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KGRL Exclusive Charlotte Martin 2006 Interview
Home Studio - 10.09.06
KGRL had a chance to have an intimate talk with January's Flower Powered Artist Of The Month, Charlotte Martin, in the comfort of their very own home studio - 10.09.06.
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KGRL: What got you into music as a career?
Charlotte Martin: I've been a musician my whole life. I always knew I wanted to work in music ever since I was little. I grew up around music - my dad is a music professor, my mom is a music teacher. Initially, when I started college, I wanted to teach. I didn't know I wanted to do composition until my senior year in college - I didn't really even know that until I graduated. I started applying for grad schools and I waited up until the fall of that... I could have graduated in the summer of '98. I was fully going for grad school and I went, nope I'm going to move to LA and keep going with the music/composition thing. I never took a composition class in college, I had roommates that did.
When I started writing, I felt like music was being introduced to me for the first time again - even though I've grown up years and years singing. I started singing opera when I was 9, started voice lessons and piano since I was 7. That's all I did - music. The occasional ballet lessons which got too expensive, because I was doing everything else in music that I could possibly do - and because I grew up in a university town, even though it was small, it's very cultured and there's a lot of performance opportunities, lots of summer theater - just a lot of choral opportunities. I was in every show choir, every choir, everything you can ever imagine - I sang on it. Sang all out of Christian TV, sang in churches (this is a really long answer)... I've always been into music. I've never done anything else - I don't know what else to do other than raise chihuahuas and maybe build forts.
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KGRL: What inspired you to take a degree in Opera singing?
Charlotte Martin: I decided to branch off from the piano and just concentrate more on my voice when I was about 15. My personal coach was getting her PhD, like any good teacher - you have students that wants to follow in your footsteps - and she's still an amazing opera singer, she sang at my wedding and she teaches. She just has one of those voices that when she sings, she just blows my head off. I wanted to be able to do that - and I love the actual challenge of it.
When I first got into it, it's almost like a kid who is good at baseball - beacause I was good at it, and everyone told me I was good at it - I'm so freaked out that I was young. I wanted to do all the hard materials - which my teacher got a lot of criticism for (and I got criticism for) but I learned and got exposed to a lot of intense music at a young age - that's probably why a lot of the stuff is very classical and percussive.
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KGRL: How do you go about writing your songs (song writing process)? Do you start out with the melody or the lyrics first?
Charlotte Martin: I do journaling. I do something called word trees. I have 23 or 24 books now of brainstorming ideas. I constantly am keeping a journal of that - like constantly keeping catch phrases, or concepts, or if I'm reading a book; I'll read a chapter and then write everything that enters my brain - that's kinda like my homework.
When I first started writing, I would write actually directly from those books. Now, a lot of times, it just takes me to another lyrical idea. I mean, I can't tell if I'm starting with music or lyrics first. I can't tell which one is overlapping - because sometimes I'll write a song and not look at my journals and realize that, oh yeah I was reading about that like six months ago. I'm constantly feeding myself with material, so when I do get inspired - I have plenty to draw from. It does not happen all the time - I do have dry spells.
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KGRL: Can you tell us what were your influences/inspirations for your previous CDs?
Charlotte Martin: Good question, they change. Stromata, I didn't really listen to anybody else because I didn't have time. I don't listen to a lot of music when I'm at home, I listen to it mainly on tour. On Your Shore - I'm hugely inspired by Cocteau Twins, Peter Gabriel and Dead Can Dance. Dead Can Dance more so now. On Your Shore definitely has some homage to Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and The Cure. But this record (Stromata), it's pretty much all me... I don't know what I'm regurgitating, it's all jumbled up now and I think I've figured out what I want to sound like, if that makes any sense.
Test Drive Songs doesn't have a real direct point of influence or anything. In Parenthesis - It's hard to judge because it's an entree to On Your Shore. Veins - I can say Dead Can Dance on some of it. There's a definite break on that EP, like the first four tracks are kind of like an entree to Stromata and the last 3 tracks are like, this is where I was. You know, acoustic piano-based and very much recorded in the style of On Your Shore. This Stromata is like a complete 180, on how it was recorded.
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KGRL: When we saw you in one of your recent shows, you reminded us of Immi - playing all those synthesized sounds...
