In Conversation With Annabel Fay

May 30, 2011

Itโ€™s still a month or so before the release of her recent album, Show Me The Right Way, when I meet Annabel Fay at her favourite Herne Bay cafรฉ. Half the customers appear to be friends.

Witchdoctor โ€“ So, itโ€™s all about to get crazy.
Fay โ€“ It will be. Give it a month or two, and itโ€™ll be crazy.
Witchdoctor โ€“ When does it come out?
Fay โ€“ The album is out April 11th, so the second single just went to radio about two or three weeks ago. Itโ€™s called โ€˜Show Me The Right Wayโ€™, which is the title track of the album. Itโ€™s kept getting pushed back. Typical musical life, youโ€™ve gotta wait, on-hold pretty much all the time. Itโ€™s been finished since October 2009. Iโ€™m extremely patient, one thing people donโ€™t know about me. You kind of have to be. Itโ€™s been finished for a very long time, it took us a very long time, because I went into the studio firstly in September 2007, and itโ€™s been done for years, completely finished. So itโ€™s been a bit frustrating.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Why the delay?
Fay – I think that with the market Iโ€™m going for you people need to like the song, need to relate it to your name. The pop industry is a little bit different to when youโ€™re like underground, have got a huge devoted fanbase. You need to win peopleโ€™s musical love through time on radio and Juice TV. If you just put a song out itโ€™ll get swept under the rug.
Witchdoctorโ€“ What youโ€™re saying is that this market is more fickle.
Fay โ€“ Yeah, I reckon people have a 15 or 20 second listening time, when people are flicking through the radio stations. Youโ€™ve got to get them in and grab their attention, and donโ€™t let them get bored. My market is very unpredictable and tough, to be honest.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Itโ€™s like a slow roll out.
Fay โ€“ It cranked until the middle of January, so that (โ€˜The Riverโ€™) had a really good lifetime which was nice, but Iโ€™m leaving like a good six weeks for this next song to get some traction, because people need to be talking about you in the pop industry to get people to want your album. To get that traction you need to have people interested and really anticipating it, which right nowโ€ฆ they wonโ€™t be (laughs).
Witchdoctor โ€“ Everythingโ€™s changing so quickly at the moment, so I guess from the first album to this one itโ€™s like a lifetime.
Fay โ€“ Yeah, even the way weโ€™re dealing with it, going about it, and the music industryโ€™s falling apart and at the same part changing and evolving. So just dealing with itโ€ฆ itโ€™s not what I was used to with the first one. Itโ€™s a lot more hands-on for me as well, Iโ€™m doing everything. I had a lot of control of the last one, but this one is even down to how I want the print printedโ€ฆ every side of it Iโ€™m getting involved in.
Witchdoctor โ€“ And youโ€™re going to get your website up and running? [It wasnโ€™t when we checked].
Fay โ€“ Yeah, I have someone doing it but they donโ€™t like to listen to me very much. This is a sore subject for me. Unfortunately Iโ€™m as tech-savvy as a piece of paper. Iโ€™m old school. I write everything down in my book and tick off my lists, I know what I want to have done, but I donโ€™t know if itโ€™s possible. Iโ€™ve talked to them, but they donโ€™t really like to listen to me very much.
Witchdoctor โ€“ How is this album different? Last time you used an overseas producer.
Fay โ€“ Went all over the show.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Is this one similar?
Fay โ€“ Yeah, I donโ€™t think it was supposed to be, but itโ€™s kind of ended up being like that because the producer that we met, heโ€™d done Opshopโ€™s album, Greg Haber. Heโ€™s married to a Kiwi girl so I met him. I met him through Siren records, and thatโ€™s Opshop and Goldenhorse, and we went to the studio, and I donโ€™t think heโ€™s worked with an artist before who hasnโ€™t gone in and said โ€˜this is the song, and this is how I want it madeโ€™. Like, he works with bands, and I kind of came in with some lyrics and said (helplessly) โ€˜so what do you think we should do?โ€™ And we ended up doing like covers of Martha Reeves & the Vandellas and all this crazy stuff. But he kind of noticed that as an artist I like to collaborate, and I learn as I go, I kind of figure out, Iโ€™ve got to trial and error, which is a very longโ€ฆ way to make music. So he introduced me to a production team called Future Cut. I was writing with them. They did Lily Allenโ€™s first album, Shakira, Dizzy Rascal. They were the producers, but I was writing. They met me, and I was writing less, and they were like โ€˜what are you doing? This is a really bad way for you to go downโ€™, and it was kind of going a little bit countryesque, which is not my kind of jam, so they helped me strip back the album and I went and worked with them for three weeks in Europe because we had to go see them, because theyโ€™d already come to see us. From there the album really took shape, we probably wrote like 80 percent of the album then. I had a whole album that I had to scrap.
