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neverisalongtime-ja-blog · 7 years

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Anastasia’s Interview!

I already told you all on Anastacia’s IG profile that this week things are going to be a little bit different. Instead of a full chapter I used my journalist skills to write an interview, the one we’ve been talking about on past chapters.

I thought it was a fun idea and many of you don’t know that I’m actually a journalist so it was a great oportunity for my to put my knowledge to the test.

I hope you all like it and don’t forget to give feedback!

Thank you all for reading this crazy thing that I’m writing!

“We want to step out of the Chili Peppers’ shadow”

A new album and the same old attitude give Dead Curse all the elements to finally reach the long way to the top of rock and roll

The music world these days is weird. It’s constantly changing and many – too many – styles adjoin at the same time. You have a huge variety to choose. Some musicians play safe finding a beat that works for them and stick to it forever, others are not afraid of change and keep renewing their sounds from time to time. I’m about to have a conversation with a musician that belongs to the second group, a girl who is always testing new ways to show her talent and creating new melodies. Maybe that’s the reason she is one of the most valued producers in the last 10 years, being responsible of creating massive hits for artists like Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Imagine Dragons and even pop queens like Britney Spears and Madonna.

You would have thought that she takes the stage with over elaborated choreographies, but her personal music style is far from that. She leads a rock band, quite a famous one, a very original group that mixes sweet melodies with powerful lyrics and helps bring back the sensuality of old rock and roll acts.

She definitely exudes a sexy vibe. She takes a seat in front of me wearing a sports bra with the phrase “Not your babe” in the front and high-waisted leggings. You could think she’s coming right from the gym but her face tells a different story, no makeup and a smile after a yawn show her tiredness, “Sorry, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a while”, she says, her big blue eyes shine and everybody in the press room at the Meadows Festival turn their heads to her. I’m in the presence of a star.

It’s been a wild year…

“Tell me about it!” She laughs. “We’ve been doing a lot of things and this tour took forever”.

But I imagine it must’ve been fun.

“Oh it was. It definitely was. We are close to the end now and I’m gonna miss everyone, but we are ready to take the lead, do our own thing now and kind of step out of the Chili Peppers’ shadow”

The Chili Peppers are big shoes to fill.

“Yeah, but we are not trying to fill them. They are who they are and we are a completely different band”.

How did this happen? Who’s idea was it of touring together?

“I think it was Anthony’s. Last year we did our usual festival tour, we played on some of the same festivals and I have known Anthony, Flea and Chad practically since I moved to Los Angeles back when I was 12. Anthony was my sister Barbara’s neighbor – He still is – and they are very close friends, so, you know, they were always together and hanging out at our place and they are like family to me. I’ve known Josh for a long time too, almost seven years now so there was a precedent there for sure. We started hanging out – they were on the finishing stages of planning their own world tour, and it was probably Anthony the one that had the idea to put us as an opening act. I was shocked.”

Why?

“Because our styles are very different, our audiences couldn’t be any more different so I thought it was a crazy idea but, at the same time, it was an incredible opportunity for us to gain new fans.”

And you did.

“Yeah, it feels really good to know that although they don’t attend the shows to see our band, their fans still support us. At first we were just going to do the Europe leg, but people started to request us in other places. That was a great feeling.”

But here you are, tired of touring.

“Not like that,” she laughs again. “It’s just that the schedule is crazy. Two weeks on, two weeks off. We should do all the dates together and finish this shit in six months, you know? The say that it’s because they want to spend more time with their families but, if we shortened this huge amount of dates they would all have even more time to spend with their children. You start touring for two weeks, you get used to that tour routine but then you have to back home… you get used to your home routine and then you have to go back to tour, again and again, and you don’t know what to do. My sleeping schedule is fucked.”

You would think that touring with the Chili Peppers is a wild experience.

“But it’s not, at all! I imagined Flea would be running around naked at every venue, but they all act like responsible adults now. They are grounded men that demand veggies and a variety of teas in their dressing rooms; they are quite boring to be honest. Chad’s the man for us in the other hand; he was always up for a drink every day off. Overall, it has been more like a religious experience, they have taught us a lot about this side of the music business and we will be forever grateful for that.“

You have a new album that will be released soon and you have said before that it’s a new age for Dead Curse.

“I’m so happy and proud of this record. It’s totally different from everything we have done before and is heavily influenced by this whole touring experience. We never really planned to put out another record so soon. We wanted to finish the tour, get some rest and then go back to the studio but we, as a band, were having such an inspirational rush and making all this amazing songs that we didn’t want to put it on hold, we wanted everybody to hear the new material.”

What makes it different from your other work?