Charlotte Martin: I read an article about her and she uses a program called Ableton Live - which she's actually programming her beats while she's playing. Mine's a bit different, there's like 5 synths running at the same time, so it's a lot more of "this" and I'm running less technology but I'm playing... I haven't seen her shows, I don't know - I just saw her on Letterman. I don't know of any girls that are doing this really.
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KGRL: What drew you into electronic music and incorporate them into your compositions?
Charlotte Martin: I started several years ago with Test Drive Songs, it was all electronic - it's kind of like the demos that I released. Then I got away from it, during my years at RCA - because that's the kind of direction they're steering me - everyone wanted the next Norah Jones... And I was still learning how to program - I've been learning since I first got my gear in 2001 and slowly been collecting - learning how to use certain kinds of software, learning how to engineer, getting experience, and getting more confident in the studio as a producer and from working with Ken - doing all these different projects, whether they're EPs or records.
30 years old - you think after that many years... I've kind of figured out... A light kind of came on... I started being quicker in the studio and having more production ideas. So, I think it was the obvious move artistically, that's just where I found myself interested and inspired - more drums (lots of drums) and lots of different kinds of keyboards, which I'm still interested in. I'm just starting to tap on what I can do with that... I haven't learned everything yet. I have a lot to learn for the next record.
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KGRL: One Girl Army and Mystery, Magic and Seeds… Rare CDs and it's amazing that they fetch a pretty hefty amount in auction sites, a testament as to how strong your fan base is. Are you, at any point, planning to re-release any of it? Seeing as there’s so much interest in finding these CDs.
Charlotte Martin: I personally do not have One Girl Army. (Lisa - A copy of Mystery, Magic and Seeds sold for $250 on ebay, if that person is listening and would like to burn us a copy....) Yeah we'd love a copy of the record that works, if you wanna say that to your listeners. That's awesome! I hope they like it even if it's freaking almost 10 years old, it's nuts. That's nuts to me. There are only, God, a thousand copies made of maybe each... Ever. I personally do not have a copy that works... I think I have the DATs.
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KGRL: Can you share with us the best experience you had playing live?
Charlotte Martin: Every night... I don't know, I can honestly say this entire September tour felt like it was the most connected to the audience and this music that I've ever been. It's hard for me to pick out one.
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KGRL: You are totally amazing live. Seeing you perform live is not like watching just another show, it’s a totally whole new experience. We have to say one of your strengths is live performances, which we’d even go on to say that your songs shine best live. You jump and joke around while performing… All that energy, and yet you manage to keep it all intact… We admire you for being a great performer. How do you keep it up?
Charlotte Martin: I'm not much different off-stage than I am on. I'm pretty much the same person. I'm just really intense all the time... All the time. This varies on the person. I guess I was always meant to do this job. I was meant for this.
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KGRL: Speaking of live performance, your current set up consists of multiple keyboards and synths… You’re doing a great job making it sound FULL. We did not expect to hear complex sounding songs like Stromata, Little Universe and the rocked out Civilized handled by just YOU and a drummer.
Charlotte Martin: It's 3 keyboards... 3 synths - and they're all 3 running 2 other synths, so it's a total of 6 synths actually. I'm controlling the 2 synths the other 2 synths from the MUSE. I have 2 synths programmed built into that - so I'm running 6. Not on every song. Sometimes... Sometimes I'm running 7. Yeah, that's the total I can get going at one time in one song.
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KGRL: What's the most complex song you play live?
Charlotte Martin: Oooh that's a good question. That is a good question. Let me think about that one... Cut The Cord is really hard. Cut the Cord is hard because it's a lot of sounds. What else is really hard... As far as pulling in and weaving in and out of sounds. Cut The Cord is hard. The Dance is hard. Drip is a little bit tricky. Stromata is tricky, it's got a few sounds. Cut The Cord is difficult because I'm playing the bass and I'm playing the MUSE with another sound mixed in with 2 sounds on the verse and tracks and the sound effects and delays. I'm doing it all - no I'm not. Actually I'm not doing any of it - I was just kidding. It all just plays itself... It's karaoke!
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KGRL: Follow up question to your set-up... What was your former set-up?
