Interview with Unwoman

Unwoman

Who is Erica Mulkey?

I'm the real-life human behind the composer-performer Unwoman.

To what music did you listen as a kid?

I started listening to the radio and watching MTV at 6 years old, so it was the music that was popular in 1987 that first got me really interested in music. Madonna and Cyndi Lauper were by far my favorites, however.

Did they become a rolemodel because they are strong independent women or have another influence on you?

Oh, definitely they were rolemodels. Both of them had self-confidence that was really inspiring to young girls.

To what music do you listen these days?

My favorite albums recently have been by The Birthday Massacre (they're like sweet, sweet candy), Antony and the Johnsons, Neko Case, Tori Amos, Saul Williams, Nine Inch Nails...

You started playing Cello at a young age, what made you pick up that instrument?

I actually started on violin. But the sound was so screechy – it's an incredibly difficult instrument for beginners – and I envied my friends who play the cello, which sounded so lush in comparison. So I switched halfway through the school year, when I was nine, to cello.

made by Pat Mazzera

To me it seems Cello is still a difficult instrument, guess it takes hours of practice every week but you must have been frustrated as well sometimes and throw the cello in a corner or not?

Hahah, there's a Woody Allen movie where he throws his cello out a window, and I loved that scene when I was young. I always hated practicing exercises and scales. It does take a lot of dedication, and my parents had to prod me quite a bit at first, but a few years into it, once I was playing Bach suites, I didn't need nearly as much pushing because playing was a reward in itself. Though my teachers would still yell at me for not practicing scales.

When you wrote you first songs you were 13, what were your goals and dreams at that time?

I was inspired by Tori Amos to try my hand at writing songs as well as singing and playing piano at the same time. The first songs I wrote weren't great, but it was easy enough to do. My parents were always very realistic with me about how difficult it is to make a living doing music, but I wouldn't be dissuaded. I learned music theory and just kept writing and arranging other people's songs. A few years later, when I was 17, I'd amassed a decent collection of songs I'd written, and had also learned how to record and produce my own music in a basic way. I sent a demo tape to Projekt Records, and, it's hard to explain, but even though I didn't think I had much of a chance to be picked up by the label, which of course I wasn't, I was absolutely walking on air that day, because I knew my future would be full of music, no matter what.

Do you think it’s crucial for every musician to keep that dream alive to accomplish something and how did you kept it alive?

I don't know. Both what constitutes the dream and what you consider an accomplishment are so very personal. I have found it helpful to keep my goals reasonable, and never sacrifice my personal vision in the name of commercial success, but to me, a sense of true accomplishment rests in decent sales, and fan mail, so I'm certainly going for at least some kind of popular appeal, and it's impossible for me not to occasionally wish I was a superstar.

You started your soloproject “Unwoman” why did you start it and wouldn’t you rather be a part of a band?

I tried several times playing in a band I wasn't fronting, and I'd inevitably feel I wasn't getting closer to achieving my goals, of performing my songs, or at least having creative input. Playing in Rasputina was definitely different as the parts I played were challenging, interesting cello parts, and we were performing for big, loving audiences. But yes, when I first started, a solo project seemed the way to go, since I had the skills to record myself and I enjoyed working on music alone.

made by Daryl Darko

Please explain the name Unwoman?

It's taken from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. In that dystopian novel, the term "unwoman" is used to describe women who are infertile or unwilling to fit any of the roles for women that the government sanctions. My using it is both a pre-emptive reclaiming of the term, and also a statement that, as long as I perform under that name I am not a typical female pop singer, but rather I demand complete control over my performance and recording.

Are you personally feeling connected to gender issues and in what way?

Yes, certainly. I hear from a good deal of trans and gender-ambiguous folks that they connect to my music, which I find gratifying. My personal belief is that everyone has the right to be a woman one day and a man the next if it suits them. We're (American society) so obsessed with categorizing things and people in every way; anytime someone can stand up against the pressure to conform to man/woman/femme/butch/gay/straight etc., they're doing a brave thing, for everyone's benefit. But a girl who simply loves being girly, she has every right to rock that as well.

Your music is a combination of electronic music and cello, a pretty unique combination, why this combination?

