Rock comes in all sounds and styles these days which makes the
scene so much more exciting. Alannah Myles took the world by storm with
her HUGE hit single "Black Velvet" but is also known by some for having a
great collection of other music too. We were fortunate enough to find a
window of opportunity within Alannah's busy schedule to ask her some
questions about her career up to this point. The answers will provide a
lot of insight and are so honest that it's a real treat to read. Not
only will you discover what is about to unfold but also read about the
path that has been taken. Ladies and gentlemen, we share with you a
Q&A with the Canadian singer/songwriter Alannah Myles...
GARY: Who or what was your inspiration that made you start singing?
ALANNAH: I
knew when I was very young that I would one day be a singer. I used to
dream and envision myself performing in front of a massive audience.
When denied piano lessons, I picked up my mother's Espania nylon
stringed classical guitar and taught myself basic chords but I found it
difficult to learn how to play other musician's songs so I started
writing my own.
GARY: From the point you started singing
and trying your hand at songwriting to the point of your debut album
being released, what was the journey like?
ALANNAH: Extremely
long, filled with endless rejections, even after spending all the money I
ever made on demos. I knew that if I wanted the world to pay attention
to my music I was going to have to find the right kind of help to
producing it myself. Most would have given up on their dreams with the
amount of ridicule and humbling I faced as a woman in Canada but nothing
could deter me from my goal. My success came from sheer determination
and unfathomable hard work and effort.
GARY: Despite recording many
good songs, "Black Velvet" remains the song that you're known for. What
are your feelings and thoughts about that song now that nearly 24 years
have passed?
ALANNAH: 23 years, but whose counting? It'll be 24 in
2014. We knew Black Velvet we had something eerily extraordinary when
recording it in the studio but never in my wildest dreams could I have
expected the classic, evergreen hit it was to become. I've been very
blessed indeed.
GARY: Your self-titled debut album is
a good album, what was it like recording that album and what did you
learn during the process?
ALANNAH: The work
necessary to create my debut album was none other than recording an
entire ten albums worth. It may have taken around 500 takes to
accomplish the spontaneous sounding vocal for "Love Is", maybe 250 takes
for "Black Velvet" whereas the recorded vocal for "Rock This Joint" was
the first and only time it was sung with the lyrics taped to the
microphone stand as I belted it out. There is no rhyme or reason as to
why, other than I was meant to sing until each track sounded like the
first . Only that I knew how hard I had to push myself to compete with
other artists whose music dominated radio.
ALANNAH continues: In answer to your question, during
the whole recording process, what didn't I learn? It set the blueprints
for success.
GARY: How did the success of your debut album influence decisions and vibes for the second studio album "Rockinghorse"?
ALANNAH: It would take an entire chapter to answer but I
will do my best to describe it in brief. Firstly, by 1990 after 18
solid months of non-stop touring I was a physical and emotional wreck,
shooting a total of 5 videos whole cris crossing the Atlantic to promote
it to the point of becoming a household name in my mother country as
well as a few others along the way. Then moving to Los Angeles and
trying to find my bearings after buying a horse in Toronto that I flew
back once a month to ride for a week while writing songs with my
collaborators and recording my second "Rockinghorse" CD in countless
studios in L.A. for another 18 months. Mine was a rags to riches story
and suddenly everything I did (or said) seemed to matter where, prior to
my phenomenal global success as an artist, I was rather insignificant.
ALANNAH: There were many learning curves. I was plagued by
heartbreak from an ill fated, long distance relationship but we managed
to hire just the right people and were pushed harder than we had been
during the first five years it took to record my first. It was a never
ending battle trying to meet the demands of the record company by
condensing the process into 18 months. I smoked a lot of MaryJane in
order to stay focused. It helped to keep me in good spirits and to evade
the distractions that come with instant fame. There was little balance
(if any) in my life by 1992. My whole world had been turned completely
upside down. Life at that time had become more of an acting job. The
outside pressure to deliver was a constant mood kill.
GARY: What was it like being Alannah Myles when you were recording the 1995 album "A-lan-nah"?
ALANNAH: Around
1994 I began working with manager Miles Copeland who had originally
brought me to London to write songs and invited me to songwriting
retreat at his castle in France. He urged me to take advantage of the
touring I'd done by recording a live off the floor studio record at
Metalworks in Toronto, Canada. I tried to find time to ride my horse in
the mornings before driving 40 miles to the studio each day but the
producer seemed bent on foiling anything that might engage me in any
activity besides recording. I was completely stressed out, unable to get
away in order to mull over the work and became ill with a head cold
while having to record all my vocals. Strangely enough, my voice was
better able to handle all the R&B styled vocals from the excessive
phlegm but Man, did I suffer for my art! We wound up mixing and
mastering at the producer's choice of facility in Los Angeles.
