What are your feelings on the Lilith Fair? Is it better in
concept than practice?

The Lilith Fair is a double-edged sword.  It was very important
in improving the visibility of women in music, which is helpful
for all of us who are trying to get noticed in this field, especially
since up until recently, you would so rarely hear a woman's
voice on a modern rock station.  But at the same time, the Lilith
Fair kind of ended up backfiring because so much of the music
was in a similar vein (much of it soft, folksy, and/or decidedly
female p.o.v.).  This ended up not only inadvertently stereotyping
women in music, but alienating the male portion of the
population.  Reports show that only about 25% of Lilith Fair
attendees were male.  Maybe it's because the guys feel
unwanted, like it's an all-girls club and they're not invited.  I
guess you could say that's it's only a reverse version of the
all-boys club that rock music has so often been, but
exclusiveness either way just doesn't seem right.  I'd like to see
a tour with a generous dose of both female and male performers.

How would you describe your music to someone who has
never heard it?

Alt-pop with a bit of rock thrown in.  Genre-crossing.  I'm the
kind of person who'll write a really acidic lyric, and pair it with
a deviously sweet melody. I like to think that my songs are
thought-provoking without being depressing. There's a kind of
determined hopefulness to my outlook.

Your songs really hit close to home now and then. Are they
all personal to you too? Is it hard to sing about such personal
things?

Each song describes an experience or observation from my life.
It's great that a song can be personal to me in one way, and
personal to someone else in another way.  Writing a song can
help me get a bad experience out of my system.  Or, it can help
me commit a good experience to paper so I never forget it.  And
then when get into singing the song, it's actually kind of a rush,
having old emotions come back.

Your new demo sounds really good. How have you matured
musically over the past couple years?

Thanks!  Well, it's certainly been the school of hard knocks.
When I went to make my first demo, I was only 18, and I didn't
know anything about what a demo was expected to sound like.
All I knew is I had some songs, which consisted of my vocals
and a bunch of midi tracks, and I wanted to get them on tape.
What I did with the new CD is I took the feedback people gave
me on the old tape, and I used that information to approach the
making of a more polished, higher-quality demo on the same
budget as the last one.  I've also learned to be more comfortable
with my singing.  When I recorded the first demo, I was really
shy about my voice.  I've become a lot less shy over these past
two years, that's for sure... musically and just in general.  It
comes from doing my own promotion.  I couldn't stay in my
shell and promote myself successfully at the same time.

Do you feel it's harder to get recognition because of your
gender?

I'm very happy to say that's not the case, at least as far as I
know.  If anything, I'd say it's good to be a woman in music
right now, because there is such a network out there of people
who support female artists.  We don't have the same
disadvantages that we did a few years ago when rock or
alternative was such a male-dominated domain.

What's in your cd player (tape deck, turntable, 8-track, etc.)
right now?

The Beastie Boys' “Hello Nasty”, the Smashing Pumpkins'
“Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”, and Space Ghost's
“Musical Bar-B-Que”.  Wow, I sound pretty demented, don't I.

Your new demo also has some of the best artwork I've ever
seen. What was your inspiration for it?

Thanks again...  *blush*.  Actually, the main photo of me was
taken on Halloween a year ago; I particularly liked the angle of
the picture and the lighting.  I edited the photo to enhance the
lighting so it appears to almost be radiating, like in an old
illuminated painting.  I thought that effect would fit well with
my medieval look in the photo.  And the background comes
from an idea I had... that you could scratch away the darkness
and find something vibrant just below the surface.