It's all about making the fullest or best sound with instruments I can play. When I first started as Unwoman I was studying electronic music in college and having a lot of fun playing around, both with truly experimental music (eg. "Subsistence" on Knowledge Scars) and pop music. The experimental music was really fun to produce and taught me a lot about sonic creativity, but the pop songs were a bit more satisfying because they represent an opportunity to communicate so personally. Of course nothing I've done is truly pop; what I always end up with, and have to be satisfied with, is something between "normal" and "weird. But that reflects my personality pretty well so I shouldn't complain! Cello has become more and more important and now I basically consider it essential to all my songs.

You just released “Blossoms” how are the responses so far?

I've gotten a handful of great reviews, from fans and some publications, but I'm always disappointed by sales.

What is your audience, what people should listen to your music for sure?

So far I've probably gotten the best response from fans of Rasputina and the Dresden Dolls, even though I'm not "rock" at all and both those bands are. Unwoman has more similarities style-wise, perhaps, to Imogen Heap or Kate Bush, and I have a few very industrial-inspired tracks as well.

made by www.deviated.net

The cd artwork of “Blossoms” looks like an old vinyl ep, do you feel vinyl has to return and why this artwork?

No, I definitely don't think vinyl has to return. I do have a fondness for spinning actual records, but people are very convenience-minded these days. Actually, even CDs won't be around forever as no one really wants physical media anymore. I myself still buy CDs on occasion, but for most releases I'm quite happy with iTunes. I wanted people who bought the CD to get a beautiful, special package and not regret having bought a physical disc.

Like an old record, you have an A side and B side. The A side contains your electro/acoustic music while the b side is based on Edna St Vincent Millay’s works. What can you tell us about the album and how did you come up with the idea for the songs on the B-Side?

I started writing the Millay songs when I was wanting to have more material to play for just cello and voice, in case I want to just take my cello to a cafe and play some songs. Writing those was at times amazingly easy and at times painstaking, and I practiced them hundreds of times before arriving at the recording you hear on the album. The first half is more a similar style to what I've done before, because I had been really working on both those songs and the Edna pieces. I didn't want to release two separate EPs because I want people to listen to both halves even if they prefer one style, plus it's very reasonably priced.

What progress did you make when you compare the album to the previous ones?

I believe I made a lot of progress in mixing, in using Reason instruments, processing vocals, and in composing, especially for cello. I always feel when I'm first working on a piece that it's way better than anything I've done, but by the time I'm done with the actual production, I'm completely sick of it, and then years later I can listen to it again and see its qualities more clearly.

Can you look at a distance to “Blossoms” already and have a more objective view, are there things that you would have done differently?

I'm not really sure yet. I just finished it a few months ago (one advantage of not having a label is not waiting at all to release something) and right now I'm thinking hard about my next projects.

When you compose songs, how do you do that, start with an electronic base or with the acoustic part? How is an Unwoman song be made?

With the exception of the Millay pieces which I mostly wrote on the cello, I usually write the core of a song on the piano. If it's destined for electronic treatment, then shortly after I have the chord progressions in mind I'll put together a rough midi version and organize the sections, finish writing the lyrics at that point, then shape the electronic parts how I want them, then I'll play cello with it to see how that fits best, then I'll record the vocals and cello and work on that till it sounds great.

made by Highastle

What day of your life would you like to relive and why?

Either the first time I played onstage with Rasputina in 2006, because it was so intense and exhiliarating, or my wedding day in April 2007, for obvious reasons.

You are also singing for Spellbound, a Siouxsie coverband, what can you tell about that?

It started completely on a whim and just got going. The response has been great, I have tons of fun with it, really getting into the character of "Fliouxsie," and my bandmates rock.

A Spellbound show is different from an Unwoman show, with Spellbound you can move around on the stage, what do you prefer yourself?

I'd love to be able to both move around, and play the cello. There's a guy called The Cellonator (you can find him on youtube) who plays standing up and has the same model of electric cello as I have, and I'd love to do what he does but I'd need a custom harness-thing. Overall I like playing and singing at the same time best because it's something special for audiences, and it gives me the opportunity to be putting more creativity into the performance at one time. I do absolutely adore fronting an actual band. The main reason I hadn't tried it until Spellbound is, I didn't have the right people to work with -- now, my husband is the bassist, and we're all great friends with similar goals.

Any last words for the readers?

Please feel free to download a handful of free mp3s from www.unwoman.com and stream all my songs at www.last.fm, and if you like them please buy my CDs from CD Baby or iTunes. Thanks!