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Sarah Greene

Greene: I come from a very musical family with a lot of background in classical and jazz; my father was a lounge jazz musician. Music was always part of my life; the study of music was always a big deal when I was a kid, and ever since, this was something I knew how to do very instinctively at a very early age. I would pick any opportunity I could to be in a situation where I could do some singing, whether it was choir in school or doing a competition; I was really active in music while I was in school. My teacher wanted me to try to get into Berkeley, and he worked with me basically during my senior year, helping me prepare for my audition and helping to prepare me for some of the things that I would be dealing with at that school, so he was teaching me music theory and trying to help get to the next level of my musical study. I went to Berkeley and really soaked up that atmosphere, and I really loved it a lot. I loved the fact that it wasn't just a classically-oriented school; you took classes, and you'd be studying rock music, you'd be studying metal, jazz, salsa...and every possible genre was getting discussed and analyzed. I really enjoyed that a lot. For about two years, I was really into jazz, I was crazy into jazz! Then I moved back out of that and started getting more into rock, and it's pretty much been rock and alternative rock ever since. I graduated from school and I wanted to work in the business, so I pursued getting a music business degree. It was to keep involved in music, but to sort of look at it as ways to promote and protect artists that I really like and who I can get behind and support. I worked for an artist management company, and I remember my boss had said to me, 'Why aren't you doing that? Why are you managing other people?' And I think I responded, 'Well, I felt like I could easily fight for other people, but I couldn't fight for myself,' and that was the thinking behind that. I think over the years, I would dabble in bands, so in my work time I would try to make a living, and in my free time, that's when I would play in bands and play with musicians. I literally only got into songwriting in the last five or six years, because I was pretty much just a singer and a piano player for a very long time. I just started playing around with ideas when I'd be playing on a Friday night, and I'd think, 'Hmm, this sounds really good to me. I don't know, but it sounds good to me.' And then I'd play for other people, and they'd say, 'There is something there, you should keep going.' It was around this time that I met Sin Quirin, and he was into what I was doing and I was into what he was doing. At the time, he was coming up, around 12 or 13 years ago, and he was in a cover band, and I knew he could play really well. He could play guitar, he could play keyboards, he could play bass, he could play anything. And he was getting paid for stuff, and I'd listen to it and just be blown away by how good it was. We started working on stuff together, passing tapes back and forth, and then he sort of hit the big time with Ministry and the Revolting Cocks and I got to hear about his experiences on the road, and he would tell me, 'You've really got to keep working on this to be sure that you've got a really solid album. Keep hammering away at the songs, and keep making sure that they're the best possible songs that they can be.' I was working with a lyricist, which I think is one of the best moves I could have made. Sin brings this whole craft to the songwriting table that I think wasn't quite there before. The lyricist would add contributions; it was mostly an afterthought to me for a long time, and then to work with somebody who that was the only thing that person would do – not the singer, not a musician, just writing lyrics – it was really interesting how it brought everything to a whole new level with the songs and the storytelling aspects to the songs, which I really enjoy.

You've known Sin Quirin, as you've mentioned, for a number of years, so you two had that history going into the production of the album.

Greene: Yeah, absolutely! Every time he would be in my neck of the woods while he was on tour, I would visit him and play him stuff that I'd been working on, and he'd say, 'Yeah, that's really cool, keep working on that one,' or 'I don't like that one,' or 'Why don't you try a minor key with that song?' So a couple of the songs took a very long time to develop; some of them are 10 or 11 years old!

As far as the development of the album, you have yet to physically release the album. What is the purpose for that? Does it have to do with finding an equitable distribution deal?

