How's it going?
Not too bad. Just getting over being on tour. And just writing and
getting ready to go back out.
Where have you been on tour so far?
We were gone for a little over three months, so we've been to every
state a few times.
Let's digress a little further back, could you run down a little
history on the band for me?
Gosh, wasn't prepared for that. I was writing with a few people that I
wasn't really happy with and it wasn't working out. I used to frequent
this restaurant and I knew the manager there and we were talking, he
said 'You should meet this guy I know, Bruce'. And I went in there the
next day and Bruce was sitting in the restaurant. And that's how we met.
We just kind of went, 'Well hey, you're into writing stuff.' 'Yeah, me
too.' 'Well meet me at my studio tomorrow.' 'Okay.' And that's kind of
how it started.
Where are you guys from?
I'm originally from Houston and he's originally from Cleveland.
And you're in L.A.
now. Did the recording industry bring you out there?
No um, I think he came out here to go to law school. And I came out here
to get this going and I kind of got off track for like three or so
years.
Three? Just a little off track.
Yeah. Oops!
Were you just trying to write and weren't finding what you wanted?
It's one of those things, a typical story of a lot of people. I moved to
Los Angeles with the intention of doing something and it's so easy to
just get off track, because it takes a lot of work. It's not just a
bunch of fun. So that's basically what happened, I just kind of screwed
around for about three years, and then I was like, 'Shit. I need to do
this now or I'm never going to do it.'
So what was the first thing that you ended up pulling out? Did you
guys decide on Kidney Thieves when you got together to write?
No. He was working for a song composer and he brought me in kind of as
just a writing team. So for the first year we were basically just doing
movie music for money. And then, when you're a creative person and you
can't really do what you want to do, you're just doing what people tell
you to do, it's just a natural progression. Bruce and I were like, 'Lets
try and do some stuff that we like.' And that's how that started.
Boy, I know how that goes. That's why I started the magazine. So what
year was that?
That was like '97 that we got our first demo together. We signed our
first deal in December of '97. So it happened really fast. Like we
finished this demo, then we got a few offers. We have friends in the
music industry so it all just kind of unfolded. I mean, it's been five
years now, and it's been a lot of work, and a lot of ups and downs.
Good times, bad times?
Yeah, yeah. It's not easy.
What is the hardest part about it?
You know, I guess I would have to say anytime you're mixing art with
industry you're going to have problems. And I think dealing with a lot
of people in the industry, if you're not doing something that is
like,
for example now, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Strokes, White Stripes;
they really don't want to pay attention to you because they want to move
the dollar. And back then I don't even remember who it was, whoever
was
popular at the time. We kind of had our own vision and along with the
fact that we signed with this company that just lost their funding and
we were kind of stuck in a contract. But
we got out of it, it just took
a while, that was very time consuming. But we kept writing, which was
the most fulfilling thing. Bruce and I love to make stuff. So
that's
what kept us going, and we believed in it. We were like, 'You know,
we're being fulfilled making this so they are going to have to come to
us at this point.' And that's kind of what happened.
Besides music do you have any other creative outlets? Do you do
visual art in any way?
Bruce likes to screw around with editing video and stuff like that. I
really like to write stories and I'm hoping that I can put a little book
of short stories together some day. Yeah.
Is there a certain significance for the name Kidney Thieves for you
guys directly?
No. It's just one of those things that we
were talking about that urban legend, and he was like, 'That would be an
interesting name for a band.' And I was like, 'Yeah, I guess so.' And
I
made the logo, and because I
liked the logo so much and there's only so much you can do with K and T
combinations, I mean what else is there? Kangaroo Tribe? So I was like,
'Okay, Kidney Thieves works', because I really liked the logo.
What are your inspirations musically, or who do you admire
contemporary?
That's always hard and I have the standard ones I always say, but there
are so many. You know, I grew up loving these strong females, like
Stevie Nicks, Annie Lennox, Heart, my mom loved Heart. So those were the
ones growing up. I really love PJ Harvey and like Tool. I don't know
it's all over the place Erykah Badu, Aretha Franklin.
How old were you, and what was the point that you decided you wanted
to be a singer?
Well I think that when I was about three or four and my mom gave me a
piano or something. I don't remember I just remember my mom was watching
the Young and the Restless, you know how the beginning has the theme
song, and I just kind of copied it. And everything I heard I just sort
of started learning how to play by ear. It was just my first love,
throughout life. You know, kids want to be astronauts when they're five,
or they want to be king, it was just something that was always ingrained
in me somewhere. And throughout junior high, and high school I had
musician boyfriends and we would write stuff, but I never really got
serious about it, I was just like, 'This is what I love to do.' I guess
it was when I was about 23 was when I started wanting to do it, and then
I met Bruce and that's kind of how it happened.
Right on. I like the cover of the album. The photography is very
good.
Yeah, that's Matthew Welch, he rocks. He was a friend actually. I
completely admire his work. He's got such an amazing eye. And I just
wanted him to do it.
So what's going on now? Are you preparing for another album?
There's kind of two things going on. When Bruce and I are together, or
even when we're not together, like he's been on vacation and I've been
here and we've been writing. We have such an amazing chemistry and we've
tried to see if we can duplicate that with other people, but whatever we
have is just magic. And at this point we probably have about fifteen
things for the next record, and maybe six really strong songs that are
in pre-production. That's just the way we are, we could just keep going.
And I also have been writing stuff on my own at home, just so I can get
better. I want to learn in different ways, I think that other musicians
teach me a lot. And I've worked with this one guitarist, and we wrote
this really cool thing. I don't know what I'm going to do with that, but
it definitely makes me a better songwriter.
So how long do you think until the next album will come out then?
You know, Bruce and I at some point next year would like to be able to
go into full production on it and we could bang it out. We've been
writing on the road and writing together, we're very solid. I've already
visualized the whole album; I'm already in that mode. You know, but when
the industry wants to put it out, I have no fucking idea. I don't really
care, I love making it.
Do you have a distaste for the general industry?
No, because I choose to be in it. But I'm very aware of how it works, so
at this point in the game I know when I'm being bullshitted, I know what
the realities are, and the truth of the matter is I still have food on
my table and I'm lucky that this is my full time job, and nothing, no
matter what happens, will stop me from making records.
What other kind of jobs have you had?
I was a legal assistant, that was my waitressing job. I'm pretty lucky
in that way, I was going to go to law school. It's just something that
came very easily to me and gave me a very good paycheck so I could do
this. And at one point in high school I worked at a clothing store, you
know, typical girl stuff.