Witchdoctor โ€“ So youโ€™ve got a whole album you havenโ€™t used.
Fay โ€“ I honestly donโ€™t know what would have happened if weโ€™d put it out. I donโ€™t think weโ€™d be having this conversation. I mean it was great music and stuff, thereโ€™s a few songs on the album left from it, which I had to strip back and rework, but theyโ€™ll never be singles.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Which are those?
Fay โ€“ A song called โ€˜Jessicaโ€™, which is my song for my sister, and a song called โ€˜Who You Areโ€™, which are songs that over two or three years evolved into what they are. โ€˜Jessicaโ€™ is like my child of the album, the one Iโ€™m sensitive about. EVERYONE has to like it.
Witchdoctor โ€“ I really liked the electronic effects on that โ€“ the stereo.
Fay โ€“ Yeah it was crazy, it was all inverted drums andโ€ฆ so have you heard the album?
Witchdoctor โ€“ Yeah, Mark sent me a file.
Fay โ€“ Ooo! Youโ€™re probably the first person whoโ€™s heard it!
Witchdoctor โ€“ I have no idea whether the songs are in the right order, because at the beginning thereโ€™s two versions of โ€˜The Riverโ€™, and I presume oneโ€™s supposed to be at the beginning, and the remix is at the end?
Fay โ€“ No! Yeah, oneโ€™s the remix, no, that wouldnโ€™t be the track listening at all. It wouldnโ€™t be โ€˜I want you to like it, so here it is TWICE!โ€™ Iโ€™m not that egotistical.
Witchdoctor โ€“ You said about starting out with a different style. There are parts of the album where it goes a bit more rock, jazzโ€ฆ
Fay โ€“ Soul as well.
Witchdoctor โ€“ And rโ€™nโ€™b.
Fay โ€“ Thatโ€™s why I find it so hard in the studio. The musicโ€ฆ Iโ€™m all over the show, with what I like and what I want to make. And my voiceโ€ฆ I have a very versatile voice that I can kind of fit to most styles. I donโ€™t feel that Iโ€™m locked to anything, which is a producerโ€™s nightmare. One day I come in and want to do a Christian death metal album, the next minute I want to be Beyonce. But thatโ€™s why I do it, what I love about music, so itโ€™s a little bit of a double-edged sword.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Itโ€™s a weird one, because fans will expect you to sing in a certain way.
Fay โ€“ That will never happen with me. There are way too many stones to be unturned for me to be stuck in that pigeonholesque kind of thing. Which could be for my whole life a little bit interesting, because I could alienate fans by doing that, but weโ€™ll see how that works in later years, if Iโ€™m still doing this.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Thereโ€™s one song where youโ€™re really going for it in a soul diva way.
Fay โ€“ โ€˜Loveโ€™s A Bitchโ€™, maybe?
Witchdoctor โ€“ And you do that version of โ€˜Spookyโ€™.
Fay โ€“ Thatโ€™s what I kind of like about it though. There are some artists you listen to and theyโ€™ve got these unbelievable tones, but you canโ€™t really tell the songs apart. This album, you can tell the songs apart. I call it a story book, because everyone has a favourite song.
Witchdoctor โ€“ A lot of rโ€™nโ€™b albums, you canโ€™t tell one song from the next.
Fay โ€“ There are the standout tracks (on those albums), the hits, and then the โ€œalbumโ€ tracks. I didnโ€™t want to have many of those. I think having fillers is pointless.
Witchdoctor โ€“ So the producers had quite a big impact on you focusing on a methodology to bring more focus to what you were doing.
