4/8/2005

MP3 Download: Not Quite Me


Allalom Productions: Thank you so much for your time, and welcome to ALLALOM! You were in Sixpence before they truly hit it big – what was your reaction when they topped Billboard?

Tess Wiley: I was actually pleased for them! Of course, I was a little jealous, but I knew I wouldn't have been able to hold out in the band for the four years they needed between my departure and their success.

AP: I never really understood why you left, if possible could you share the reasoning behind it?

TW: Oh, it was a bit of drama and a bit of self-fulfillment. Matt and I were good friends, but we had started to butt heads. Then they all wanted to move to Nashville, and I didn't, plus I wanted to start making my own music, so it just seemed to make sense that I not be in the band anymore. The original plan was that I only do the US and European summer tours in 1994, but since it worked out well, I stayed on for a year.

AP: You disappeared from the indie music scene for a while and re-emerged in Germany – so what happened with you and your record deal with Flying Tart?

TW: I didn't really disappear. I've just never had the kind of support one needs in order to stay fresh in people's minds. I always had to basically do everything myself. I was scared to sign a crappy deal, so I didn't sign any. The Flying Tart deal was more or less a joke. I think the label lasted all of a year.

I also took a little bit of time off to get married and resettled in Germany, but I was playing as much as I could.

AP: If you don’t mind my asking, why Germany?

TW: I married a German! I met him at Flevo Festival in Holland in 1994 while playing there with Sixpence. He took photos of Sixpence, and he and I wrote off and on for a couple of years. Then he came to America for the first time, and one of his first stops was Cornerstone. We met up again there. Strangely enough, my stage outift for that show were my lederhosen! He found that pretty funny. After touring around with Havalina Rail Co. for a while and spending some time in L.A., he came to visit me on a whim, and that's when it sparked.

We decided that I would move to Germany since he had already established connections and a company with which he was earning money. I figured I could make music anywhere. Plus it was an interesting challenge. I probably wouldn't have learned German so well if I didn't live here, and I don't want our kids to one day speak the language with their German relatives and I be left in the dark!

AP: “Rainy Day Assembly” is both the title of your ‘debut’ solo album and a song from when you performed as Phantasmic – why the change?

TW: I'm not sure what you mean by change - are you referring to the name? Phantasmic was never really a band. I've always played more solo than with a backing band. And when I was on stage alone, it was a bit weird to introduce myself as "phantasmic". But it also took me a while to officially "go solo" because I knew that meant making stickers and t-shirts with my name on them. That felt a little bit too conceited for me at first! So I made the transition slowly by adding the phrase "and her Orchestra", then I dropped that after a year or two.

AP: OK, I am going to step a little further back, what happened to the name Splendora and why did you replace it with Phantasmic, and along those same lines – what does Phantasmic mean?

TW: I wish I could have kept the name Splendora! It's a town outside of Houston. Unfortunately, there was already a band in New Jersey with that name - that's the band who did the theme song for the MTV show "Daria" (people often thought it was I who played it). So I changed it to phantasmic which I more or less picked up from the Oscar Wilde play "The Importance of Being Earnest", in which the term "phatasm" is often used (as in "phantom" or "figment of the imagination"). In my song "Idle" I wrote the line:
"never in one million years would i have ever thought i‘d hear such phantasmic projections from him."

I assumed it could be used that way - as in "made up". I can't remember why I decided to use it as a name. I guess I needed to come up with something, and that sounded cool. Sounds a bit like "fantastic".

AP: How would you compare the German music scene to the American?

TW: Oh, I always get asked this question. I don't really know. I think the audiences here are into a different sound than what I'm offering. I mean, they like the style I play, but it's easier for them to understand or accept it when they get it all pre-packaged in America and presented to them on MTV. Maybe that's not much different than anywhere else, but I get the feeling that there are fewer people here willing to support a scene full of somewhat unknown artists.

But there are definitely bands here making good music: Blumfeld, Wir Sind Helden, Hidalgo - to name a few.

