Gary: What preceeded your
choice to start composing music?
| Jenn:
I went to University of Waterloo and got a bachelor of mathematics.
While living in Waterloo, I was going to the industrial clubs, which is
where I met my partner for Epsilon Minus. We started making some tracks
together and eventually it progressed to a completed album that we were
fortunate enough to get released (on Belgium label Alfa Matrix). Now,
Ayria, which is my own project, is me just taking the lessons from all
of my own past musical experiences and combining it to be something more
personal and reflective of my |
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vast tastes in musical genres. Performing really came into the picture more as
Ayria once I got to tour last fall with scene veterans Razed In Black.
Gary: Being your first real
tour experience, what did you think?
Jenn: It was amazing. I had a fun time but still it was just as
physically draining as I was expecting. A lot of driving and sleeping on the
road. You want to stay in each city longer and hang out with the people you've
met in each location, but you have to get to bed because you have to drive 6
hours the next day or something like that. I ended up getting strep throat while
on tour and touring is strenuous enough when you're *healthy* - so it's really
hard when you're sick. The keyboardist from Glis also got sick so there was a
time when we were really not very happy campers in our truck, but you just have
to deal with it and try your best to just pull off some great shows. Usually the
adrenaline from the night would get me through it! I would definitely tour
again.
Gary: Opening for Wolfsheim
in San Francisco, do you think you'll have any sort of "look where I am,
I've come so far" sort of self-reflective moment opening for such a hugely
popular act?
Jenn: I'll let you know once I've pulled off a decent show! (this was
before the 04/05 SF date) Hahaha! Yes, I mean, this is, to date, the biggest
opportunity I've had. Not only am I opening for a hugely successful band but
that the show promoters wanted Ayria in particular to come from the opposite
coast just to play in this show! I couldn't be happier or more excited. I've
also never been to California so I'm really looking forward to seeing a new
place. I never take any opportunity I'm given for granted. I try and reflect
back and see all the work that has gone into Ayria to bring it to this point.
I'm so happy with where I am and the direction of the music I'm doing. Getting
an opportunity like this (with Ayria) really opens my eyes to the fact that
there are people out there who are listening and care about the music. That in
itself makes it all worthwhile. Awww, there I go getting all sappy again!
Gary: Do you do this full
time, or is it more of a hobby for you, what would you call it?
| Jenn:
Currently it's full time but only because
I've been laid off from my
day job for a little while now! I don't make enough money to sustain
life for myself from music at this level but I do take it more seriously
than just a hobby. I try to put everything I can into it right now and
really want to see how far it can go. I'm happy with my
label's
efforts and I try to do all that I can to really push the music out
there. If I were doing it as a hobby I wouldn't care if anyone heard
it but I definitely care about the Ôsuccess' of this project.
I'm
really proud of what I've accomplished and I |
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want people to hear it and get the chance to react to it in some way. Like it or
not.
Gary: What would you describe
to be the changes behind why Epilson Minus was departed in favor of a new
project?
Jenn: Our combination wasn't working for good anymore and we both knew
it. Our drives and desires were very different and so we thought it was just
easier to each go our own ways. That way we both have total control over what we
want out of our projects. I know I'm happier with my new outlet for expression
and I now get to arrange a lot more live shows, which was never a big component
of Epsilon Minus.
Gary: What do you derive
influences from in whole or part for your music?
Jenn: I write about anything and everything. When I started, I kept a
very general sense of society and reality in my writing. Often using ÒweÓ to
unite mankind and write about a majority of humans and our condition. I now find
myself writing more personally using ÒIÓ more than I ever did. Believe it or
not, it's hard to write more personal material as there's nothing really to
hide behind when you start a statement with "I". It has to be true and
everyone knows from which viewpoint you're speaking from.
Gary: Is the current world
disarray apart of your musical structuring in any way?
