By Steve Perrett
How did you first get into writing songs?
I always loved to improvise on instrumentals, especially on jazzy trip-hop stuff. At first, I added some beats with two plastic bowls. Then I bought a small keyboard and began to create my first songs. It was just for fun but I felt that it would become more than that.
Later, I met other musicians and jammed with them. It all went step by step.
Who had the greatest influence on you at that time?
I am very much influenced by the music my parents used to listen to. It was a wide spectrum of styles and much of the music was very strange for the ears of a child.
Especially modern classical music and free jazz got often on my nerves. But now I can say that I'm grateful for this because it made me open for very challenging sound experiences.
Do you play any instruments? Or do you concentrate on singing?
I can play violin but somehow I'm not very keen on it anymore. I'm interested in doing more percussion. But at the moment, I want to fully concentrate on singing.
Does writing songs come easy to you? Or do you struggle with every note and word?
In most cases, extremely easy. Recording is much more difficult for me because I tend to be a perfectionist.
When you start to write, do you have a finished product in mind that you work toward? Or do you let it morph?
Mostly, I have a strong feeling which has to be filled with words. Sometimes, I just can't sleep and then I start writing ("Violent Silence", "I Can't Sleep"). I wrote the lyrics of "Covered With Sweat" after I woke up because of a frightening dream ("Last night I woke up Covered with sweat. Because I had a dream That made me feel bad...").
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The Ella Blame duo is you and Michael D Temple, tell us how you teamed up.
Mike approached me via e-mail, telling me that he loved my voice and music. He found one of my artist pages on a web site with thousands of musicians. It's one of the things I love about the Internet.
Shortly thereafter, I met him in Toronto in Canada where we performed during the North By North East festival, together with one of Mike's friends, Brian Farrel, a very gifted guitar player.
In August of 2002, I had the idea for the duo and made a few proposals for a duo name.
However, Mike just wanted to keep it "Ella Blame" - and here we are.
Do you see this as a long term partnership?
Absolutely!
Do you collaborate with any other musicians?
I worked with several musicians from different countries but my main collaborator is Shinji Imai from Japan. Shinji has studied jazz guitar, contemporary music and music theory on a music college in Tokyo. His music is very symphonic and novel. It's great to work with a musician like him. I hope that one day we will perform together on stage.
Your singing style is highly unusual, did you consciously work on this style? Or is it a natural gift?
It's natural and sometimes difficult. The different voices coming out of my mouth do not have the same constitution every day. There is a strong female, a very male, a childlike, a gentle, a sassy and sometimes a little devilish voice. More coming soon...
Do you play live?
We are planning to start playing live at the end of this year. There are already several musicians interested in collaborating. One of these is Mark Kirby, the drummer of the underground acid punk cult band Spongehead that broke up a few years ago.
You have a debut CD out "Ineffable Desire". Can you tell us about that?
"Ineffable Desire" is a mixture of songs which are easily comprehensible by a broad audience with songs usually perceived as somewhat strange by many people.
Jen from Midwestbands wrote the following:
""It made me listen a little differently than I normally would and it caused me to change my thoughts as to what is mainstream and what may not be. As a matter of fact, when I decided to be open-minded I heard so much more than I did the first time through... Why (traditionally) is mainstream usually so boring when you can have so much more? I say open up not only your mind, but your spirit and soul to the different sounds there is out there and allow them to take you as far as they can! Don't worry!! You'll be home in time for dinner!!""
All songs are produced with real instruments (guitar, keyboard, piano, bass, drums), and also electronically.
Several of the songs emerged from jamming around with Mike. In other cases, the instrumentals were already finished and I added vocals, lyrics, and made the final mix.
Every once in a while, Shinji sends me an e-mail, informing me that he had composed new music. Then I choose the instrumentals that I can imagine to be vocalized.
Last summer, I decided that it was time to release our debut album because there were enough songs to have a perfect mixture between "easy comprehensible" and "strange".
The CD is available for sale on CD Baby: 'Ineffable Desire' MP3 files with individual songs can be purchased from Apple's iTunes.
You've recently had a song included in an upcoming feature film, can you tell us more about this?
Jenkev Productions contacted me because they were looking for music with a female singer for the soundtrack of their feature film "Discover Me". I sent them a copy of our CD and they were thrilled. You can hear almost every song from our CD in the film.
This is the description of "Discover Me" as it can be read on the web site of Jenkev Productions
""Discover Me is a feature film that examines an internet community's impact on the formation of modern day relationships. Three interwoven stories provide the foundation for Discover Me. The first segment follows the rocky relationship that develops between an agoraphobic painter and a man living in her apartment building. The second plot revolves around a closet masochist's attempts to fulfill his private longings. The final story thread explores the complications that arise when girl on the rebound finds herself falling in love with a eunuch.""
Right now, Jennifer Clary and Kevin Haberer, the founders and owners of jenkev productions, Inc., an independent film company based in New York, NY, and Dallas, TX , are registering "Discover Me" with more than 20 film festivals worldwide.
Could there be more of this type of work in the future?
I think so, because our music seems to be optimally suited for being used in films.
What do you think of the music scene where you are? And the indie scene in general?
I'm not really into a music or any other scene. To me, "indie" is a very vague term. In general, the music scene is a shallow vanity fair. I still have to find my position in this weird game.
What's next for the Ella Blame duo? What does the future hold?
Performing live! If everything works fine, together with a full-fledged band and a string quartet.
There are already new songs in the works, and I will contribute my vocals and lyrics to a song titled "Peaches & Puppy Cats". This will be one of 14 songs of an all-female vocal compilation CD combining female voices with experimental music tracks created and produced by Mr. Black of The Mr. Black X-periment. The project is called the Apples Of Eve
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All the best,
Ella
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About Steve Perrett
A Songstuff staff member for sveral years, Steve plays guitar, writes songs and records his own material.
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