Tanya on The Wedge on Much Music September 12, 1997
( Submitted by Chad Merritt. Thanks Chad! :)
Interviewer is Sook-Yin Le.
Sook-Yin: Hi Tanya
Tanya: Hi
Sook-Yin: So, why dissolving the band and moving to a solo project?
Tanya: Uh, we sort of just imploded. It's a typical band story, musical differences, personality conflicts. (Smiles) All that good stuff.
Sook-Yin: That's unfortunate because that was the first group that you had attained a gold record's amount of mainstream status.
Tanya: Yeah, I know....it is too bad, but bands have different lifespans...ours was unfortunately short.
Sook-Yin: So it's like you didn't feel the pressure to hang on to this thing. Like you know how some bands really hang on to something even though it's not happening within the dynamic of the group?
Tanya: There was that pressure but we really couldn't continue, it would've been so damaging.
Sook-Yin: So, how is this project different then? Did you orchestrate most of the songs; most of the pieces?
Tanya: Yeah, it's different in that I use a variety of musicians this time, a variety of instruments, you know. I arranged most of it, I wrote most of it... well, I wrote all of it, but like I worked with strings and stuff like that for the first time, which was really interesting.
Sook-Yin: I can't help but sort of parallel the growth of both you and Kristin (Hersh), she's going off and doing solo albums as well. Your solo album still sounds very much like a band, it's not so much like when you think of solo it's like a person by themself. It's still like you're working within a whole band concept, are you still partial to working with groups of people?
Tanya: Um, yeah....for me the word "solo" doesn't necessarily mean alone. I'm still surrounded by musicians who contribute, and I enjoy the input of other people. It keeps you from being too self indulgent, and um, other people's sparks are really important to me.
Sook-Yin: Yeah.....and Fort Apache...you're originally from Boston?
Tanya:: I'm originally from Rhode Island, which is right nearby.
Sook-Yin: Umhmm, so this is like a peer group for you from the early days up till now. So are you incorporating a lot of the musicians from the area?
Tanya: Yep, old friends.
Sook-Yin: So after having been through a lot of the stuff, are those people constant; consistent, or do you find yourself returning to them?
Tanya: Um, I don't backtrack usually. I did use David Narcizzo, and he's actually going to be touring with me; he was in Throwing Muses. Um, but usually I don't go backwards, that's kinda the only instance I think.
Sook-Yin: And Lovesongs For Underdogs...Is it easier to have an affinity for underdogs than say the top dog?
Tanya: Oh sure, yeah, I think it's easier for everybody to relate to.
Sook-Yin: And the album lyrically, although you've always sorta written in that kind of abstract way, it feels much more sort of focused, and you're able to, even though it's still very poetically written, you're still able to sense those vulnerabilities.
Tanya: Yeah
Sook-Yin: You repeat a line that says, "Everything I've ever learned is wrong", and it repeats again sort of in another song, in different formation....Do you have regrets? Do you feel like what you've learned through life is wrong?
Tanya: No, it's more of a process of deconstruction that I'm going through right now, of breaking down ideas that I've held on to as being true, when I'm starting to realize that certain things....
Sook-Yin: What sort of ideas?
Tanya: Just the way music should be worked, the way relationships progress, things that I've always held on to as being trueisms, aren't necessarily true. That's sort of what that (the line mentioned above) refers to. I've had a chaotic couple of years, and I've learned to embrace chaos instead of fight it.
Sook-Yin: It was interesting too to see that you're writing lovesongs and you're married, and I'm wondering are you basing these lovesongs on your marriage, or can you in fact fall in love with other people while still being married?
Tanya: WOW! Oh God this is funny territory. First of all, not all the songs on here are lovesongs; in fact, the title is sort of ironic in some ways. Um, I think it's possible....I mean, I'm in love with my husband, which does not mean that every song of mine that comes across as a lovesong is about him. Um, because I don't write purely from my own experience, sometimes I'm moved by concepts, and it feels like being in love. So, I can write a lovesong that's not necessarily drawing from my own experience.