WEBVTT - Ann Wilson 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.840 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Podcast. My 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.280 guest today is Ann Wilson. A party and how are 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.360 you doing. I'm doing great. Good to see you now. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.360 You say you're out in the country without giving us 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:26.160 your address. Generally speaking, where are you Northeast Florida close 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.080 to St. Augustine, the way out in the country in 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:33.120 a rural setting. If you're from the Pacific Northwest, how 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.240 did you end up in Florida with humidity? And which 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:40.760 do you prefer? I prefer the Pacific Northwest in the 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:47.000 summer and fall. I prefer Florida in the spring and winter. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.400 So I guess that's kind of a snowbird thing, isn't 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:54.480 it right? Right? But we're talking in July, so it 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:58.200 doesn't quite make sense, right, Yeah, I know, But I'm 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.920 working right now. I can't just visit where I want 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:04.240 to visit, you know. Um, it's too hot here right now. 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.960 It's too hot and humid. Okay, So you say you're working, 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:13.080 what are you doing. I'm getting ready to start setting 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.399 up a new album that's gonna come out the first 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.679 quarter of twenty two, and I'm getting ready to go 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.160 out and do some more gigs. And uh, I'm just 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:27.640 involved in all this new music and gigs and stuff. Okay, 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.039 needless to say, the music business has changed from when 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.920 you started, and it's hard for any it's hard for 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.319 anybody to get recognition with their new recordings. So what 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.919 keeps you motivated? Well, I think what keeps me motivated 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.760 now that everything is so different is uh, kind of 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.920 the same um impetus that got me going in the 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.000 first place, which is just I had things to say, 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.160 and I had ideas that just keep banging around in 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.880 my head and in my soul that I want to 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.520 set to music. It's it's hard to describe why musicians 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.040 want to do it from the inside out. It's easy 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.960 to understand why they might want to create an image 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.120 and have fame and all that kind of stuff from 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.480 the outside in, But what makes you just scrape it 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.840 together and go from zero to something on your own? 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.160 And that's that's really what I've found since we've been 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.760 in lockdown and all that kind of stuff in the 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.800 music business shut down. There's no money to be made really, 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:34.119 you know. Okay, So so what motivates that creative process? 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.600 You're just lying in bed, something comes to you. What says, Hey, 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:40.520 I want to start. I gotta get my thoughts down. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:48.280 I'm pretty emotional, and I guess I'm feisty. And so 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:50.919 you put those two things together, and you you need 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:55.080 an outlet, even though nobody might be listening. It's a 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:59.200 way to handle the energy and force of these emotions. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.920 So I come from a family that loves poetry and 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.480 loves words. You know. My father used to stand up 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:08.880 after a few glasses of wine and recite poetry to 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:11.720 the to the friends and family and stuff, and a 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.840 tear would come down. And and uh, that's where I 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.799 come from, so that I love words. I love to write. 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.600 You say, you say your emotional and feisty. Yeah, since 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.040 you lay that out there, how does that manifest itself? 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.240 How do you describe yourself that way? What does it 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.040 ultimately mean? I guess it means I want my way 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.200 just and by that I mean I want to get 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:41.160 these things down and physicalize them, bring them into the world, 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.680 make them be. Do you usually get your way? Uh? 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.640 I don't get it my way all the time, but uh, 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.200 when I do, it sure feels good. It really really does. 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.720 And how does it feel when you don't get your way? Frustrating, 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.720 totally frustrating, and it just makes me want to try 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.440 harder to find another way to get it, you know, 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.800 and in writing songs and making music and everything. At 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:10.040 this point, after all these years of doing it, it's 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.520 interesting what I'm going through now because I'm working with 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:18.160 much younger people in the studio as players, and uh, 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.080 some of them at the technical level are much younger, 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:24.839 and so I feel kind of like in some cases 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.760 the wise old owl. Not not that I know everybody's business, 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.279 but I have to teach everyone my business. They weren't 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.279 around to understand what it was like at the beginning 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.839 and the feelings that we tried to access at the beginning. 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:39.560 You know, how did you get hooked up with these 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.560 younger people. I was just looking for fresh input and 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.599 players that were trying to push the envelope out and 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:52.479 level up and move forward, you know, and especially I 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.359 was looking for people that weren't dying on the vine, 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.839 who weren't just resting on their laurels. I was looking 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:03.960 for an escape from riding the old horse down, you know, 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.640 from getting into a cycle of just going out and 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.719 playing the sheds and repeating and repeating until there's nothing left. