Singer Easter Bradford talks about Poppy
James Warnock
DC who has named his new album (according to the article his second,
but his first was shelved by a record label?) after a line in a Poppy
book. Here's the article!
JW
Starting a New Heart - We Peel Away the Layers with Easter Bradford
by Alex Jacoby
In his new album project, gay DC singer-songwriter Easter Bradford
does a complete one-eighty. His last album, the unreleased
"Mnemosyne's Lounge" sits shelved in a record label's vaults. The
byproducts, however, are available in a compilation on the internet,
and they reveal a very trip-hop, electronica influenced album. Some
of the songs are quite good; others are incredibly bad. What's
obvious throughout is that it is lyrical, vocally-driven music by
an artistically-driven man.
In the limited amount of press surrounding his last attempt at a
release Easter was pinned as good copy, a kind of male-Tori-Amos
with a lot to say, but nobody know what he was saying. Like Amos,
he discusses his songs as his children, giving each one a character.
He talks about the muses and how they embody him with a new
personality
for each song he writes and sings. Many would accuse Easter of using
this as an excuse to escape responsibility for what he says, but
don't be fooled. Each new personality is just a part of the whole.
His new album, "Heart Like an Artichoke," contains 8 songs (six new,
two cover interpretations) that deal with the concept of using
violence against others to reclaim one's personal power. Here, we ask
him why his new project is completely different, exactly the same
and also similar to the last.
AJ: Your new album is called "Heart Like an Artichoke." On the back
cover you have a quote from a Poppy Z. Brite novel that explains
the source of the title. Why?
EB: My friend Tyler gave me this book, "Drawing Blood," by Poppy,
and first of all, can I just say?...when I get reincarnated as
a woman, I'm coming back as this woman. In this book there's a
quote, "He has a heart like an Artichoke - a leaf for no one, but
makes a meal for nobody." I'm paraphrasing. And that really resonated
with me. Lots of us live that way. We give little bits out to just
about anybody, of ourselves, and think that makes us available
and generous. Really we're just a snack, though, and everybody
we leave behind ends up starving to death.
AJ: Two of the songs on the album are covers. Your last album had
a cover song as well (Tori Amos's fan-favourite b-side "Sugar,") but
you took a very slow piano driven song and turned it into a trip-hop
number. On this album your covers are of very loud songs turned into
ballads.
EB: Well, the whole of the last album was produced by a guy who does
dance music. That's what he does, it's his thing, and he's good
with it, but it just wasn't me. I'm proud of what we did together,
and I think for the most part it's good stuff. At the same time, I
feel like I let someone rearrange the body parts on my children. This
album has a more acoustic feel all the way through. I've gone back
to my roots because I was thirsty.
AJ: No one will be surprised to hear you cover a Bjork song, but
your interpretation of "Nasty Girl" by Vanity 6 is chilling.
EB: Well, that whole era passed me right by. I was just a baby in
the 80's, I was only 14 in 1993, so I didn't really understand or
participate in the decedance of that time. As an adult at the bars
I'm always requesting the video for that song, gay bars, you know...
classic camp. And I would just laugh and sing along with the chorus...
"Don't you wanna come with me/Do you think I'm a Nasty Girl?" Then
I really heard what was going on, and in my mind, that girl in the
song...I'm not talking about Vanity, we've all seen VH1, she's born
again and good for her, from garter belts to chastity belt...but the
character in that song. She's going to wind up in big trouble. She
thinks she knows what she's after, and she's completely unprepared
for what she's inviting. So when I sing this song, it's very dark.
This man singing this song, he's perpetuated a horrible thing,
and he's just repeating back what she said to him, taunting her
with her own words. He's a bad man, and she's been a bad, bad girl.
AJ: As someone who has worked so closely with organization like
R.A.I.N.N. (The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) don't you
think that message is irresonsible?
EB: No, because I own what I'm saying. I'm not Eminem here, saying,
"Oh, ha-ha, I didn't mean it. Just ignore me, kids." I'm no pussy.
