Soul Sister No 1! Interview with

But who was the new voice powering out from the plastic? The remarkable thing is we were dropping that track alongside the likes of 'Git Back' by Sugar Pie Desanto, or 'You did it' by Anne Robinson. The track wore the comparison well, and no-one could tell it was a brand new record. Voices like that just don't come along every day! Then a cheeky Rebtuz booty 12" dropped a rough and ready Nostalgia 77 version of 'Seven Nation Army' by White Stripes, with Alice belting out the vocals and suddenly it seemed everyone in the UK knew there was a brand new diva on the block. Alice came and did a live PA in the club around that time with Will Holland DJing for her. Sadly our staging was so low and Alice's voice so good, that I'm sure half our crowd didn't even realise they were hearing the vocals live.

Since then Alice has produced two solo albums and collaborated with an impressive and ever growing array of the UK's best producers. The first LP 'Under the Munka Moon' was produced by a range of talent within the Tru Thoughts stable and what immediately struck home was the style. It's no easy feat to create an LP with different producers as the results can often fail to hang together. In this case though, Alice's voice anchored all the tracks and knitted them into one gloriously sensuous, soulful brew. The really exciting thing was that this was no attempt to emulate any kind of soul music gone-by. It was somehow completely contemporary whilst maintaining roots in gospel, blues, folk and jazz and R+B all at the same time. Perhaps most importantly the songwriting was strong and unique, and these were tunes you wanted to sing along to.

The second album, 'My Favourite Letters' produced by TM Juke turned out to be even better than the first. By this time Alice was really starting to get mainstream press attention, and attracting interest in collaboration from the likes of 4Hero, Massive Attack and Groove Armada. The LP tour brought her and her band down to play in the Southwest and what a treat we were given. It was her third live event for Jelly Jazz so she's becoming a bit of a familiar face around these parts. Up close and personal Alice is disarmingly down to earth and delightfully barmy! (Anyone that lists Oompaloompas and the sight and taste of boiled egg and soldiers' as influences on their myspace page has got to be alright in my book.) She'd surrounded herself in a band of equally 'mad-as-a-brush' but supremely talented musicians and was in the midst of a busy tour so it wasn't a good time to talk back then. Anyway, interviews are like buses in that they don't seem to come along for ages until someone has an album to promote and then they all come at once... except that buses don't release albums (quick... step away from the bus metaphor!) So we thought we'd catch up with her now, between albums, to find out what makes her tick, about life on the road, and find out what's cooking in her future.

1. I think the first time you played for Jelly Jazz you came and did a live PA with Will DJing didn't you?
Yeah in that place near the harbour.

2. And after that it was the legendary QSO at Eden gig. Didn't you have a stinking cold for that or something?
Probably. If you'e on the road for ages... in America it was really weird... all the way through Australia, no sleep, loads of flying, didn't get ill at all. I had a week off and got this really bad throat thing and flu and had to go to America and do all those other gigs. So it's just sod's law sometimes... that when you rest you get ill.

3. We last saw you at Jelly Jazz playing at the Hub in Plymouth as part of the My Favourite Letters tour. How did it all go?
Well the gig was great but we had a crazy time at the B+B afterwards!

4. Mmmm the Band seemed quite eccentric?
Yeah they're all hand picked for that! We're all like that anyway!

5. So where did you get to on that tour?
Me and Al went over to America, just the two of us because we can't afford to take the band yet... we're working on it. And Australia we put back to this year, it was meant to be November but then we had to put it back. So we've only just come back from that tour with the whole band and that was great.

6. How long were you in Australia for?
We did just under three weeks.

7. I read in an article you did for an Australian website that you found it tough being the only girl in a boyband for such a long period of time! How did you cope with being out on tour with the lads for so long?
Ahhhhh! Well to be honest they are pretty feminine males. They've got their Yin and Yang going.

8. Can I quote that in the article? That your band are ladyboys?
(Laughs) No! They're all really good friends now and we all know each other very well and we look out for each other. We're pretty cool we leave each other alone when we we need to be, and it's not taken personally if you are a bit moody. They're all pretty funny guys really and we don't have fights or anything. We just get a bit tired sometimes!

