TMC Interviews: Holly Miranda, on trucks, Tool and getting punched in the face.

by Fairy Cake, pictures by Holly Falconer

It was a bit surreal watching Holly Miranda take to the stage at Truck Festival. About an hour before, the singer songwriter and I had been holed up in a too-hot van, discussing Motown and mosh-pit etiquette; her, a delicate-looking 27 year old with no ego, no attitude, and a quiet Yank drawl that my shitty dictaphone struggled to pick up over the backstage buzz. But, stood rows back in a barn, squinting over the heads of the hundreds of jaw-locked onlookers, the Holly Miranda I had cosy chats with had vaporised. In her place stood something much bigger; much more than just a girl and a guitar, much more affecting than any of the recordings I had skimmed on Spotify. Unexpected. Completely disarming. In a word; fuuuuck.

I should have know, really. After all, of all the artists I have met thus far in my flegdling journalistic career, Holly Miranda is one who is most definitely in it for her art. I know this, not just from the vastness of intrigues and influences she tumbled over in our conversation, but live, from the sheer attention to detail. And the rock. The ear-bleeding, face-melting rock of it all. Woof.

Ms Miranda has just released her first LP, The Magician’s Private Library. I’m not going to throw a list of adjectives at you, suffice to say that it is good and that if you like good things you should probably consider buying it. The girl was on a run-around tour of the UK, starting in Cardiff and ending rather aptly at the Westminster Library, when our snapper Holly Falconer was able to capable her on film. And I got the rather fantastic job of catching up with her at Oxford’s Truck Festival, where she managed to make a barn full of cow dung in sleepy Didcot feel like somewhere Dave Gilmour might frequent on his days off.  If you cut this lady, she would probably bleed liquid Rock.  Probably…

So, Holly, your list of influences is pretty heavy and rather dark. How do you think those darker, heavier artists have influenced you in the sound you make? ‘Cause your record is definitely quite ethereal and delicate…

Well, Tool was a big influence. And I think Nina Simone was a big one too; she’s pretty dark but in a different way. I don’t think that dark has to be scary and sad; dark can be really beautiful. I think Edith Piaff is a dark artist. I think Jeff Buckley was pretty dark too. Always singing about death. The Smiths too. So I mean, it’s all relative.

I write from a really personal place. A lot of the time when I’m writing I’m kind talking to myself most of the time, y’know? And sometimes that’s kinda heavy, I guess. If you’re a Virgo. *laughs*

Do you think there’s an element of cartharcis in it?

Oh for sure. I mean, it’s how I speak, y’know?

How do you feel, putting all that shit down in a room, in your personal space, and then having to get up on stage and open up to hundreds of people?

It’s one thing when you’re sitting alone in your bedroom and you’re writing this thing; you’re not really thinking about how you’re going to sing it to other people, or how you’re going to get it on record. When I recorded this record, I had never played these songs before live, so it wasn’t like I’d worked it out. It was very raw. From the demos I’d made came these songs. That first time you have to sing in front of a room full of people, or in front of one person, or your girlfriend or whatever, it takes it out of you and makes it real. Before that you could change it all and it never really had to exist. Once you do that, it exists.

It’s terrifying. That first time you have to sing something new in front of anybody. It’s scary, y’know?

You’re gay, right?

Right!

Great. But as far as I can see, you and your PR folks haven’t been visibly targeting the gay press or the ‘pink pound’. Is that a conscious effort, not to do that?

It’s just me. I had to kind of make the decision, when I signed to XL and started doing all this press, it was like “do you wanna do gay press or do you not wanna do gay press?”. And I though about it for a second. And then I thought about myself when I was 13, and I was in this little town outside of Detroit, in this really fucking religious family, and the first artist I ever heard speak openly about their sexuality was Ani DiFranco. And it had such a huge impact on me because I didn’t even know that you could be open about that, that that would even be accepted. I lived in such a sheltered environment and that totally blew my mind. So I just thought, “why would I hide it?”. It’s not all of me, it’s only a small part of me, but it is a part of who I am. Still, I’m not parading it around.