Fay โ€“ Yeah.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Left to your own devices youโ€™d be doing a completely randomโ€ฆ
Fay โ€“ Thatโ€™s the thing though, because I donโ€™t have a method for writing. Every songโ€™s created differently. And some of them I went to New York and met up with a good friend of mine and we sat in the studio there and just picked throughโ€ฆ this studio was so small it could literally just fit the two of usโ€ฆ and we would just pick through beats that I liked, and from that I would probably just take the guitar line, and from the guitar line I would write my chorus, and have to get someone else to help me evolve that. I would be a nightmare to write with, because I donโ€™t speak well when Iโ€™m trying to talk about music, so all these hand motions are going everywhere and Iโ€™m going โ€˜itโ€™s supposed to be like thisโ€™, because Iโ€™m not classically trained, so itโ€™s always fun and games in the studio, but if I have a vision Iโ€™ll get there eventually.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Are you starting to wish that you had gone to music college?
Fay โ€“ Nah! Life training Iโ€™ve called this. I was in school for audio engineering, and Iโ€™m still enrolled in school in Chicago to this day, I kind of never said I wasnโ€™t going, for performance art and audio engineering. But I kind of think that doing this, I would have just finished my degree now, and I would be starting just where I was when I was 18, except that I might know a little bit more about the roots of classical music or something, which would be amazing but irrelevant to what weโ€™re trying to do. What Iโ€™ve done is Iโ€™ve learnt aspects of the industry, and you only learn by being in the middle of it. I kind of know how to do everything now. Not that Iโ€™m the best at doing it, but do you know what I mean? Iโ€™m kind of lucky in that sense. Kind of thrown into the deep end, and Iโ€™ve just been swimming around for like five years.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Are you based in New Zealand?
Fay โ€“ [Nods].
Witchdoctor โ€“ Why that decision? Itโ€™s a very small pond.
Fay โ€“ When I decided to do an album I thought where else to do it apart from the place where Iโ€™m from. I hadnโ€™t lived here in years but I was just finishing school in America and I was like โ€˜I could go back to Switzerland but I donโ€™t wanna go thereโ€™. Iโ€™d never really lived here, so I was like โ€˜Iโ€™m going to make music, I might as well do it here.โ€™ So I came back, and I havenโ€™t left yet, five and a half years later. Itโ€™s been an amazing place to get into the music industry, because itโ€™s a family, kind of. Thereโ€™s no hierarchy. Itโ€™s not โ€˜your people can talk to my peopleโ€™ kind of separation, which I think is really good in some senses. I know all the people who play my music directly, and I can call up my label head and talk to him, and that I think is really great. Of course thereโ€™s a negative side to that, but as someone who is just starting itโ€™s been a really supportive environment to be in.
Witchdoctor โ€“ I guess if you were in LA there would be security at the door of the record company, andโ€ฆ
Fay โ€“ Exactly. If Iโ€™ve got a problem I can just pop up and sit down and have a coffee. And for me, I really like that aspect of doing it here.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Having lived overseas so much, are most of your friends here or all over the show?
Fay โ€“ My solid friends are here now, a few of them are sitting at that table right there. When I moved back here I had like one friend, because I hadnโ€™t been here for so long, and I kind of considered my friends to be in Europe and the States. But over time itโ€™sโ€ฆ the beauty of Facebookโ€™s kept me in touch with them, but in general Iโ€™ve got a really solid group of friends here, which is probably why Iโ€™ve stayed, because I get along really well with New Zealanders, I like how honest and blunt everyone is and itโ€™s not so much like that in Europe.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Have you got plans to get the music out overseas?
Fay โ€“ Yeah, Iโ€™d love to, but at the same time youโ€™ve got to live month by month in this industry, and I literally plan my life a week in advance. Even when Iโ€™m on vacation, I fly by the seat of my pants. But if something came up, of course Iโ€™d be willing. Itโ€™s every musicianโ€™s dream, the holy grail, America, itโ€™s hard to do but everybody wants to do it.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Are your music interestsโ€ฆ you were saying before about your iTunes library. Are they quite diverse?
