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Interview: Jodelle
by Krista Rupe

Jodelle is no “shrinking violet” just as she purrs in a song of the same name on her debut The Adventures of Jodelle. Instead she’s a strong songstress who’s out there in a mass of her singer-songwriting peers trying to make a name for herself, playing music her own way, just as predecessors she praises: The Indigo Girls, Aimee Mann, Dar Williams, Tori Amos, and Ani DiFranco.

There’s a richness reflected in the fierce melodies and lyrics in Jodelle’s songs on Adventures. Beyond the intensely melodic “Shrinking Violet” are the lulling and eerie “Happy Song” and the serene “Parachute.

WomenRock caught up with Jodelle backstage at Makor in New York City the night of her CD release. Jodelle talks as easily as she makes playing the piano look. She reminds of a kindred music spirit that you can stay up with all night discussing the merits of Joni Mitchell. Sometimes the right influences combined with an undying drive result in grand things musically. This is especially true in the case for Jodelle.

WOMANROCK: Let’s start off talking about the artwork on the cover of your new CD The Adventures of Jodelle. I really fell in love with the concept?

JODELLE: I did some research on the name Jodelle, just to see what I could come up with. There happens to be a 1960s comic book called The Adventures of Jodelle. It’s out of print now but I was able to get a copy. It’s a French comic and one of the authors, Guy Peellaert, also did a book called Rock Dreams that you may have heard of, where he shot photos of famous musicians in costumes...When I was deciding what to do for the cover, I thought it would be fun to become Jodelle, the main character. She was a spy hero, a Wonder Woman or Barbarella-type from the 1960s. I met with Merri Cyr, a photographer from Brooklyn…She loved the idea. Actually preparing to do the cover shoot for the album was just as intense as preparing to go into the studio and record the songs because of the costumes, all the fake guns and the props. The picture with the phone is an actual phone from the comic book.

WOMANROCK: Did you read comics growing up?

JODELLE: Not really, but I did watch cartoons like any kid. It’s not like I had a comic book collection or anything. I just thought it was an interesting book and I wanted to do something creative. I think that a lot of musicians fall into this, “Well the music is great” and "that’s creative" and then when it comes to the CD art they maybe get lazy or they don’t think about it...I didn’t just want someone to take a picture of me behind a piano and say “There, that’s it.” I wanted to do something fun and I want to strive to do that with future albums--the way artists like Tori Amos do. I love her artwork. Or Ani DiFranco. All the CD artwork is artwork.

WOMANROCK: You mention Tori Amos. Beyond playing the piano, your music is similar to hers in sound and in a lyrical sense in some ways. Would you say you drew influence from her?

JODELLE: When I started writing a few years back, I was listening to WFUV [a New York City AAA radio station known to embrace singer-songwriters] a lot so I was listening to artists like Aimee Mann, Ani and Tori...I really do love her music and she’s an artist as far as I’m concerned--a true artist in everything she does. Aimee Mann's like that too. They're all very creative, very strong women and that's what I love about them aside from just their music.

WOMANROCK: I found a quote where you said, “I don’t write lightly.” What did you mean by that?

JODELLE: Both lyrically and subject-wise I don’t write poppy, bubbly songs. I’m not able to write light songs. The subject matter that inspires me in most of my songs is pretty deep. The things that inspire me are very emotional topics.

WOMANROCK: Tell us about your writing process. Improvisation has a lot to do with your writing structure?

JODELLE: For the most part the music comes easiest for me. I just sit down at my piano and the instrumental parts come to me. I have tons of music that I have recorded right now that I haven’t even found lyrics for yet. It’s just sitting there. I just sit at the piano and let my fingers take me where they take me. The best feeling for me is creating the music part. The lyrics are more challenging for me. I usually come up with a song title from what’s been on my mind and I work from that and I built out to a chorus from there.

WOMANROCK: Do you write in other mediums or is it strictly in the musical form?

JODELLE: I find it easiest to write in the musical form. I have had a collaborator that I worked with on this last album a bit. Some of the songs I worked on with my friend...He’s really helped me say things the way I wanted them to be said. It’s a little bit of a struggle to get the words out and to not toss it out before it hits the paper. When I do write things I find that they do come out in rhyme form, like poems. My father actually has written some poetry. Maybe that’s where it comes from...I’ve always been the type of person that likes to work with one other person because you can bounce ideas off each other. For example, in “Happy Song” the first lyric is “I guess I’m never meant/To write a happy song,” and I was working with this fellow Francesco [Paladino, Jr] and he asked what I wanted to do and I said that I wanted to write a happy song because everybody always asked me why my songs are so dark and I was like, “Fine. I’ll try.” So we were sitting there bouncing ideas back and forth and I finally said, “You know what? I guess I’m never meant to write a happy song.” And he said, “That’s your first lyric” and the song just flowed from there even though it completely turned around from what it was going to be. Had he not been there, I wouldn’t have grabbed onto that lyric and started. It’s almost hard to start, but it’s like once you do it’s easier. And you have to wonder about people like Tori. You think do they have help and just not tell us about it?

