The music of Rachel Loshak has a symphonic quality to
it. When she and her band take the stage, there are fireworks between
Rachel's voice/bass, Jason Crigler's guitar, and Dan Reiser's
drums. The arrangements are elegant and savage. Fresh from the studio,
Rachel's new album "Mint" is set to be released March 6th
at the Living Room. The album is excellent and her shows never fail
to excite.
Rachel's music can be experienced on any of her three full-length
albums: "Here I Am" (1999), "Firefly" (2001) and her
brand new 2003 release "Mint". She also is featured alongside
Norah Jones and Jesse Harris on the CD "Best of
the Living Room" compilation released late 2002. Rachel recently
lent her revered vocal talent joining the Norah Jones Band
onstage at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony.
WOMANROCK:
You were recently asked to sing with Norah Jones at the Grammys.
How was that?
Rachel:
Norah called me a few days before hand to ask me, and I didn't have
to think very hard before saying yes! I was honored that had thought
of me, and felt very respected. It was a great experience for me,
performing at Madison Square Garden! Seeing how such a large scale
event goes down, and seeing and meeting some wonderful artists whom
I respect so much - Tony Bennett, Elvis Costello, Coldplay, No Doubt.
It was a lot of fun!
WOMANROCK:
Why did you call your new album Mint?
Rachel:
Morgan suggested it, after he saw me sticking mint leaves up my
nose because I love the smell of them so much. I also liked it because
"mint" has several different meanings. It's not just one thing.
It's an herb. It has worth, like a mint that makes money. It's in
mint condition.
WOMANROCK:
How do you decide which songs you're going to include on a new album?
Rachel:
When I know I have enough songs to fill an album, I know I'm ready
to record. Once I've started the process of recording, it's hard
for me to be creative and write more songs. I recorded what was
freshest and newest at the time. There were some songs that I'd
had for a long time but hadn't recorded yet like "Four Leaf Clover"
and "When the Moon and the Sun" which I wrote before I'd started
playing the bass.
WOMANROCK:
When did you start playing the bass?
Rachel:
About six and a half years ago.
WOMANROCK:
What instruments did you play before the bass?
Rachel:
I didn't play any instrument I could've accompanied myself with.
I played classical violin and piano. I was also a classical voice
major. While I was in college I had the impulse to sing with a bass
player. I had a gig in a pub with some friends and I sang a couple
of songs with just me and the bass player, and incorporated a piece
for upright bass and voice for one of my degree performances, so
I already knew that I liked the sound of that.
WOMANROCK:
As opposed to the guitar?
Rachel:
Yes.
WOMANROCK:
What made you decide to learn the bass and accompany yourself?
Rachel:
I had some friends in Brooklyn that I'd hang around with. One of
them had an 8-track and a bass. I'd been singing with a few people
but hadn't really found my niche in New York. I was waiting to sing
on one of his demos and I picked up the bass and started fooling
around. He said, "I didn't know you could play bass." I said, "I
can't." He goes, "Yes you can." I said, "Oooh, I can! Maybe I can!"
A bit later, a friend of mine gave me an electric bass she wasn't
using. Not long after that I agreed to do a show at The Spiral on
Houston St. I had three weeks before the gig and I wrote three songs.
WOMANROCK:
But you'd written songs before?
Rachel:
Kind of. The stuff I'd done in college was more contemporary music.
Not songs. Pieces. I never felt I was a good songwriter. The songs
I wrote right before the gig came from me messing around on the
bass. I already had "When the Moon and the Sun" in my head. Every
time I figure out a new song on the bass I learn something new.
I've never sat down with a chord book. I push myself to get better.
I practice each song until I can play it well.
WOMANROCK:
Do you work with a tape-recorder to capture all of your writing
ideas?
Rachel:
Yes. I've got a mini-disc recorder and I save everything I've ever
done. I'm not very good at recording over things. I have eighty
different mini-discs filled with twenty different versions of the
beginning of a song.
WOMANROCK:
Your voice is classically trained?
Rachel:
Yes, but I've always fought against that. I had to struggle against
my classical teacher in order to be able to sing jazz tunes.
WOMANROCK:
Sometimes your voice has a classical sound. Do you try to achieve
that sound?
Rachel:
I know it's in my voice, and have fought against it in the past.
I never wanted to sing that way, but now I think I use what I want
from it. I couldn't be a classical singer. I was being trained to
sing opera and I didn't want to. After graduating college I took
lessons with a jazz singer in London. I learned more from her than
any of the other teachers. I remember things she taught me about
precision, intonation, feel, enunciation. She helped me to sing
the way I wanted to sing. I could feel my voice growing, changing,
developing. She really pushed me very hard too, and it was in the
direction I wanted to go, so it worked.
WOMANROCK:
Do you think about these techniques when you're performing?
Rachel:
Yes, but you've got to think about that as well as how you feel
about the song. There's got to be a balance of both. You've got
to try to feel the emotions of the song. The better gigs are the
ones when I'm thinking about how I was feeling when I wrote the
song I'm singing. I've got specific experiences that I'm singing
about. You also just have to let go.
WOMANROCK:
How would you describe your musical roots?
Rachel:
Classical from when I was a child, musicals like Jesus Christ
Superstar, 70's things, and the Beatles. During my teenage years
my brother played jazz-piano. We did gigs together.
WOMANROCK:
How did you first develop your own taste in music?
Rachel:
My dad had a lot of records. He had all of the Beatles records,
the Stones, the Animals, Chicago. I'd shut myself in the living
room and not let anyone in. I'd turn these records up really loud
and sing and dance. My record collection wasn't so cool for a long
time.