Fay โ€“ Oh, ridiculously. Itโ€™s just ridiculous, in a good way. Iโ€™ve got a radio show as well, which is fun, because I get to broadcast all the strange music that I like in my life. Radio Ponsonby. You can pretty much say and do anything you like, which I find quite lovely. Itโ€™s on Mondays, itโ€™s called โ€˜The Educationโ€™, I educate people on relevant stuff, which is good. But I think that music is something that when you look at it and you donโ€™t know what you want itโ€™s a really big beast to try to get into. To try andโ€ฆ I like jazz, how do I get into jazz? Itโ€™s hard to find a way to get into a certain style that you like. And all my friends are like โ€˜how do you find this stuff?โ€™ and Iโ€™m like a lot of it I just download and figure out whether I like it or not. I find everything interesting. Thatโ€™s why Iโ€™m in music, itโ€™s not because I have this diehard inner โ€˜if I donโ€™t make this music Iโ€™m going to dieโ€™ thing. Iโ€™m not that sort of artist, Iโ€™m more โ€˜I make music because I want to add to whatโ€™s already been made, and hopefully music can do for someone else what it does for me.โ€™
Witchdoctorโ€“ So youโ€™re obsessed with music.
Fayโ€“ Always have been. My whole life. Iโ€™ve got to have a soundtrack to my life at all times. So before an iPod came along it was very interesting because I was lugging around CD cases and big piles full of them andโ€ฆ my whole life itโ€™s been more of an emotional gauge for me than anything else. Itโ€™s kind of like my therapy, music.
Witchdoctor โ€“ You obviously love a good lyric.
Fay โ€“ Yeah, you see, I listen to the lyrics, Iโ€™ll be with my girlfriends and say โ€˜this is the best melody but the lyrics are likeโ€™โ€ฆ and theyโ€™re like โ€˜What do they even say?โ€™ And Iโ€™m like โ€˜youโ€™ve been singing along the whole time!โ€™ Itโ€™s a perfect example of pop, people arenโ€™t really listening to what youโ€™re saying, itโ€™s more about can I remember the melody, and do I like it. Which is heartbreaking for some people who are in that side of the industry, but you need to respect what youโ€™re doing.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Do you like instrumental music as well?
Fay โ€“ Yep. My favourite example is I just bought this old Louisiana funeral music, because I like Duke Ellington and Etta James andโ€ฆ I like old school. Iโ€™m very open toโ€ฆ except Iโ€™m not a big fan of country, I donโ€™t know why, except for Johnny Cash obviously. Johnny Cash is a gangster so itโ€™s hard not to like him.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Itโ€™s interesting that for every genre thereโ€™s someone whoโ€™s going to go against the grain.
Fay โ€“ And then you follow from there, which is why iTunes is amazing, because you can look on the little sidebar, and itโ€™s like โ€˜if you like this youโ€™ll like thisโ€™, and itโ€™s usually right.
Witchdoctor โ€“ It must be really hard for you to decide on a style.
Fay โ€“ Itโ€™s my biggest problem, itโ€™s me trying to decideโ€ฆ itโ€™s all good that Iโ€™m experimental in the studio, but itโ€™s so confusing for someoneโ€ฆ like you need to let people know who you are. I get so excited when I make all these new sounds and new songs, and when you put it together itโ€™s like โ€˜whoarr!โ€™ This album, we did eliminate a lot of songs and strip it back, to make it fit, and still itโ€™s a little bit eclectic, but it makes sense. Itโ€™s an album that was always freshly out of a moment, it was always very reflective.
Witchdoctor โ€“ So โ€˜Jessicaโ€™ is about your sister.
Fay โ€“ Yes.
Witchdoctor โ€“ โ€˜Loveโ€™s A Bitchโ€™?
Fay โ€“ Yeah, thatโ€™s a fabulous song, itโ€™s a song that when I sing it live I feel like I can run a marathon afterwards.
Witchdoctor โ€“ โ€˜Steal Awayโ€™?
Fay โ€“ Thatโ€™s one of the ones that wasnโ€™t written by me. Itโ€™s written by a guy called Taj Jackson, from a band called the Three Tโ€™s, actually Michael Jacksonโ€™s nephew, funnily enough. But weโ€™re actually having a few issues with that at the moment, because the sample is Sam Cooke. Because Motown said yes, butโ€ฆ hopefully it will stay on the album. Itโ€™s in the chorus, like (sings) โ€œSteal awayyyyyโ€, like thatโ€™s from an old-school Motown track, which Motown doesnโ€™t actually own so they canโ€™t clear that. Which we didnโ€™t realise until now. So hopefully that will stay on the album. We could recreate the sample, but I think the problem is, I mean I love sampling which is terrible, but I just love the old sound, the way everything used to be recorded. Soโ€ฆ when you recreate, you can do it, but it never sounds quite right to me. And the beat on it, the timing on itโ€ฆ it has to be sung like this, because itโ€™s on a really weird, off-beat timing.
