In
conversation with Laura Watling:
September 2003
A little background:
herself in Question 2 of this interview is a busy lady. I first heard
of her through her work in the American Indie pop band "The
Autocollants through some Compilation CD heard their track, thought
it was nice and never really paid any more attention to it.
Fast forward a few years, upon recommendation from Gayle Brogan from the always
great Melody Bar independent music mail order firm, gave me a tip to get hold
of Laura's mini CD "25". I got it and was really impressed and quite touched
how beautiful and almost fragile a CD it was. And after I discovered, she
was in the Autocollants prior to all of that, it all kinda made sense.
The interview came a year or 2 after getting hold of the mini CD after
discovering her website by chance which contains some nice mp3s to download,
I must admit. I dropped Laura a e-mail and this came in response.
A few extra notes on some of the questions asked..
"The Evening Lights" is indeed Laura's new band, which she told me about during
the initial getting of this interview, and I actually heard a few songs by
them during sorting out my questions for this interview. I have just ordered
their debut mini CD myself, which from what I have heard will hopefully
rock!
The reference to Shelf-life records comes from the fact that I know it
releases most of Laura's material and I was sure (as I said in the interview)
that she had some hand in it. The compilation album as mentioned is a new
album released on Shelf-life, which features various artists on the label
all covering songs previously released on the label by other artists.
Thanks to Laura for the interview and I look forward to hearing the Evening
Lights CD soon.
Andy N x
Check out the following websites for more information:
Laura solo
Evening Lights
Setting Sun: How's things and what's going on at the moment?
Laura:
A little stressful, actually. Last week was the first week of school
(I'm a teacher) and the kids have worn me out! They need a lot of
attention. Since I took the summer off to work on music, I'm having a
hard time getting back into the swing of things. Otherwise, not much
going on. Evening Lights are recording an album. I joined a gym and
I'm gonna get buff. I'm growing tomatoes and jalapenos on the patio,
so I hope to have some good salsa soon. That's about it!
either through your solo work and also a little bit of before that
through your Autocollants work, but for those who don't know you,
can you introduce yourself and give us the background info etc, etc?
Laura:
singer of the Autocollants back in 96.
That lasted a couple of years, but then Ed (our guitarist) moved and
so the rest of us continued on as "In A Day.
That project never really panned out as we had hoped.
In the meantime, I started playing music on my own. I got an acoustic
guitar, bought Ed's drums from him, taught myself how to play it all,
and tried to record my own songs.
The early stuff was pretty sketchy, but I think it has gotten much better
over the years!
I did a project with Raoul De La Cruz called "Casino Ashtrays" and we
still try to get together from time to time. Now I live in Northern
California. Ed moved up here too, so we formed a band with Jon and Dwayne
(the Autocollants drummer) We recorded a handful of songs.
However, Dwayne still lived down south, so the commute up north was a
bit too much. I took over on drums, and we got Matthew to play bass
and Ann to sing.
This new line-up is our band, Evening Lights.The songs we recorded
with Dwayne as drummer were recently released on Shelflife as the
first Evening Lights ep,Our up-coming album will feature our current
line-up.
I'm still trying to do some solo music. I think I have enough songs for
an album, but they're all in my head right now. It's hard to find the
time to record.
Setting Sun: Just after we spoke about doing this interview, I found
out about your new band? "The Evening Lights" through whom I have
just ordered your debut EP. What's the story behind "The Evening Lights"?
How does this compare to your earlier stuff?
Laura:
Well, Evening Lights is a very different project for me because I'm
drumming. Every other band I've been in had me playing guitar or bass
and singing. So in this band, I'm not quite as involved in the melody-
portion of the song writing (although I do speak up if I have an idea
or if something is going horribly wrong!)... Evening Lights, then,
doesn't sound like the other projects I've been involved I love our
music, though- I think the songs are fantastic, and I love Ann's voice!
Setting Sun: What music have you been listening to and what
are your influences? Taking your Cats Miaow covers
into account, I can guess that they are / were influences
straight away?
Laura:
Actually, I like Cat's Miaow a lot, but I wouldn't say they are an
influence. I am greatly influenced by the early 90's shoegaze bands,
and I would love to make music like that. However, it never ends up
sounding shoegaze-y! I guess that's a good thing. My voice is too
twee for that. Lately, I've been listening to the new True Love Always
cd ("Clouds") and older Sea and Cake stuff... I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting
the new Pipas cd and the new Camera Obscura. I also can't wait to hear
the new Belle and Sebastian. I saw them live and their new songs were
terrific!
