KELLY BUCHANAN
www.kellybuchanan.com

(Spring 2005) by George Dionne

After listening to Kelly Buchanan's latest album Bastard Daughter (read CD review), I was blown away. I mean, no one is singing about the things she is. Throughout her latest CD, Kelly is brutally honest and real when it comes to such topics as life, love, and even rape. Something her peers could learn from. I thought Kelly must be just as interesting to talk to, so I set up an interview. Who would have thought such a strong, expressive musician could be so shy. That's okay though, Kelly's music speaks volumes. We still had a good conversation.

RIL: Would you say that Bastard Daughter is more observational experiences or personal experiences?
KB: I would have to say that it is more personal, for better or for worse.

RIL: So would you say that essentially you are the Bastard Daughter?
KB: In that case, no. That song was spawned off the song “Cocaine”. The first line of it is: I am the Devil’s bastard daughter. I couldn’t call the album The Devil’s Bastard Daughter for multiple reasons.

RIL: Why is that?
KB: I guess it really wouldn’t fly in the Bible Belt of the south. I didn’t think that it reflected the album as a whole.

RIL: So why should we call you “Cocaine”?
KB: Because I have an addictive personality.

RIL: What’s the story behind “Body Bag”?
KB: (Long pause) It was inspired by a “Take Back the Night” march in Boston. I heard some young girl say that she would rather die than be raped. I was frightened at her lack of self-worth. I wrote that song based on a similar personal experience and my own guilt associated with it. There’s not really a choice on whether you get raped or not, there’s a choice on how you handle it and whether you want to live or not. After that “Take Back the Night” march and hearing that girl, I asked a few of my friends what they thought about it. Everyone there was like, ‘I’d rather die too’. That surprised me, including some of my male friends.

RIL: Tell me a little bit about this infamous trip to a Brazilian jungle with just a pocket knife and can of mace to comfort you?
KB: I’ve noticed the story popping up more and more. The infamous trip was at Egusu Falls on the border of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. It’s beautiful waterfalls surrounded by miles and miles of jungle on all sides. I was there alone. I actually wanted to go to the border so I could get my passport stamped. I couldn’t be that close to a tropical jungle and not go inside. I just sucked it up and went into the jungle. I was terrified with every step. There are puma warnings at all the ranger stations. I only walked a few miles in and wandered around. It was absolutely gorgeous and I’m really glad I did it. I did hold a pocket knife in one hand and a can of mace in the other.

RIL: Did you run into anyone else in the jungle while you were out there?
KB: That would have been interesting. Both of those tools are useless if you were attacked by a puma.

RIL: You’d be surprised how powerful the mace is?
KB: It would probably knock me out, the wind would change and I would be screaming.

RIL: You’d be rolling on the ground and the puma would be like ‘this is too much work’.
KB: (Laughs) The puma would recoil in confusion.

RIL: Who was the “Asshole of the Year”?
KB: I talked to him yesterday. We actually stayed pretty good friends. He was telling me yesterday how proud he was of that song. I thought that was kind of funny. He plays it for all of his friends and tells them it’s about him.

RIL: Even though you’re still friends, does he still hold that title?
KB: Yeah, I don’t think anyone else has stolen it. He said yesterday that if I had to name someone new, that he would like to compete. It’s a funny thought.

RIL: You have a poem written on your CD sleeve by Oni Buchanan, who is that and what is the poem about?
KB: That’s my older sister. She’s one hell of a poet in my opinion. She’s gotten some acclaim lately so that’s good. “The Girls” is about me and her. She had to explain it to me because I didn’t know what it was about. I thought there was some really great imagery within it. All the artwork on my album is taken from her poem. I made that artwork out of an old arts and crafts box I found at our mother’s house. It’s about how are mother was constantly preparing us for the worst in the world, while not preparing us for the most obvious things that could tear us apart.

RIL: Have you two considered co-writing a song?
KB: No we haven’t. It actually hasn’t been a consideration yet, but she has inspired me before. I’ve inspired her too. She’s a classical pianist too, so you’d think we might be able to work together.

RIL: Throughout Bastard Daughter you come off as being brutally honest and forthcoming, do you think that’s something that main stream female rockers lack?
KB: Yes, but I think it’s something that mainstream artist in general are missing, not just female artists.

RIL: What do think about woman like Britney Spears, Christina Agulaira, and Ashlee Simpson being classified as rockstars?
KB: I think that’s pretty lame. I think I saw Britney Spears on a cover of Rolling Stone with P.J. Harvey and I was like ‘they do not have Britney Spears next to P.J. Harvey under that title “Women Who Rock”’.

RIL: Who are some of the artists that have inspired you? I’m going to guess that P.J. Harvey is one of them.
KB: Yeah, I really like her. I think my all-time favorite is The Pixies. I like Led Zeppelin a lot too.

RIL: Did you know there’s a long time character on the soap opera One Life to Live named Kelly Buchanan, and she looks a lot like you too?
KB: I didn’t know that she looked like me, that’s interesting. Maybe I should sue her for trying to be me (laughs). She might have had the character before, but it was based on me regardless. I do know that she exists because she comes up in Google searches.

RIL: I think she went from One Life to Live to All My Children; she made a complete character jump. See how well I research my interviews.
KB: You know it much better than me.

RIL: You have some interesting fan motivated promotional methods; you have the ever popular street team of course, but you also ask you fans to add your songs to mix tapes they make for their friends, and to move your CD to the head of the CD rack at record stores. Do you think these ideas will work?
KB: Definitely, they are working. I’ve met fans that have told me that friends made them a mix tape with one of my songs on it and it was their favorite. It has an effect. I love getting mix CDs. I also want to encourage that because it’s better than burning my album and sending it to your friends. It’s not as cool. A couple of songs is just great. As far as moving CDs on the rack, it just helps to be visible. Many times it’s hard to find my CD because it’s buried.

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