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.200 I really didn't want to do that. So how did 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:21.279 you literally find these people? Oh? Literally just by asking around? 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.520 So you're in Florida. Now where you actually going to 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.440 record the record? I recorded a few of the songs 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.200 at Muscle Shoals, and a few of them in Nashville, 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.560 and a few of them in Seattle. And who's producing 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:39.000 the record? Well, it's produced by me, and by mostly 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:42.200 by me. I guess there's like, there's no set producer 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.279 except for me. I'm where the buck stops on this. 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.680 And where did you find the money to record? In 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.880 my pocket? So it's your money, so in your idea 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.800 and you're in your mind, what was the budget for 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:58.000 how much you wanted to spend for this new project? 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.400 Oh god, I never thought of it that way. I thought, 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.600 I'll pay as much as it takes to bring these 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.159 ideas to fruition. And luckily I'm married to someone who 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:12.119 really understands how to tighten the belt and uh cut 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:16.400 costs and do do things in a really smart way. 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:22.279 So it wasn't the big old lavish record recording experience 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:24.640 of the past, of the eighties or nineties. You know, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.920 it was pretty close to the leather and and lean, 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.080 but I like the way it sounds. Okay, So how 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:34.120 far along are you in the project? Well, I'm done recording, 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.919 You're done? Yeah, so you have the record? Is not 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.200 gonna come out to the four first quarter? Uh? How's 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:42.600 it going to come out? As there a label? You're 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.640 gonna do it yourself? And why wait to the first quarter? Well, 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.880 we're dangling it around to all the labels. Now it's done. 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:50.800 I just wanted to say here it is. What do 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.359 you think it's the labels that want to wait until 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.600 the first quarter because they need to have actual time 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:57.479 to set it up. You know, you're gonna make a 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:00.240 deal with one label? Maybe, I don't know. It's still 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.160 depends on what they come back with. We only are 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.800 um showing it around, like starting right now, so I'm 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:10.560 sure it'll take a while for them to go through 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.280 their process where they go, let's see, do we hear 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:18.600 a single? You know if that's that old thing, you know, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:23.480 the Wednesday morning singles meeting? You know absolutely? Are you okay? 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.080 Since you are you a student of the game or 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.040 the type of person who just makes the music and 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.400 let the business people take care of it, or you 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.280 know how the label works. You're talking to people. You're 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.680 in the woods in the weed. Excuse me. I don't 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.680 think I'm in the weeds that much. I think that 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.760 over the years I've gone in the weeds a little 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.840 bit and been frustrated the question. But you're you said 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:49.120 you're earlier, feisty person, and you know, you scratch the 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.680 itch and then sometimes things happen. The music is a 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.680 music similar to the music you've made before, rock music 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.880 or is it different? Oh, it's it's rock music for sure, 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:05.560 and it's it goes from soft emotional ballad all the 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:10.960 way up to pretty out there, balls out rock, you know. 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.360 I mean, I've got this great band that's called The 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:19.160 Amazing Dogs, and they they're just cooler than cool, just 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:24.800 so great players. Tony Lucido on base and Tombukavac on guitar, 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.480 and um young guy from Seattle named Shanty Lane on 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.920 drums and Paul Moke on keyboards. I mean, they're they're 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:36.880 really amazing. The rhythm section in particular so good. So 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.520 how old are these guys? I think they're in there 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:45.160 late thirties, mid forties. They're young. Yeah, when you reference 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.880 when you reference the seventies, whatever, they have any idea 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:52.360 what you're talking about. They're fans of the music. They 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.760 love Barracuda for instance. It's just it's sick how much 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:01.640 guys in bands, younger guys in bands want to play Barracuda. 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.200 They just want to play that song and a few 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:10.079 others like it, Magic Man, stuff like that. Do you 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.680 get tired of Barracuda? Yeah? So how do you cope? 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:16.160 How do you cope with that? Um? Well, I don't know. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:22.200 Just it's only like four minutes. I like Veracuda. I 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:27.760 think that the the idea behind it is great. The 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:32.600 the Heart version with Roger Fisher playing guitar was pretty iconic. 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:38.200 So to me, it's it's just trying to recapture the 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.800 spirit of the song that makes it interesting to do 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:45.199 now because we don't have that Roger Fisher sound now. 