Witchdoctor โ€“ And โ€˜Show Me The Right Wayโ€™, that sounds almost Bollywood or something.
Fay โ€“ [laughs]. When we were writing it, these guys are jokesters through and through, theyโ€™re always taking the piss. That noise at the top is, heโ€™s probably about six foot three, Nigerian, about 130 kilos, and itโ€™s just him going โ€˜har-har-harโ€™, and he just pitched it right up. It was hilarious writing it. Itโ€™s my kind of like, like โ€˜my girlfriends getting ready on a Friday nightโ€™ kind of song. In the end what itโ€™s talking about isnโ€™t exactly happy. Itโ€™s a little bit trivial, but itโ€™s about somebody just repeatedly doing something really stupid, andโ€ฆ you know when people just donโ€™t hold themselves accountable? Thatโ€™s what itโ€™s about.
Witchdoctor โ€“ I quite like songs where the feeling is a bit different to what itโ€™s saying.
Fay โ€“ Thatโ€™s exactly what all my music is. Even โ€˜Riverโ€™ is a really upbeat song but itโ€™s not a nice message. Itโ€™s nice but just kind of sad.
Witchdoctor โ€“ One thing that does strike me about the album is just how few upbeat tracks there really are.
Fay โ€“ Which a record label would look at and go โ€˜we need another โ€˜Riverโ€™ โ€˜. We need another blah-blah- blah. Thereโ€™s a lot of medium tempo tracks, but I really like epic songs, not like the typical pop crescendo, but like the song โ€˜Already Homeโ€™, which was going to be the title track. But we could never quite get it right. The drums on it now are kind of like an inverted hip-hop drum. I was like โ€˜if youโ€™re going to do something like that, donโ€™t make it clichรฉ, donโ€™t make it Christine Aguilera.โ€™ So I was like take a drum that you wouldnโ€™t put with it, which my producer Greg โ€“ heโ€™s an incredible drummer, and he came back with that drum beat. And I was like there you go, it gives a twist on the pop ballad. So it adds a little bit more flavour to it. So I tried to do that with all of them, make them a little bit weird.
Witchdoctor โ€“ There are some nice production touches โ€“ really crisp.
Fay โ€“ I like that sound.
Witchdoctor โ€“ And not really booty bass but nice deep bass.
Fay โ€“ Yeah, kind of big.
Witchdoctor โ€“ But to me there does seem to be, not melancholy, but a reflective quality going through a lot of it.
Fay โ€“ There is a lot of that. But Iโ€™m a bit of a trickster. Like I would never write about something deliberately, or directly, I would write it in my own little kind of morse code, but the point is with those songs you could be talking about any one of the days of my life. My point is if someoneโ€™s having a really awful day, maybe that will pinpoint what they canโ€™t say out loud, and my end goal is that to be someoneโ€™s kind of like crutch at the time. I donโ€™t know how to describe it.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Are you having a big launch?
Fay โ€“ Yeah [laughs]. I feel like New Zealanders donโ€™t really do big launch parties, but Iโ€™m like โ€˜why not?โ€™ It took me so long, so why not celebrate it for a second. So I think weโ€™re going to do it at the Britomart, Iโ€™m not sure. Iโ€™ll pretty much get my family and friends and media together, just for a good party, hopefully, and Iโ€™ll just perform the whole album, and hopefully everyone likes it.
Witchdoctor โ€“ And youโ€™ll be playing some dates around the place?
Fay โ€“ Yeah, as soon as thatโ€™s done, Iโ€™ll start playing anywhere I can. I love playing live, itโ€™s what I love the most, soโ€ฆ
Witchdoctor โ€“ How do you do that? Do you have musicians that you use?
Fay โ€“ Iโ€™ve gotโ€ฆ several options. I can do a stripped-back two or three person band, and I can get up to eight people on stage. I think it really depends on the crowd, where weโ€™re playing. Itโ€™s dependent on what Iโ€™m being asked to play.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Are you at all worried about that negative stuff thatโ€™s been said in the press over the past few months?