9. So how do you feel about the touring thing now? Are you still enjoying it or are you a more homey person that is happier being on home turf?
I still love it! At the moment I really need some time out, it's just been so crazy. But at the same time when you're not doing it you yearn for it and you really miss it. Especially when you get back and you've been with those six people and you get back and it's kind of (sad voice) 'Where is everybody?' In a way it's actually quite Zen and relaxing when everything's so hectic you haven't got any time to think about anything. When you are at home you have to think about the bills and other stuff. Australia was so busy I could even think about dealing with that... we weren't sleeping some nights and were travelling on really horrible early flights. So you are where you are and in a way it's a quite Zen state of being!

10. You've just got back from New York haven't you? What was that all about then?
Yeah we were in Australia and we got back for five days and then we went to New York. And we just got back and went off last week doing things up north, and then it's Jazz Café, France and Holland.

11. Was that all with the band?
That was all live but we're also supposed to be recording another album so I've never felt so crazy in all my life. I haven't had any down-time for ages so I'm a bit 'Arrrrgh!' And we're going off again tomorrow so I'm sorting my life out a bit!

12. So all of these live gigs... is that still promoting the last LP?
That's doing old stuff and Munka stuff and because we've just written the new album we're doing a few of the new tracks from that as well!

13. And with all this touring where are you getting the best responses to your music?
We're getting quite a lot of love in Australia and in France there is quite a big friendship! London we get a nice lot of love! I'm just broaching America so there's some lovely very concentrated love but it's not massive as yet!

14. So album number three... are you going to be working with TM Juke again?
Yeah we've written the next album together. We get on quite well and do all the live stuff together as well.

15. And what about stylewise?How would you say the next one is likely to be different?
We've gone a bit more live and a bit more funky sounding. But we've been listening to a lot of David Axelrod as well though. To me it's just like another step up the ladder of expression with me and Al (TM Juke). It's a bit more bluesy, a bit more... it's still got the really old school soul sound but with the newer twists. So a similar kind of vibe to the others but I definitely feel like we've moved on.

16. How would you describe your writing approach? Words first / tunes first? I think for 'My Favourite Letters' you described it as a collective writing approach. How does that work?
We do it both ways. Sometimes someone sends me a loop like the Massive attack thing, and I write a melody and lyrics on my own. And IÕve done that with Will (Quantic) a couple of times. But then other times we sit in the studio together and we bounce ideas off each other. And sometimes me and Al have stripped it right back to chords and vocals which is quite niceÉbecause quite often we do work now with beats and everything but weÕve stripped it back for this next album and we have actually written some tracks from scratch and then added the rest of the stuff to it later.

17. What inspires you to write?
It can happen any which way! Sometimes the best songs, and this has only happened a few times, they come out all together. I'll just sit at a piano and the melody, the lyrics and the chords all come out at once but that happens quite rarely! Other times you might have an idea or a theme and you want to express that. But most of the time I get that from hearing a riff or something and you think 'hold on that's quite cheeky' and it gives you imagination for an idea or a place, or what those words are. So that's how it happens too. Any which way.

18. I believe you've said you work well late at night? Are you someone that can be creative on demand or do things kind of pop into your head randomly and you have to get them down whilst you feel them?
Again it happens both ways. Sometimes it'll be late at night and you'll have to wake up to write something down on paper. In fact I went to sleep the other night and there was a song in there but I was so sleepy that I went to sleep and I've totally forgotten it now! So thereÕs that but then sometimes me and Al do say, 'let's meet up and dosome stuff today' and quite often we get a load done! So just putting yourself in that space to be creative sometimes works.19. Ever get a complete creative block?
Yeah but in that case we just leave it! I'm quite relaxed about that.

20. Do you ever get involved in the production process with Al?
Sometimes I have done and I'm getting much more involved in that. He's just recorded the drums with Jack and I let them get on with that. But when it comes to other layering of stuff though, especially with the last album, we were very much both putting forward ideas about what we'd like to have on the tracks and different instruments and stuff. So yeah I do bit of that but then he likes to tweak it.

21. Have you been tempted to get into that production side of it and start building tracks from scratch or do you see yourself more as a specialist?
I have done but I'm quite organic and I get very frustrated when things go wrong. If I'm flowing and I'm doing loads of vocals and stuff and things go wrong... I get really annoyed. But I have... my landlord Roger... he's got a really simple program. I can't remember what it is but I used it for the Massive Attack one. I literally put their track in and then layered up the vocals. I quite like to do that as well. It is a nice thing because you are on your own and I should do it more but it's just finding time really.