Greene: I think the goal is to actually get on a major label, and we're trying to build a good package for that. I've got this unbelievable artist team called the Hayes Brothers out of New York, and they did my photo shoot, and they're working on my Web site. They designed my logo, they designed my tattoos; they are absolutely incredible artists in every way. They mostly do graphic design, but they do a lot of painting and drawing, they're working on a graphic novel, they're in galleries, and they're unbelievable photographers. They're these twin brothers from England, and they are really amazingly talented. I'm just really excited to work with them, and they're helping me to build the brand around my name and the music itself, and they've really tapped into the visceral qualities of all of this, and it's really fun to watch all of this come to life.

As far as your musical influences go, it's interesting that you mentioned your father being a lounge musician, and your own music could be called trip-hop. Considering the degree to which jazz and lounge can play into trip-hop, how much of your father's influence or that of any of your family members directly played a part in the development of the album?

Greene: I think the chord progressions are really based on the influences that my father brings. He was a hippie, and the songs he wrote were very folk, and very much inspired by Bob Dylan, The Eagles, The Allman Brothers, and they all had that quality to them. He definitely brought that '60s and '70s sensibility to songwriting to my ears at a very early age. I still to this day listen to music and think, 'This is something my dad listens to.' Our tastes collide a lot. I think Berkeley was more about going deep into the texture of music. A lot of people assume that when you go to music school, you come out playing too much or you over-think music, and I honestly don't think that's what I ended up doing. I ended up learning enough to not have to think about music and to really go deep into the texture of it to hear all the different tones and sounds and contrasts. I think that's what I love most about trip-hop; these layers, these incredible contrasting layers with these driving hip-hop grooves with these ethereal vocals or these really transcendent paths that layer on top of it, and I love how that all works off of each other. I think that's just from growing up in the '90s, because there was a lot of great music from the '90s, and that's definitely where that comes from.

As far as Sin's production, since he's better known for his rock and industrial metal background, switching to the lighter tones of trip-hop was quite a switch for him in terms of the public perception. What would you say that he brought to the table in terms of what his skill set brought to your music?

Greene: I think his greatest talent is not really at all what he is known for, and that is that he has incredible taste. He knows when just enough is enough, he knows when too much is too much; he has this incredible palette of ideas when it comes to electronic music. It's not just industrial and it's not just electronica. If you ask him what he's listening to, it could be anything from Crystal Method to a song by Pink, and he has this broad range of tastes. He just likes really high quality, talented, talent-driven music. He brought that further sensibility to me, and he was able to cherry-pick for me. Any given song I left with him on any given day for any given reason, it would help to have somebody there to say, 'Try going in this direction,' and so he was really almost like a conductor, and he guided me through a lot of that. He also has an incredible ear! He was able to listen to me in a way that nobody I've ever worked with could. He could hear whenever my voice would crack or when I would try to reach for a note and not quite make it, he would say, 'Cut, try it again, it's not quite there yet,' and I and other people in the room would be like, 'How did he even hear that?' That's the way he is. He gets all into a song when he's working on it, and he shuts everything else out and is hyper-focused. It was really nice to work with him on that level, not just because of this wonderful guitar playing that he does all over the record, but because of his ability to really listen to what the song really needs to express.

What other musicians were involved in the making of Season of the Demon, and to go even further, what other musicians have you worked with over the years that have had that profound an effect on the way you approach making your own music?

Greene: That's a good question. On the record itself, you pretty much have me, Sin and the production team of 13th Planet working on it, and that's about as far as the actual instrumentation and musicians on the record go. Over the years, I think I've come to know some notable musicians through the course of working in the industry, but it wasn't so much in terms of playing with them. I would say I've had these one-off, once in a lifetime situations of singing with so-and-so and such, including James Taylor, his brother Livingston Taylor, Patti La Belle, Aretha Franklin; you know, these things would pop up and I would be in the right place at the right time to either sing in the background group or sing a couple of tracks on their LPs, but it was nothing of real note. I would say that the most substantial musical relationship that I've had has been with Sin. Up until him, and even since him, it has mostly been somewhat fleeting experiences with people that I know and hang out with and jam, but it's not been anything where I've really felt like somebody was pushing me to my edge and getting me to my next level as an artist.