On "Debris" in specific, a lot of my feelings about the war came out
in songs like "DOS". Not just about the gruesome specific details, but
about my disgust with Western culture apathy. As North Americans, I feel we have
an awful tendency to distance ourselves from anything going on in the world that
doesn't directly involve us. So "DOS" became my feelings on how
apathetic we are to things that are the most horrible aspects of mankind.
It just struck me one night after work, sitting down at the TV with my dinner
and watching the news, and hearing them talk about the war and seeing such
horror and then the story just ended and they changed the subject and that was
it. We can watch a sitcom now, a reality show. Whatever. It was pathetic
and that's how I came up with the chorus "As people burn I'm watching my
TV. Their faces pained they don't affect meÉ." It struck me
that we are really just a selfish society who are wrapped up in our own little
trivial issues while other people are out there dying, experiencing real pain
and for what? Anyways, so, yes, I take world events and write about them
too along with my own little Ôtrivial' issues ;)
Gary: What is your basic
recording scenario? Could you describe for us what, nine times out of ten,
recording is like for you?
| Jenn:
Well lately I've been using software and writing the new Ayria
material. I use Reason and Cubase for recording. I do all my recording
in my studio (Starlight Mansion Studios in Toronto.. which is basically
in my bedroom!). Prior to that, Shaun would lay out the majority of the
tracks and I would just hammer out the vocals and melodies. The few
tracks that we sat down together (another recording scenario) on and
worked on, I feel were our best (ex: "Debris",
"Disease"). This really made me want to get more involved in
the music writing process for the next album. I spend a lot of time on
the vocals |
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to a track. I'll even play it sometimes for the first time with my mic on and
just let myself go. I feel that's usually the most honest reaction to the song
and I usually end up with something great in the recording session, even if the
random lyrics that came out don't necessarily stay!
Gary: As a vocalist, how long
have you been doing this sort of work? Any school/training/classes or did it
just come as it seems to flow on your albums, with naturally sweet toned notes?
Jenn: Haha! Thanks. I'm not trained. There's still lots I'd like to
improve upon but I can already see the growth in myself over the past few years.
My range has improved, I've taught myself the East Indian throat trick (don't ask!) and now getting to record on my own, I can actually go back and
hear what I'd like to improve upon, which is something I really never got to do
previously. I was just a monkey in someone else's studio. I've learned a
lot. I think with vocals though, I've always had a natural ability to come up
with decent melodies in songs.
Gary: What are some of the
hobbies you carry in your everyday living? movies, dining,,, what is your
excitement?
Jenn: I like all of those things. I love going to clubs and dancing too.
I used to be heavily into dance and used to be a dance teacher in my late high
school days. For dining, I love Indian, Thai and Japanese food. It's so
plentiful and cheap in Toronto too! Lastly, being Canadian, I LOVE hockey and I
watch the Leafs games every chance I get. We usually get a bunch of friends
together every Tuesday or Thursday for some game action!
Gary: What was your life like
before Ayria? Were you always musically inclined or is there a certain turning
point that brought you to this place that you'd like to share with us?
Jenn: I've always been musically inclined and writing lyrics and songs.
I've always been into listening to music too. From my dads old 70's vinyl
collections where I'd listen to the Police, Zeppelin, Genesis, Guess Who,
Peter Gabriel, Pat Benetar, etc. I would listen to things I didn't even know.
I was beyond my friends at that young age and started buying my own vinyl's at
age 7. Music was always more important to me than any other toys growing up.
Gary: What inspired the
decision to make a limited edition version of ("Debris"), let alone a
second disc with such a versatile list artists featured? Is it to ensure the
purchase of the album in a generally suffering marketplace for artists in mind
of the booming MP3 takeover, or is it just to snare in fans with some extra
"oomph"?
| Jenn:
No, Alfa Matrix has always offered these discs in addition to the
regular CD. I think it's a great idea personally. In a suffering
market place, sometimes the only thing that can differentiate a
downloaded mp3 from the real CD is innovative packaging and getting
extra ÒstuffÓ. I came up with all the stuff in the box set.