Do you think that religious upbringing impacted on your music?

It impacted on who I am, which in turn affects the music that i make. I’m very grateful for the way I was raised. It’s not a typical upbringing, it was a Pentecostal; church, 5 days a week for 14 years. I think it made me…y’know I’m not a religious person, but I’m a really spiritual person. it instilled a lot of morality, a lot of values that maybe not all kids get to experience. In a really extreme sort of way. *laughs*

But I also hear it in my music, as far as things like old hymnal chord progressions. I can tell when I’m gravitating towards that kind of stuff, ’cause that was all I was really allowed to listen to.

Who was the first artist you go hold of of your own accord?

Well, it was either gospel or Motown I was allowed to listen to. Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Nina Simone, Otis Reading, and Curtis Mayfield; there was a lot of soul and Motwon in my life before I discovered Jeff Buckley or Tool or Nine Inch Nails. I think with Ani Difranco, that was the first time I started writing songs was after I listened to her, to Dialate for the first time. Which is so cliche but it’s true…

…but it is amazing…

Yeah, I had to sneak it into my house and put it on my headphones, and I was sitting there with the lyrics booklet reading along and just being like “Holy shit! You can talk like that? You can write like that?” I had no idea.

Now, a truck related question, since we’re at Truck. Have you ever driven a pick-up truck, Holly Miranda?

Yes. My grandaddy in Tennese has a pick-up truck that I’ve driven.

Do you embody the lesbian cliche of dungarees and plaid while you drive said pick up truck? We just want to picture the scene…

Ummm, I don’t think so! *laughs* I was probably wearing the same thing I am now, sorry. Hahaha.

That’s okay. Truck chic, we dig that. Your new record is called The Magician’s Private Library. That doesn’t sound like it was just plucked from the air as a title. Where did it come from?

My schizophrenic uncle Ronny, who I grew up with…I was playing him Dark Side of The Moon a couple years ago when we were on a boat ride with my parents. And it got to point in the record where I though I shouldn’t be playing this for my uncle. Not that I shouldn’t, but it was the evil laughing and the background noise and the chatter. You know, my uncle, I don’t think he’s crazy, I just think he’s misunderstood. But I was like “Maybe this isn’t the best thing to be playing to him in the middle of a lake”. So I stopped it, and I was like “Uncle Ronny, what do you think about this?”. And he said, “It sounds like the magician’s private library”. I just thought it was such a beautiful phrase; the string of words conjured up so many images for me, that i held onto it for a while, and after we finished the record, it just felt like the perfect title. So I dedicated the album to him, and I also did an interview with him that I’m going to be setting to music. Just to let him talk, y’know?

That’s wonderful, dedicating a whole body of work to someone. He knows right?

Oh yeah, he knows.

So, just before we sat down, we were talking about our mutual love for the band Fucked Up. How likely are we to see you moshing to them this evening?

Not likely, not after last time. I got punched square in the nose, right here (Holly points at her nose), and then had to go on tour right afterwards with Tegan and Sara, and then every time I would touch my nose they made fun of me. I mean, I punched the guy back and we just kept going. It was fair game. But I think I’ll probably stay away from the mosh pit tonight.

With the T+S tour, I imagine you got to witness that crazy kind of fame those girls have. They seem to have a very fanatical following. Does it scare you, the more intrusive side of that…all the YouTube bitchiness?

That’s not something i’ve had to deal with much so far. But I have friends who have to deal with it on a constant level. I don’t know…it doesn’t look like a lot of fun, basically *laughs*. It looks like it kinda sucks. I think it’s the anonymous, crazy online comments and messages and that kind of shit that’s really soulless to me. It doesn’t really have anything to do with the music anymore, or the person who’s receiving it. It’s just kind of about getting really intensely involved in their lives. I don’t know; it baffles me a little.

