As per the recent Remora interview, this interview by
Tara Vanflower can from the same source, where
The head off Silbermedia where after referred to his
Interesting music as Remora, I also took the time
To listen to a album by a lady called Tara Vanflower
Called �My Little Fire � Filled Heart�.
Now this album was a surprise as it literally
Came across to me as the free form vocals off
The Cocteau Twins or The Cranes mixed with
The harder edge of Einsturezende Neubeauten,
Current 93 or Nurse with Wound.
A stone cold certainty after hearing it to be
Interviewed by Setting Sun.
So I dropped Tara a e mail on [email protected]
And the rest is history as I like to sometimes
say.
Make sure you check out her album on
silbermedia.com
It really is worth it, believe me.
Otherwise � for queries over distribution
and direct ordering information contact:
Setting Sun:
How are tricks and what is happening
at the moment?
Tara:
Right now I'm enjoying a leisurely Easter Sunday.
But I do have several projects in the works�
mainly writing projects.
Setting Sun:
Can you next tell us all a little about what got
you going in music -Who fired the starting
pistol be it for a better word?
Tara:
Honestly, it just kind of happened. I was hanging
around with a group of musicians and I had always
written poetry/stories and thought it would be fun to make
these into lyrics. So some friends and I formed a band
almost as a lark and those demo tapes were sent out to
a bunch of places including to Mike VanPortfleet who
asked me to come out and sing on a few Lycia songs.
That's when my actual "music career" started.
Setting Sun:
What are your influences and who are you listening
to at the moment?
Tara:
I try not to let anything influence me musically. The fact
is I couldn't recreate someone else's sound if I had to since
I'm not technically a "musician". Life, dreams, nature, the
world around me...those are my influences. As far as
what I'm listening to at the moment, I've been obsessing
over the She Wants Revenge cd since I got it and before
that I was listening to Type O Negative - World Coming
Down heavily. I also recently recieved a really great,
very dark, cd by Timothy, Revelator called Hoofbeat,
Caw & Thunder.
Setting Sun:
I was first aware of you through your work with
Lycia over a number of years and was really quite
interested by your current album 'My little fire
filled heart' - Can you tell us a little bit about
this album - in particular the title of the album
itself as it is lovely little image.
Tara:
I always have a hard time summing things up when
it comes to my music because a lot of it comes
from somewhere that I'm not entirely sure of. I will
say that probably the main theme in
My Little Fire~Filled Heart is death.
Death has been hovering over me for quite a few years
now in one form or another and I think it just ended up
coming through in the album.
It wasn't intentional.
I don't go into any musical project with a
specific idea about what I want to write about.
The other theme on the album is lost &
otherworldy love. Honestly though, whatever
happens when I write happens and sometimes the
lyrics never make complete sense to me. I kind of
leave it up to whoever's listening to make the songs
about whatever they want them to be about. As far as
the title of the album...it comes from the final track
Wren and I just thought it pretty much sums
everything up.
Setting Sun:
What was pleasing in particular while going through
the album, was despite the fact there are a number
of haunting original tracks two cover versions
Which I feel you did justice to by doing radical
re-workings on - Death by June's The Honor
of Silence and the traditional piece
'A Conversation with Death'
- Where did the inspiration to come this pieces?
Tara:
I decided to do the DIJ cover because
I've been a fan of that album for eons and that
song was just particularly appropriate at the time.
Conversation With Death was a suggestion of a
friend and it fit so perfectly with what was going
on in my life at the time that I knew I had to do it.
I was rather angry at Death at the time.
Setting Sun:
I also notice from looking at your
website � you are also involved in a
number of non musical projects
like writing a novel - Can you tell
us a little bit more about this
and how it compares to your music?
Tara:
I love writing. I've been writing much longer than
I've been involved with music and I think it's really the
main thing that drives me these days. I think there's a
sense of control over writing I don't feel I have with music.
When I record music I'm technically in control, but since
I sort of record in a "let's see what happens" sort of manor
it can be very random. With writing it's all 100% my
vision. I finally got my first book (Violent Violet)
published last year and the second book (Violet Misery)
will be out this year. I've also started sending out a graphic
novel called Lives of Ilya that I collaborated with
Daniele Serra on hoping to find a publisher for it.
I've got two other books started as well. I just never have
enough time to dedicate to all this stuff.
Setting Sun:
What's next for yourself? Do you have any more
releases in mind etc, etc - Are you planning
to play any concerts / gigs in support of this album?
Tara:
I can't foresee ever playing another live show, though
I do hope it happens some day. I have another band with
Timothy Renner called Black Happy Day and our first
album will be released on Silber soonish. The album is
called In the Garden of Ghost Flowers and it's a mix of
expiramental and sort of neo-folk/hillbilly type music.
Setting Sun:
A few more light hearted questions to finish off
with. Firstly, Where are you from? What's the music
scene like where you are? Have you seen any good
concerts recently?
Tara:
I'm from Mantua, Ohio which had no scene
AT ALL when I was growing up. At that time
things like noserings and dyed black hair were
still considered "out of the norm" so life was interesting
to say the least. Northeast Ohio has a rich tradition with
expiramental music though (Pere Ubu, Devo etc) so
I guess it makes some sense the way my mind works.
Something about that area must cultivate oddness.
I haven't been to a show since I saw Ashengrace and
Audra a few months back and that was a great show
(even though the sound system sucked). Mike and
I don't venture out much.
Setting Sun:
What would you be like to be doing when you are 60?
Tara:
Well, I'd like to be retired. I'd also like to either live out
in the desert or in the woods away from people continuing
to write when the mood strikes.
Setting Sun:
What will you be doing when you are 60?
Tara:
Most likely? Still working.
Setting Sun:
Lastly, something light to finish off (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 Cd's with you with a
stereo of course- what would be your desert
Island discs?
Tara:
1. Ionia - Lycia
2. Disintegration - The Cure
3. October Rust - Type O Negative
4. Nada! - Death In June
5. She Wants Revenge
