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Shiny
New Motels
An Interview with Martha Davis
by Teresa Hale |
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Martha Davis has been a passenger on the rock-pop train
for nearly thirty years, as frontwoman and songwriter for various
incarnations of her band The Motels, who topped the charts
in the early 1980s with hits like "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly
Last Summer." From her farmhouse in California, where she's
surrounded by ephemera from thrift stores and flea markets, acoustic
guitars, and a brood of animals, Martha shares her personal stories
about derailment, getting back on track, and moving ahead in new
directions with today's Motels.
WOMANROCK:
As a veteran musician, what advice would you give budding female
artists?
MARTHA:
I firmly believe that if you're going to sing or play pop music,
you should write it. And if you write it, it needs to come completely
from within yourself. Spend time alone and write. Don't spend it
listening to someone else, trying to emulate them. Access yourself,
find your voice, tell your own stories, come up with your own chords.
I was taught three guitar chords when I was eight. I spent years
making up songs with three chords and inventing new ones. I was
crushed when I found the chords I invented already existed. Anyway,
there's a feeling of ownership and empowerment that comes with creating
from scratch. You're always a little prouder of the cake you made
from scratch, even if it tastes like shit.
WOMANROCK:
Have you had any formal training?
MARTHA:
No, and I'll get grief for saying this, but I recommend not getting
a lot of training while figuring out who you are musically. Voice
training creates a homogenous sound. "This is the right way to sing,
and this is the wrong way." The right way is the honest way, with
your own voice. When you feel secure in yourself and realize you
don't have to pull from other peoples' work, formal education is
always good.
WOMANROCK:
What's your take on music videos?
MARTHA:
Music creates visions in our heads; videos presuppose someone else's
visions on our own. That takes some of the magic out. And there's
the visual pressure put on artists to look like a million bucks.
Artists keep getting younger, cuter, and sexier because we're doing
a lot of looking now. People listen to the songs, but I wonder how
much they hear them. Video in some sense did kill the radio star.
Today's artists are striving to be music icons and media icons.
WOMANROCK:
Society equates success with making money. How do you define it?
MARTHA:
People get confused about money. For me, it's not money that's important,
it's what money buys - time and resources to keep writing and recording.
Success is being able to continue to do what you're doing. An artist
doesn't say, "I've hit success. I'm done now."
WOMANROCK:
Does it bother you to be called a reunion band?
MARTHA:
The history is helpful because it puts money in our pockets. But
we're a kick-ass four piece, and we play even the old hits stripped
down to the essentials. There are no keyboards and sax in "Only
the Lonely" now, and that freaks some people out. But I did write
that song on an acoustic guitar. I like to approach the songs freshly.
A record is a record of that performance at that time. Music is
organic. A song should breathe and grow like the person who created
it.
WOMANROCK:
Do you think you're a better musician and songwriter than you used
to be?
MARTHA:
Hell yes. Be pretty sad if I wasn't.
WOMANROCK:
How have you grown?
MARTHA:
My confidence has. The whole time I was recording in the '80s I
didn't believe I was worth a hill of beans. There was always a struggle
between my two identities, and I had to be pretty fucked up to merge
them. The period after Policy [her 1987 solo album]
was the tip of the iceberg. I left the biz and started the woe-is-me
life. I upholstered couches, putzed around the house, and enjoyed
my vino way too much. I planted vines around the house and filled
it full of furniture, to keep it dark and closed in. I was building
my tomb. Then "Survival Martha" got her knickers in knots and started
screaming, "Goddamnit, get it together!" I became aware that if
I kept drinking, smoking, doing the occasional drug, and sitting
around and getting fat, I'd die. I certainly wasn't living. For
a year, I didn't write.
WOMANROCK:
How'd you turn things around to where you are now?
MARTHA:
I decided I'd rather live than fade into oblivion. I saw a chakra
rooter - affectionate term I use for shrink - six times. He said,
"I'm the garbage man. I'm here to take out the trash." We dragged
out the stuff that hurt me most and got rid of it by moving energy
around - a garage sale of souls. I moved out of L.A., got a new
boyfriend who strengthened my direction, and finally got mad at
my mom for killing herself [when Martha was 18 and already a mother
of two] and purged myself of the trauma. Then I quit drinking.
WOMANROCK:
Did becoming sober affect your writing?
MARTHA:
Booze and drugs convince you that you need them. I was convinced
I needed red writing wine and white working wine. I thought I couldn't
possibly access inner emotions sober. When I became confident, I
started to write like I did for The Motels first album - raw, naked
emotions. I hadn't done that in years. It wasn't drinking that held
me up, it was me who held me up; booze added to the problem. I haven't
been drinking for several years, and the songs keep getting better.
