Cannonball Jane
First, the name Cannonball Jane. How did you come up with it?
It’s one of those things that arose from when I was a teenager and I would imagine different monikers for myself or my imaginary future band. Cannonball Jane just instantly clicked for me! It’s strong, classic and feminine.
I’m sure you get this a lot but how were you able to balance being a teacher and recording your music in your free time?
Well, I was definitely heading into the “crazy cat lady” territory in terms of isolating myself at home with just my cat to get everything done for school and to record. My co-workers were very puzzled as to why I was so tired all of the time. I have a strong tendency to stay up very, very, very late and to procrastinate badly.
Have you played your students any of your work?
No, I’ve kept Cannonball Jane and school completely separate. I would only consider playing my songs for my kindergartners during our “Freeze Game” because it’s such fun music. I think they’d really enjoy it!
What equipment do you use to create your music?
I recorded everything onto a digital workstation. I use cheap samplers, a synthesizer, guitars, old vinyl, beatboxes, drums, effects…I really enjoy having something physically in my hands when I create music and I like mixing electronic sounds with organic sounds.
You were able get Adrock from the Beastie Boys to remix a song on your upcoming EP. How did that end up happening?
He’s a friend of mine. He was letting me listen to a remix he did for the band Measles, Mumps, Rubella and I asked him if he’d do a remix for me. He said he liked my song, Take it to Fantastic, so he remixed that one.
How do you perform live shows? Do you utilize pre-recorded tapes or do you recruit a friend to help out? Have you ever toured before?
Ugh….figuring out live shows can be so puzzling. I use pre-recorded music with certain elements taken out of it. I have a person who plays the guitar for shows and I sing, play the synth, work the samplers and operate any other audio/visual device needed for the show.
As far as touring goes, it’s been all over the place! My very first show was at a coffee shop and the next one was opening for Le Tigre in front of a couple thousand people….I felt like a deer in headlights! We’ve played out about 30 times, sharing the stage with Le Tigre, The Go! Team, ESG and we had a small tour in the UK when my debut album was released there. I’m looking forward to doing more shows in the future!
You teach and create but do you have time for anything else?
Barely, but I do squeeze in showers, grocery store runs, lots of coffee consumption, computer time, tennis and talking on the phone with my sisters! Oh yeah, and I also do all the accounting for my school! (I love crunching numbers!)
So what can we expect next for you?
Definitely more music as well as advocating for the arts in schools.
By John Siwicki
Dickie Haydon
Lexington, Kentucky’s favorite son sat down with us to answer a few questions about his new solo EP and some of the other bands that he spends time in.
CC: Hello, how are you today?
DH: Feeling good. Just about to do some laundry and such before I head off to work.
CC: Tell us a bit about your new EP? You recorded and released it all yourself?
DH: Well, this is my debut release under my own name… it’s a 6-song EP called ‘Hunger Pangs.’ It is basically a culmination of songs I didn’t see fit for my other musical projects. They were all written within the past year and are probably the most personal collection of songs I’ve ever publicly released. I recorded it all on my own, along with some help from my good friend, Jackson Silvanik (played bass & drums on ‘Hunger Pangs’), in my apartment as well as my dad’s house.
CC: What made you decide to release a solo work?
DH: Again, when writing these songs I just felt as if they didn’t fit into the catalog of work for Petticoat (my main musical project). I had recorded demos and shown them to close friends without any intention of releasing them…however, I was persuaded to release them…maybe because my friends are inappropriately supportive? Haha. I also seem to get into new musical projects every year…I have the bad habit of putting too much on my plate at once, but I love surrounding myself with as many creative outlets as possible. It just seemed natural to pursue doing the whole ‘solo thing’ once people took so much interest in the songs.
CC: The song “Tabitha” is there really a girl out there with that name?
DH: Yes, there certainly is. She was my childhood dog who just passed away about a year ago. I had had her since I was 8 years old and she died (of heart failure) right before I turned 21. I wrote the song the night that she passed away.
CC: Also, you are in two other bands so do you manage everything?
DH: Yes, I play in a band called Petticoat, Petticoat as well as The Scourge Of The Sea. It can be a bit hectic trying to manage time between the three of them but I make it work to the best of my ability. All of the guys in Scourge, as well as Kristin and Jackson (Petticoat) are involved in various musical projects as well, so there are holes in time when they are off touring without me…this is when I focus on other projects! We’re all incredibly close friends so we understand when time is needed to be spent elsewhere.
