What role did Music play in your childhood?
Well, my mom made me play violin, I hated it because my teachers where mean…but I’m SO incredibly thankful that I had the lessons for so long; the method that I learned with taught me to play by ear before learning to read sheet music so I think that greatly contributed to having a knack for creating melodies and listening.
You started when you were 17 years old under the name “The Dragon Queen” what were your goals and ideals at that time and how do you look back on it now?
HA! Goals! I was a teenage disaster, all I wanted was to make music and not care about anything else. I was severely destructive to my body and destructive to my relationships with people. Looking back on it now I feel sad about some things, but also know that our experiences make us who we are, and I like who I am now.
What was for you the turning point in this?
A lot happened. When I left Trance To The Sun it was rough, I didn’t leave on very good terms, I had a lot of emotional problems and was doing a lot of drugs, I was just messed up, a lot of it I don’t even remember, it's very hazy to me now.
I went to San Francisco with no money. I lived in tiny storage space and worked different part time jobs trying to pay for it, it had a toilet and a sink and enough room for my keyboard and a sleeping bag. I had to shower at other peoples houses and I ended up really depressed and doing drugs with people on the street, I got in some shady situations that I was lucky to get out of.
I did have some good friends there that lived together, I stayed with them often, we where all very close, but things changed and we all grew apart, it was sad because they had been my friends from years before in my home town; I guess growing apart is something that happens naturally though, it was bound to happen one way or another.
I never once called home to ask for money or help, I was too proud and didn’t want to hear anyone tell me “I told you so”. One year I told my mom over the phone that I wanted to leave San Francisco, so she offered to buy me a plane ticket to anywhere for a Christmas present, so I chose to go to Minneapolis.
I had a friend in Minneapolis, Amy Lord, she let me stay with her until I found a job and an apartment, it took less than a month to acquire both…I got so incredibly lucky. I stopped using drugs but I became very ill, I was sick for over a year with no health insurance, it was bad. Then I found out that my dad was dying, he had not spoken to me in years and I wanted some closure. I took a bus to go see him before he died, but he didn’t want me there, it was pretty awful and I harbored that anger and sadness for a long time.
I guess I see all of that as my “previous life” it was like a train going faster and faster out of control and then just totally smashing into bits. All I could do was try to change and try to make it all stop hurting.
I worked hard to become physically and mentally healthy, I let myself grieve and learned to let go of all the bullshit as best as I could. Once I was able to do all of that I finally started to feel beautiful and confident. I think being able to finally like myself as a person allowed me to fall in love with Oni, he completely understands me and we have a very supportive and loving relationship. Oni is wonderful and treats me like a queen, I adore him.
Compared to your own projects, can we say that the visual part of it is also important, do you want to make a statement with this or is it all about entertainment?
I think it's a little of both really, visual stimulation is entertaining and can invoke emotions.
For me, personally, playing a live solo electronic act requires a lot of attention to not just your sound but what you are able to offer your audience visually. For me to play live solo electronic music I prefer very particular stage aesthetics and lighting, something to set the mood properly. I just have a difficult time fitting that attention and work into my already demanding schedule, so playing live has been on the back burner.
You replaced Zoë as vocalist in the band “Trance to the Sun”, was it hard to replace a singer.
No, because I didn’t see myself as a “replacement”, I was more so a “new voice” or “new feature”. The music that Ash and I did together was very different from what he had been doing with Zoë for so long, at one point we had even briefly considered not using the name "Trance To The Sun" because our music was so different from what he had been doing with Zoë, that thought dissolved quickly as we came to conclusion that all bands transform and change, so there was no reason for Ash to loose the band name that he worked so hard for.
This period must have been a great learning experience, what are the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Yes, I certainly learned many lessons, but a big one was to never take for granted the kindness and support of strangers…kind supporters are the lifeline of any independent artist. And I learned to cherish and appreciate my true friends, because they are hard to come by.
You left “Trance to the Sun” to focus on Scarlet Slipping, at what time did you start with Scarlet Slipping, what can you tell about the early Scarlet Slipping days?
Well, as we talked about before I had been performing in 1995 & 1996 as “The Dragon Queen” this was my band name when I meet Ash. It was a collection of my music that you will find on “Tragedy In A Lions Den”, when I performed live I worked with stage performers, it was an act in a way. When I was invited to be the vocalist for Trance To The Sun I knew I would be moving away from all of these friends that performed with me, so I reinvented the live performance and changed the name of my project; I made an effort to “tone it down” and refine myself a bit.
If a story is big enough to make it your band name, it must have its influences on more aspects, perhaps music but maybe even your view on life and people?
Oh, you're going to try to squeeze that answer from me now! Well, what I will say is that is was a disturbing self image that prompted the name.
So far you released 4 albums, what progress did you make when you compare your debut album (Fire in the Mist) to your latest album “Hound”?
Major changes…I was very reserved during the making of Fire In The Mist, I was still in a learning curve for recording and mixing, I was also very depressed and unhappy; I think that might be slightly apparent within the album.
By the time I got to Hound I had reached appoint in my life where I had finally tapped into some more spiritual and sexual assurances with myself and I was able to funnel some of that into Hound.