Aside from producing and releasing your record, what would you say has been the greatest musical, professional, or personal challenge that you've had to face in making your music?

Greene: I think it's the challenge that anyone who tries to do anything creative faces; it's my own resistance, and my own ability to stay focused on the creation and see it through to its completion without letting anything sidetrack you. There's a book called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I highly recommend it; it's a swift kick in the ass, and I think that some critics said that about the book. It just breaks down all of your excuses as to why you're not moving forward creatively, and oddly enough, any artists that are actually any good at what they do are never where they want to be creatively; they always want to get to the next place and are constantly trying to break down the learning that they've gotten and expand and transcend. The thing that tends to happen a lot is that people just let the distractions and the insecurities and whatever get in the way, and they won't just sit down at the drawing desk or at the typewriter and just do it. Even if it's shit that's coming out, you just have to keep hitting it. Really, everyday, at the same time everyday, keep hitting it and hitting it, and eventually you are going to strike oil. I thin during my teenage years and my 20s especially, I really kind of let that resistance run my life. I didn't get on top of it or control it. Now I'm getting to a place where I'm learning the power of really getting on top of it and how it really can make that muse work for you as opposed to fighting against you. I've definitely known my share of musicians who have become self-destructive because they let the muse kind of ruin their lives because they won't just do the work. Just sit down and hit it and keep things disciplined on it; it will destroy you if you don't do that. I definitely experienced that, and I think that's always been and always will be my biggest challenge to face.

With modern music being what it is and with your music harkening back to a style of trip-hop and pop that hasn't quite been as popular since the heyday of Morcheeba, Massive Attack, and even Tori Amos in the late '90s and the early part of this decade, what are your thoughts on the state of modern music and where do you see yourself fitting into it?

Greene: I think that there are certainly elements of those artists you've mentioned... I mean, their legacy is their influence over the world, not necessarily their notoriety. The Mezzanine album by Massive Attack will very likely go down in history as a highly influential album, so there is an influence on many artists that everybody knows. Most people may not know the Mezzanine album, but the artists that they know are familiar with the Mezzanine album. I think the same is true for Ministry and bands like Nine Inch Nails. People that are really into music know who these artists are. People who dabble in music, the artists that they love know this music. I think that's its place. I don't think that it needs necessarily to be for mass consumption in order for it to be successful and for it to have its relevance. The mass consumption game is a weird game to play, and there are definitely positives and minuses on both sides of that equation. I try not to think too much about it, mostly because it's allowed my resistance to play with me. I've started to ask, 'Well, who is going to buy this?' As relevant as that kind of question is, and I consider myself to be a professional musician, so I do have to think about my music in that kind of way, I do need to consider the fact that it must be genuine, as well. You've got to play both sides of that fight. I've had that fight with Sin, I've had that fight with myself, and I've had that fight with my team, and on one hand, I have to think, 'Who is going to buy this?' and then the next minute, I think, 'Fuck that, we're not selling out!' That's the game. It is something that definitely needs to be kept in balance. You look at artists like Danger Mouse and The Shins, there are artists that have crossed over from the underground into the mainstream without necessarily compromising themselves. I think that is possible. You just have to be strong to do so, and you have to be smart! I love popular music, I really do! There's a lot of stuff that most people would probably consider drivel, but I think as long as it's put into context, then it makes sense to me.

What is the next step for you now that Season of the Demon has been recorded and ready to be released, pending a distribution deal?

Greene: The next step is a fully cohesive media and brand-based project. All of the elements should come together, and the first shades of who I am and what my music is about will be finally available for public consumption, and it's a very intense process with a lot of teams coming together to make this happen. I know where my limits end, and I tend to be able to tax the limits of where other people end, so now I just have to coordinate a lot of different players and parts, and all of those parts are coming together, which is really exciting. It's going to be basically about launching the first entry into the music scene and to see how far we can go with it. Wish me luck!