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.160 And do you sometimes sing it and think about your 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.960 laundry or what you're gonna do after the gig? Or 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:57.240 you always invested in saying it? No, I'm always invested. 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:03.000 That's ah that that kind of split in your attention 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.280 is something that is a sin to me. When you're 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.960 up there on the mic. Okay, and so you're doing 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:13.199 this project independently, yet you still tour with Heart. So 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.200 how do you decide to do which one? Yeah, that's 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.720 a really good question because it's kind of just like 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:25.640 the the relationship between Nancy and I is good enough, 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.800 so we can if she gets her thing done over here, 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:30.720 I get mind done over here. We could just say 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.160 let's do this other thing and we can do it 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:37.200 in terms of our relationship. But it's it's just we 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.400 want to do a Heart tour when it really matters. 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.000 We don't just want to waste it. You know, who 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.479 knows how many more years we have left with it. 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.720 It's been together for nearly fifty years now. So you 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.080 have a big birthday this year. How's that messing with 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.320 your head? Well? Yeah, I had a seventy one this year, 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:59.080 so uh so, you know, I don't know. I had 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.120 a couple of things I got Lukibia ten years ago 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.720 that I knew I wouldn't really live forever. Then I 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.040 turned sixty and it really fucked me up. H'm not 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.200 quite as old as you are, but I was wondering 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:12.280 your perspective because one thing is for sure, we're not 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:18.440 gonna live forever. Yeah, that's that's dang sure, yeah it. 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.680 I think seventy messed with my head and set me 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.840 back on my heels, like my my bravado just wouldn't 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.719 even take it. Seventy was just one step too far. 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.240 But then I got over it, and I just I 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:40.000 feel the same. Um, yeah, I don't know, it's just 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.920 seventy one. I didn't even feel because it's not one 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.959 of those years with the zero after it. Eight will 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:52.560 be heavy, right, you know? Well, just you know, I 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.240 think a ringo is either eight one eighty two. Paul 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:59.600 McCartney will be a d hard to conceive. The other thing. Yeah, well, 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:04.280 I mean there are people Joe Walsh had, as somebody 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.360 else said, said, I'm too old to die young. It 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.160 used to be such a tragedy these rock stars would die. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.760 But if you die when you're eighty, people die when 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:17.440 you're eighty. It's very hear that our generation is going yeah, 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.480 well except you know, eighties the new sixty. I guess so. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:26.280 I think internally that's true. We just haven't learned that 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.760 physically in our bodies are bodies are not quite there. 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:34.560 I think that that the most challenging part of being 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:42.079 older in rock is just trying to figure out how 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.760 you can relate to the younger music that's coming out now, 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.360 because it's coming from people whose experienced levels are so 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:53.880 much different. And it's hard to get interested in somebody's 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.760 song about their boyfriend when you're seventy one, you know, 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:03.520 so I certainly understand that lyrically, but you know, it's 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:07.280 it's interesting. I have the perspective that, uh, you know, 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.920 our frame of reference with because he was the Beatles 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:16.200 of British Invasion, San Francisco, etcetera. But Mariah Carey came 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.880 out thirty years ago. A lot of people that's all 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.360 they know. Is some they don't even know what we 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.559 grew up with. So it's hard to hard to relate 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.720 in general, it is. And one of the things that's 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.760 really hard to relate to for me is is the 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.760 way of singing, the human way of singing, which is 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:41.000 a way that is un altered. It's not tuned without 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.160 a tune, it's it's a human way of singing, like 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:48.200 jan Is saying and like Jagger saying and stuff. Those 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.760 human ways that are out of tune and imperfect and 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:57.080 full of imperfection, um, and those are really that's the 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:01.199 that's the stuff that's it's range now in our time, 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.679 it's so easy to hear Mariah Carey, but it isn't 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:09.760 easy to hear Mick Jagger. You know, it's our imperfections 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:14.160 that make us lovable. Okay, that's right. You've cut a 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:19.280 lot of Zeppelin songs. What's your favorite Zeppelin song? I 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:24.760 think my favorite Zeppelin song is No Quarter? Really? Yeah, 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:27.760 I like No Quarter up. I like the stuff from 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:32.640 the Zeppelin four and Houses of the Holy era really 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:37.520 a lot. I think they really hit some real diamonds 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:44.080 and that that era, So No Quarter What else going 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:51.840 to California see in My Time of Dying? Yeah, God 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:55.200 for Sticks, just some of those songs that are just 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:59.040 a little bit more sophisticated but still just down, you know. 