In
Conversation with Holly Lerski
(from
Holly Lerski and “Angeliou”)
November
2004
A little
background:
There is quite a
story behind this interview….
I first met Holly
during this year’s “In the City” (Manchester’s annual music festival which is
designed to showcase new and up and coming artists) at the end of a incredibly
hectic but interesting night where I saw the wonderful Rodgrio Y Gabriela (who
were interviewed recently for “Setting Sun) and the dreamy “Film School” (who I
am hoping to interview soon for “Setting Sun) ontop of one or two other who
were very uninspiring shall we say.
It was my friend
Phill’s suggestion at the end of that night we go and see Holly, who the press
notes described as a spirital cousin to Jeff Buckley.
Well, as a lot of
people who know me, Jeff Buckley to me is god with music and his only album “Grace”
without doubt is one of my favourite all time albums without doubt, so somebody
described as a spirital cousin to Jeff Buckley is somebody I knew immediately I
must go and see.
Sadly, as we
discovered when we arrived at the venue, the gig had been cancelled and nobody
had bothered informing Holly.
I spent a fair bit
of time talking to Holly on that night, while listening to her self released “Greetings
from LA”, and while certainly seeing the Jeff Buckley connection through the Cohen
cover of “Hallelujah”, in places Holly’s music made me think of a more poppy
version of Mazzy Starr in places, which is fine with me as I love Mazzy Starr
too! And all in all, an ideal choice for a interview with Setting Sun.
So I took Holly’s
details and somewhat later than either of us planned (long story) this is what
we have here…
A special thank
you to Holly for this revealing and interesting interview.
For more
information on her please go to her website which is:
Thanks again for
everything and I hope the new album goes well..
Andy n xxx
Setting
Sun:
How’s tricks and
what’s happening at the moment?
Holly:
Well we've spent the last few
months settling down in Manchester working on the new record. Jo (my guitarist)
and I moved to Manchester in August as half the band are here, plus our
rehearsal studio. Our drummer converted her basement this year - it's our
little hideaway.
Setting Sun:
Can you now introduce yourself to us, I know I’ve been aware of you for a
little while now but as I always say, clearly there are people who ain’t, so
can you tell us all a little bit about yourself, who fired the starting pistol
etc, etc?
Holly:
I'm Holly Lerski, born in a big
city, lived there a while, grew up in the countryside. My greatest loves then
were art and music. Played in bands, went to art school, graduated to dole
queue, joined a band called the Rainbyrds, then left it to I start my own band
called Angelou back in 1997 with Jo, an old school friend of mine. (We'd hung
out & played guitar together when we were at High School. We had a punk
band, were listening to stuff like Bauhaus & The Stranglers..it was the
early 80's...).
By the early 90's I'd got to the
point I wanted to sing my own songs. In fact I realised I really loved to sing.
And my tastes had mellowed a bit by then, I was getting into stuff like Kristen
Hersh, Mazzy Star, Dead Can Dance - and then I discovered Jeff Buckley and the
world just, well, buckled. He was the first person I heard making music like
the kind of music I was beginning to glimpse with my own stuff. It kind of gave
me the green light to begin.
So we began, but it still took me
a year to get into a studio, and then we ended up recording a version of
'Hallelujah'. It ended up as our first release in '97 and came out a week after
he died, totally unintentionally. It was such shitty luck really. When Jeff
died, it's a cliche, but I really felt like a light went out in my life. And
there we were with our first release which should have been this pinnicle
moment for us, scheduled for months, and it comes out a week after he dies.
Just made me sad, but that's how it was. Within weeks we went straight off on
tour with Eddi Reader then into the studio to make the first album.
Setting Sun:
I know some of the answer to this next question already (and will be asking
more later on) but what are your influences and what are you listening to at
the moment?
Holly:
Right at the moment I'm listening
to Elliott Smith's 'From a basement on the hill'. I've always loved Elliott. I
don't know, so many things influence me. All kinds of music - I'm not a muso
snob. For me if it moves me, whether it's musically or lyrically, has an
emotional depth to it, is gut wrenching in a 'Wings of Desire' kind of way,
then I love it. That's what it was with Jeff. I was writing these odd songs,
with strange structures and chords, a lot of them were coming from dreams, I
couldn't really understand them, and then I heard him and it made sense.
Bjork's another person with that feel to it. She writes like a painter - that's
how I used to write. I'd forgotten that till recently and that's what I'm going
back to now.
Setting Sun:
What are your gigs like? How do
they compare to your studio recordings? Is their one you prefer over the other?
Holly:
The full band gigs are nothing
like the full band recordings - that's impossible for the kind of music we
make. Live we never use samples or MIDI, it's all about playing. But Jo & I
have always done our little 'unplugged' spots on record and at gigs, and those
are pretty similar. We've always tried to capture the live chemistry on record,
and I think we've done pretty well. So when we do play them live, although it's
obviously not the same every time, it's still got the same vibe.
Setting Sun:
What’s the inspiration for your
band “Angeliou? out of interest also?
Holly:
Maya Angelou. I wrote this song
caled 'Automatic Miracles' and a line came out about a caged bird, and I was
like 'where's that come from?' I knew it was a book title or something.