CC: One of your other bands Petticoat, Petticoat can you give us an update on them?
DH: Yes, Petticoat is in the midst of writing and demoing new material for our second full length album, which we hope to have completed by late summer or early fall of ’08. We’re still supporting our first full length record, Every Mother’s Child (came out 7/11/06), by playing regionally when we can. A lot of the new Petticoat material is much more intimate and personal than our previous releases. It’s very much become a singer/songwriter type of band as opposed to the indie/pop outfit we had during the release of Every Mother’s Child.
CC: How is the scene in Lexington? Any other bands we should be on top of?
DH: The Lexington scene is wonderful. I love it here. There are so many songwriters and musicians representing so many different genres and coming up with such great art. What we have here is essentially one giant collective in a modestly-sized college town; something I would compare to Omaha or Athens. Some of the other movers and shakers you should check into are Clifton Keller and Neva Geoffrey. They are my two favorite Lexington singer/songwriters right now.
CC: What is Dickie’s next move?
DH: Well, I just finished up some sporadic tour dates within the past two months; I hit up the east coast up to NYC and back down, as well as some other regional shows. A two week tour during the first half of January will be taking me around the southeast. Tour dates are on my Myspace! 
I’m also in the midst of recording a new album with The Scourge Of The Sea, which will be our second full length. This is coming out (tentatively) this summer! You know, just keeping busy. Thanks for letting me do this interview!
By John Siwicki
Marina Siertis
For those who don’t know the band can you give us a little background?
Marina Siertis is a Swedish pop band that consists of Martin Löfgren on Vocals, Martin Fridegren on Guitar and André Öberg on Keyboard. Marina Siertis was formed in 2000 and since then we have released 2 full length albums, a couple of EP’s and toured both Europe and the states.
Right now we are doing promotion for our latest album, the much needed second cold war, that is released world wide this week.
So, your new album “The Much Needed Second Cold War” has a very political title to it can we expect you tackle some current events in the album?
On the album we have a number of songs with a political background. At some time at the production of the album we grew tired of artists desperately separating their own opinion out of fear that they will lose a fraction of their fan base. The lyrics of the political songs on the album have to a large extent been written in frustration over the state of the world. The major example is the so called war on terror, where the US as well as other countries in vengeance rolled the dice and blindly struck at the Arabic country at hand. In this case the enormous US military force was released on Afghanistan and Iraq, with unwanted results. Or was the results really unwanted? The governments kept the minimum wage worker in line, through fear of a non existing threat. This is the background to the song “The Much Needed Second Cold War”.
Another song, “American Torture”, is of course based on the events in Abu Ghraib. The song “The Minister is Dead”, concerns the stabbing of the Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh and the way media wolfed down the incident.
To avoid expanding on the subject excessively it is safe to say the you can expect us to tackle some current events in the album.
The influence on the album are wide. The Cure and Depeche Mode are right there but even traces of REM and Radiohead come to mind as well. What were some of your other influences musical and non-musical?
It’s interesting that you are mentioning these bands. Especially The Cure and Depeche Mode are great influences over the years. The influences are always there in the back of your head somehow, but we never think of these when we start to make music. More or less the songs are under development during the whole process and we never really know from the start in which direction a new song will end up.
If you try to write a demo with the aim at sounding as a specific band, it’ll surely end up in the trash can. The music must come genuinely from within you. But Radiohead is a splendid band and the lyrics to abuse is inspired by the REM-song “Why Not Smile”.
How do you go about writing your songs?
As mentioned above, much of the lyrics are written as response to national or international events. In those cases the lyrics usually is written before the music. On this album the music of such songs have been initiated by sitting down with a guitar and just let the music come out. On other songs the music is done first and thereafter the lyrics is written. On “The Much Needed Second Cold War” such lyrics has a tendency of being about individuals and their anger and sorrow. The way of recognizing if the song is any good has been that somewhere around nine in the evening one realizes that one has forgotten eating lunch and dinner. The tunes have just come out without any break out of fear of forgetting ones great ideas.
How do you feel the band has changed over the last eight years?