“Musically, it’s a ground we haven’t covered before. It’s an album that was made to be played live, it has a big stadium anthem vibe, and at the same time it’s the perfect record to blast on your car or in your bedroom. It’s powerful, it’s pure rock… We have never sounded as tight as a band before. We have finally found a way to highlight each one of our talents. Nick plays incredible guitar solos, Mandy came up with the catchiest bass lines and at the same time Eric has never played those drums as hard as he did on this album. I’m proud; I think we reached the place we always wanted to be at as a band. We always, well… I always liked to adorn our melodies with a lot of extra instruments like trumpets, harps, violins, mostly because I started as a classical musician and I thought that was what made us different from the rest, but in this one we ditched all of that. We kind of started that in our last album, but here it’s just us with our instruments; I may have included some piano notes or maybe a synthesizer or two, but it’s mostly us showing what we can do with the basics”.

The recording process was different too.

“Yes, because we would usually enter the studio and start from zero there, but in this case we were making songs since the beginning of the year while we were touring, we would record in bathrooms in hotel rooms, and then we had some free time so we decided to enter the studio just to organize what we already had. We kind of recorded this album live because we would play all the instruments in one take and then I would add the vocals, while before, we used to make each sound separately. We also went out of our comfort zone and recorded the album in the desert. We did some takes in an amazing place near Joshua Tree called Rancho de Luna, and we also recorded at the Battle Born Studios in Las Vegas. So all of that influenced the sound vibe for this record.”

Why Las Vegas?

“I went to Las Vegas for a while because it’s this big show city and I wanted to translate that vibe into the album. I wanted it to be a big show album.”

Lyrically, is it different?

“Yeah. The last album we made was sort of a cathartic experience for me. I turned the pen to my experience and it was a whole album about me. This time I went back to diversity and I shared my experiences, but I wrote about Mandy’s, Nick’s, and Eric’s experiences as well, and even experiences of some dude we met in Russia, you know? It’s different and I’m glad that I went back to that. I don’t really like to write about me and that made the last album so hard to make, so I’m more relaxed this time because it doesn’t feel like my album but a band’s album.”

Why did you pick Josh Klinghoffer to produce the album?

“I know how much Josh likes to be in a studio. We developed a big friendship over this tour and he was dying to do something different than the Peppers at that point, so we thought he was perfect for the job. It was a challenge for him too, because he wasn’t comfortable with the kind of music we wanted to project, and although the original plan was to produce the record on our own, we realized that we needed an outsider’s opinion. Josh is a close friend and someone we trust with our guts. He has an amazing music taste and he brought all these British band influences that can be heard on some songs. Each member of the band, as individuals, has very different tastes in music: Nick is more punk, Mandy is all about what’s new and the R&B scene, Eric likes the old rock and roll, I’m a fan of soft rock melodies so we definitely needed someone that glued all of that together, and that person was Josh.”

With all those different styles you may think yours is a tough band to be part of.

“We are so different from each other. In the beginning, many people thought that we weren’t gonna make it. The age difference plays an important role too, but we managed to overcome it and the idea of doing what we love and expressing ourselves through music is what moves us. We know how lucky we are everyday for being able to do what we love and making a living out of it. Many fail on the way but we are keeping strong, even with our differences.”

Don’t you want to kill each other all of the time?

“Oh! Every day” She laughs.

Does it bother you when people say the success of Dead Curse is attached to your last name?

“It used to bother me, but not anymore. I came to terms with it. I won’t lie to you, I do think that being Nick Truman’s daughter helped us gain notoriety in a very short time, but if it wasn’t for our talent and passion for what we do we wouldn’t have come this far.”

In the past, you’ve said that being in this business while suffering from chronic depression could lead to suicide. Do you still think so?

“Yeah, every day. But luckily, I have an amazing support group around me that helps me when I’m down.”

How have you coped with such a long tour?

“Surprisingly, I haven’t had a panic attack or a full-on depression episode during this tour. I’m in my element, doing what I love and that helps a lot. I know it sounds cheesy but without music I wouldn’t be here today. I was having a lot of trouble keeping myself afloat back when I was 14, and entering a studio and starting to make music for such a big part of my life gave me the push and have a purpose to wake up every morning.”

Some can’t do that. Lady Gaga just canceled her tour because of her health issues.

“Mental issues, they aren’t just issues. I love what Lady Gaga is doing, erasing the stigma from mental illness. She is strong and we all need time to heal to give the audience the best version of ourselves.”

Do you give yourself to your audience? Do you care what other people think of your music or not, as long as you are happy with it?

“I think when you have talent and passion and you are so sure of the way you express yourself, it translates into what you offer to the public and they embrace things well done. I think that saying ‘I don’t give a shit about what other people think’ is such a strong statement. I just like to express myself, not thinking if people are going to like it or not, so… yeah, in a way I just don’t give a fuck” She laughs.