AP: So you think it is harder for an independent artist to make an impact in Germany?

TW: I think it is for an artist who makes "singer/songwriter" music as I do. There are plenty of indie artists who do well here, but it's a different kind of style.

To be fair, I think I would have a hard time anywhere. The thing about my music is that it's introspective and contemplative and not some mindless party music. Not to say that bands who do well are necessarily mindless! But the style is maybe more rocking, something people can jump around to. Mine's not like that, as much as I enjoy kick-ass bands. Somehow I just make this kind of music, and there are certainly people who enjoy it, it's just harder to reach them when the music isn't loud and "in your face".

AP: Has living in Germany affected your writing style?

TW: I don't think so.

AP: What music were you brought up on, and what really inspired you growing up?

TW: My dad plays jazz trumpet, and the music being played on the stereo was relatively diverse. Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, lots of classical music. In my early years I mostly listened to top 40 radio, but I really sang along, got into the harmonies and stuff. Then came hard rock (Guns n' Roses), then more "indie". Bands that I loved in high school were the Frames, Belly, Juliana Hatfield, Lemonheads, but also older music like Sly and the Family Stone, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles.

AP: What are you currently listening to?

TW: I'm about to have a baby, and the strangest thing is, ever since I got pregnant, I hardly listen to music at all. I didn't get the usual cravings or aversions to certain foods or smells, but I feel like I sort of developed an aversion to music! I mean, I'll listen to it, but I'm rarely ever the one to put it on. My husband plays d.j. here at home, and that's fine with me. He plays all kinds of stuff. Joan of Arc, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny Cash, Frank Zappa, and tons of black funk and soul artists that most of your readers probably never heard of. I hadn't until recently! Oh, and I did buy a cd a few months ago - Feist. She's really great.

AP: An ‘aversion to music’, that’s different; so let me rephrase the question – what was the last album to really make an impression with you?

TW: I'd say Jolie Holland's "Escondida". She was a friend of mine in junior high, and we would play together now and then. I was blown away when I heard her voice on this record! And I love the sparseness of the recordings. Everyone should check it out.

AP: What is your opinion on the current condition of independent music?

TW: Honestly, I don't give the music scene any thought. I'm pretty fed up with the industry, possibly because I've never been able to makes waves in it, and now with the kid on the way, I don't have time or energy to care. I'm working a new record that will probably come out in spring 2006, but I'd rather stay on the artist side of things. My record company can work out the business details.

AP: So you struggle with your lack of commercial success, do you think that has jaded you to the industry?

TW: Absolutely! I mean, the industry is gross, and I've always known that, but I was much more willing to play the game than I am now. It just seems like such a struggle to always get attention for one's latest project - there are sooooo many bands these days. It's embarrassing for me to go out and say, "Listen to my record! This is the greatest thing out there!", which is what you have to be willing to do. It's not even a question about being good enough. I think my music is completely deserving of a wider audience, and I'm not the only artist getting dissed. I get so frustrated when I hear a new "up-and-coming" musical sensation who is nowhere near as good as some bands or artists I know. But like I said, ever since I got pregnant I just don't care anymore. I certainly would accept any success God sees fit to grant me, but I'm not in the least interested in working my ass off to get it. I've done that already, and it didn't work!

AP: How has the reception been to your last album (Not Quite Me)?

TW: Not too bad. I got some good reviews, and Paste Music is distributing it in America. But there's never been an overwhelming response to my music. Always a struggle! Maybe one day I'll experience a break-through.

AP: What is a normal recording session like for you, and how long does it normally take to put a record together?

TW: A normal recording session is me alone at home with my guitar and one microphone. I recorded the drums and bass for "Not Quite Me" at a studio in three days, then did the rest at home or in our rehearsal space. This time it's almost all home-recording. I'm about to do two songs with my band in a small studio, but that will be it. The rest will be mostly me alone with some additions from various friends. My guitarist and background singer will add their parts, then I'm going to send some songs around to friends in America and have them add whatever they want. I'm curious how that will end up sounding, but probably pretty cool. I like to have a say in what gets put on my records, but at the same time, I'm getting a little bit tired of myself! So I'm glad to have people do whatever they want without my being able to influence their input in any way.

