Ellie Lawson spills secrets of stardom, motivation
Emily Beaulac
Issue date: 1/28/05 Section: Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
Triangle: Do you ever feel pressured to write the next hit song?
EL: No, I've never pressured myself to write songs. What I do is a way of exploring what's going on in my head; if I've got problems, I sit down and I write and I work [them] out through my songs. So, I never sit there and think, "Oh, I've got to write a hit song."
T: You have a wide variety of musical influences. How does that make your music unique and different from other music today?
EL: I think I've always written songs from the perspective of feeling like I have something to say, like I had a message. I never sat there and said, "Okay, I want to be a pop star and that's why I write songs."
I was kind of influenced by conscious rap artists like A Tribe Called Quest, KRS One and De La Soul; there's quite a few. I don't really listen to hip-hop that hasn't got a message; I'm not really into that. Those kind of artists inspired me in terms of having something to say.
When I picked up the guitar and started to play my own music, artists like Kate Bush and Tracy Chapman inspired me. But I absorb a lot of different music and I'm not sure how it really influences me, but I guess it does. Kate Bush really did inspire me to create an album of discovery.
When I heard her first album, The Kick Inside, I was like, "Oh my god, she's created these landscapes and she's really in them, in the songs," and that really inspired me.
T: What was the main inspiration for your latest album?
EL: This album started quite a few years ago. I've been writing songs for a while, and so it's kind of a mixture of my old material and new material. Really, it was me trying to get my music heard by record labels so that I could make my album. So, these were demos in a way. From recording some of my other stuff and then recording this stuff, it kind of came together as this whole piece. I decided to call it The Philosophy Tree because I look at it like a family tree that reflects different parts of my personality. I think that each song is its own thing, and it kind of just comes together.
T: When did you get the record deal?
EL: I got the record deal March of last year … do you know the signing story? I'll have to tell you about that.
T: No, I don't know about that.
EL: Basically, I was in my room and I was working on my music, and I sent it out to a few people, and they were quite interested but nobody was actually willing to put the money down.
I ended up giving my CD to my friend who is a computer consultant. He said he was moving out to New York to live and build his business and he said, "Let me take that album with me because you never know who I might meet." I said "Yeah, alright." He ended up giving it to a lot of different people, but he ended up meeting this music lawyer who needed his computer fixed, so he went in and saw all the gold discs on the wall, and he said, "Listen to my friend's music." He gave it to him and he really loved it and he signed me to his production company.
He said, "I want to fly you out to L.A. and record some stuff with my partner, DJ Lethal." I went out there and we made the album and I got signed to Atlantic that way.
T: How would you describe your writing process for songs?
EL: I have lots of different ways of writing actually. I have my drum machine, an MPC drum machine. I like to lay a beat down; if I don't do it myself, I get beats from somewhere else.
Then, lay down the guitar track or a bass track, then work out my vocals and listen to what the music is telling me. How I started out was by buying hip-hop instruments, which was the music to write to …. I just pick and choose, and I still do that now. Whenever someone has the music I can write to that can invoke some emotions, I do that. But I also sit down with my guitar and write and I co-write with other people. So, my process is to try as many different things as possible and keep it varied, because I hate just writing in one way.
T: If you could collaborate with one person, past or present, who would it be?
EL: I really want to write with KRS-One. I just think it would be a really interesting combination to have the hardcore hip-hop beat, and to have a kind of folky singing voice with a message. Then, to have him on there … I mean, he is one of my idols.
T: How did you learn to play music?
EL: Well, I picked up the guitar about five years ago; my brother had a guitar, and I started playing that. I decided that I wanted to learn it. But then I decided I wanted my own guitar, so I went out and bought one for myself. And, I really taught myself to play as many different chords as I could.
T: Have you always liked to sing?
EL: Yeah, I liked to sing when I was really young and I was always making up songs and recording little radio shows, and stuff like that. But then when I went to school, I forgot about all that and I wasn't really into it until I started writing poetry and rap lyrics … when I was 16.
T: If you were not a musician, what would you be?
EL: Well, I did study film, and I still would like to make documentaries on hidden communities, any social issues I am really interested in. But I also think I can imagine myself as a social worker as well. I have been quite into that.
T: Did you have any misconceptions about the music business and, if so, how have your views changed?
EL: In the beginning, I thought that the labels were there to sort of develop you and turn you into this star or whatever, and you didn't have to do anything yourself, but I've learned the hard way that you have to do absolutely everything for yourself, like get yourself completely ready and then they want to sign you. Which I think is sad, because I think it happens more now than it used to.
T: What songs from The Philosophy Tree mean the most to you?
EL: Well, "Gotta Get Up From Here" is my song about giving up smoking, my little life crisis, and that reflects that time in my life.
I like that song because it's very real and personal. But then, something like "Why the Fighting" is not my protest song, but my view on the world and how I'd like to change it. I like that each song represents something different about me.
T: Your music is obviously influenced by the struggles you faced growing up. Do you feel that you need to be a role model for young girls and kids facing similar problems?
EL: I think it's really important to be honest about my life and get out as much as I can, because I know there are other people out there that are going through things. Yeah, I was always listening to the radio trying to hear someone singing with my voice. I wanted to hear someone saying issues that I was experiencing, and they were few and far between. People like Lauren Hill, for example. I really admired her when I heard her so, yeah, I'd like to kind of be a voice there that people want to listen to, if it helps them.
T: Are you excited about playing tonight (for the MAD Dragon show)?
EL: Yeah! I'm really excited. This is just the beginning now in terms of playing live. Getting out to real people is always great.
T: If you make another album, what do you think will influence that one?
EL: I think that my next album, I definitely see myself doing something completely different. I just want to be creative with it. I see it being a bit darker, and I think that I'm going to be living in New York, so it's going to have a kind of New York feel to it, and hopefully more of hip-hop too.
