Well it appears that Amy and I once again share a brain since we are both utilizing Jacksonian (Janet that is) phrases to describe each other. Before I get into this I have to share a memory I have of Amy from when were a mere 14 years old. Don't worry Amy I wont talk about the afternoons in your basement with our boyfriends, in the dark, listening to Dokken... :) When I was 14 I was dating my very first love, I thought I would marry him and we would have babies, ah the ignorance of youth. When we inevitably broke up, I put pen to paper and wrote a poem about the situation. I gave the poem to Amy and she set it to music to create a song well known by our little circle of friends, Never Again. After she has finished the music and sat and played it for us I was blown away by her talent but when she came to me the next day at school with a stack of papers I was perplexed. She wanted me to sign all this paperwork so that we could copy write our song. She had all the paperwork ready to go just waiting on my teenage Hancock. It was then I knew that some day in the not to distant future we would be seeing her name in lights.
Now that we have the mushy stuff out of the way please enjoy my recent Q&A with Amy Douglas:
1. What Time is it?
AD: IT’S TIME TO GET ILLLLLLLLLL
2. What are you wearing right now?
AD: Ripped up jeans, vintage Judas Priest tshirt, no shoes, no socks, Ray Ban Aviators. My feet are dirty. Aaaaaah
3. Five Words or less describe:
a. Your sound
AD: Soulful, Funky, Glammed Up, Versatile and Powerful
b. Your favorite music
AD: Led Zeppelin (counts as one....), Beatles, Coltrane, Elton, Queen
c. Your husband
AD: My soul-mate and rock.
d. Your favorite place
AD: London England at 3 AM
e. Yourself
AD: Working my butt off lately!
f. Your interviewer
AD: Is a truly kick-ass woman! (edit* Aw shucks!)
4. I’ve noticed to have been doing a lot of collaborative work lately. Is this a permanent part of the Amy D Experience or will you be focusing in on a specific project soon?
AD: I think there’s going to remain a healthy dose of both, and I really do love to collaborate, so it’s been a blessing. In addition to following up the 92 Eternal Project with it’s second single and doing more collaborations in the pipe with some very special artists from the UK, I have two original projects in the works, one called Discokaina (stay tuned) and one called BAMela. Discokaina is Latin Degenerately Filthy Disco Rock. BAMela is for all intents and purposes a modern funk supergroup with the amazing Freekbass (www.freekbass.com) and Tobe Donohue aka Tobotius who is the producer/engineer of Bootzilla Productions, which is Bootsy Collins’s studio and label. I think you’re gonna love both of these for different reasons. I’m also, beginning to write songs for my first solo album, which....is gonna hearken back to my roots. A piano, a voice.
5. Who was our Junior High Chorus Teacher? Your thoughts on that one should be orgasmic!
AD: She was Ms. Alt I think, something with an A? Am I right about that? She was blonde. And she was chirpy. Vanilla, and emotionally unstable like all chorus teachers are. :) Oh well. She did her best. Poor thing. She did not like me, I remember.
6. In your formative years, who did you look at as your most highly regarded musical icon? (You can tell the truth, it’s me, I know)
AD: LOL! You are certainly one of my most highly regarded musical peers!!! If only because you out of all our group were the only one listening to amazing music! Well, Nikki too, she loved The Doors and Public Enemy I remember, but you were a devoted across the board listener. You CARED about music. As for me, in my formative years my most highly regarded hero/heroes were Led Zeppelin, Donna Summer, The Beatles, Queen, Stevie Wonder and Elton John. But the funny thing is, when you collaborate in other genres, such as the way I’m working as of late, a rush of influences you never even thought might have existed in your mind suddenly comes bubbling to the surface.
7. You latest projects have that funky ethereal sound to them, but they are also screaming “Hot Tub Time Machine me back to 54!!”. You started as a Rock diva, shifting to a more Jazz-centric (I think I just made up a word right there) feel once you were at college. When did you decide to change gears in your musical career?
AD: Well the jazz thing in college was simple, there was no degree being offered in rock diva! LOL! I had really started getting jazz focused while we were still in high school together. Jazz was also a great part of the early years growing up because both my Dad and Grandparents loved jazz! So they had great recording (all of which I subsequently stole!) I still love jazz, and jazz definitely made me the MUSICIAN I am today. Having the language of that to use on sessions and in many situations has served me very well. As for the rest, it’s funny. I started doing rock and funk again after I left school, and now...here I am singing for some of the premier talents in the world of electro and alternative dance music, but I still love rock music deep in my core, and I would like to get BACK to doing more rock music, and combine it with this new dance music thing I’m doing. Ironically dance music, which I never really imagined myself doing, provides a freedom with writing music and singing that a lot of other genres, don’t allow for, so if anything it just became a way to do whatever I wanted. When you label yourself by any other genre, people don’t like to loosen their perceptions on what or who you are, and what you’re capable of. I think all modern recent music has dance flourishes, and DJ culture has so infiltrated mainstream music, that the genre expanded. Expansion is ultimately a very good thing when you really want to be able to stretch your wings and do whatever comes into your mind at any given moment. Dance music allows me to use rock chops, jazz chops, and all in between. I’m not sure I decided to willfully change directions, so much as these new avenues suddenly found me and I’ve been really enjoying this side of the funky music building. (*edit Amy was a staple at the Blue Note in Manhattan and sang with such legends as George Clinton and Illinois Jacquet)
8. What is the craziest thing you have eaten recently?
AD: Sea Cucumber! Texture was...hard to get around, but it wasn’t too bad!
9. The music is playing you off and you only have 5 seconds before the 2011 Grammy Awards go to commercial, what do you yell out?
AD: JIMMY PAGE, PLEASE CALL ME!
10. What is your strongest memory?
AD: My old rock band AETHOS opening up for the 420 Funk Mob in Ithaca New York. 420 are essentially the PFUNK All Stars performing predominantly the Funkadelic catalog as opposed to the Parliament one, and George Clinton himself was on board for the night. I got called up to sing Red Hot Mama and wound up staying onstage for most of the duration of the night. Before hitting the stage, I was asked upon the tour bus, and standing there soon as I walked on the bus was George. When he hit the stage that night and we got to sing together, it was a magic I’ll never forget.
11. If you woke up tomorrow with my level of musical ability, what new career would you embark on and why?
AD: I think I’d open the worlds most amazing vintage clothing store, be a stylist or maybe do something culinary. I’m actually working on a cocktail book, of original cocktails I’ve created!
12. This is less of a question and more of a “shout out” box for you. Who do you want to give props to?
AD: I wanna give props to YOU. You for moving into a life that completely suits you, that puts you at ease, and I’m thrilled that you are so happy. (edit* Well shit I may have gotten a little teary and back at ya sister!)
Well there you have it folks a thrilling 10 minutes with one of the most talented people I have ever had the pleasure of being up close with. She is also the same person who made me learn every word of Edge of Seventeen for a show at Don Hill's, but we wont talk about that!!!
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