Dead Curse has been cataloged as a festival band, are you okay with that? Was that the road you all wanted to take?

“When we started the band we never had any goal of being as a certain thing, we just wanted to play music and to express ourselves through it. Everything that happened from there was organically done. I love to play at festivals. First you get to play to such huge crowds, you also get to see friends otherwise would never encounter and you get to discover new bands and artists, that is something I love to do. Festivals are all fun and games. We just had the best experience ever headlining Glastonbury which was something that never in a million years I would have thought we’d do.”

How did that feel? Do you think you reached a peak as a band after that?

“It’s all downhill from here”, She laughs. “As I told you, we never had any goals as a band to do things like that, but Glastonbury was definitely a dream come true for me. I attended so many editions of the festival and I always found myself watching a certain band play and thinking ‘One day it’s gonna be us up there’ so making that dream a reality stills feels so surreal. I still can’t believe we did that. I cried the day before, I cried during the set and I’m still crying today.”

Now let’s talk about style.

“My favorite subject besides music.”

You have a quite unique fashion sense with your stage outfits. How do you manage not to repeat a single one with so many shows?

She laughs “Anthony was always joking about that. About the fact that we don’t repeat outfits on stage while they are always wearing the same, but I don’t know, fashion sense is a extension of this express-yourself thing. I grew up in a very fashionable environment with my mother being a model and my sister Barbara being a huge clothes lover. I kind of adopted that taste for looking my best. It doesn’t happen all the time, look at me now, I’m a mess,” She laughs, “But with time, I’ve learned to wear what makes me feel comfortable. I ditched the heels long time ago unless I’m just performing one song. I don’t know how to answer to your question… if I like it I’m gonna wear it.”

What do you do with your stage outfits afterwards? Because I can’t see you doing grocery shopping in thigh-high Union Jack boots, encrusted with Swarovski crystals.

“You might be surprised! I have a room just for my stage outfits at home. It’s crazy and totally unnecessary.”

What’s the next step for Dead Curse? What can we expect?

We are going to release our record. ‘Live Action’ is going to be available on October 31, my favorite day of the year. We are going to be releasing our first single with the video next week, it’s called ‘Flesh and Bones’ and we’ll probably do a couple of promotional shows and maybe have our own headlining tour next year.

What’s the video about?

“Well, ‘Flesh and Bones’ is a powerful song about owning yourself, having confidence in your own skin and being able to kick any ass that gets on your way, so we wanted to take that and show it with the immigration issues in this country, showing that no matter where you come from you can have the life you’ve dreamed about here.”

Getting political…

“We have never gotten political before, but with everything that’s happening in this crazy country right now you must step out and have a voice.”

What are you going to do now? How do you see yourself in five years?

“I’m gonna get myself a husband!” She laughs.

“Live action” the new studio album by Dead Curse is out on October 31 and available for pre-sale on October 7.

#Josh Klinghoffer #fanfic #fanfiction #josh klinghoffer fanfiction #josh klinghoffer fanfic #Anastasia Truman #Interview #Music #never is a long time #JoshAn

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somasnakeoil-blog-blog · 6 years

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Sidewalk Project BBQ May 8

Please come hang with us! May 8th. The Sidewalk Project BBQ will be at Echo Park 6pm. Family Potluck. If you wanna play music, paint or get down with hula hoops, do it! Make yourself happy! We're gonna use this time to get to know each other, share some of our upcoming projects and get feedback/make plans together.

Our Mission Statement: Through various mediums, including art, music and film our group aims to be socially active in houseless communities around the world.

A little bit about us: We are a social activist arts organization dedicated to the houseless community. We focus on enriching experience and building positive art-centric community directly on the street. We like to keep our work radical and without barriers.

Core Values: Sidewalk is more than a nonprofit. It's a way of thinking. All people need food, water, and housing. We believe these things are basic human rights. Deeper than that is the right to be treated with dignity. Kindness and respect. We want to see the basics and more. How do we thrive? For us, part of that is what we hold up as our core values and Sidewalk's mission: Art. Music. Supportive community. Service. Positivity. No judgment/no shame. Simple human connection: Listening without interrupting, without your phone. Treat everyone the same: Fuck the American caste system. We believe happiness is the property of groups of people and it grows and creates discernable ripple effects as it is shared.

There's a long history of people using art and music to enrich experience, build community and fuel revolutions. If societal infrastructures and government systems are failing it's up to us to create our own positive solutions. We've been talking it out. We want you to join the conversation, as well as the action.

