The Mary Lorson Interview

Mary Lorson has been playing music for a long time. Longer than many who’ve seen here gigging around Ithaca might even know. She’s also more widely known. In the 1990s, she was the frontwoman and songwriter, along with her partner Billy Coté, for Madder Rose. The band released four albums, toured extensively, and played some very large festivals including Glastonbury. And thanks to the wonder of the internet, you can view some of their performances and videos on YouTube.

Since Madder Rose, Mary Lorson has been very busy. In 2000, she formed Saint Low and they released three albums. 2008 brought us the Piano Creeps with Billy Coté and Kathy Ziegler. She and Coté have also composed several film scores, including “What Remains: The Life and Art of Sally Mann” for HBO.

Now Mary Lorson has a new band that you can check out at three upcoming local shows. The first is on May 17 at The Rongovian Embassy (8 PM). The second takes place at Felicia’s Atomic Lounge on May 24 (& PM) and the third on May 30 at The Lost Dog Lounge (10 PM).

And in between all of this music activity Mary Lorson is a mom and a teacher. Tompkins Weekly recently got the chance to ask her some questions about music, her career, and more.

Dynamic Meter: You’ve played some really big shows, such as Glastonbury Festival, when you were in Madder Rose. Now you play much more intimate gigs. Do you approach these differently?
Mary Lorson: Certainly–everything’s different these days. Back then there was SO much influence and pressure from so many other people. These days it’s just me and the people I’m playing with and the audience, most of whose faces are familiar to me, and the whole experience is a part of a creative process, rather than being about the product.  It’s funny that you know about those big festival gigs that Madder Rose did, because recently a friend discovered those on YouTube and told me they’d watched them; when I peevishly checked them out myself, I felt like I was watching someone else.  I was so stressed out then that I  barely remember those big gigs.   These days gigs are so much fun because every one is a special occasion for me.

DM: Do you have a favorite place you’ve played?
ML: Many!  Gigs in Europe are fun because the clubowners feed you well and people really listen, especially Germany and Sweden. I love to play in New York City because it’s like a homecoming. I love playing at ABC Cafe even though every time I play there I wish someone would donate a better piano. The Lost Dog would be great if they had a piano. Felicia’s is really the most comfy gig there is: it’s not too late, and you can look everyone in the eye.

DM: Let’s talk music industry. Madder Rose was on Atlantic, a major label. How did this come together and were you able to avoid the major label pitfalls that so many bands fell into?
ML: Madder Rose got signed early on–somehow an Atlantic A&R guy heard of us and liked it.  Which pitfalls did we avoid, exactly….?

TW: Are you on a label now?
DM: I put out the first three Saint Low albums on Cooking Vinyl in England but am not affiliated with a label at present.

TW: What keeps you writing and playing?
DM: It’s really just what my brain does. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I have no intention of stopping and can’t really imagine what life would be like without creativity. It gives me such energy and fun and hope.

TW: How about influences?
DM: Pretty much everyone influences me–other artists, life experiences, friendships, stories from the newspaper, my family, nature.  Everything in life is worth paying attention to, if you can manage it without becoming too exhausted.

TW: You have a six year old. How do you manage to balance the creative life with parenthood?
DM: That’s pretty tricky.  My son is not thrilled when I drift off into my music head while he’s in the room; when he was a toddler and I’d play the piano, he’d alternate between dancing along and screaming at me to stop playing. The best quote I’ve heard on this is from Tom Waits, who asserted that having a family and a career is like owning two dogs that hate each other and trying to walk them at the same time every day.  But I adore my kid and he knows it and I’m pretty sure he’ll end up doing something creative with his life, so hopefully he’ll understand the way we are as he heads into his own journey.

DM: When did you start playing? You said you taught yourself piano. How about guitar?
ML: I started playing piano at around 8, and started singing around then too. I bought a crappy acoustic when I was 18 and took lessons from a jazz guitarist but my axe was too painful to play. I didn’t start spending any real time with the guitar until my mid twenties, and couldn’t afford to buy a guitar until Madder Rose signed to Atlantic! I bought the mauve Tele I still sport today!

DM: How about lyrics? When did you start writing? And are there any writers, musical or otherwisw, who’ve been a real influence?
ML: I started keeping a journal at a very young age, not realizing what could come of it but keeping it up consistently. That’s where the lyrics, scenes, and story ideas are generated; anything I choose to develop I cull from the notebooks.  I always loved Fitzgerald and MFK Fisher in the early days, and am sure I’m influenced by everything else I’ve read more than I can even say.  But in college I was writing dramatic stuff–plays and screenplays, and have written three screenplays since school, so it’s the scene and the character I’ve spent most of my time on. Consequently my lyrics are really lines of dialogue–not sure if that’s apparent or not, but that’s the way they work in my head.

DM: YouTube is so fun. What was the deal with all the baby dolls in videos in the 90s. Madder Rose used them in one of its videos.
ML: We did, didn’t we! I think in the “Swim” video? I don’t know! But we built all the other moving things in that video and had a lot of fun with it—a bunch of art school geeks with a budget!

DM: How do you feel about being compared to other bands? Madder Rose was often compared to Velvet Underground.
ML: It was weird being compared to other bands, but I suppose it’s inevitable. In terms of the VU, that was a rather stunning, intimidating comparison. But I suppose if there are any similarities between those two groups, one might say that they were borne of a kind of casual urban aesthetic which was not over-worked; the sound produced was simply what happened when these rather different individuals came together—simplicity was revered and a certain kind of cool comfort zone was achieved.

DM: You’ve done some multimedia work, for lack of a better term. Can you tell me about this?
ML: I love working outside the usual songwriting box, and intend to do more. Billy and I scored a documentary on the photographer Sally Mann. We got hired for this after having done every film or tv scoring gig we could get our hands on, and we really enjoy that work. We both write a lot of music and would love to spend more time applying the ideas to other projects.

DM: You have a lot of projects going on: Piano creeps, solo. And now, you have a new band. Can you talk about that?
ML: Yes, I do—The Piano Creeps was really a one-off project, a distillation of our collaborations with Kathy Ziegler. I miss her terribly on every level and I’m glad we did that project but when I think about it, it just reminds me of how much I miss my bud!

The new band includes Leah Houghtaling and Amelia Sauter of Felicia’s Atomic Lounge/BlackEyedSusies fame, Joel Blizzard of Thousands of One, and my longtime vocal compatriot Jen Middaugh. We’re having a great time playing together.  On a parallel plane, I’m writing a play with music based on the career of Eva Tanguay, who was a major vaudeville star in her day. So there are two circles going on, which overlap a bit (what’s the mathematical term for that again? I can see it in my mind?) because the band plays some of the songs from the play—it’s all a bit vintage-y at this point: ragtime/Scott Joplin, Satie, Barber . . . theatrical, 20th century, innocent but a little heady too . . .

TW: Who are you listening to now that you’re digging?
ML: I’m not listening as much as I would like to; there are a million new records every year and I buy maybe three. My head is so busy that when I listen, I usually put on the classical station.