Things that happened then are coming out in the songs, from somewhere
in my subconscious.
WOMANROCK:
How is your role in this version of The Motels different from the
original?
MARTHA:
Before, I was writing and performing, but there was always a male
dominating force. I was disheartened at the end of The Motels. I
realized I'd let my vision of what I thought the music should be
slip away because I didn't take control. A few years ago the new
Motels journey began just like the first one, but this time I'm
totally present and in control. I'm writing in all kinds of genres
now. These guys can play it all - country, jazz, rock. My rule of
thumb is that only the song is allowed to have an ego. The song's
the god; we're the servants. If it needs banjo, we have to be versatile
enough to pull it off.
WOMANROCK:
What are you working on now?
MARTHA:
I'm still trying to find a home for my children's CD, which I really
love. I just co-wrote songs with Leah Andreone, Bree Sharp,
and Earl Slick, [David] Bowie's guitarist. We're honing the
band to new degrees and are thinking of adding a multi-instrumentalist
to fill keyboard and other voids. I'm writing like crazy - an animated
video of one of the new songs is on my site (www.marthadavis.com).
I'd like to do more residencies like the ones I did at the Knitting
Factory [L.A.] - play acoustic and tell stories.
WOMANROCK:
What are your hopes for the future?
MARTHA:
I'm writing some very Americana, Stephen Foster-like songs
for a musical by my son-in-law based on the life of Joseph Smith,
founder of the Mormon religion. I'd like to complete that
and see it happen. I'd love to do a duet with Tom Waits.
And I have an idea for a song called "Rose Red and Snow White,"
from a fairy tale book I had as a girl, that I'd love to sing with
Dolly Parton.
WOMANROCK:
Didn't you just go to a Dolly show?
MARTHA:
Yep. It was so cool. I've never seen an audience so diverse. Cowboys,
Hollywood hipsters, drag queens, old people, young people, punks.
Everyone adores the Dolly. You know we have the same birthday...
WOMANROCK:
How long do you see yourself performing?
MARTHA:
I don't see a reason to stop, but I do see reasons to change styles.
I'm rocking now because at some point I'll look dumb doing it. I'll
rock a little longer, then I'll do more of the rootsy, country stuff
people seem to like.
WOMANROCK:
If your granddaughter wanted to be a rock star, would you encourage
her?
MARTHA:
Absolutely. But I'd prefer musician over rock star. We have a lot
of stars - entertainers - but not as many artists. We have people
who went to school, learned to sing and dance; they're good at it,
God bless 'em, but there's too much reinvention. An important artist
is one who musically goes where someone hasn't or creates a character
we've never seen before, like Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, and
P.J. Harvey did.
WOMANROCK:
Who are your musical influences?
MARTHA:
When I was five I heard Igor Stravinski and thought "Whoa!
What's that?" I'd stare at the turntable and watch the record go
'round even though the speaker was at other end of the house. Then
I fell in love with musicals and Bowie. I was raised on Motown,
R&B, and blues. My mom played Jellyroll and Leadbelly
records. That's the real blues; I never got into white-boy blues.
WOMANROCK:
Any female influences?
MARTHA:
My folk gals were Buffy Sainte-Marie and Odetta. I
embraced Patti [Smith] because no one else was like her.
Marianne Faithfull rocks, and I like K.D. Lang. Kate Bush
and Lene Lovich never got the due they deserved.
WOMANROCK:
Are MP3s helping or hurting artists?
MARTHA:
It's saving our asses. The music industry is turning into a huge
corporation that seems to care more about sales figures than music.
Pop music is supposed to be accessible to the public, but CDs are
being priced into oblivion. We're in an age of information; people
know when they're being ripped off. So we log onto MP3, download
what we like, and save the 17 bucks. I'm getting my MP3 site together
now, because my songs tell me they want to go public.
WOMANROCK:
What are people surprised to learn about you?
MARTHA:
People are surprised I'm so happy-go-lucky and optimistic. I was
lucky to have had a break in my career, even though it wasn't the
best of times. If I'd remained in my career as it was, I'd be pretty
twisted by now. But I got away and regained perspective. I don't
understand why we all try to be in some world so far removed from
reality; reality is nice, and full of change. |
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_________________________________
For more information visit: http://www.marthadavis.com |
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_________________________________
Teresa Hale is assistant editor of STEP Inside Design and Dynamic
Graphics magazines, and a freelance entertainment writer. Her
concert photos of Deborah Harry appear in the new book Blondie,
From Punk to Present: A Pictorial History. She's also a webmistress
of www.marthadavis.com.
Contact her at livewire@davesworld.net.
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