Charlotte Martin: I've had a few set-ups. I've gone from an S90 to an electric baby grand - that I toured on for two years. I had some tracks... I would play like one or two electronic things like Chasing A Shadow. I think we tried to do steel (Lisa - We tried). We tried back in the day. Then it morphed on the Darkest Hour tour, I checked out an electric upright and used all the synth sounds built into the upright and played with the head guitar, Ken. And then I went Korg electronic tracks, which my engineer ran. I've had my Virus, which I've had for years - that I made Test Drive on and put that on top of the Clav because I wanted to do more stuff for Test Drive. Then I started writing on it again, which is how I started doing Stromata. By the DVD tour last Spring, I was on the Korg, the Virus, and the Clav but I wasn't running the Muse.
Then when I finished Stromata, we were figuring out how we could play the record. The only way to do that was to program a new computer, which was the Muse, and we programmed all of the sounds from the record and the B-sides into this Muse. We had to somehow hard-wire the Muse out to all 3 different keyboards so I could pull up a patch off and then pull up a song. Took like 6 months.
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KGRL: Were you the one who programmed all the synthesized effects/sounds?
Charlotte Martin: Yes. Ken helped me with the first 10. I went back and tweaked them 4 times and now we're tweaking them again. That's what's happening today, we're tweaking them all again.
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KGRL: With Stromata, do you think you finally found the direction you want your music to be? Or is this a transition for any other direction you want to take?
Charlotte Martin: I think I've found it for this year (laughs). Yes, I think I will go either way... Either I'll get more electronic or I'll go back to more acoustic - but I'm thinking more electronic. If I could physically fit two drummers on stage I would do it but we can't.
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KGRL: You did a “funeral version” of your song Four Walls… We understand you dedicate the new version to someone you lost. Why did you decide to re-do this song instead of writing a whole new song?
Charlotte Martin: I don't know. I have a few songs every record that seems like we have 5 or 6 versions floating around (of those songs). Four Walls happens to just be the one. It was Everytime It Rains in On Your Shore... In Stromata it's Four Walls. I just can't stop. There's a solo version - I mean there's a lot of versions. I just love the song. That song was the benchmark of the record, that and Stromata.
Once we finished that and put it on Veins, we were like - that's the direction of Stromata. Even though it changed 50 billion times, like at least we have some place of reference. Like I knew that song was where I wanted to go, and now I've redone it again (laughs).
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KGRL: So which version do you like the most (Four Walls)?
Charlotte Martin: I like the funeral version the most, right now. Yeah, it's the new baby... I always like my - Nah, not true I like my old babies too.
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KGRL: You already have a vast catalogue of songs and recorded plenty of albums in such a short time. How much time do you spend touring your albums or when do you think it's time to release a new record?
Charlotte Martin: You know what? When I get bored and I don't keep growing as an artist, I grow a little too quick for my releases. I should probably work a record a little longer. If I ever get stagnant, either it means: a.) I'm uninspired and I should not be working or b.) Maybe I should look at another career. I move fast for a reason - it's a good thing. If I'm not prolific anymore, for a long period of time - which I like to say I don't believe in writer's block - but you're either inspired or you're not... And I go through periods where I'm not - and thank God they don't last, they happen while I'm on tour. Like I'm not going to be creative, except that I can't... I have to focus on the shows. Every night it's so different. The energy in the room is so different every night and the fans bring a different flavor every night. Even though the set is more structured than I've ever had before, it's still different every night. So I have to focus on that, and those people, and that day... I keep my word trees and my journal while I'm on the road, and when I'm home if I have the time and I'm inspired to do so - it'll come up.
I had to write like 30 songs for this festival called V-Day (Eve Ensler). I didn't have to write 30, I had to write 15. I didn't have to write 15, I could have written 4 but I wrote 15. I wrote songs that didn't even get used for V-Day. I ended up writing songs that ended up being B-Sides for Stromata. Four Walls came out of that session, recording and writing... Habit came out of that. What else? Empty Wells and Crimson Sky, some of these B-Sides that I'm playing every night - that people love - came out of me just writing 20 songs... And then I just stopped. Ever since then I have just completely stopped... That was in July? I stopped... Sucks. No, I wrote Desire and I wrote one other, Oscura. Yeah, which might be my direction but I might change... I'm writing a Spanish song.
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KGRL: Regarding your live shows... How do you device your set-list?