22. So apart from your own solo releases you've been linked with various other people for potential collaboration. Who else have you been working with?
I did a track with the Nextmen, and I'm about to do a little track with Scruffer (Mr Scruff) next week. I'm going to go off and do a couple of days in Manchester next week. But to be honest I've just been concentrating on the album for the moment. But me and Will (Quantic) have been like star crossed lovers trying to find each other because I haven't done anything with him for ages.

23. Well he's not made it easy for himself has he?
Well Colombia... ya-know-wha-I-mean!! I'm going to go out there and see him out there I think. I'd love to go out there anyway and I think if we've got two weeks there may be a mini album's worth of stuff we could get together. Which is long overdue... it'd be nice to do some stuff with him again

24. A while back there was talk of potential collaborations with Groove Armada and Massive attack as well. Did anything come of those?
Groove Armada... there were some emails and I got a phone call from their manager but then he never called back... and then I didn't catch one of the calls or whatever. Massive Attack did send me something and I've written a track for them but to be honest they are sending stuff to so many singers I just don't know if they are going to use it.

25. You've got an exhaustive list of musical influences... is there anyone in particular you'd really love to work with?
Oooh apart from Mr Questlove, Prince, Stevie Wonder. Yeah it's a good point really. Questlove I'm in contact with and I'm trying to pin him down. There's always a quite lot of crazy people you meet and think yeah... but at the moment to be honest I'm quite happy with the little friendships I've already got and just dealing with what I've got on the table. But I'm always open to new people and different ways of working.

26. Or any particular style of music you'd love to have a crack at? Country?
(Laughs) Actually it's funny you should say that because a friend of mine is really into all that country style and she's played me some music that I thought was amazing. And obviously with Brother Where art Thou and Country Got soul, there's definitely a lot of those elements. But I think they cross over into certain tracks anyway with the blues and stuff! It's all so similar even though people think it's so different... it's the same.

27. What does everyday life consist of in Brighton when you're not touring or making an album?
Well it's been getting less and less but I think we've got a bit of time coming up in a couple of weeks. I think just seeing friends and catching up with people because you just miss seeing everyone and just hanging out. Getting food and going to the beach and going out and having little drinkies in the Lanes. Quite often when I have a day off now it isn't a day off... you've got so many emails you've got to catch up with and stuff. I feel awful because a friend's just had a baby and I've hardly been able to see her. I come in and I've got two days and then I've got to go off again and in that two days I've got so much I've got to get on with so you get a bit torn. You just have to be a bit more on it with taking holidays and saying 'Right I'm definitely not doing gigs then' so your diary just doesn't get full up all year.

28. Were you ever considering any other careers before you realised that you were going to be able to make it in music?
I studied art and music at Brighton but still didn't know what I wanted to do and thought 'Yeah I like both those things' And then just started recording with people. I did a bit of shop work and did stuff with people with learning difficulties. I did quite a lot of relief work where you don't need to take a contract, but can do it as and when. So that was quite good to take time off to do gigs. But then it got to the point where it was too much and I was missing stuff and wasn't earning enough money. So then it was 'Right scrap all that and get on the old rock'n'roll and try and sort out your musical career and of course live off the old credit cards for a bit because you have to. But you just have to make that decision and go for it I think.

29. So what's in store in future for Alice Russell? Where do you want to be heading?
I just want to be doing a lot more recording and maybe doing another album by the end of the year. I must admit I don't get people that say they want to be famous or anything like that... I don't understand that sort of mentality. But what I do want is enough security to be able to live OK doing our music and to be recording it how we want. You know if we wanted to do that orchestral thing... getting to the stage when you could bring all those troops in. So I just want to keep doing what I'm doing and get more expressive with it really.

30. That would be fantastic because some of my favourite stuff on the first two albums and something I associate with your sound is the string arrangements so it'd be so nice to bring full string sections into it.
Yeah tell me about it. We'll get there... we'll get there.

Many thanks to Alice for talking to Jelly Jazz.

Links
Alice on myspace
www.alicerussell.com


Alice on Facebook