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.720 I like. I love that stuff. They get kind of tricky, 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:07.320 like on the Crunch, and they show that their their 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:11.880 intelligence but their insanity at the same time. I like that. 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:17.640 How did you discover led Zeppelin? M Well, my best 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:24.920 friend in high school, uh got a hole. She turned 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.560 me onto led Zeppelin when a whole lot of love 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.920 came out, and it's one of those deals where we're 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:34.400 high school girls, you know, sitting in her room listening 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:40.440 to Plant do a lot of of and just our 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:44.920 mind's going crazy and what does this mean? You know, 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:51.320 way down inside you need it and we're like what 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:56.920 But you can't look away from that when you're seventeen 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.680 or eighteen or something. That's how I got turned on 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:05.280 the ZEP one. Well, you know, certainly on that album. Uh, 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.040 they have the Lemons song and a lot of sexual references. 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.680 Were you were you? Were you a fast girul or 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:20.200 were you naive? I was super naive And I remember 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.560 too well going to a led Zeppelin concert in Seattle 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.400 at the Green Lake Aqua Theater. I think it was 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:35.120 nine or eight and so um with Nancy and the 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:39.520 two of us sat there listening to led Zeppelin and 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.640 the Lemon Song and all this stuff. And by the 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.440 time the Lemon Song was half half over, I was 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.720 headed to the car because it was just too much 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.000 for me. It was like, this is too much for 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:56.440 me to comprehend. I don't know whether this is dirty 0:16:56.520 --> 0:17:00.600 or whether it's incredible or what okay was to say? 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.359 They say sex, drugs and rock and roll. Uh, you 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.840 were singing, how did the sex party end up? You know? 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:14.960 Being awakened by real life, you know, But just the 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.920 lovers that I had and experiences, especially when I got 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:24.960 into um road life with the band, and I was 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:27.560 old enough to be in a relationship in my own 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:34.520 that was full fledged, you know, real relationship. Plus being 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.600 on the road with all these dudes all the time. 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:41.600 That's where I got my education, I think. I mean, 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.320 long before Nancy joined the band, it was just me 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.160 and a whole bunch of men in vans, in busses, 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:53.080 you know. So yeah, I guess I learned quick. But 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.520 didn't you have Roger Fisher as a boyfriend through most 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.840 of that? Nancy had a boy friend named Roger Fisher. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.399 Excuse me you his brother Michael Fisher. Weren't you involved 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:10.400 with Yes? I was, yeah, and we were together from 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:17.000 about seventy two to about seventy nine, and uh, yeah, 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.639 he he taught me everything I know. And do you 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:26.840 ever talked to him? Now? Occasionally will will connect on 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:33.480 UM line. I've he actually after we broke up, he 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:38.040 went on to have like eleven children with various other mayors. 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:43.240 And yeah, and a couple of times I've reached out 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:49.600 to him to ask him advice on parenting anyway, But no, 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:53.360 we don't really hang out or anything. So, uh, when 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:55.399 did you know you wanted to sing as a career 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.879 right off the bat? Probably when I was fifteen. It 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.480 just it was one of those things like in Close 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:08.000 Encounters where he's making the mountain out of mashed potatoes 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:11.240 and he doesn't know why. It's just just drawn to 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.199 making this mountain out of mashed potatoes. That's what it 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:16.199 was for me in music. It's just like I just 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.359 that's I just knew that's what I was gonna do. 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:26.800 Nothing else was even a possibility, Not boyfriends, not nothing. Okay, 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:28.760 Well what led up to that? I mean, were you 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.600 turned on by the Beatles or were you a music 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:37.800 head before that? What inspired you to this life? Um? 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:41.040 I started out by loving classical music and playing an 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:46.080 orchestra with the flute, and I come from a musical family, 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:50.760 classical music, opera, all that stuff, always playing, and so 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:56.280 one thing just kind of led to the next. Uh. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:00.240 I started just like singing along in the family, and 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.800 then feeling the urge to sing in front of people 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.920 the family, and then church group and then whoever would listen, 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:12.840 and it just kept growing exponentially. Okay, were you known 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.240 as the singer growing up all that that's the girl 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.760 with the amazing voice. I didn't discover I had a 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.120 voice until about seventy when I was up in Vancouver, 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:27.320 about seventy four, that's when I discovered I had a voice. 