Eventually I found out, I read the book, then the rest of them and fell in love
with her writing. So it was a kind of homage. But also I just liked the name.
Setting Sun:
Can you tell us a little bit
about your current self released album “Greetings from LA” what inspired you with the idea of including
a post card from Jeff Buckley on the front cover of the album?
Holly:
'Greetings from N.Y.' is the
first release on my new label 'Mangrove Recordings', since we were 'released'
from our shackles with Sanctuary Records. It's been a long battle, but we're
finally free and so I wanted the first release to be a retrospective. And the
reason I used Jeff's postcard to me, aside from it meaning a lot to me, I also
wanted to say something like 'and this is where Anglelou all started'.
Setting Sun:
I was also really touched to hear
your cover version of Cohen’s ”Hallelujah”, which I know also was covered to
magical effect by Jeff Buckley on the current release. Considering I know it
took on Jeff’s version it took take upon take to get this completed and it
eventually ended up with Andy Wallace, the producer having to mix together a
variety of takes together how did it compare for you having to tackle such a
emotional song like this?
Holly:
I have to say I was really
surprised when I heard that about Jeff's version because it sounds seamless.
With our version, we'd gone in the studio to record 3 'unplugged' songs of
mine, and Jo and I had been playing around with our own version of Hallelujah
for a few weeks so we thought we'd put 'Hallelujah' down too. So it was a
couple of hours in the studio, we did the electrics together I think but I did
the vocal afterwards in one take. Just switched the lights off and sang my
heart out. I listen to it now and think oh I wish I could have resung that bit,
but it is what it is. That's the beauty of making records - once you've
released it that's the definitive version. You can't go back and repaint it.
Setting Sun:
Probably my favourite self penned
song of yours from the current album “Greetings” is Everyone’s Lonely which is
despite its quite poppy tune in places seems to carry a somewhat darker tone to
me, what’s the story behind that song?
Holly:
We were in Barcelona on tour, had
just played a gig and were out looking for a late bar and there was this fiesta
of Joan of Arc erupting around us. It's like bonfire night, only they set off
fireworks in the road - we were literally hopping over rockets as they whizzed
past us on the road. Totally bizarre and crazy. Anyway, I think I must have
been feeling particularly homesick, so it was just about that really. How
lonely it can feel when you're having all these amazing experiences on your
own, and you want to share them with someone.
Setting Sun:
What’s next for you all? Do you
have any more gigs planned / more releases planned (seen to recall don’t have
you a album on the way?)?
Holly:
Next thing is the next record!
We've been working on it for so long now. Last year we released our third
record 'Life is Beautiful' with Sanctuary, and they just did nothing with it,
so ever since then I've spent half the time trying to salvage it, the other
half writing and recording the new one. To be honest I got so tired of the
industry last year there was a point when I thought maybe we should just gig
and not bother releasing records anymore. Compared to Europe, the UK industry
is so small and clique, it just seemed a farce. But I'm over that now, we've
got our records back and we're moving on.
Setting Sun:
I know you are currently based in
Manchester at the moment, but judging from all of the travelling you are doing
unless you are a sailor like me, you are not originally from here. Where are
you from originally? Have you seen any good gigs etc recently?
Holly:
Most of my life I've spent in
Norfolk - although since I was 21 I've been travelling around the UK &
Europe. I used to have old motorbikes before I toured in bands, and we used to
travel around the country a lot. And my wunderlust still hasn't left...
Setting Sun:
Anyway, to wind down with
slightly - here are a few more slightly lighted questions to wind down with;
firstly if you were not a rock and roll star, what would be your dream job?
Holly:
Well if we're talking totally indulgant
jobs, rather than saving the world kind of jobs, the first thing I wanted to
ever be was a geologist - as a toddler I used to sit on the kerb and collect
stones, so maybe a miner digging for gold or gems. It's not about wealth, it's
more about digging for hidden things. Treasure. Bit like fishing - you never
know what mysteries are down there in the depths. (I'm a Scorpio, think it's
something to do with Pluto!?)
Nowadays I would be a painter or
sculptor, in Paris or New York. I like making things.
Or an astronaut (I'd like to see
the earth from the moon.)
A travel writer, travelling the
silk trail.
A pearl diver.
A mermaid?!
A revolutionary in Cuba.
I wouldn't mind my own
vineyard...my god I could go on and on. Anything adventurous, creative but
meaningful beyond me. I'd get bored otherwise.
Setting Sun:
Lastly, something light to finish
off with (borrowed from a pal’s Zine almost) Imagine you were ship wrecked On a
desert Island and could have (Clearly have 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
Holly:
Only 5, that is so unfair!!! Ok,
these are the ones I THINK I wouldn't eventually grow tired of.
1. J. B. 'Grace' (obviously. )
2. Bjork 'Vespertine' (something
delicate)
3. Beatles 'White Album' (do
doubles count? ha ha;-)
4. Chet Baker Sings (sigh)
5.
Stevie Wonder - 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered'. (Good Saturday morning record)
Phew - did it!
Hope it's not too long....let me
know if you need anything else. The sailor thing sounds interesting...you must
tell me more! Good luck with the novel - ta ra then
Holly xx
