MM - Where do you call home?
LA -Right now I'm living (and really digging) Vancouver, B.C. I'm originally
from Toronto.
MM - You've been out of the rock scene
for a while now, what have you been up to?
LA - For the past 3.5 years I've been recording and performing jazz mostly. I
still get offers to do festivals and larger shows performing rock which I
do every summer and sporadically throughout the year. I'm pretty focused
on the jazz right now but not at the exclusivity of playing rock.
MM - How did the transition from performing rock music to jazz music come
about?
LA -I took a year off in 1996. I didn't sing for an entire year which is odd
for me because I'm a workaholic.
I'd become quite depressed about the "treadmill" I was on and also about
being consistently marketed as a "pin-up" and fighting for musical
credibility. I was seriously re-evaluating why, and or if, I still wanted
to be in this business.
I decided at that time to return to my roots and do something that made my
soul really happy - that was exploring jazz. Change is good. Evolving is
good.
MM - You have a new rock album due for release in the year 2001, tell us a
little bit about it.
LA - Well....... I've written about half the material so far. I like it. It's a
continuation of the more reflective material I wrote for the Emotional Rain
cd, and some of it's tougher. It's more modern in production approach.
Writing fluffy party drivel doesn't interest me anymore......substance
with strong melodic hooks baby.
MM - For anyone who hasn't heard your rock music before how would you
describe it?
LA - I really hate this question. To someone who loves Tori Amos I'm really
heavy and loud, but to someone who likes Courtney Love and Hole I'm
probably a lightweight. Music is so subjective. I'm like Sheryl Crow meets
P.J. Harvey? Something like that.
MM - In the past you have done a lot of
work for various charities, helping to make people aware of the problems
other have to face. Do you still help any of these charities out with
spreading their message?
LA -
I do charity work whenever and as often as I am able. In the past 3 years
as a jazz artist I have done charity work for People Living With Aids, The
Breast Cancer Foundation, The Handicapped Society and several others.
Giving back is important.
MM - When the new album comes out next year do you hope to do a tour at the
same time to promote it? If so have you thought about whether you will
come back over to the UK to play?
LA -
I adore the UK and would welcome the opportunity to play there again. I
suppose it all depends on the type of distribution I end up with and how
the CD performs.
Touring overseas is an expensive venture for North American acts unless
you get the commitment of tour support from the label.
MM - It took a long time for your home country to notice your wealth of
talent, whereas elsewhere, particularly in the UK, you were not only
noticed but held up at the forefront of female rock musicians. How did
this make you feel to have to struggle for so long in your own home
country when elsewhere you were being held in such high esteem?
LA - Wow. Thank you. I'm reminded and honoured. I didn't really "break" in my
home country of Canada until my 5th album. Up until then yes, Europe and
the UK had really embraced me. I'll never forget about that. Timing can be
a very strange thing in this business.
My best selling albums in North America were not my best selling overseas
and vice versa. I'm grateful that I was selling records and able to work
in Britain and Europe when Canada hadn't caught on yet. It certainly
elongated my career in the long run. Mine is not an overnight success
story by any stretch of the imagination. It's humbling for the ego.
MM - In the past you have toured with some of the biggest names in rock, is
there any particular band/tour you can say stood out from all the rest?
LA - In 1987 I toured The UK and Europe solo but during that time I met and
became quite good friends with The Scorpions. What an amazing bunch of
guys.
Klaus, Rudy and I had a lot of crazy times together. They invited me to
sing guest vocals on the tune "The Rhythm of Love". I stayed on at the end
of that tour with my road manager Petra and we travelled to Cologne
together to do the session.
During the recording Rudy and his guitar tech took Petra to the local pub
and proceeded to get her completely and rightly pissed. When I was
finished, Klaus, Rudy and company drove us back to the studio guest house
but Petra had lost the keys. The boys dumped her entire handbag contents
onto the sidewalk and proceeded, with flashlights courtesy of the tech, to
drunkenly search through.. well let's just say some rather feminine
articles in quest of the lost keys. It was quite funny.
Those guys were notorious for getting us to do shooters they called
"Tequila Bang" with them. Usually led to trouble. That's one, but I've got
a million road stories.
MM -
Do you feel that this new album might bring you back into the rock
spotlight and not only appeal to your die-hard fans of the 80's, but also
attract a lot of new fans who were too young to really remember much about
you the first time around?
LA -
Well....I can't promise anything but this is what one hopes for. Even
during the success of Bodyrock in 1989 I often had Mother/Daughter -
Father/Son combinations coming out to my shows. I think music can
transcend barriers like race and age.
MM - Music seems to have always been in your blood, was it a conscious
decision of yours to be the singer in a rock band as opposed to playing an
instrument?
LA -
I studied piano when I was younger and my main instrument in school was
alto sax. I played in both the jazz and concert bands. Singing however,
was my first love.
MM - Do you think the Seattle/grunge
scene in the early 90's killed off rock music, or was it a natural
progression that opened up the avenues for new bands to come forward?
LA -
Both. Yes, it killed big hair, corporate 80's rock but I think that whole
scene needed a breath of fresh air anyway.
What happens in music is that a newcomer with a fresh sound will come
along and blow the doors off the present popular concept of music. Then,
all the record labels start signing up every band that sounds remotely
like the "new thing" and the market gets saturated. People
ultimately get
sick of it because it's all so homogenized.
Then, some newcomer with a fresh sound comes along.....Throughout the cycle
of musical pop culture some record execs get fired and some get rich.
Some bands have their 5 minutes of fame and a few genuinely unique and
talented artists retain a fan base and don't die in the process. O.K. ... then
there's the Rolling Stones.
MM - How would you like to see rock music progress in the new millennium
and what bands do you see promise in that are around now?
LA -
I'd like to see rock music invite more of a hybrid of musical styles into
the mix. Metal bands are rapping. That's a start. Macy Gray's disc blends
funk, rock, r&b and soul. It's very cool. People have to get past the idea
that music needs to be tightly compartmentalized.
My "Slick Chick" cd (jazz) is certainly more adventurous and aggressive
than the traditional form. Some of the purists cannot get past the idea of
a former rocker setting foot in their idiom.
Trendsetters are not safe and
do not conform to rules. What rules? It's just music for goodness sake. As
Miles Davis said "There are no wrong notes."
MM - Are you glad to
see a lot of the old 80's hair bands out strutting their stuff in style
and not just vanishing without a trace?
LA - Many of them wrote classic tunes. You can't erase that from the history
books. People still want songs they can sing along to. Hopefully they
still have hair.
MM - What is the most important thing to you right now?
LA -
Doing great work. Producing myself.
MM - Lastly, if you could give anyone trying to start out in the music
business one piece of advice what would it be?
La -
Read a book about the business side of music. So many young artists enter
this industry without a clue and end up either broke or with no self
esteem left.
You get to be a "Rock Star" for 5 minutes but you can be an Artist for the
rest of your life.