I got into this guy's mind. I made myself feel what it is to think
that it's okay to violate someone. To think that what someone says
and does makes it okay to...take their pride, take their control away.
To find sport in it. To be sick.
AJ: How does the concept of violence against others tie in with your
album-title idea?
EB: Well, that whole idea of giving only bits of yourself to people
and passing it off as the whole. That's very destructive, emotionally,
and in doing it really you're just trying to take back what you've
just given.
AJ: Your press release says that the song "Went For a Walk" was
included at the last minute, kicked in post-mastering. It seems to
be in retaliation to the September eleventh attacks in America.
EB: I didn't feel like I had a whole lot to say about it all. I'm
just another American. That song is about a friend of mine who
crossed over that day. She worked in tower 2. We had just talked
two days earlier about how beautiful life was and how many
fantastic plans she had for the future. That's the ultimate in
using violence to steal someone's bloodline.
AJ: "Lip Biter" is another track that has a hurried feel to it.
What inspired the graphic imagry within?
EB: The whole of that song was inspired by Bjork's song "Joga."
She sings (singing) "State of emergency, how beautiful to be, is where
I want to be." I felt like she'd said it all and yet hadn't said
enough. The whole idea that I can only thrive in a self-created
chaos. It makes me gnaw on myself, and it's self destructive. It's
about cutting yourself to feel again. It's about fooling yourself
into thinking that your destruction is your thriving existance.
AJ: You cover the Bjork B-side "Sod Off." The original song seemed
to be an urgent message to the press; a warning to stay away and
stop being intrusive. Your interpretation seems to be more romantic.
EB: The boy in that song is so deeply in love that he's lost the
feeling of control, of himself, his emotions. He has to say those
words to his lover, to push his lover away, to feel in control again.
He has to stop the relationship before it starts to preserve the
feeling. He says "I won't let you ruin this," he's saying it to the
person who, there wouldn't be a "this" without the person. He's
cutting off his nose to spite his face.
AJ: The song seems almost like a precursor to the final title track.
That song seems to have a complete deviation from the rest of the
album
in that it is much more electronic and less lyrically based, more
vocal and impressionistic. Where did it come from?
EB: That song is giving the finger to the rest of the songs. That
song makes me sad because he knows what's going on with everything
in his life, he knows there's pain and love and suffering and joy,
and he ignores it and rejects it all. He says "I feel nothing/peel
away/I'll know I feel it when I feel nothing." He's destroyed
himself and he knows it, and the only way he can start over is
to clean the slate. He's a suicide on the album.
AJ: Do you think that the characters in these songs learned their
lessons?
EB: I don't think that this album left any survivors. I think that
all of these boys had to face the reaper and yes, they learned
from their mistakes, but to what end they'll use the knowledge in
their next life I can't say. The thumbprint eventually fades, and
we all lose our grip.
"Heart Like an Artichoke" will be debuted with a new song each month
at
http://www.mp3.com/easterbradford/ before being released
internationally
in June of 2002. Visist Easter's fanclub site at
www.geocities.com/nicestslice/
TAKEN FROM THE WASHINGTON CITYPAPER, SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2001
MarcelFelix
>AJ: Your new album is called "Heart Like an Artichoke." On the back
>cover you have a quote from a Poppy Z. Brite novel that explains
>the source of the title. Why?
>
>EB: My friend Tyler gave me this book, "Drawing Blood," by Poppy,
>and first of all, can I just say?...when I get reincarnated as
>a woman, I'm coming back as this woman. In this book there's a
>quote, "He has a heart like an Artichoke - a leaf for no one, but
>makes a meal for nobody." I'm paraphrasing.
wasn't it a leaf for EVERYONE, but a meal for nobody??
Marcel Felix
Hyacinth93
>
>Marcel Felix
>
I dunno, i don't even remember the quote myself, but, 'a leaf for everyone, but
a meal for nobody' makes much more sense than 'a leaf for no one, but makes a
meal for nobody.'
-Aaron
'This is mad love...'
-Coil