WOMANROCK:
What was the first record that you ever bought?
Rachel:
I remember me and my brother buying one called Raiders of the
Pop Charts. It was like a Woolworth's thing; buy volume one
and you get volume two for free.
WOMANROCK:
What was on it?
Rachel:
Lene Lovich... The Stranglers ... Yazoo ...Alison Moyet.
WOMANROCK:
Who are some of the musicians you count as your biggest influences?
Rachel:
John Lennon, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone, Prince (but I'm not sure
how), Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones, Keith Jarrett, Tony Bennett.
My grandfather was a classical pianist and my aunt is an actress
in London. She was in the original cast of Jesus Christ Superstar,
and had roles in Sweeney Todd, Cats, Evita, and Les Miserables.
We would go and see her when I was a kid. Seeing her made me want
to sing.
WOMANROCK:
What's "Never Look Back" about?
Rachel:
It's about looking at the parts of my life. The "green" verse comes
from a family meeting I had when I went home. We have a farm as
the family business. Someone there asked me when I was going to
give up this singing thing and come work on the farm. I wrote "Green
grow strong" because I felt like it was pulling me back just when
I was thinking I was doing OK on my own.
WOMANROCK:
So, you grew up on a farm… what kind of farm was it?
Rachel:
Yes, in Suffolk. It was beautiful when I was growing up. It was
an apple farm, but lately it's been being developed by a bigger
company. When I was a kid it was an orchard with dirt paths. We
picked apples every summer and worked on the farm. I knew the people
who worked there. I liked watching the apples grow. I loved the
sense of seasons. I miss seeing the buds appear on the branches
and my grandmother getting nervous about an approaching frost. I
would walk in the orchard completely on my own and singing. I could
go there when I was upset and be completely alone. When I moved
here, I tried to replicate it by walking on Houston Street, or underneath
the East Side Highway. I'd sing loud because I knew no one could
hear me. I do miss that freedom.
WOMANROCK:
How often do you visit England?
Rachel:
Usually around once or twice a year. The members of my family are
all doing different things. My brother and my cousins all have children
with another one on the way. Sometimes I think they're wondering
why I'm not following that path yet. I'm the only one that doesn't
have children.
WOMANROCK:
Is your family supportive of your music career?
Rachel:
Yes, they are. They're very proud of me. I was thinking about it
though. They always come to see me play in England and they're very
happy to see that I'm putting out records. Ultimately my parents
probably wish that I was doing something more stable. They would
prefer it if I lived in the country and started a family. But that's
not what I want to do right now. I will do it when the situation
seems right, but I'm not ready right now. Right now I feel so close
to having my music work. I can't do those things for them.
WOMANROCK:
It's interesting that they had you take music lessons when you were
a kid and took you to see musicals, but now that you're pursuing
music as a profession...
Rachel:
It's very obvious to me that they wanted me to be culturally and
academically intelligent at the same time. My dad really pushed
us to be good at math and science. My dad studied chemical engineering
and then came home and ran the family business. Some of his pushing
of us could be because he didn't carry on doing what he wanted to
do. It's ironic that my carrying on what I want to do is the opposite
of what he wants me to do. Like I said, I'm happy now and I'm glad
I'm sticking with it.
WOMANROCK:
Do you play gigs in England?
Rachel:
Yes, but it's hard because the audience is primarily made up of
friends and family. It's a challenge to do that repeatedly. It's
more stressful than performing in New York.
WOMANROCK:
Because you feel the songs are too personal?
Rachel:
Yeah. My uncle asked my mum if I was as sad as my songs sound. They're
more likely to hear what I'm writing and infer that I feel that
way all the time. It's not like that. I feel that way at the moment
I'm writing the song.
WOMANROCK:
Do you gravitate toward sad songs?
Rachel:
I don't have a choice. It's the nature of the way I like them. I
just write what comes out. That might be another reason why I haven't
written anything in six months; I'm happier now. Although I do think
some of the songs on my new record are comparatively happy, or at
least have happier undertones to them.
WOMANROCK:
The theme of the album seems to be about trying to understand each
other. It's like a dialogue between two lovers.
Rachel:
It is.
WOMANROCK:
When you play a private, personal song for the person you're writing
about what happens?
Rachel:
Most of the people I have written songs about didn't know the songs
were about them. When I do play a song for someone specifically
and they know it's about them, I'm extremely nervous. If the song
is about a conflict or something difficult, it's usually passed
by the time I get around to playing the song.
WOMANROCK:
Do you decide the topics of your songs before you write them?
Rachel:
The times when I decide the topic beforehand are not such strong
songs. I feel "The Dreamer" is one of the strongest songs on Mint.
It came to me in a dream. I heard the whole first section. When
I woke up I had to finish it before doing anything else.
WOMANROCK:
So it's like you found it someplace?
Rachel:
Yes. That's why it's distressing when there's a period of time when
I don't write anything because either there are things coming up
that I'm not utilizing or nothing's coming up; which is scary.
WOMANROCK:
How do you make time in your life for songwriting?
Rachel:
At the moment, I'm having a really hard time. Some nights I come
home from work at 9. I get some food and check my E-mail and by
then it's 10:30. I have to be at work early in the morning, so I
go to bed. I'm struggling with it.
WOMANROCK:
Have you decided to stay here in New York?
Rachel:
I have now. I made the decision very recently. I've been here seven
and a half years. I didn't know I would stay this long when I came. |
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