If everyone’s listening to Holly Miranda…who is Holly Miranda listening to?

Well I’m always listening to Otis…I’m always listening to old soul. But lately I’ve really been into Little Dragon; I like her a lot. I saw her in December in LA play a show at the El Rey which was awesome. I like the new Yeasayer record, thought I haven’t gotten to see them live. This band we were on tour with on the east coast, called Braids, from Montreal; they’re incredible. Umm. Who else? Oh, Dave Sitek? The guy from TV on the Radio who produced my album? He has a solo work coming out under the name Maximum Balloon that is epic. He did all the music and then had a different singer coming in, so there’s Karen O, David Byrne, Katrina Ford, the chick from Little Dragon, I did a song, Ambrosia Parsley from Shivaree. It’s really really good.

That sounds so fucking exciting

Yeah, it is. I’ve had it on repeat. It’ll be out this fall. The single’s out, called Tiger.

What’s the weirdest “sounds like” you’ve ever received?

God, I’ve had too many. Joni Mitchell. Juliana Hatfield. Sinead O’Connor. Basically anybody with a vagina. *laughs* I’ve had every single female comparison possible, from Jewel to whatever.

Is there any one that you’re okay with?

Erm. I don’t know; it’s not like any of them really make me happy. Some are more flattering than others, ’cause with some I can hear, “Oh okay…I get it”. Like the Jeff Buckley thing – Ok, I get it, he was a huge influence on me. But I don’t really think that I sound like him…those are some big shoes to step into! I feel that comparisons are more for everyone else, than they are for me…

Now, forgive us for being a bit personal…are you single?

No, I’m not. Uh-uh.

Oh right. Damnit, that quashes my question. How’s that working out for you, with all the touring?

It’s ok. I mean, it sucks, but this is my job, y’know?

What I would have asked you, were you single, was whether the rockstar cliche, of having thousands of girls thrown at you, was actually a reality…

Ummm, i don’t know. I’m kind of oblivious to that stuff! I don’t even notice. I’m totally…when i’m in it, I’m in it.

Let me see, I think that’s pretty much all my questions. Yeah…gays, single, Tool…

I’m a gay single tool? What did you just call me? I’m sitting right here. Jesus. *laughs*

We live to insult our interviewees! Okay, here we are. So, when I was checking you out beforehand I found this cover you did on YouTube of ‘Ænima’ by the aforementioned metallers. Cracking it was. Mr Maynard James Keenan isn’t necessarily the first person we expect to hear cited as an influence by a singer songwriter such as yourself. Are there any other artists in your record collection people may be surprised to hear about?

I did venture into one of the Cranberry’s records yesterday. I don’t know if that’s shocking…

Which one?

Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?. That’s such a good record. That was actually a big part of my youth, discovering that. I don’t know! I listen to a lot of Tropicale music, like Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes. (Fairy Cake looks confused and scared). Oh…Tropicale was a movement in the South America in the 60s. It was kinda like psychedelic Spanish folk rock. And Os Mutantes and Caetano Veloso were probably the two largest artist from that movement. But there’s some cool shit in there. Oh, and old Nigerian rock too….like Fela Kuti. Afrobeat. A lot of the guys who played horns on my record are from an afrobeat band. There’s a musical about Fela’s life on Broadway right now, and they’re the live band. It’s a venue we all hang out in that has live afrobeat music every night in Brooklyn. It’s sort of just part of that scene I guess. I think it’s our world…it feels like Brooklyn to me.

One more question, then we’re done. If Holly Miranda was a cake, what kind of cake would she be?

Hmmm. Holly Miranda would probably be a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. With…a cherry on top. Yeah. Just one cherry.  *laughs*

You can sample Ms Miranda’s LP on Spotify. And if you dig it like we do, you can get a shiny new CD from here.  Holly’s finished her run of UK dates for now, but keep a watchful eye  on her MySpace for her return.  Then go see her.  You will love it.