Photo by Peter Mellekas
Nothing is more original, more daunting than the invention of new forms. Suddenly we are in unknown territory, a place we have never been, surrounded by sounds we have never heard in quite the same way. Such is the music of Kristin Hersh, a singular, unexpected event, not only in the world of music but in her own life, as it was all "a big, fat accident" a double concussion that brought on the sound colors which would eventually become a band, Throwing Muses, and would forever change the landscape of music by confounding the arbitrary attempt of genres to try and classify what a thing is, to tame it, to make it safe. But to get from there to here was no easy task. Kristin took a trauma, many traumas, and made from them an endurable, singular monument, out of all of the noise and struggle that inhered in a life, painfully beautiful things were born out of the impossible: how to give voice to an experience that seems to resist explanation. Three decades later, I think it can safely be said that Kristin achieved that impossible, like the greatest artists of our time or any time, she stepped out into the unknown, survived and came back with tales, musical poems of what she found there. To say that music can move you would not do here. Only that music can transform us, take our inner unknown and place it center stage. Kristin's music, like lightening, never strikes in the same place twice. We can never see the next invention coming, but when it does, whether in the form of an album or a book, it takes our breath away. AHC: Could you talk some about your life in music, as a performer and as a writer? It has been a long road, and I imagine, as with anything that we so heavily pour ourselves into in life, creatively and otherwise, there is so much that we pick up along the way, that we learn about ourselves and the world, I'm wondering what those moments and those lessons/ realizations, evolutions have been for you since you started out on this journey? Kristin: This was all a big, fat accident. In fact, it was literally a car accident that made me hear songs. I sustained a double concussion and sound colors started playing in the hospital. I eventually realized that other people didn't hear this noise, but I still "believed" in it. Something got knocked into my head or out of it and didn't stop until a few years ago when I was treated for unrelated PTSD. To market what was essentially auditory hallucinations was the bigger struggle. Both ethically and aesthetically. Marketing isn't inherently bad, the trouble arises when you market crap to the lowest common denominator. I still don't believe there is such a thing. People are basically interesting organisms and they're idiosyncratic in their musical tastes when given the chance to be. Becoming listener-supported allowed me to circumvent the traditional recording industry, which hopefully means that no one will ask me to dumb down my product ever again. AHC: You've said, in the past, that you don't really like music, why is that? Kristin: It was a bitch goddess. I felt like it moved my life stories around to suit it, made me go through hell so that I could write pieces of hell and perform them without lying. As a nice lady, it was hard to hear myself yelling and swearing. I thought it was beautiful, but I knew it wasn't pretty. AHC: Your music is intensely personal, you've watered and toned nothing down as an artist, you bare down on the struggle with existence, and I think for those of us, myself included, who can recognize themselves in your work and music it is an intense relief to find that identification, to find in the music something that taps into and relieves our nervous energy. Has creating the music throughout the years played a similar role for you, has it become like a vessel to unpack or store nervous energy? Kristin: I've definitely got the nervous energy thing! And I've written songs that were like pages out of a diary - self expression? - but they weren't beautiful. They were baggage, unable to resonate with others at a deeper level. Didn't shake anyone's spine but my own, in other words. So I don't publish those. They seem to be part of a process which begins with housecleaning until you're empty enough to hear what the song has to say rather than what YOU have to say. Songs will always be smarter than me. They use that nervous energy but only to make their own point. AHC: What are your thoughts on the current state of music? The music world, whatever that is? Are there bands out there that you feel have something important to say or does it all seem like a lot of derivative, superficial noise? Kristin: The music that is happening on the down low will always be the real music. In garages, basements and bedrooms. No corporation will engage on that level, which ensures that it remains good, honest work. AHC: What do you feel your impact on the music world has been? On music period? How do you measure success, for yourself and on your own terms, in a world that so badly skews the barometer and the way we measure the worth and value of what we do and create? Kristin: Success is in the next song coming into its body with its rawness intact. A seed of inspiration will always be on its way to developing layers, but those layers don't have to lie. And neither do we. If we keep telling the truth, no one will suffer. If that means we have day jobs to support our music habit, then so much the better. That'll keep us living real lives we can feel, no safety nets, like money or selfishness, no numb. Anyone who tries to do something different, i.e., style over substance, working for money or ego, will then appear one dimensional. Which is what they're putting out. AHC: What is life on the road like when you're on tour? How do you decompress and find your center when the road takes its toll? Kristin: Actually, by playing. And by coming to each interview with a healthy respect for the journalist, radio host, etc. And the hotel maids and tv makeup artists, the intern who gets you coffee in the waiting room. I say I'm not a people person because I'm shy, but people are truly amazing. Most of them ;) AHC: Do you have any words of advice for young musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are trying to find their voice and their way in this world? Kristin: Don't suck. Nothing else matters. AHC: Do you have any new projects in motion you'd like to tell people about? Kristin: 50 Foot Wave just put our their "Bath White" release and Throwing Muses is in the studio with Mudrock, the noise rock producer in LA. Hopefully both bands will tour together again since only the drummer is different ;) There's a book of lyrics on its way through Omnibus and a tv series in early days of development...uh...I just signed a four book deal, so I guess I have to write four books (at least I THINK that's how it works). There's probably some other stuff going on, but I think it's time for somebody to tell me to just shut the f*** up fer chrissakes. For more visit www.kristinhersh.com/
1 Comment
8/19/2017 11:15:44 pm
Fantastic interview. It's so interesting to hear about Kristin's process of developing the sounds that began to echo in her mind into songs that had their own body and spoke to others too. I really resonated with her description of circumnavigating the usual channels to be able to make music her way. And Krait is just beautiful. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for her.
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