Fay โ€“ I dunno, itโ€™s hard for anyone not to notice. Initially I was like I donโ€™t really care and I didnโ€™t really notice, but it upset me a little bit. But if this is just the beginning of it, Iโ€™m kind of like trying to grow a thick skin around it. Because even if itโ€™s not to do with that side of things, I make music, and reviewers get to review it, so my whole life if I keep doing this Iโ€™m going to be subject to peopleโ€™s personal opinions. So I think I need to not take that on board personally now, start working up to not worrying. Of course itโ€™s not the nicest feeling in the world, but at the same time I canโ€™t do anything about it, so donโ€™t let it get me down kind of thing.
Witchdoctor โ€“ To my mind they should just be assessing it on the music. Whether Air New Zealand should have paid for itโ€ฆ doesnโ€™t have anything to do with you, or your music.
Fay โ€“ It was the label who took it, and blah blah blah.
Witchdoctor โ€“ And the other thing is NZ On Air have their criteria, and they canโ€™t step outside their own rules. I donโ€™t know if youโ€™ve seen this site called Nerdy Framesโ€ฆ
Fay โ€“ Yeah I saw that article actually. Every once in a while Iโ€™ll Google myself a news alert, and I was like [gets very loud and demonstrative] โ€˜someone is wasting a lot of their time saying some really horrible things about meโ€™.
Witchdoctor โ€“ But I thought it would be terrible if this thing goes ballistic. Like you said, gathers speed or whatever. I think Simon Sweetman has said some quite negative things as well.
Fay โ€“ Yeah, heโ€™s not my biggest fan. [awkward laugh]
Witchdoctor โ€“I did wonder what your perspective was on your independence from your parentsโ€™ wealth, and all that sort of stuff.
Fay โ€“ I dunno, I think at the end of the day if I was trying to be a banker, then it would be irrelevant. There would be the referencing to what my family had done in the past, and their jobs. But I think because Iโ€™m doing music the markโ€™s a little bit missed, and I have tried to establish myself as an artist purely because of that. Because I have never quite got the connect between my musical ability and what I do and apparently to some people it doesnโ€™t exist because I come from a wealthy family. But at the end of the day Iโ€™ve kind of just got over that just living here. If people want to look at me with those eyes, it probably says more about them than it does about me. It used to worry me but now Iโ€™m like โ€˜people can say what they want to say, but Iโ€™m still making music either wayโ€™. Iโ€™m going to keep doing it, and you donโ€™t have to listen to it. Iโ€™ve wanted this my whole life, and just one three-letter word at the end of my name is not going to get in the way of that. Everyoneโ€™s welcome to their opinions, but that will never be a factor in my career, to stop me doing what I love, and if it was I wouldnโ€™t have started this job in the first place. I wouldnโ€™t have been in something that puts me in the spotlight naturally for a job either.
Witchdoctor โ€“ You seem to be quite a resilient person.
Fay โ€“ You have to be. You have to be in this industry. So many things go wrong, and so many people tell you lies, and fake promises, and literally if you let the first couple slow you down and out of the industry, you havenโ€™t even put your foot in the water yet. Even when youโ€™re at the top of your game things are always going to go wrong, so Iโ€™m โ€˜deal with the moment, keep moving onโ€™ kind of thing. Itโ€™s the only way to do it.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Those criticisms that were made, I guess the question is โ€˜do you think thereโ€™s any truth in you having a competitive edge due to the wealth of your parentsโ€™?
Fay โ€“ Umโ€ฆ I think it gives me the complete opposite. I have to work twice as hard to be considered legitimate. The typical line I get is โ€˜wow, youโ€™re so much better than I thought you were going to be.โ€™ Sometimes when I get up onstage people are genuinely surprised, but at the same time because of that Iโ€™m constantly working from minus-1 to zero, and then trying to work up from there. It gives me advantage in the sense that I probably get a little bit more media attention, and people find me a little bit more intriguing for some reason. But on the actual critical, musical side of it I reckon itโ€™s a complete disability, because itโ€™s hard to be taken seriously. But itโ€™s like, again, I knew that was going to happen and it makes me want to play more shows, get everyone to my shows. So I try to turn it into a positive driving force rather than something Iโ€™m worried about or thinking about. Itโ€™s kind of a waste of time.
Witchdoctor โ€“ I can imagine if you let it get to you.
Fay โ€“ Oh yeah. If it ate away at youโ€ฆ it has a couple of times on a bad day, but in general I just kind of knowโ€ฆ I believe in myself and believe in my music and I really like what I do, so Iโ€™m just going to keep going.
