My Just So Story

Taken from my "Soundclick" interview:

I am a one-woman band influenced by artists like Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Nick Cave. I generally play music that challenges the ear, but also has a more traditional, comfortable feel to it. Kind of like being wrapped in a down quilt by a warm fire in your childhood home while your parents scream and curse at each other in the background.

Why this name?
I fell into a musical coma from 18-28 and opera was the first form of music to wake me up. This album is also an opera: My story put to music. It's abstract in the same way I am.

Do you play live?
As of right now this is strictly a recorded venture. My intention is to put a band together soon, though.

How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?
It doesn't, everything is the same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same as it ever was...no, actually, it gives people a huge opportunity to take charge of their own careers and voices, and the more people who take advantage of this opportunity, the more opportunity will be created for artists outside of the mainstream industry beastie.

Would you sign a record contract with a major label?
Sell my soul for rock n' roll?

My gut tells me absolutely not.

My mother tells me, "What's wrong with making money and being successful and famous?"

Confucious say, "He who refuses to sign record deal with major label is not being offered record deal with major label."

Music is my passion and the last thing I'm looking for is a way to kill it. I'm not hungry for mainstream success. I would like the opportunity to share what I do with as many people as I can, yes, but on my terms. I don't need to be rich or selling out stadiums or #1 on the charts to be happy. I just need to feel like I've created something unique that I can feel proud of and will live on when I'm gone.

Your influences?
Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Neutral Milk Hotel, Nick Cave, The Decemberists, Bob Dylan, Belle & Sebastian, Joanna Newsom, Bjork, Iron & Wine, Songs:Ohia, Pink Floyd, Sigur Ros, Low, Pixies, David Bowie, Catherine Wheel, Velvet Underground, Tindersticks, Wolf Eyes, Black Dice, Merzbow, drones, clicks, pops, trains, planes and automobills (sic)...

Equipment used:
Electronic piano, fender strat, Casio, voice, computer (and all that implies), ben wa balls, alarm clock, and one-sided phone conversations...pour into Acid and mix...

For fans of:
Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, The Decemberists, Joanna Newsom, Bob Dylan, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bjork, Nick Cave, Iron & Wine, Songs:Ohia, Sigur Ros, Antony & the Johnsons, Jesca Hoop, Richard Swift, Regina Spektor

***

Hi, my name is Edie. I was born in Washington D.C. on May 9, 1973. For the next 8 1/2 years I lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, until my parents decided to move my younger brother and I to a small suburb in southwest Florida called Port Charlotte. I spent the next 21 years around the same general area, moving as far south as Fort Lauderdale and as far north as Orlando. I spent 8 years of that time as a married woman, and took back my name by the time I was 25.

Florida and I have never agreed with each other. It says "sit still" while the world moves around it. It is where people retire and resign. It is humid, it is flat, it is losing hair and teeth and not looking back.

So after 21 years of sitting still, I moved. As a musician and live concert lover, my desire was to live somewhere with an active music scene, and Los Angeles not only had the amazing concerts I was craving, it reminded me of Orlando in some respects, and gave me the homey feeling I wasn't getting from places like NYC or San Francisco - as amazing as those places are, and as much as I would still consider living in them one day.