Tanya Donnelly

Getting pretty deep

'When you think of female musicians who can rock out more than most modern male rock stars, what names come to mind? No, not the trendy wonders of the late '90s such as Alanis Morrisette or Jewel or Fiona Apple. We are talking someone who has been around long enough to have proved themselves worthy of the title "Queen of Rock & Roll." We are talking Tanya Donelly here.

Tanya began to make a name for herself when she was sixteen. She was co-founder of the breakthrough rock group, Throwing Muses, along with her half sister Kristen Hersh. She put together the Breeders with Kim Deal. She saw Belly through their beginnings with hits like "Feed the Tree" and "Now They'll Sleep" until their until their well intentioned yet premature end a few years ago. Now she is on her own way down the road of rock stardom all by herself. She has taken on a backing band and decided it was time to focus solely on her songs in her first solo release "Lovesongs for Underdogs."

"Lovesongs for Underdogs" is a well written compilation of songs as diverse as the musicians who play on it. Tanya remained in full creative control of the writing of this album by her choices of who she was going to bring in for what part. From my own personal opinion, Rich Gilbert (Human Sexual Response/Zulus/Concussion Ensemble) was the best possible addition to compliment Tanya Donelly's sound. His guitar work is very innovative and he adds everything from accordions to saws to her songs. When it comes to live shows too, what more can you say than we are talking about Tanya Donelly here. The woman just rocks. There are no two ways about it. Yes, she can be soft and mellow and make you feel comfortable in a slow paced arpeggiated tune but her overall stage presence is commanding.

"Pretty Deep," the first single off of the album is a good representation of the overall work. The pace of the song is somewhere in between hard rock and soothing, and all of the instruments blend well together. The best song on the album, though, is "Lantern." This song is the hardest, most dissonant song on the album, but it does also have its calm parts to it. When played live, though, it is on a level all its own. There is so much that could be said about Tanya Donelly in her past, present, and future exploits that it is hard to cover all of it. In a recent interview with Tanya, I tried to fill in some gaps and be brought up to date on her musical (and personal) whereabouts.

ME: How is life without Belly? I am sure that you are constantly being reminded of them. Does it bother you that people constantly scream "Feed the Tree" and "Geppetto" a concerts?

TANYA: Well, I don't know. They are some of my best friends, and are part of my life anyway. So, it is not as if I am trying to erase them. I just ignore people when they say things like that at the shows.

ME: On recording "Lovesongs for Underdogs" you brought in whoever you wanted, whenever you wanted them. How did you decide who was best for what song? How did you decide who you would take as your touring band?

TANYA: I just kind of knew. Especially where the drummers were concerned, I knew who I wanted. David Narcisso was always my first choice, but was in the Muses. So, when the Muses broke up, I asked him to come on tour with me. Dean bassist, Juliana Hatfield Three) is my husband, so that was an obvious decision. Rich has been a friend of mine for years. Elizabeth (keyboardist, Count Zero) and I met through a mutual acquaintance. She is actually a music teacher and has done a lot of studio recording. God, that woman is a professional. I do not think that she has ever made a mistake in her life.

ME: Did your marriage to Dean Fisher influence your decision to record with him and take him on tour with you? Does your personal life play into your song writing?

TANYA: Yes, it did. He left Juliana Hatfield around the same time that Belly broke up. At first, we were trying to avoid working with each other because we thought it was just so corny. Then, we kind of realized that it was ideal for us to be in that situation. My personal life does play into our music but I am able to separate the two fairly well. I get inspired by real life events that may happen (between us) and I will just take it from there and embellish, embellish, and embellish.

ME: Your live show is much more powerful and commanding than your CD. Is that on purpose? Why does the mix seem lower on an album in comparison to how you can explode in concert?

TANYA: I think that it is natural. It just happens. It is one of the struggles of my life. I feel like I have never been fairly represented on tape. I am proud of everything that I have done, but I have never really gotten in the studio what I get on the stage.

ME: Star was written mainly by you, and King was more of a collaboration. Is there any connection between this and how it is said that you began to stifle each other around this point in time?

TANYA: No, I think the collaboration worked out really well. I am specifically fond of a lot of the songs that we did together. It would have worked out great if we had our act together enough to record another album. Working with other people stretches me into a different voice. The words that may come out some times are not words that would have come out otherwise.

ME: Did you leave the Breeders after "POD" and "Safari" because Sire would not let you have creative control over more than one band?

TANYA: Originally, the plan was for Kim to write the first album and I was to write the second one. That was in the very early stages of the band. Sire would not let me do much. I had just left the Throwing Muses, and Kim was still in the Pixies. I wanted to work on the band full time, but it ended up just being a side project for a while, so I left.

ME: Do you still talk to Kristin Hersh at all? Have you ever considered a reunion of Throwing Muses, even for just a couple songs?

TANYA: Chemistry changes in a band. I also wanted to do songs that the Muses was not in the right format for. Kristin and I always said 'it's just a band.' Our hard-core fans were devastated, but it is just a band. I would like to do something with Kristin. Unfortunately, the Muses broke up so a reunion is not too likely, though.

ME: Catherine Wheel? How did you end up doing a song with them?

TANYA: Rob Dickinson and I met a festival about a year before we did the record and we hit it off. They came over to Boston and we just did the song ("Judy Staring at the Sun"). I love the band. They are dolls.

ME: How are you inspired to write your songs? For example, "Lantern" shifts a lot. How do you go about putting these pieces together?

TANYA: Well, Lantern was actually much more complicated than it came out. It was like pulling teeth to keep parts of the song in there. It was like a rock opera at one point. I get bored easily. I like to listen to things that shift around a lot. I am always looking for something that surprises the listener.rnME: At the concert, you said that "Pretty Deep" was about the potential of finding a dead body. What is the story behind that?

TANYA: I had a conversation with a woman at a party. We talked about how strange it would be to find dead guy on the beach. I took it from there and embellished, as I do with most of my music. From there, it became about how the world is full of bad images and voyeurism.