Witchdoctor โ€“ When I heard your first album I didnโ€™t know who you were, but I thought it was good, for what it was.
Fay โ€“ I was very young. I was a kid as well. I was 18. Itโ€™s five years โ€“ for my age thatโ€™s a lot of time.
Witchdoctor โ€“ What do you think the real differences are between that and the new one?
Fay โ€“ I just know what Iโ€™m doing more this time. Even when I was making the first album I was working with people who were just really patient with me. And Iโ€™d be like โ€˜so what does this do?โ€™ and โ€˜how do we do that?โ€™ They really taught me the whole time. I reckon I probably learnt more in the studio in the two years I was there than I have in the whole time of doing this. Because I decided to try and take in everything from it. But also I just understand a lot more and kind of figured out a lot, and Iโ€™m starting to navigate my sound, because it is going to be quite different throughout my career, but Iโ€™m starting to pinpoint a bit more what was good for my sophomoric attempt. I wrote more and I met people more and I was way more confident in the studio, andโ€ฆ before I was way too reserved and not very confident in my voice. I just knew myself more, knew what I was capable of, wasnโ€™t my own worst enemy.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Have you been, subsequent to the album, been working on even newer material?
Fay โ€“ Iโ€™ve been really thinking about it. Itโ€™s a daunting task. But also the more I work those songs, the more I play them, the more I know what Iโ€™m going to do next time. I need to get bored of my music, or play it enough that I could sing it in my sleep, and then from there, itโ€™s kind of weird, it happened with the last one too, from there I kind of know what I want to do. Itโ€™s very strange. After like six months of playing live Iโ€™ll know what my next angle is. Itโ€™s bizarre, but itโ€™s just kind of how I work.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Would you like to find regular or permanent collaborators?
Fay โ€“ Oh definitely. Iโ€™ve got a couple of people like that, but they donโ€™t live here, and theyโ€™re in very high demand. So I love them but that doesnโ€™t necessarily mean they love me as much as I love them. But they either understand who I am as a musician, or donโ€™t. People either see what Iโ€™m trying to do, and they help me to bring it out, and Iโ€™ve had a couple of people like that and theyโ€™ve been like gems in my career.
Witchdoctor โ€“ There are so many examples where the artistโ€™s name is in lights, but thereโ€™s someone โ€“ or a team โ€“ behind who are collaborating.
Fay โ€“ Like 95 percent of the people you hear on mainstream radio.
Witchdoctor โ€“ I think Iโ€™ve got enough.
Fay โ€“ What a chatterbox, Annabel, itโ€™s hard to shut me up.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Anything else you want to say?
Fay โ€“ Buy my album. Itโ€™s really nice for me to be able to describe the album a bit more so that I can intrigue people to hear it. Because itโ€™s so hard to get, like, a 15- year-old kid to sit down and listen to a whole album. Thatโ€™s near impossible.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Albums are almost extinct.
Fay โ€“ Exactly. Theyโ€™re like, obsolete, which is not ideal.
Witchdoctor โ€“ Chris Caddick in his NZ On Air report has recommended no funding for albums at all, just tracks.
Fay โ€“ I reckon if we do that it will change the face of music too much. Also, youโ€™d have to find a different breed of artist who would be willing to live like that, to make a song, see how well it goes. For a band who all they want to do is make music, if you tell them they can only make one song, thatโ€™s like taking away their livelihood. I see the point, but heโ€™s stripping back music yet again.
Witchdoctor โ€“ To me it seems like an industry decision rather than a musical one.
Fay โ€“ An album is a showcasing of who you are as an artist.
Witchdoctor โ€“ I canโ€™t imagine life without albums.
Fay โ€“ I agree. Some of the best songs Iโ€™ve ever found have been those sneaky little album tracks. If you truly love a band you want to hear whatever theyโ€™ve got to say on their album.

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Steel has been penning his pungent prose for 40 years for publications too numerous to mention, most of them consigned to the annals of history. He is Witchdoctor's Editor-In-Chief/Music and Film Editor. He has strong opinions and remains unrepentant. Steel's full bio can be found here

1 Comment

  1. Gary she sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders, and for a first up effort the music isn’t bad. She also happens to be extremely spunky, which I likey.

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