The energy between the 2 albums is very different;
Fire In The Mist has elements of dark and light while maintaining a feel of vulnerability and innocence; it also features more flowing orchestral instrumentations.
Hound also features the dueling light and dark aspects while projecting more cunning and predatory emotions, the instrumentation is more synthetic based and synth driven opposed to the orchestral qualities of Fire in the Mist.
I actually spent 1 year recording Hound in a similar fashion to Fire In The Mist, then decided to scrap it and I started all over, I used the same compositions I had written, just changed the approach as I wanted to try a more mechanical and minimalistic aura. On an engineering level it was a learning experience as my methods changed. I plan to release the original versions of the Hound tracks as a “B sides” album.
Do you consider yourself to be a spiritual person; in what way does it show in your life? Also I think to be a balanced person you need to acknowledge both your darker as lighter sides of your life. Do you agree on this?
Yes, I consider myself a spiritual person, but not in a religious sense. I feel connected to life, death and the earth in spiritual ways.
And yes I agree with you when you say "to be a balanced person you need to acknowledge both your darker as lighter sides of your life"; it is my opinion that you must embrace all facets of yourself before you can be true to yourself and others.
Scarlet Slipping is a solo project, why did you choose to have a solo project instead of adding other members?
I don’t think that would work well for me at all, Scarlet Slipping is a piece me that I’m not really ready to expose to other influences.
However, I love working with other artists. I have done a bit of work with another Shinto Records band “Phantoms Of The SS”, I did some guest vocals for the track "The Sheltering Sky", it is featured on the Sin-Tech compilation. I plan to do more work with Phantoms Of The SS.
How does the world of Scarlet Slipping look like?
Full of ghosts, cocktails, dark rooms and occasional trips to the black lodge...where we dance backwards.
Your music has a lot of duality in it, on one hand it’s beautiful and angelic while on the other hand it’s dark and haunted, do you mix those on purpose or is it something that just happens, are both sides also to be seen in your character?
It is certainly something that I do on purpose; it is the best way for me to represent the way I really am and they I really feel. I have a dark side to me, I struggle with anxiety and depression but I work hard to stay positive and to be a loving friend to special people in my life. This music is a way for me to express the beauty and the beast, so to speak.
How is the music of Scarlet Slipping created in generally?
It’s a methodical process. I generally start with drum machine programming, then write several layered keyboard parts, and then I add my vocals and layer everything together. I don't use computer programs like most musicians seem to do now, I don't even know how, ha! It's all machines & keyboards connected with analog cables, I love it.
You are also the label president of Shinto Records, why did you start your own label?
I started Shinto Records with my fiancé; Oni. It was something that he really wanted to do; we would talk about it quite passionately and often. Every weekend we take a walk to the natural foods market to pick up something for breakfast…we would have these very energetic conversations about how nice it would be to be able to promote other independent artists since we where already working to promote our own projects. During one of those weekend walks back to our apartment we just basically said “oh, we’ve been talking about this far to long, lets get started!”
We have both been writing, recording and independently promoting our own music for over 10 years, it just made sense to create a community out of it.
All of the artists that we work with are wonderful and we are so happy to have our little family of musicians – there is a real sense of camaraderie and respect within Shinto Records, we’re proud of that and thankful for it.
How would you describe Shinto Records as a label, can you give a label profile?
Well, our motto is “Dedicated To Digging Up The Underground”. We seek and work to assist independent artists in the darkwave, gothic, industrial and dark experimental underground. We currently have an artist roster of 18 bands.
We also started organizing some genre themed compilations to feature more bands that are not on our normal roster.
Our first compilation that was released in October 2008 was the Sin-Tech album featuring 16 previously unreleased exclusive tracks from and eclectic group of some well known bands as well as an amazing group of "new" artists. Sin-Tech is a mix of Industrial, Synthpop, Darkwave and Dark Experimental – for a first compilation we thought this eclectic mix would be an excellent expression of the spirit of Shinto Records, we’re quite pleased with the outcome of that album, it’s really a fantastic mix of artists.
Another part of our function is "Shinto Radio"; we play a lot of “classics” and also a lot of underground music. Sometimes bands send us music to play on our radio station (which by the way has recently been replaced by podcasts), we happily accept any music submitted that fits in well with our radio mixes. We do what we can with a tight and modest budget.
I work fulltime for a home health care agency, stressful yucky accounting and billing stuff. I schedule my time for Shinto Records…I need to take breaks and curl up with a book or a movie for a bit or I will go crazy working all of the time.
So if I’m not working I'm either watching movies, cooking or reading. I love horror and vampire movies, I love sci-fi books and I am a dedicated vegan that loves to cook!
As for Oni, he also works full time like me, but he’s constantly working on something (I give him a hard time about it.) I have to lure him away from his desk to take a break once in a while.
Any last words for the readers?
Yes, Please come visit Shinto Records, we have audio clips on all of the artist’s pages so you can listen to stuff, we also have Podcast radio on our website, come check it out. Thank You Cyber Angels for this opportunity to share!
Links:
Scarlet Slipping Website
www.scarletslipping.com
Scarlet Slipping on myspace
www.myspace.com/scarletslipping666
Shinto Records
www.sin-tech.org
Shinto Records on myspace
www.myspace.com/shintorecords