WOMANROCK: The piano is clearly your instrument of choice. Have you dabbled with other instruments and how do you compose for the other instruments you bring on stage?

JODELLE: Good question. I have dabbled with the guitar a little bit, but I don’t play. I wish I had time to learn to play other instruments but I just don’t. For the guitar and bass I had been working with Jason DeGeorge and Scott Hogan for a good six months before we went into the studio. They would come over and we would sort of mold things. I kind of let them do what they wanted to do and see what came out. They were very helpful in putting their own spin on things. As for the strings, I could have arranged the strings, but I hired a professional arranger, David Rimelis. I just felt because of time issues and other issues, why not leave to it the people that really know the arrangements and I’m really happy I did that.

WOMANROCK: I wanted to talk a little bit about your record label, Espionne Records and ask why you decided you start your own label?

JODELLE: The record business is completely changing now from what it was ten, even five years ago, and I just feel at this point I have to make a name for myself. The way record labels work these days is you have to go to them with a finished product. It’s almost like you have to do all the work that they would have done for you years ago for them to notice you. ...They won’t even look at you until you’re at that point where you’ve sold 5,000 CDs and have 100 fans coming out to every show. So I decided to create this record label Espionne Records and currently I’m the only artist on it, but who knows I would love to see myself get to point where Ani [DiFranco] is. She’s got people on her roster and she’s got a whole label in Buffalo with people working for her. I think that I’m the type of personality, and I’ve learned with experience, that no one is ever going to do the job the way that you would do the job yourself. So I guess it’s the sense of having a little more control. I’m not saying that I would never go with a label if I was offered something. I would keep my options open, but I think that this is a good way to get my name out there and develop myself to a point where they may be interested.

WOMANROCK: As you were writing the album was there a message that you were trying to get out or something that you hope people will take away from your music?

JODELLE: There’s not really an overall message. I think each song is individual…What I hope is that people get some sort of emotion from the song and it doesn’t have to be every song. Just that one song touches them in one way or another…You know when you get those goose bumps when you listen to a song? That’s what I want to give people—the same type of reaction I get when I listen to someone like Joni Mitchell.

WOMANROCK: Do you remember some of those first times when you had emotional reactions to music? You mentioned Joni Mitchell. Did you listen to her when you were young?

JODELLE: Oh yeah, I was very, very young…My parents always had music on the stereo and they were sort of hippies so they played a lot of rock and classic rock. I remember Joni Mitchell being one of those people that just moved me to tears.

WOMANROCK: Are you looking forward to setting out on the road and sharing the music?

JODELLE: Oh yeah. I’ve done a lot of traveling in the last six months. I’m looking forward to branching out and playing in other cities like Philadelphia and Boston. I’m going to do NEMO in September. It’s really going to being a lot of fun and I’m starting to see the same artists in the same circles as me. I did a festival called the Black Potato Festival in Clinton, NJ and I met this band called E.J. Labb. They’re these four Latin women from Boston that do rap music. We got acquainted and hung out and then we said “Oh, I’ll see you at the next festival.” It’s fun. You start bonding with people that are doing the same thing as you and it’s a cool feeling.

WOMANROCK: Do you think contemporary female piano players like Tori Amos, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys . . . you . . . are changing the piano playing genre, expanding or bringing more depth to it?

JODELLE: I hope so. I think there are more of us now. So many people think of Tori when they think of female piano players. Or they think of Elton John or Ben Folds. There are a handful of them out there. I think it’s a good thing that I play the piano because it’s different than people who play the guitar and it’s something that sets me apart a little bit as musicians that are trying to do the same thing as me. It’s a beautiful instrument. I don’t know if you have the same impression but I think a lot of people are not as responsive to the piano as the acoustic guitar.

WOMANROCK: People think of the piano as a more serious instrument and perhaps they don’t feel as comfortable with it?

JODELLE: I agree. And I want to change that. It’s one of the reasons that I bring a whole band out. I feel I can at least cut through that feeling if I’ve got a little bit more instruments playing with me. When I am playing by myself people say, “Oh a girl and a piano” and they start talking. It’s more background to them. Whereas the guitar, and the essence of what it is, kind of cuts through. It seems to me to be a louder instrument. You can move around and that’s a challenge that I face in trying to make the show interesting because there’s only so much I can do by myself. People have to like the music for what it is. You can only try so hard.

Krista Rupe is a contributor to WomanRock.