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Rocker Sheds Her Skin on New Tour |
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By David Stout
Nothing proves this more than her latest release, Skin, which is at once the most adventurous and most introspective project she's ever produced. The album is a no-holds-barred account of Melissa's high-profile split from partner Julie Cypher following a relationship of 12 years and the birth of two kids, both carried by Cypher. Skin stands completely at odds with the teen pop, hip hop and rap/rock that dominates today's airwaves, but it sounds fully contemporary thanks to the judicious use of loops, samples and other digital manipulations -- a first for Melissa. Just before hitting the road for her current summer tour, Melissa took time out to talk with me about Skin, her new stage show and her post-breakup life. David Stout: Did you know that Skin would be as confessional as it is when you started writing it?
Melissa Etheridge: I started writing Skin even before I thought it would be an album -- I just started writing the songs and approaching them from a personal, confessional place. I did not approach it as a project and it was not until I had about five or six songs that I said, "Oh, this might be an album, something I can put out into the world and away from me."
David Stout: That first song that you sat down to write, did it make the album? Melissa Etheridge: Yeah, that was "Down To One." The first lines that I actually wrote were, "Now that I'm down to one, what went right, what went wrong?" That was the beginning. David Stout: Judged against your previous recordings, how difficult was it to make Skin? Melissa Etheridge: Well, it was a difficult time. Actually, the making of it was a wonderful experience so it wasn't the making of the album that was difficult, but the situations that were inspiring it. Did you ever say to yourself, "This track is too personal, I can't release this?" It's funny because it's not that the songs reveal too much, I have revealed what everyone knows. I have always revealed everything in my songs but people didn't know about it. And this was the first time that people knew, in a general sense, where I was coming from. David Stout: When did Julie first realize how emotionally raw the album would be with regards to your breakup and what was her response? Melissa Etheridge: [Laughs] Uhm, I don't recall her having a response. I mean, so much of my work had been so personal, she kind of just expected that from me. I don't think she was surprised because that's what I do. David Stout: Why the decision to create so much of the songs yourself?
Yeah, I really dig how the album sounds fleshed out and produced and full despite the decision to do a primarily one-woman-band project. It's also interesting that with it being -- I would say -- your most personal album, it's also the project that features the greatest utilization of digital technology. Do you think it's a coincidence? [Ponders for a moment] Uhm, no. I think the technology actually allows -- with my voice being so real and live and the acoustic guitar being so natural -- everything else to just be larger. And that's what I think happened. David Stout: When Skin was completed, how closely did it mirror your expectations from when you first decided to start a new album? Melissa Etheridge: Oh, completely different...and I didn't really have much expectation. I just knew I was starting on a journey and it would end up somewhere and I had to trust it would be a good place. After recording, when you sat down to hear it all played back that last time, what really surprised you about what you were hearing? Melissa Etheridge: What surprised me was when I looked and went, "Wait a minute, there's a sequence here. There's a sequence of beginning, middle and end." That surprised me. And when I put them in that order I thought, "Wow! This is a journey; this is a concept, I've never done that before." David Stout: How did you get Meg Ryan and Laura Dern on the record [singing background vocals on "Heal Me"]?
Melissa Etheridge: Yeah, how the heck did that happen? [Laughs] They're really good friends of mine and all three of us in the last few years have gone through hideous personal but very public experiences and we really bonded over that. And so they would come and listen while I was making this record and they especially responded to the song "Heal Me" because we were all in a very healing process at the time. So I was kind of like, "When are you two gonna come in to sing backup?" And they went, "Alright!" With today's technology [laughs] you can make anything sound great so they just came in and we had an hour of singing and laughing. It was just a releasing thing to do.
