Ernest Barteldes: Thinking back on your 50-state tour: Which were
some of your impressions of that tour, and what did you learn from it?
Lis
Harvey: Doing 52 shows in 60 days was probably the biggest favor I've
ever done myself. It was certainly worth the sleep deprivation to find out
for sure that this is the right job for me. I love touring. I think I'll
always love it. It's the best part of my job as an indie. How could it be
bad? You get up, you drive and listen to the radio, the road, the voices
in your head - whatever. Then you park and PLAY. Then you eat and sleep
(if lucky), rinse and repeat. Bloody brilliant.
I learned to be really
prepared on that tour. Prepared for rain, for snow, for no sound system
and all kinds of people behaving badly. A little mental prep goes a long
way toward making any sitch bearable. Moreover, having another 6 shows to
look forward to that week makes any stinky night a lot easier. I've always
been a stay-positive kind of gal.
Ernest Barteldes: Are there any songs in the new album that were in
some way inspired by the tour - maybe "One For The Road?"
Lis Harvey: Indeed. You get to thinking a lot about mortality when
you are driving yourself from gig to gig in all manner of weather. Driving
can be very scary - and I'm a really tough gal. It's just a matter of
fact, and plain statistics, that loads of people get killed/maimed/mangled
in car crashes every day. It's a reality I wrestle with all the time,
because driving while tired is serious business. Driving while drunk,
however... well, you might as well check yourself directly into the
morgue. I don't mean that in a light-hearted way, either.
One For The Road is about the loss of a loved one who wouldn't give
up their keys at the end of the night. Fish in the Pan was inspired
by being away from my baby when I'm on tour - but that's a tune I wrote
right before I went on the 50 Stater. I usually say that it's about not
getting any on the road, but that's just for show. It's a fantasy about
how it would be if he could just pick up and come with me every time. But
he cannot. My love has a life - ain't that always the way? I couldn't be
luckier, though, because he's home waiting for me whenever I get back.
Ernest Barteldes: You went into an all-the-way studio album this
time(note: her previous effort,Topography, was a live acoustic
album).What drove you to that?
Lis Harvey: Joy, really. Last August I hung out a bunch with Duncan
at his little bungalow in NH, and he was just showing off, really -
showing me what he's been working on, what he can do with his new in-house
studio and various sundry equipment. Before I knew it, we'd worked up a
few demos. I wasn't even thinking about making a record that soon after
Topography, and suddenly there was this work that just *had* to be
done. I mean, the record practically stood up in front of me and demanded
that I make it.
Then the whole process just sort of swept me away. It's pretty
intoxicating, when you have a producer who can really make (almost)
anything happen, and who's willing to do so on an indie budget. The whole
thing was smashingly fun, even the sticky parts where we had to tear out a
little hair just to stay sane. The sticky parts mostly involved time &
travel - I live in Wisconsin, Duncan's studio is at his place in NH. Also,
doing the all-the-way studio thing turned out to be a great way (an
addictive way) to bring out all the other voices I live with in concert -
the ones I'm pretty sure no one can hear but me. I'm talking harmonies,
bass, percussion. Not psycho stuff.
Ernest Barteldes: You live "Far away from New York and LA",
as your song says. How has that affected you career, living in Wisconsin?
Lis Harvey: It's the key to my happiness. :) Don't live in a giant
metropolis, and you won't get lost.
Ernest Barteldes: You have a duet, "Weak Spot"- how did that
come together?
Lis Harvey: Literally, Weak Spot came together at the last
possible moment. We were supposed to be done recording in January on, say,
a Friday. But of course I had a burst of inspiration that last week (Far
Away was a late-add to the CD, too).
I think I wrote it Thursday, and came up with the boy part in the car
on the way to Duncan's on Friday. I called up Bob (who'd been playing
guitar on the record, not singing) and talked him into trying out the duet
with me.
I don't know what was in the air, but we knocked it out in one morning,
the three of us and Julie huddled around the mics with coffee cups and
little scribbled lyric sheets (Julie is Bob's girlfriend, and she was
there because I think they were supposed to have a romantic day
together... you can bet recording a song about infidelity was not in their
original plan). I say huddled, because it was an outrageously cold winter.
Even with the sun shining, it hurt to breathe outside the house. Hard
sheets of ice formed on the inside of the studio windows every night.
Ernest Barteldes: You chose "Porcupine", a song of romantic
disillusion, as the title of the album. Care to tell us why?
Lis Harvey: The "porcupine" is that all-wrong someone whom you
still - no matter what - find utterly irresistible. Someone you hate to
love. Someone you can't say no to, whatever the trouble. That honesty
drove the whole record. In a way, that *was* the project, in a nutshell:
something I couldn't stop once I'd started. There were a lot of growing
pains involved in the making of this critter. It was my first real studio
effort, you know - I still have loads to learn. So - yes. Porcupine was
the linchpin of the album, in a bunch of ways. I love how plain it is on
the record - acoustic and a little stark, but warm as a radiator. It
totally motored the whole thing, for me.
Ernest Barteldes: I noticed that 77th hidden track...
Lis Harvey: I'm so glad. I guess it's not one of our grandmothers'
folk albums. :) This was my first foray into the wild world of bonus
material. If something is worth doing, then it's worth over-doing, I
figure. Some thinking along those lines went into the farfeesa, and all
that chunky electric guitar. It's a bit rock 'n roll, but who's keeping
score?
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ernie's picks:
Check out Pianos in The Lower East Side to check out Mike
Rimbaud & The Subway Sun this Saturday, Oct 04. For more information,
log on to http://www.mikerimbaud.com
Not to miss is The 20th Brazilian Independence Day Party on 46th
Street. This year they will be featuring Timbalada and Skank, two
bands brought in especially for the event. For more information, log on to
http://www.brazilianday.com
Also remember to check out Samba Wednesdays at The Gallery
(Gershwin Hotel). Dance shows and classes, drink specials and much more, a
fun event that begins at 6 PM. For more, log on to http://www.spicemedia.net
or check out my article from two weeks ago.
Boston-born
Lis Harvey, an independent folk-rock singer who was fortunate enough put
her name in the Guiness Book of Records for the fastest US solo
tour has a new album - her first all-out studio record, entitled
Porcupine. 
