Kristin Hersh - Under The Gun (web)

Hersh has been a visible talent since the early '80s when, as a teenage whippersnapper, she founded Throwing Muses with her step-sister, Tanya Donelly (later of Breeders fame). Her song-writing, prolific as it is, has always been marked with a keen sense of self, though Hersh bristles at the very notion. The Skinny recently caught up with the Atlantan chanteuse for a blether.

Skinny: Your new album has received great reviews here based on your recent preview performance in London. What would you say is your defining characteristic when it comes to songwriting and music in general?

KH: "I've spent the last 20 years listening, really. Trying to shut up so I can hear what the song has to say. I try to do any "self expression" I need to on my own time, in other words, so that songs can make their point without me getting in the way.

The songs are technically autobiographical, in that they use my life stories and emotions to make their own point, but I don't feel like the result is only about me. My husband Billy says that I bare my throat saying "see what we're like?"

Skinny: Are you as intense in real life as you appear to be on stage and through your music, or are these expressions just one dimension of your personality?

KH: "Hey, really I am so nice!

I wouldn't want to hang out with somebody who acted like that in real life, would you? I don't believe my stage presence is an aspect of my personality, but rather, what I need to be in order for the song to come through. Playing music is really intense for me."

Skinny: The title of the album is intriguing. There are lots of different speculations as to what it might mean (perhaps a riposte to an unwitting record exec who advised you to follow that advice. Could you clarify?

KH: "Learn to Sing Like a Star was a strikingly inane piece of spam I kept seeing whenever I tried to download a mix from my engineer, Trina Shoemaker, who was mixing in Nashville. I assume it was some American Idol crap telling me I needed to learn how to sing (which is probably true, but it hurt my feelings anyway!). I saw it so many times that the syllables became meaningless and that's when things get beautiful to me. It began to sound like Dr. Suess or Madaleine L'Engle: "singing like stars".

Skinny: It's got an instrumental called Christian Hearse? Is it more than just a humorous play on your own name? Sounds like it could have macabre and/or spiritual connotations? What are the unspoken words behind that particular track?

KH: "I didn't actually play that, my son Doony did. The studio I work in has bizarre instruments all over the walls and he took it upon himself to learn to play the "backpack sitar" that morning. He was doing a pretty good job, so I snuck up behind him with a boom mic and recorded what he was playing. "Christian Hearse" is his stage name (he's in three different bands); it's his favorite bastardisation of my name.

Skinny: You've had an on-off relationship with Throwing Muses for a while now. With all these other bands reuniting and touring, do you think it's something you'd benefit from doing full-time?

KH: "Throwing Muses plays whenever someone gives us a chance to. My new band, 50FootWave just opened for the Muses on dates around America; that was really wonderful. Another Muses record is in the works presently, too, but I don't believe [drummer] David Narcizo could do the full time touring thing it takes to be a working band. He has a graphic design company called Lakuna that does all my CD art, among other things. He's a grown up!"

Skinny: Then again, what about 50FootWave? Are you still having fun on that project?

KH: "There is, of course, another 50Foot record in the works, as well... that band has serious legs (our last record, the Mudrock produced Free Music, we gave away - we're up to a million downloads) and it is still the most fun I've ever had. We are extremely DIY, we tour often and we keep expenses way down in the hopes of surviving into the future."

Skinny: What do you consider the best thing you've written?

KH: It always bothered me when my work was described as "emotional turmoil", etc... I think musical noise is such a celebration that it can take ugly subject matter and make it beautiful. Not that songs only choose ugliness to talk about, but they don't seem to make a judgment call when it comes to subject matter. They work within a logical construct of *intensity*, so a song's impression of happiness will often be noisy and excited.

I have no idea what I would consider to be the best thing I've written - songs are like kids. You just have to step back and say, "Whatever you want to do/be/say, I'll love you anyway."

Skinny: Are you and Tanya still close? She seems to profess a lot of admiration for your work in her interviews. What do you make of her career to date?

KH: "Tanya and I will always be close. We call ourselves the "step twins" because people mistake us not just for sisters, but twins, even though we aren't related by blood. We had to go our separate ways for that very reason - we were wildly dependent on each other (she literally did most of my talking for me!). We went from sharing a room to sharing an apartment to sharing hotel rooms and tour buses...

Now we don't live near each other and that's hard. She is really special and I miss her husband and daughters, too. That said, we have plans to make an EP this summer and then tour it. That's pretty much the only way we get to see each other nowadays! If the Muses aren't working, we gotta think up some other way to get together.

I find it difficult to judge her records - she really can do no wrong, in my opinion - her work just is. Plus, she has really good taste."

Skinny: Obligatory Pixies question (the Pixies frequently supported Throwing Muses in the early part of their career): Were the guys in the band (we know Kim's an extrovert) really as shy as recent books and movies would have them portrayed?

KH: "I don't remember any of them being shy. People say that? They were never shy around me. Maybe because I'm so much shyer than they could ever even think about being..."