David Stout: When I listen to the tracks on Skin it seems like it would have been a painful experience for you to record the album, but it sounds now like it wasn't that at all. Melissa Etheridge: Recording, writing and putting it out was incredibly healing, incredibly therapeutic. So no, it was not a painful experience. The breaking and cracking and change that I was going through was just excruciating, but when I would go into the studio to do this it was a completely safe place. My producer does an impression of me running into the studio and closing the door behind me, "Whew, I'm safe." David Stout: Now that you're on tour with this material, how's it been performing these songs for people? Melissa Etheridge: Well, the first tour I did was right when it came out in the fall and that was the "Live and Alone" tour. And that was another learning experience. Getting out there all by myself and singing these songs has been once again very therapeutic. And getting the response and acceptance and huge amounts of love back from the audience was much needed. But for this tour, we're going out with the band and we're rocking and I'm only doing the last four songs on the record because I don't want to go to that place. I mean, I might throw in a song every now and again in the solo part of the show that I do, but I'm not...when I'm playing with the band it's a celebration. I'm playing "I Want To Be In Love" and "The Difference" and "Heal Me" and I'm really responding to that part of the album and I'm playing those songs whereas on the "Live and Alone" tour I played the first half of the album. David Stout: How long will this tour keep you on the road? How many dates do you have? Melissa Etheridge: I've got a billion dates but it's just June, July and August. That's it, just a little summer tour. David Stout: How are you balancing your parental responsibilities with your itinerant musician's life during the tour? Melissa Etheridge: It's very planned out in that [the kids] either come out with me or I come home. I see them every other week so we've routed it so that they come out or I come home.
Melissa Etheridge: I have moved since then, but I only moved a couple blocks away. We're still very close because it's important for the kids. [The first arrangement] was important for that year for the kids to be close -- we lived back-to-back. We shared a back yard and that was all good but I needed a larger house and a new slate. David Stout: Do you think there are any more kids in your future? Melissa Etheridge: [Laughs] Oh! You never know...maybe. David Stout: Artistically, what's next for you? Melissa Etheridge: I'm writing now. I've got these new songs and I've recorded a few. I think I'm gonna record all summer long and I imagine a new album coming out in the spring. I believe this Christmas there will be a live DVD of my solo tour. David Stout: What does the new material sound like as far as the tone? Melissa Etheridge: Oh, it is a fun, fun, rocking celebration and I'm glad to be there. David Stout: Finally, I can't let you get away without asking why you've never authorized a remix to get you in the clubs. Melissa Etheridge: It is so funny to be this gay icon and not have any dance mixes. That is just like a crime... It is weird, especially now that Sheryl Crow -- who I think is comparable to you in many ways -- has broken so big with her first foray into the clubs, "Soak Up the Sun." Everyone's like, "Where's Melissa?" I know. I go through this all the time. I go, "Come on guys, put a mix together and throw it into the clubs." I don't know whether it's cause I'm lazy and I don't want to go find out myself, but I just can't seem to get the right people to do it. I don't know what it is. Well, that's on the wish list for a lot of people so take it to whoever needs to hear it. Yeah, I'm definitely gonna do that. Concert Information Melissa Etheridge live! Ticketmaster Complete tour schedule: Fri, June 14, Bristow, VA Sun, June 16, Charlotte, NC Thu, June 20, Mansfield, MA Fri, June 21, Wantagh, NY Sat, June 22, Holmdel, NJ Fri, June 28, Clarkston, MI Sat, June 29, Cuyahoga Falls, OH Sun, June 30, Noblesville, IN Fri, July 5, Columbus, OH Sat, July 6, Tinley Park, IL Sun, July 7, Cincinnati, OH Thu, July 11, Camden, NJ Fri, July 12, Hershey, PA Sun, July 14, Saratoga Springs, NY Tue, July 30, Minneapolis, MN Wed, July 31, Milwaukee, WI Sat, August 3, Canandaigua, NY Sun, August 4, Pittsburgh, PA Thu, August 8, Bonner Springs, KS Fri, August 9, Dallas, TX Sat, August 10, Woodlands, TX Fri, August 16, Concord, CA Sun, August 18, Mesa, AZ Fri, August 30, Denver, CO Sun, September 1, George, WA Mon, September 2, Woodinville, WA |
Melissa Etheridge is that rare breed of musical artist who can write and record intensely personal material without becoming obnoxiously self-absorbed or completely sacrificing her commercial accessibility.
David Stout: In a previous interview you explained that after the split you and Julie moved next door to one another for the kids' sake. Is that still the situation?
