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(Summer 2006) by George Dionne
Sultry and soulful songstress Sierra Swan released her debut album Ladyland
(read CD review)
earlier this year. I was a bit taken aback when I discovered that the album
was not a rock record. From time to time some out of genre
material
will
show up, and I always give it a listen. Swan falls somewhere between pop,
soul, and R & B. I was memorized by the songwriting and equally impressed
with it's delivery. I can honestly say that I had never heard a thing about
her, and even after the album was released, there still wasn't much information
floating around about her. How can such a great album be slipping through
the cracks? To get the skinny on everything Sierra Swan, I went straight
to the source.
RIL: If I knew absolutely nothing about Sierra Swan, how would you describe
your music to me?
SS: Well I would probably try and describe it as cinematic, slightly dramatic,
dark at times, but hopeful.
RIL: There’s not a lot of information about you out there, so let’s
start with the basics. Where are you from?
SS: I’m from the San Fernando Valley area, Sherman Oaks officially.
I grew up here in southern California, L.A. Yeah, I’m a valley girl.
RIL: Who or what inspired you to become a musician?
SS: I think there were a lot of factors. I was always
around music. I think that if you’re around it enough, you want to do it. I really listen
to a lot of Queen, Patsy Cline, and Prince, so I was inspired by them.
When you’re a teenager things start happening that are weird, and
music helped me to describe those things. It was typical drama, but it
turned out really good in that I picked up the guitar and piano at that
time.
RIL: How where you discovered and signed to Interscope Records?
SS: It was a long process, so I’ll give you the short version. I was
in a band called Doll’s Head when I was eighteen, and that was on MCA/Refuge.
We released a record in what was weird time in the company. They were merging
with A&M so a lot of bands got bumped off, us being one of them, but
it was a great experience in that we went on tour in Europe for a while.
It actually happened at the right time, as I wanted to be a solo artist.
I was writing a lot of music on my own. So Mary (inaudible) from Atlantic
Records signed me. I was on there for about five years just trying to do
my thing, but record companies don’t always let you do your thing.
They want to kind of morph you into something else, so it just wasn’t
happening. It didn’t go anywhere, so I got dropped. In the process
I met Linda Perry. She was becoming a real supporter. When I got dropped,
she was not having it. She said I needed to make the record. She said that
she could help me. She went to Interscope to talk to Jimmy Ivy, and he loved
it and agreed to sign me. Linda produced the record.
RIL: How did you bump into Linda Perry?
SS: Mary who signed me to Atlantic is best friends with Linda. She had a
hunch that Linda would really like my music, so she played it for her. Linda
really liked it, so she wanted to work with me.
RIL: What did you learn from Linda?
SS: You know we learned a lot from each other. She’s a really talented
person. She works with artist and she works with singers. They’re very
different things. What people don’t understand and what they don’t
give her credit for is, she’s not writing for certain people. She’s
supporting their music. That’s what she did for me. That’s what
she did for James Blunt. That’s what she’s doing for a lot of
people right now. She writes for people who don’t know how to write,
and good singers. If she loves what you do, she wants to be there as a producer.
She doesn’t want to morph you into anything. I learned a sense of how
to be myself, which is not a lot of things that producers provide. They want
to work on what they want to work on, but Linda just supports what you want
to do. People say that Linda Perry must have done everything. She did not.
I’ve learned that in a studio situation how important it is to be completely
in control and not let someone jump on it. It will ruin it you know.
RIL: What songs are you particularly proud of on the album?
SS: “Mother,” probably because I wrote that two days before we
mixed the record. We needed another song, and I was really happy the way
that turned out. I was really nervous to write a song so quickly. “Cooper
Red” I really love too. I think there’s three; “Ladyland,” “Mother” and “Cooper
Red.”
RIL: Is “Mother” about your mother?
SS: Yeah. I was very lucky that I had a stay at home
mom. When she passed away I didn’t want to write a song like ‘oh poor me.’ I
wanted to write something that was more of a tribute to where she’s
going.
RIL: What does the album title and song “Ladyland” stand
for?
SS: I think it stands for women and men and how much
we are alike. We each have our roles. Men are men and women are women, but
women have masculine
sides and men have very feminine sides. We don’t allow women to own
that and we don’t allow men to own that. I think it’s just admitting
that women cheat, lie, and steal though we accuse men of all those things.
RIL: In one of the lyrics in the song you state that, “I’ve
never met a man who deserves what I write on this page.” Is that true?
SS: Well I think at the time I wrote it, it was. I
wrote that like six years ago. I’m sure at the time that was very true,
but right now I have a man that I can write nice things about.
RIL: You just finished a West Coast tour, are you planning a nation wide
tour?
SS: That’s up to the record label. It’s really hard to get tours
these days, and being a female artist, it’s a lot harder. I am looking
very hard and hoping a praying to God that something turns up.
RIL: I was looking on your MySpace page and one of your friends is Planet
Swan? What or who is that?
SS: That’s my sister. That’s her real name. No one ever believes
me. My parents named me Sierra Swan and her Planet Swan. It’s real.
RIL: Do you have any other siblings?
SS: No, but if I was a boy they were going to name
me Railroad. I’m
happy I was a girl.
RIL: Is your music career paying the bills or do you still have a day job?
SS: No, it’s paying the bills right now. I’ve
been in this long enough to know that saving is very important. I have
gone through
the ups
and downs, like I said this is my third time being signed. I had odd
jobs before this particular record deal. RIL:
If you couldn’t be a musician, what do you think you would
be doing?
SS: I would probably do something to help
somebody. I would probably be a volunteer. It sounds so cliché, but I would probably love to help
children or disabled people. I’m still planning on doing that, but
I just have to finish this record first.
RIL: Have you ever had a live show that went terribly wrong?
SS: It was one of my first shows with my band Doll’s Head. I was young
and I told my mom not to go to my shows because I use a lot of profanity.
She snuck into one of my shows and I think she almost had a heart attack.
I don’t really censor myself that much. When I got off the stage my
friend was like, ‘your mom was here.’ I ran home and she was
just in tears. I felt so horrible. There was also the typical stuff like
being sick or the sound going out in the middle of the set.
RIL: What advice would you give someone that wants to become a professional
musician?
SS: Stick with it and know its going to be hard. There’s
going to be a lot of ups and downs, but if you keep on doing it, something
will happen.
You have to be able to go with a lot of negativity and know that people are
not going to love you all the time. |
SIERRA
SWAN
