Photos courtesy of Ryko Disc
By Anthony Bromberg
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
When one rock star learns to share, that’s a big deal. So,
how likely is it that four female songwriters could come together
and tour as a collective, alternating songs, and ““ get this
““ work together? Take notes Axl.
“Everyone always asks us if we’re going to tear each
other’s hair out or get in a cat fight, but it’s like
yeah we all have egos, and we’re all artists and that’s
part of the mix,” said Jess Klein, one of the voices, during
a telephone interview. “But that’s also why we can make
music and go to wherever songs are going and take audiences places
and have a good time and let it all fly.”
Klein shares the “Voices” stage with her peers, Erin
McKeown, Rose Polenzani, and Beth Amsel. The four voices are
getting their 2002 national tour underway, which Amsel describes as
a three-month, 2002 extravaganza. On the list of stops is a show at
the Mint this Saturday.
The four members of the “Voices” project are quick
to stress that “Voices” is just that, a project and not
a band. There is no intention to ever make a studio album together,
or even write songs together. Instead, they view
“Voices” as a chance to go on tour and hone their
crafts while expanding their respective audiences as a complement
to their solo careers.
“In theory the idea behind “˜Voices’ was that
we would combine all of our audiences. So there would be a little
cheering section for me, and one for Beth, one for (each of us),
but I don’t think that it’s turned out that way,”
McKeown said. “I don’t think it’s been as
predictable, and I think there are some people who are just fans of
“˜Voices’ and not just us individually.”
Regardless of where they’re coming from, music fans are
turning out to see the on-stage dynamic of these four musically
empowered women. The interest that “Voices” has
generated in the past four years in which they’ve toured
together, sporadically, is a product of their live show.
On any given night at a “Voices” concert, the
audience might get to see McKeown play accordion or piano, or Klein
bring out a sampler, or Polenzani play a drum solo on one box.
These are instruments which the women get to play for fun, and
which they are amateurs on.
“It’s amazing, I think, anytime you get to step out
of the normal bounds of what you do,” Amsel said.
“Whether it’s even a little bit uncomfortable, we get
to do things in “˜Voices’ that we never get to do in our
solo careers. Jess plays clarinet, and I get to play cello and I
could never do that and play guitar and sing at the same
time.”
Other highlights of the show include a chance for the audience
to shout out requests, and hear the “Voices” put
together an a cappella arrangement of the song right there.
The sound of the “Voices” live show, which is for
the most part based around vocals and acoustic guitars, maintains a
primarily folk feel with splashes of other genres of American roots
music adding texture. Since their first shows together, many of
them have begun playing much bigger music in their solo careers,
but have kept that outside of the “Voices” experience,
according to McKeown.
The simple instrumentation, however, does not necessarily make
for a straight ahead show. According to Polenzani, at least 50
percent of what they bring to the stage is improvised.
“We’ve got a bunch of songs that we haven’t
rehearsed very much, a bunch of songs that are new that we’re
working on, or cover songs,” Polenzani said.
The women embrace the loose trial and error atmosphere with the
“Voices” project. The live show is not scripted. They
don’t have any songs that are permanently in the setlist, and
the fact that they know they’ll be improvising adds to the
comfort level of the shows for Polenzani. The openness yields a
show that can be spontaneous, bawdy and raucous.
“Sometimes the show is hilarious and we’re all
talking and it’s perfect timing, and other times, it’s
more artistic and less clever,” Polenzani said.
“It’s such an organic show. Sometimes it is theatrical,
we used to talk about what hams we are sometimes, but we
can’t even count on that. We’re just a pretty honest
group of people when it comes to being ourselves on
stage.”
“Voices on the Verge” originated in the fall of 1998
when the four women were all booked to play the Iron Horse. They
decided to go on together, instead of doing four individual
showcases. The success of that show spawned them to continue and
record the “Live in Philadelphia” album.
The success of “Voices” is at least partially
dependent on the undercurrent of tension and individuality of four
very different songwriters sharing one stage. Amsel loves William
Faulkner, Tom Petty and singer-songwriters from her hometown of
Boulder, Colorado. McKeown is an educated musician who just
graduated from Brown University last year. Polenzani and Klein are
from Chicago and Rochester, New York, respectively.
“I think it’s very important that Voices has always
been seen as four different songwriters who come together to
support each other by, you know, singing harmony, working on
arrangements with each other,” Polenzani said. “Part of
the thing that’s so special about it is that we’re all
honing our own voices; we’re all in our own
careers.”
They provide each other with a community where constructive
criticism is available, that might otherwise be hard to find in the
music business. They also work hard to make sure it’s fun for
each other, because it’s often easy to get freaked out,
according to Polenzani.
Despite their mutual support and respect for each other, they
aren’t necessarily best friends like many bands claim to be.
Their interactions with each other are an integral part of the
project that is “Voices.”
“When we’re not doing “˜Voices on the
Verge,’ if we don’t talk to each other, it’s not
because we hate each other; it’s probably because we’re
really busy,” said McKeown. “We all lead the kind of
lives where we’ve got friends we see at home, and friends we
see on the road and never the twain shall meet.”
When they get together they are, like the name suggests, on the
verge of something. What they’re on the verge of though is
subject to interpretation by the voices themselves. With true
existential wisdom and a laugh, Amsel declared that it’s the
2002 tour. Where for Klein, it refers to the brink of larger
success and their attempts to push things musically. McKeown wants
the project to collect an audience that is more interested in an
artist’s growth than their backside. According to Polenzani
their verge is a very good jumping off point and a door opener for
their solo careers.
Their opinions don’t quite match nor do their
personalities, but when put on stage together, something works out
right.
“If someone was going to put a choir together they would
never put the four of us together, I think,” Polenzani said.
“The fact that we blend together at all is sort of a
miracle.”