8 years ago we released our first EP called “View from an Intergalactic Star”. From the beginning the sound was quite much more synth pop. Also the music was recorded in a living room using simple equipment. Today we have our own studio, with professional recording possibilities.
Also we lost a keyboardist about four years ago and gained a guitarist about the same time. This has of course contributed to our musical puzzle. Now the guitar and the electronic sound are coexisting.
Any bands we should be listening to?
We would like to recommend some Swedish acts that we like right now:
Dimbodius, Tarnation Street, Twice a Man and The Knife.
What is the next move for the band? Touring? Recording?
The next move is to promote the new album. This includes interviews, radio shows, touring, promotion events, and you name it. But of course there is also a lot of inspiration to write new songs for our next album and we already have a bunch of demos that we would like to work on.
Interview with Martin Löfgren and André Öberg from Marina Siertis.
By John Siwicki
Leon Jean-Marie
Chances are that you went to see either of the artists who made last year their year; Mika or Amy Winehouse. Well, if you did, there is a good chance that your appetite for those acts was warmed by a flighty and funky set of R N’ B gelled indie from the unassuming and genuine East Londoner, Mr Leon Jean-Marie. His vibrant sets and personable nature has won Leon many friends as he stoically attempts to make his brand of R N’ B/Funk palatable to as wide ranging an audience as possible. Leon kindly takes time out from his hectic recording/touring schedule to open out his thoughtful and funky world;
How did you find the experience of opening for MIKA and Amy Winehouse last year? Did you change your set at all to fit in with the demands of the MIKA and Winehouse fans?
I found both tours incredible, for many reasons. Mika, his band and crew were so kind, his tour gave me the opportunities to play in front of the biggest crowds I have ever played for. I’d say my set for that tour was constructed to be very lively and energetic.
Supporting Amy was also special, because I already knew some of the band members, and having met her before in New York it was like a little reunion, my set for her was a little toned down and more soulful.
Your stand out song for me so far, is the slow building, yearning ballad of ‘Beg’. That sees you put in a polished, soaring vocal performance. What is the story behind this and is it difficult to perform live due to its personal nature?
‘Beg’ is my most personal song, it’s a song for the men that lose their way in a relationship basically. It is hard to perform live, because the song can grab me, and cause me to lose myself. The last thing I want is to break down on stage.
Your funky side is investigated through East End Blues? Is this more indicative of your current mood and defiant streak, as you include a lash out at pigeon holers in it?
Oh yes! I have never liked to be pigeon holed or stereotyped. It was definitely created from a mood and a deep feeling I have always had.
What does the term R’N’B mean to you these days and has it changed over the years?
Rhythm’n'Blues! Yes it has changed a lot, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I do feel that old skool R’n'B was much more about the song and less about the production and the complex vocal performance.
Are attempts to combat ticket touting such as those deployed by the Glastonbury organisers merely stabbing the honest punter in the front instead of in the back? Increasing booking fees and hidden changes are just making ticket touting a corporate business – or do you disagree?
No! I agree. Now I’m gonna sound like a moany old man, but I find it’s the way of the world now, to overprice everything. Everything is just about money, driven by greed which is such a shame.
Describe the East London scene that you have blossomed out of, did you fit in with it? Is the cyber-world of Youtube and Myspace threatening to destroy geographical scenes as we know and love them?
I live right on the border of East London and Essex, so i grew up in a very diverse little world. Suffering minor cases of racial abuse growing up I would still say I fit in, all that stuff I just think of it as a not a big deal. I had a lot of white friends on one side from Woodford/Loughton and on the other lots of black friends from Leyton/Waltamstow, and always appreciated their musical tastes.
The Youtube and Myspace age has its positives and negatives, the negatives are the way these sites have the ability to waste away your day, it’s so easy to lose time browsing these sites. The positive side I feel is how small it’s made the world, and how you can touch people on the other side of the world.
Which of your songs sums up your current mood and why?
Definitely the new single ‘Bed of Nails’. You just can’t get away from at the moment in the news, about kids killing kids.
If you could get any established artist or band to cover one your numbers which one and who would it be?
I would love to hear Prince sing ‘You Must Know’, but you and I know that will never happen if it was the last song on earth! lol
By Dave Adair