a little while back at a place called the Ottobar. It was a really small club. How was that experience in comparison to some of the larger venues that you may be visiting on the current tour? 

KH: That was crazy, it was like playing a party. 

MT: How was that different? Are you playing bigger clubs now? 

KH: I usually play bigger clubs and some theaters. Right now because I'm touring with Brendan Perry the places are bigger. But, I like those little Ottobars. It's good to be able to see everybody's faces and feel like you're just one of the people in the room, instead of a little pinpoint. In London for instance, I played at this huge opera hall. (chuckles) It's it difficult to try and create an atmosphere. You feel like you have to be a good movie. 

MT: (chuckles) So, are you playing with a band or any one else on some of these dates? I know when I saw you it was just you with a guitar on a stool. 

KH: I toured with a band all summer when I was playing outdoor festivals in Europe. 

MT: Do you prefer playing by yourself or do like having other people join you? 

KH: I like having other people up there with me because the people that I play with are my best friends. I'm basically a shy person. I'm not a show off kind of performer, but I'm learning that the song is what counts and it's okay to be there by myself. 

MT: So, on your new record what did the California influence have to do with it? 

KH: It just sounds like California to me. I might be projecting that onto it. 

MT: It definitely has a dreamy atmosphere to it. 

KH: (in a flower child tone) Psychedelic and groovy. 

MT: It's a very textured record. A very full sound compared to some of your other releases. Any recording tricks that you might want to reveal? 

KH: Well, this should have been a Throwing Muses record. I just had to kind of fake it without Muses. So, I went in with a basic track being a muted rhythm guitar, an acoustic guitar with duct tape all over it, foam underneath the strings, so that it became a percussive instrument with just chordal overtones. Every song was based around that and some kind of goofy bongo track that I play underneath. 

MT: So, you play most the instruments on that? 

KH: Everything, but some of the drum tracks. I sampled Dave Narcizo because the Throwing Muses tapes were up on the attic in the same studio we used to record in. And I brought in a New Orleans guy named Carlo Nuccio to play a folk hit on the single. 

MT: You recorded with a pretty big time producer. I must say that your record sounds a far ways away from a Sheryl Crow record. 

KH: (chuckles) Trina (Shoemaker) is an old friend of ours. We actually gave her the first shot at engineering a record by herself back when we were recording University. Then we recorded "Limbo," our last record with her as well, and she is one of our best friends in the world. I knew that I wanted somebody that I didn't have to explain all of my moves to if I was going to try and make a record that was this ambitious. 

MT: So your last album, "Murder, Misery, and then Goodnight" wasn't distributed through normal channels. Why did you decide to take this different route? 

KH: I wanted to see if an online-only release was possible. My dream job is to make whatever the hell record I feel like making and to be able to give it to people who actually want to hear it, instead of trying to trick people into buying your record with some single. You know trying to reach them via MTV, Spin, Rolling Stone, and Top 40 Radio. It's just not going to get you the kind of fans that are actual music listeners. 

MT: That's true. I guess they have to seek you out, as opposed to pushing yourself onto them. 

KH: Oh, and a website is a really good way to do that. 

MT: I've seen the Throwingmusic site. I think it really well produced. Do you have much to do with that? 

KH: It's more my husband than me, but I'm as active as I can be without getting in the way or having too much asked of me. It's the fans. They seem to run it themselves. In my opinion, they're the ones that have to hang together, buy each other tickets, keep each other talking, and give each other rides and information, and bootlegs. I'm just so impressed. 

MT: I think it really increases the interactivity among your fans. 

KH: It does, and they feel that there's a face to the fans, and I do to. 

MT: How do you feel about the Internet's place in a musician's career? 

KH: I think it's different in mine. It's a lot more important to me than it is to most other musicians whose records companies are terrified of it. (rolling laughter) But to me, it's hope for the future. 

MT: I'm under the impression that within five to ten years we won't even need record labels for the most part. Hopefully, at least. 

KH: I absolutely agree. They're a middleman that is taking too much off the top. 

MT: An unnecessary evil. You've been a musician for some time now and you've probably seen a lot. As the millennium approaches, how do you feel about the current state of music? 

KH: I think the worse the Top 40 gets, the better the underground gets. That's really important as far as the music that's actually happening today. The spontaneous music that comes out of people all over the world at the same time is going to be underground, and that means that it doesn't attract people with big egos who want to make money. It attracts people who are obsessed with what they do. 

MT: What do you see in the future? 

KH: I think that underground music will be more available to the people who want to hear it and that will mean that people can survive making music that doesn't suck. I'm optimistic. 

MT: Are there any current musicians that really do it for you? 

KH: I think that Vic Chesnutt is always great, Giant Sand and all their projects. Olivia Tremor Control is pretty cool. 

MT: Do you like Neutral Milk Hotel? 

KH: I don't know them. 

MT: You've done quite a bit of label hopping. How's this been for you? 

KH: I've actually been on 4AD since I was 19 years old, and then I signed with Warner Brothers for the next ten years or so. When I finally got out of my deal with Warner Brothers, I started a record company of my own called Throwingmusic and we put out records with Ryko for a while, and now it's time to just bring it all back to 4AD. 

MT: How have they been for you? 

KH: Always great. I've been there longer than any one. I've been there longer than any of the employees. 

MT: So what's next for you musically? 

KH: Same old, I suppose. I was talking to my sister (Tanya Donnely) the other day, we realized that we both thought we had been paying dues all this time, when really this is our job. We make records, and then we do press, and then we tour for months, and then it's time to make another record. 

MT: So, would you say that it is more than a forty hours a week job? 

KH: It depends what you're doing. I think it usually is more because you're traveling 24 hours a day for more than half the years. 

MT: How long are you going to keep doing this rock-n-roll thing? 

KH: I don't see any reason to stop. I think I keep getting better and less of an idiot. 

MT: Your songwriting quality has a real surrealistic tint. What type of dreams do you have? 

KH: I don't sleep enough to dream. 

MT: Are you an insomniac? 

KH: Yeah, I'm not a great sleeper. My father teaches dream symbolism. He's a philosophy professor. My whole family is just obsessed with dreams, although I tend not to use them in songs because I think as much as they are an easy route to the subconscious, it's hard to differentiate between personal and collective unconscious in your dreams. All your dreams speak to you. Some times you'll tell someone a dream and they'll say wow that's so cool, you know these really vibrant images that speak to them too. Some times their knees fall asleep…and my second grade teacher, but it wasn't you. 

MT: I often wonder how much we can learn from our subconscious. 

KH: It's incredible and some times very beautiful and some times really scary, a lot like music. But, I think songs come from the outside, they have to talk to everyone and not just you. I write a lot of songs that do speak only to me, and then I throw them out, and only publish the ones that are beyond me. They're definitely all my stories, but they're not only my stories. 

MT: Actually, when I saw you at the Ottobar, I thought it was really neat how you would sort or stop between the songs and sort of just ramble and tell little stories. Is that part of your normal thing? 

KH: It is part of my normal thing, but only because when I'm tuning I can't stand all those people just staring at me. 

MT: Just one more question. How do you come up with a song now? 

KH: I play chord progressions. They fascinate me and keep my interest and hum along. Then the melodies become phonetic and suddenly I have a song. 

MT: Would you say the lyrics come after the music? 

KH: They do, definitely. Otherwise I would be making them up, and I wouldn't want to be in charge of that. 

MT: So, where are you playing tonight? 

KH: Boston. That's why were home, but we'll be home again in December. Then we won't go out again until February. So, I do get time off. 

MT: That's nice. You probably deserve it. 

by Bret Booth at musictoday.com

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