Setting Sun: How does it compare to you putting out solo
material now to just previously working with bands?
Laura:
Hmmm. The solo stuff is nice because there's no compromising what I
want to do. I don't have to incorporate other people's ideas. And I
feel a little more free to experiment. That may not show in the music,
but it's true!! It's nice also because I can write songs and record
them any time I feel like it. I don't have to meet up with other
people or go anywhere. Convenience is a big thing for me.
Setting Sun: What's the live scene like near where you live?
Have you been to any good gigs recently?
Laura:
In Santa Rosa, where I live, there is no scene. But an hour south, in
San Francisco, there's lots of bands play there and plenty of good
venues. The last show I went to was Belle and Sebastian (fantastic!!)
and then next month there's a Mates of State show I'm looking forward
to. I also saw the Snow Fairies play, and I loved them! Of course,
last summer was the Pop Fantasy, which was a mind-blowing experience!!
I'm a little overwhelmed by all the musical talent coming through San
Francisco these days.
Setting Sun: Can you tell us a little bit about your comp CD
" v/a - You're Still Young At Heart cd" released on Shelf-life.
I've just ordered this CD but am curious to know more about it,
as it sounds a great idea? Do you have some involvement with Shelf-life,
as I am sure I have read somewhere that you do?
Laura:
The idea for Shelflife 50 was Ed's, and it was bizarre because Jimmy
from Matinee had the exact same idea for Matinee 50, and the two of
them hadn't discussed it previously! I love listening to Shelflife 50
because they're all great songs that I'm familiar with, but done in
very different ways. The cd has great variety.
My involvement with Shelflife is somewhat limited, due to the fact that
I live an hour from Shelflife headquarters. I still help out when I
can. And of course, I'm involved because Shelflife releases my music.
And I'm friends/bandmates with Ed!
Setting Sun: What's the story behind track 7 of your mini cd?
"25"? (Sorry I haven't got the track listing with me today!) As
much I enjoy the CD, the last track is such a beautiful
little track, in particular when the children's vocals come in
at the end?
Laura:
I think Bruno from Sofa Records had asked me if I would be interested
in doing a cd. I wrote the songs specifically as a mini cd, and tried
to make the feel among the songs similar. I don't know if I
accomplished this, but at least I tried! A lot of the songs on that cd
are slower/moodier. I'm not sure, but I must have written them in the
winter. The last song is special to me because I had my students do
the counting for me. It was fun recording them. There was one little
boy who was yelling the numbers so loud...I think he really wanted to
be heard.
Setting Sun: If you were not a rock and a roll musician,
what would be your dream job?
Laura:
HAHAHA!!! No, being a rock and roll musician IS my dream job!!! I'm a
kindergarten teacher. I guess that's the second-best thing to being a
full-time musician!
Setting Sun: What has been your best / worst experiences of
been a solo songwriter / been in band? Been in a band myself I've had some
fun tales to tell certainly so I could guess you are the same?
Laura:
I'd say that the best experiences of playing in a band have been doing
live shows like Pop Fantasy and meeting new people. Also, just being
with my bandmates is a blast (usually)-- we're all great friends and
funny things happen all the time. Like the time Matthew squirted sour
candy spray up his nose... that was pretty funny. As for bad
experiences... I can't say Evening Lights have had any really bad
experiences yet, but the Autocollants did. We went to Seattle to play
Popfest NW and I got bit by a flea at somebody's house. My wrist
swelled up so much I couldn't bend my hand at all. Then, for like two
years after that, my lip would swell up randomly and it was awful.
That was also the trip where we camped in Napa, which was fun that
night but not-so-fun the morning after! But I'd say overall, the music
experience, both in bands and solo, has been exceedingly positive.
Setting Sun: Lastly, something slightly less serious
to finish off with perhaps ...
"Imagine you were ship wrecked on a desert Island
and could have (clearly second sight here - lol) the
choice of having 5 records or cds with you with a stereo of
course. What would be your desert island discs?"
Laura:
1. Moose "Live a Little, Love a Lot"
2. American Analog Set "The Golden Band"
3. The Sundays "Reading Writing and Arithmetic"
4. True Love Always "Clouds"
5. A various artists comp with all my favourite songs on it...
Thanks for the opportunity for this interview!
I hope I answered the questions ok! take care Laura