Skid Row Sidewalk Project: It is our intention to have Sidewalk turn grassroots and spread our core values. Initially, we are going to place our primary focus on the Skid Row Sidewalk Project. The idea is to create the structure for Skid Row Sidewalk Project with strong leaders within our LA volunteer community working with the already powerful people and systems they have created. We also intend to hold hands with other programs and services doing beautiful work within the Skid Row community. We hope you will join us as we build this ongoing Project and become a member of the collaborative network. We are honored that the Skid Row community has been so welcoming. We look forward to a continued relationship and collaboration with the vibrant and talented community of Skid Row.

We can’t thank you enough for your interest and energy. We need you. Generosity with your time, energy and heart means the world to us and to the Sidewalk community. THANK YOU!

Wherever one of us is standing there is capacity for a Sidewalk Project. Let's make everyday matter.

With love and lots of ROARRRRR! Welcome to the family.

Soma, Emily, Stacey

TheSidewalkProject.org

@The_Sidewalk_Project

https://youtu.be/vLMoZm9ddCA

Bio Shit:

Soma Snakeoil:

There are different kinds of houselessness. Soma’s gotten down with several versions, including living in her car, traveling, couch surfing and some time outside. She was houseless and living in motels with her young child at a particularly gnarly juncture. Later she became a sex worker, from dancer to fetish model to ProDomme and adult film actor. She was a BDSM educator, owned a fetish magazine and made a bunch of filthy art. Meanwhile, she was suffering from drug addiction and became a real bummer to hang out with. After a series of losses, including the magazine, and a suicide attempt, she got sober and took on a daily meditation practice. Along with Emily, Stacey and support from other super rad artists she’s developed The Sidewalk Project. ROAR!

She's been writing a musical called Home Street Home with another team of rad weirdos. It’s a story about street kids. She felt it necessary to give back to a world she spends so much time over-writing about. She believes we heal as we serve. She's got an extra soft spot in her heart for the houseless and sex worker communities. She wants to work to remove barriers between people for a warmer, more connected life.

Emily Nielsen:

I am a surfer, fashion designer, and art manager. I am a survivor... of the sidewalk, drugs & alcohol as well as cancer. I live each day to the fullest as I have had scares of this beautiful life being cut short one too many times. I am a California girl at heart from the beaches of San Diego. The Sidewalk Project is my way to give back to the streets I once lived on and to assist those with enriching their lives in whatever way possible... through art and music and anything they can dream of.

I live in my dreams and make things happen. I am here to create footprints and make a difference in this world. I am here to help those and to give back to what was given to me. I am a lover of punk rock music and art and creating anything we wish. I am the founder of ART collective Punk Rock & Paintbrushes and cancer foundation ROCK VS CANCER. Please join me on this journey of The Sidewalk Project...

Stacey Dee:

Stacey Dee has battled on and off with drugs and addiction most of her life. Having been raised in a very Sex, Drugs and Rock-n-Roll household – she struggled to have to watch her parents deal with their own drug and alcohol addictions throughout her childhood. Having come from poverty, Stacey knows what it means to have very little. But she has also figured out how to overcome the odds in order to have a great life!

As a songwriter, Stacey knows how important art and music are to a healthy spirit. Stacey believes an artist NEEDS to create in order to have a chance at being healthy, and that a healthy, creating spirit leads to positivity and self-worth.

Stacey is one of the singer/songwriter/guitar players for the Punk Rock Band, “Bad Cop Bad Cop”. When she is not working with Soma and Emily on the Sidewalk project, Stacey travels the world playing music with her band, working on her new, “Stacey’s Rad”, YouTube Show, while also collaborating with other artists to spread the joy of creation with the world. Stacey’s main focus in life is helping people find true happiness and their own self-worth, so people, in turn, find their way to a living a GREAT LIFE!

The Sidewalk Project: No Barriers

Our Partners in Crime:

INDECLINE

https://thisisindecline.com/

PUNK ROCK & PAINTBRUSHES

http://romanticrock.net/

SHOWBOT PRODUCTIONS

@showbotproductions on IG

A few of the groups we love and we think they kinda like us too:

ALL FIRED UP COALITION

https://www.facebook.com/allfiredupcoalition/

ALEXANDRIA HOUSE

https://www.alexandriahouse.org/walk_a_thon_2018?splash=1

REFUGE RECOVERY

https://refugerecovery.org/

THE F YOU POINT

http://thefyoupoint.com/

EMBRACE CHAOS

https://embracechaos.com/

DOMINATRIX'S AGAINST DONALD

https://www.instagram.com/dominatrixesagainstdonaldtrump/

THE DOWNTOWN WOMEN'S SHELTER:

https://www.downtownwomenscenter.org/

#SidewalkProject SkidRowSidewalkProject SidewalkProjectBBQ LAArt DTLA

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