Embroidered patches were something I always liked from bands. I think it
was the Feindflug one that inspired me so they are included in my set
along with some glossy postcards and stickers. We really put a lot of
work into my booklet and it's thicker |
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than previous releases as I wanted to include full lyrics, great design and lots
of pictures. Greg Rolfes was the artist on that one!
Gary: What do you have to say
about the work Glis is doing with your work? At the Razed In Black shows, you
two seemed to be on a very similar wavelength.
Jenn:We have a deep friendship and we understand each other musically. It's been great and easy to work with someone open to new ideas. I
don't
think the Ayria work sounds very Glis like because I have my own sound and
styles in mind. I'll give credit to Shaun as a sign of someone who is talented
when they can create a completely different outcome for a new project based on
input from working with someone new.
Gary: What sort of direction
do you aspire for in 2004?
Jenn: Well, now I'm writing my own material, so I'll have conquered
more frontiers (Hahaha)! The more I learn and get involved in it, the more
fulfilled I feel and the more the creativity is really inspired. So on the last
album "Debris", I wrote a bit of music, helped produce most of the
vocals and had full creative direction for the look of the booklet and web site.
Now, I'm learning to program music, and do everything a little more, and
hopefully, a little better :)
Gary: In regards to what we
were speaking about earlier (prior to interview), about people being malicious
asking if you hated the Epilson Minus composer, do you think these sort of
trolls and drama queens pervade the scene regularly and cannot be fixed, or is
it just a trait of an over involved club patron? How do you feel about this?
Jenn: Drama is unfortunately a part of being in a smaller music genre. I
don't play any part in it. Sometimes it's hard to avoid but I never start it nor
do I get involved. I rarely go lurking in the areas that the drama offenders
post their "reviews" of other people. It baffles me how people can be
so mean especially to others to people that they don't know at all that are just
trying to do their own thing. The Internet has really regressed a lot of people
back to high school mentalities. People want to get dirt out of me on subjects
of people I've worked with and I'll never say anything beyond "it didn't
work out". There's nothing really to tell past that. People want there to
be a story filled with drama, but there isn't. I have no respect for the people
that write crap online (for example) about other people. It seems everyone has
this courage to trash online, but that's really the only place that their
personality exists. I've had someone write stuff online to others like "She
can't sing/she sounds awful" even people from other known bands that really
should know better. There's no need for it and it's not helping nor amusing
anyone. They would never say that to my face and it's not even a valid or
constructive "review". I really don't understand it. Oh well. To some,
that's the way they get their attention fix I guess.
Gary: I know there's a huge
backlash from the self-proclaimed "elitists" against female vocalists
in your genre, perhaps a sexist mentality, but I think you hit the notes and
those growling lows with a certain intensity that sort of sets it aside from
some other well known female vocal acts that definately gives you bonus points
as far as I'm concerned.
| Jenn:
Thanks so much. Haha. I think I went on a tangent in my answer!
Obviously people are always entitled to their opinion of their likes and
dislikes. There are always going to be people out there not liking what
you're doing or gossipping about things. I can't control that. I just
let it roll off me. I just think there's a difference between opinion
and being malicious to hurt someone. I wish everyone would just think a
little harder about their motives and the effects of it before they
trash people and say hurtful things. |
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Gary: Is there anything
additional you'd like to say to your fans maybe or the people who supported you
through this tour?
Jenn: That I love you all! I'm really lucky. I'm surrounded by
positive and supportive people now. My outlets that I talk to friends and
ÒfansÓ are full of great people. It's still strange for me to say
ÒfansÓ because at this level, it quickly just turns into friends. I respond
to all of the emails I get from supportive people and I've built some great
friendships because of it. I met so many amazingly great people on tour too that
I'm sure I could go visit a lot of those cities again and feel welcome. I couldn't have asked for a better year!
Gary: Can we look forward to
seeing you tour in the U.S. or NY again anytime soon?
Jenn: NY is looking sooner and sooner. I have 2 different shows in the
works for NYC and for Long Island. Stay tuned to my site for future details! |
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