EL: No, I've never pressured myself to write songs. What I do is a way of exploring what's going on in my head; if I've got problems, I sit down and I write and I work [them] out through my songs. So, I never sit there and think, "Oh, I've got to write a hit song."
T: You have a wide variety of musical influences. How does that make your music unique and different from other music today?
EL: I think I've always written songs from the perspective of feeling like I have something to say, like I had a message. I never sat there and said, "Okay, I want to be a pop star and that's why I write songs."
I was kind of influenced by conscious rap artists like A Tribe Called Quest, KRS One and De La Soul; there's quite a few. I don't really listen to hip-hop that hasn't got a message; I'm not really into that. Those kind of artists inspired me in terms of having something to say.
When I picked up the guitar and started to play my own music, artists like Kate Bush and Tracy Chapman inspired me. But I absorb a lot of different music and I'm not sure how it really influences me, but I guess it does. Kate Bush really did inspire me to create an album of discovery.
When I heard her first album, The Kick Inside, I was like, "Oh my god, she's created these landscapes and she's really in them, in the songs," and that really inspired me.
T: What was the main inspiration for your latest album?
EL: This album started quite a few years ago. I've been writing songs for a while, and so it's kind of a mixture of my old material and new material. Really, it was me trying to get my music heard by record labels so that I could make my album. So, these were demos in a way. From recording some of my other stuff and then recording this stuff, it kind of came together as this whole piece. I decided to call it The Philosophy Tree because I look at it like a family tree that reflects different parts of my personality. I think that each song is its own thing, and it kind of just comes together.
T: When did you get the record deal?
EL: I got the record deal March of last year … do you know the signing story? I'll have to tell you about that.
T: No, I don't know about that.
EL: Basically, I was in my room and I was working on my music, and I sent it out to a few people, and they were quite interested but nobody was actually willing to put the money down.
I ended up giving my CD to my friend who is a computer consultant. He said he was moving out to New York to live and build his business and he said, "Let me take that album with me because you never know who I might meet." I said "Yeah, alright." He ended up giving it to a lot of different people, but he ended up meeting this music lawyer who needed his computer fixed, so he went in and saw all the gold discs on the wall, and he said, "Listen to my friend's music." He gave it to him and he really loved it and he signed me to his production company.
He said, "I want to fly you out to L.A. and record some stuff with my partner, DJ Lethal." I went out there and we made the album and I got signed to Atlantic that way.
T: How would you describe your writing process for songs?
EL: I have lots of different ways of writing actually. I have my drum machine, an MPC drum machine. I like to lay a beat down; if I don't do it myself, I get beats from somewhere else.
Then, lay down the guitar track or a bass track, then work out my vocals and listen to what the music is telling me. How I started out was by buying hip-hop instruments, which was the music to write to …. I just pick and choose, and I still do that now. Whenever someone has the music I can write to that can invoke some emotions, I do that. But I also sit down with my guitar and write and I co-write with other people. So, my process is to try as many different things as possible and keep it varied, because I hate just writing in one way.
T: If you could collaborate with one person, past or present, who would it be?
EL: I really want to write with KRS-One. I just think it would be a really interesting combination to have the hardcore hip-hop beat, and to have a kind of folky singing voice with a message. Then, to have him on there … I mean, he is one of my idols.
T: How did you learn to play music?
EL: Well, I picked up the guitar about five years ago; my brother had a guitar, and I started playing that. I decided that I wanted to learn it. But then I decided I wanted my own guitar, so I went out and bought one for myself. And, I really taught myself to play as many different chords as I could.
T: Have you always liked to sing?
EL: Yeah, I liked to sing when I was really young and I was always making up songs and recording little radio shows, and stuff like that. But then when I went to school, I forgot about all that and I wasn't really into it until I started writing poetry and rap lyrics … when I was 16.
T: If you were not a musician, what would you be?
EL: Well, I did study film, and I still would like to make documentaries on hidden communities, any social issues I am really interested in. But I also think I can imagine myself as a social worker as well. I have been quite into that.
T: Did you have any misconceptions about the music business and, if so, how have your views changed?
EL: In the beginning, I thought that the labels were there to sort of develop you and turn you into this star or whatever, and you didn't have to do anything yourself, but I've learned the hard way that you have to do absolutely everything for yourself, like get yourself completely ready and then they want to sign you. Which I think is sad, because I think it happens more now than it used to.
T: What songs from The Philosophy Tree mean the most to you?
EL: Well, "Gotta Get Up From Here" is my song about giving up smoking, my little life crisis, and that reflects that time in my life.
I like that song because it's very real and personal. But then, something like "Why the Fighting" is not my protest song, but my view on the world and how I'd like to change it. I like that each song represents something different about me.
T: Your music is obviously influenced by the struggles you faced growing up. Do you feel that you need to be a role model for young girls and kids facing similar problems?
EL: I think it's really important to be honest about my life and get out as much as I can, because I know there are other people out there that are going through things. Yeah, I was always listening to the radio trying to hear someone singing with my voice. I wanted to hear someone saying issues that I was experiencing, and they were few and far between. People like Lauren Hill, for example. I really admired her when I heard her so, yeah, I'd like to kind of be a voice there that people want to listen to, if it helps them.
T: Are you excited about playing tonight (for the MAD Dragon show)?
EL: Yeah! I'm really excited. This is just the beginning now in terms of playing live. Getting out to real people is always great.
T: If you make another album, what do you think will influence that one?
EL: I think that my next album, I definitely see myself doing something completely different. I just want to be creative with it. I see it being a bit darker, and I think that I'm going to be living in New York, so it's going to have a kind of New York feel to it, and hopefully more of hip-hop too.
Be the first to comment on this story