Subsequently, though I believe "A Lan Nah" is a stellar recording for a
live album, it was very expensive and I hated the way the mastering of
the record sounded. I now wished we'd remastered somewhere else to give
the album the production it deserved or hired a qualified mixing
engineer to mix instead of the producer who was equally as stressed as
I.
GARY: The
song "Bad 4 You" is really cool, co-written by Eric Bazillian
and Desmond Child. How did such a songwriting collaboration come to be
and what was it like working with those guys?
ALANNAH: Thank you. Everyone who hears "Bad 4 You" asks
why did it not become a top ten hit? I attended another of Miles
Copeland's Songwriting retreats in France where we wrote and recorded
"Bad 4 You" in the Church Chapel of his stunning nine towered castle.
The idea came from Desmond Child who held a little cassette recorder to
his mouth while humming out the melody. It was after collaborating on
the lyric when feathers began to fly. I did not wish to be depicted as
merely Bad for anybody, the song needed to express a more complex, softer side. When asking for this to
be depicted in a two line Beatles-styled bridge saying how Good I was,
"I'm bad for you.... and that's good" came. Instead of sharing musical
ideas as I had grown accustomed to doing in my sessions I was instead
accused by Mr. Child's of being "a one hit wonder" to which I deftly
responded with, "I'd prefer to have succeeded in having one blockbuster
hit that no one could forget than a string of hits no one would
remember", kissed the side of his cheek, got up and walked out of the
tower leaving dear, sweet, classy and disgusted (with the treatment I'd
been subjected to for having a collaborative opinion) Mr. Bazillian to
honour my request with writing precisely what I'd asked for.
GARY: In 1997
you released a single called "What Are We Waiting For?" from the movie
soundtrack to "Prince Valiant" where you collaborated with
Zucchero. What brought about such a meeting of talents?
ALANNAH: I'd met Zucchero at that same songwriting
retreat in France where Miles Copeland could see how well our voices
blended and how easy it was for us to open our mouths and sing pretty
much anything together What can I say, if only the movie soundtrack
were for the Titanic?
GARY: Your latest and
greatest release thus far is called "Black Velvet" which incorporates a
modern production value. Who or what prompted the idea to re-record the
song "Black Velvet" and to put together the 2008 album?
ALANNAH: How kind of you to say. My last 'Black Velvet' CD has not
yet received much acclaim because it was released on a Canadian Indie
label without the funds (or media contacts) to facilitate the demands of
an artist with an international fan base. Had the CD been released by a
major label there's no telling what the outcome may have been. Had more
people in the world learned of my "comeback" there may have been an
entirely different story to tell. I believe it is my best studio
recording to date and do not feel it is over. I am very proud of it and
am elated that everyone whose heard it says that it does not disappoint.
ALANNAH: Due to a re-record clause in my original contract with
Atlantic Records, I was prevented from legally recording Black Velvet
for twelve years after it's original release. So about twelve minutes
after the twelve years was up, I recut it. Most believe it to be a remix
of the original vocal, however was not. Believe what they will, legally
that could never have taken place.
GARY: How does the modern day Alannah Myles approach the music business these days and what can fans expect next?
ALANNAH: With
great disdain for all the auto-tuned vocals, lack of memorable melodies
or poetry or the dizzying amount of emphasis placed on fame and fortune
without content that seems to be the music industry today's
prerequisite for success. But with the same determination as I'd once
had when envisioning my childhood dream, I know this world is far from
finished with me yet. I still have my work cut out for me yet but plans
are being set in motion to help make my complete catalogue of music
readily available to my older fans and younger new ones. I have a nearly
completed autobiography for publication along with ten years worth of
'Songwriting Monday's' to choose from for a vintage-styled blues, pop,
rock album along the lines of Carol King's "Tapestry" with many new and
exciting tour dates in the works. In some ways, I've only just begun...
Many thanks naturally to Alannah who shares
some honest and sincere answers, plus a humble thank you to Christian
for the invaluable assistance. When thinking over the answers given here
and how obviously hard it is to really make anything of a music career,
it really goes to show that it's a long way to the top if you want to
Rock.