Charlotte Martin: I have the set-list broken in sections, because I like to start and end on the same song - cuz I like to give it some structure and it makes it more of a show for me. And sometimes I go through like a week of shows where I like to do 1, 2 and 3 are the same... I don't know... Honestly, I can't tell you. It depends on the room and it depends on whether I'm feeling I can pull some of the stuff off.
The show has changed so much, I remember like it's a rock show now. It's a rock show. I have to be careful not to front load the front half of the set with rock songs, like the most heaviest intense stuff, and then not save it for the back... If that makes any sense. We're rehearsing our material. I never have enough material... It just seems like 72 songs isn't enough.
To answer your question simply, I pray... And I ask God to help me with the set, and then I usually ask my manager, and then I ask my drummer. I ask everybody in my crew. If I'm feeling stumped on something they work with me on it. Sometimes I'd be like Fern what do you feel like playing tonight? I got a couple options for you. Would you rather play this or this? And then he'll tell me - and then I'll make a decision from there. I made like 14 set-list for the LA Show. Seriously, I spend some time on it. I usually work on it before I get to the city.
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KGRL: We noticed that you lent a hand in composing songs for the game Advent Rising… Any plans for creating music for other games?
Charlotte Martin: I do, I do... I'm meeting with EA Games soon and probably see some more music and videogames soon. This year or early next year. Oh yeah I'm into it. (KGRL: How about movies/soundtrack?) I'm working on it.
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KGRL: Any new music you listen to?
Charlotte Martin: I just got the new Beck record, The Information - and it's awesome. Nigel Godrich produced... Awesome! I like KT Tunstall, she's new - to me. Who else do I like that's new? I like She Wants Revenge.
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KGRL: Re-release of Something Like A DVD?
Charlotte Martin: Can I say what's gonna... I'll say a couple things. It's been remixed in 5.1 in surround. That's the big news. There's just some extra bonus features - if I can say that... Lots. There's extra things with it, like a lot. (KGRL: When are we expecting this DVD?) Probably in Spring... Early Spring. Is that fair to say? It's almost done. 5.1 is a big deal, that's why there's speakers all around this room. So you'll hear things from behind.
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KGRL: What is your stand on Independent vs Major Recording Labels?
Charlotte Martin: As far as the difference, there's not a whole lot of difference - I have to say. My record's in stores, I'm working with the same publicist I've worked with for years. I don't know if there's a difference really, except the music. I have friends at RCA and I've got good friends here... I feel a lot more confident. I don't work for the label, I'm still an artist. I can't go in there and just tell them what I want to do. It's still a compromise. Everything is a discussion - and it's a negotiation and I'm still working with the company. It's a record label now and there's people working for it and I am an artist on it - so I have to respect the people that are working for it, respect the company, respect that they have sales goals and initiatives. They're signing other artists, they're moving forward whether I was on the label or not. I'm not the star of the label. I am right now, but next year is another year - and they're going to release Ken and LADNA... They're looking to sign new acts. I'm in relation to their whole big plan, if that makes sense. They're not choking me down for a radio single, that's the big difference.
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KGRL: What’s going to be next for Charlotte Martin after touring Stromata?
Charlotte Martin: I think I got another record of me. I'll probably start working on the next record. Ken and I are taking a little vacation after this tour. I want to do a vacation where I go on a mission trip and like hold babies in the orphanage and things like that. It's what I'm going to do, I'm gonna save my money - save my t-shirt money. I'd like to go to Africa or Honduras or a place where there's just a lot of terrible / painful things happening in the world - and just do more. It's one of the reasons I tour so much. I feel that's what I can do. I can bring music to people and hug people and love people. Pray for people, that's what I can do. Then I can give money, I can give to charities, and I can do benefits... I do what I can do. I just like to encourage other people to do what they can. I'm thinking a little more globally than i ever have in my life maybe it's because I'm getting older and I don't want to have children that are going to be enlisted in the draft.
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KGRL: What direction are you taking on your next record?
Charlotte Martin: Right now, it's electronic... Right now, it's pretty electronic. Right now, there's not any piano on it. Right now...
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Special thanks goes to Charlotte Martin, Lisa Lombardo and the rest of the folks at Dinosaur Fight Records.
Charlotte Martin Links:
Official Website: http://www.charlottemartin.com
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/charlottemartin
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