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:29.959 Up until then, I was playing at bands, but I 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.880 was just like the chick in the band who would 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:36.440 sing the ballad, you know, like she'd sing Superstar by 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.480 the time I get to Phoenix or something like that, 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:43.640 and then and then bang of tambourine while the guys 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:48.399 did all the rock. We were trying to work out, uh, 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.520 some Zeppelin songs back in the early days, and none 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:53.240 of the guys in the band could sing that high. 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.800 So it felt to me. And that's when I discovered 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:00.080 that I could sing rock. So you were just you, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.000 weren't You were playing the tambourine, singing backup vocals in 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:09.840 an occasional lead, and the and the cowbell and things 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:14.400 like clubs, and I mean, what did you see is 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.120 where you were going? Was this just another step down 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:19.000 the road or you said, holy ship, you know, something's 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:21.560 got to change here. Well, I didn't have a view 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:25.920 of what I was doing from the outside. I only 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:31.240 felt that I wanted to keep pushing up, and so, uh, 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:34.720 you know, I just found different guys to be in 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:38.320 a band with who would like slept the gear into 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.080 the next club, and then we get a like we 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:44.439 played there for a week, and then somebody would come 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:46.280 in and go, wow, we like this week, We like 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.400 the chick. How about this club a little bit better 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:51.879 of a place? You know how it goes, step up, 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.240 step up, step up, until you finally get some kind 0:21:55.280 --> 0:22:01.600 of really cool offer where they say, okay, um, Rod 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:05.000 Stewart was gonna play in Montreal at the Forum, but 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:11.040 um the opening band got six so you can open 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:12.920 up for Rod Stewart if you want for one night. 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:21.800 And then one thing leads to another. Okay, going back 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.720 before that, did you play in bands in high school? Yes? 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.919 I did. I started when I was a sophomore in 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:32.120 high school, just trying to just stitch it together with 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:35.800 whoever I could find who either had a car or 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:39.040 had a guitar or a shirt with a high boy 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.560 collar or something like that. You know, did you have 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:45.760 bands that would work during high school that got paid 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:50.200 to work? No? No, I don't think that I ever 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.840 got paid to play in a band really until we 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:58.040 were up in Vancouver, and we we're able to maybe 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:01.800 make ten bucks each week because we lived in a 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:07.000 UM in a communal situation, so we take all the 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:09.040 money the band would make and we'd split it all 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:12.359 up between the band members and the wives and stuff. 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:16.680 So you'd end up with ten bucks a week. UM, 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:19.480 but that was pay, you know. That would have been 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:24.320 seventy four seventy Okay. So you when you were in school, 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:27.720 were you a good student, bad student? Were you popular 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:32.199 and not popular? I was not popular and I was 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:38.560 a mediocre student. I excelled in art and music and 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:46.159 English class. All the humanities were easy for me. Um, 0:23:46.200 --> 0:23:49.200 but still I only got ces, you know. I graduated 0:23:49.200 --> 0:23:51.640 with the two point five or six or something like that. 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:58.240 Nothing to write home about. I was interested in music. Okay, 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:02.280 So you graduated from high school. Did you ever get 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:04.359 education beyond that point? You say, I'm just going to 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:08.560 be a musician. I went to out of high school. 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:13.320 I went to Art College in Seattle, and then after that, 0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:18.640 I um went into bands. So you know, it didn't 0:24:18.680 --> 0:24:22.160 take long for me to go from school to being 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:24.879 in a band for a living. How long did you 0:24:24.880 --> 0:24:28.199 go to school for I went to Art College for 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:32.640 two years after high school. Okay, And when you leave 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:36.880 art school and starting bands, where are you're living? Well, 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:40.600 I was still living with my parents, mooching off my parents, 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:45.080 you know. Uh. But then when I met Michael Fisher, 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:49.440 which was right then after art school, I went away 0:24:49.480 --> 0:24:54.160 to Canada and the rest is just heart history. Well 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:57.879 a little bit slower. How did you meet him? And 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:03.640 how did you end up in Vancouver? Oh? Okay? Um. 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:07.320 The band I was at the time was called it 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:13.040 was with Roger Fisher and Steve fossen Um. Well, yeah, 0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:16.920 it was called hocus Pocus and we were we got 0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:19.639 a gig at this club in Bellingham, Washington called the 0:25:19.680 --> 0:25:22.560 Iron Bull, where we were the house band. We were 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:29.920 playing there for two weeks I think. And Michael Fisher, 0:25:30.720 --> 0:25:33.200 the brother of Roger Fisher who was in my band, 0:25:34.240 --> 0:25:37.560 was a draft evader and he was living up in Vancouver, 0:25:37.640 --> 0:25:41.359 b C. He snucked down over the border to Bellingham 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:46.240 to see his brother's band, and he spotted this chick 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:48.480 singer who was sitting cross legged on the dance floor 0:25:48.480 --> 0:25:54.640 smoking a cigarette, and she spotted him and their eyes 0:25:54.720 --> 0:26:00.040 just went lock. And uh, that's how it started. And 0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:04.359 and I couldn't not be with him, and he just 0:26:04.480 --> 0:26:07.880 kept coming down to see me, and finally we got 0:26:07.920 --> 0:26:11.320 together as a couple and I left the band went 0:26:11.359 --> 0:26:16.040 up to Vancouver. That lasted about six months before the 0:26:16.080 --> 0:26:19.320