AP: Have you always recorded alone, or in home-studios?

TW: No, at first I recorded with Chris Colbert at Neverland. "Rainy Day Assembly" was done at one of the fanciest studios you can imagine called Effanel in NYC. It's actually more used for mixing live mobil recordings for MTV and VH1, but there's an amazing performance room there. Everything top-notch. Then the budget for "Not Quite Me" was about one ten-thousandth of that for "RDA", so I had to get creative. But that was fine. I bought an Mbox which comes with a small version of Pro Tools, and what I couldn't do alone I did in a studio. I like recording alone. I just have to have someone else mix it for me.

AP: What kind of impression do you hope to leave on your listeners?

TW: With this next record, I really hope to have people ask themselves how such a sparse and delicate record can be so poignant! Seriously, I love records that are super-simple, yet really beautiful. Sufjan Stevens is an artist like that, Jolie Holland made a couple of great records with very simple means. I figure my means are simple, anyway (the extremely modest budget that my record company gave me last time got cut back even more this time), and I admire people who work within their means rather than trying to make something small sound huge. Plus I prefer working alone.

AP: Do you think you have made an impact with people who listen to you?

TW: I do. I get a lot of emails from people telling me how much my songs mean to them, and I've been told that there's something in my voice that makes everything sound so earnest. I think that's true - even to a fault! I can't sound light-hearted even when I try, which is sometimes frustrating. I'll bet I could sing a silly song like "Eat It" by Weird Al Jankovic and make it sound like I mean it. I can't help it!

AP: Where do you see yourself as an artist in ten years?

TW: Oh man, that's a hard one. Right now it's hard for me to think of anything else than being a mom. That's just nature's way of helping us be good parents. I know that after a year or two I'll be itching to be a musician again, so I don't want to sound like I'm giving up making music. I guess my ideal situation would be to be able to record a record every 2-3 years and tour with it for a few months, then go back to leading a normal life for a while. It would naturally be cool if one day I could make a modest living with music, but right now it's still more of an investment on my part. But, you know, as long as people enjoy the music...!

AP: We love the music. Do you have any words of advice for aspiring singer/songwriters?

TW: Not really. I guess just to stay true to the music you're trying to make. Don't follow trends - that's gross!

AP: When does your new album come out?

TW: As far as I can tell it should be out by next spring. I wanted to release it this coming fall, but I don't know if I'll be up for touring by then.

AP: Do you have plans on ever being released through an American label again?

TW: Sure, that would be great if someone wanted me! Like I said, Paste is distributing "Not Quite Me", but it's hard for a label to invest in an artist who can't tour a whole lot in that country. Ideally, I'd like to tour for 6 weeks a year in Germany and 6 weeks a year in America, but it's really hard to find someone to book the shows, and then there's the question of money - that the expenses are at least covered. You know, there are so many bands and artists these days, the world is over stimulated, and there's just really not enough money or fans to go around. I think people are being exhausted by the media - t.v., magazines, all the hype with so many acts. I know I'm exhausted, which is why I'm taking a break!

AP: When was the last time you toured the US?

TW: I played about 3 weeks worth of shows in May of 2003 with my guitarist. That was great fun, and I even made enough money to pay for his plane ticket and our travelling expenses! But only because my parents let me borrow a car and my mom's cell phone. I'm telling you - this life is rough!

AP: What is your one dream you would like fulfilled through your music?

TW: If I ever get to the point where selling records actually turns a profit and where more than 20 people come to hear me play on tour, then that would certainly be a dream come true.

AP: Thank you so much for your time, your fans, myself included, wish you the very best.


Be sure to check out wileyrock.de to learn more about her amazing music, and to purchase her excellent albums.