It's 8:03 and suddenly the phone rings! is this it? will I pick up and it will be someone related to Meredith Brooks on the line, or is it my Grandma calling to see what's up? Ok I pick... an American male voice is asking, "is it Ilana?" excited as hell I mumble out "yes..", the guy is promising that Meredith will be right there. After a couple of minutes he returns, and says that Meredith has been busy with interviews all morning and she needs a little break, he promises that I will still get my full time for the interview and he will call me back in 10-15 minutes. We hang up... So what's now? unbelievably I'm 10 times more nervous than I was before... It sounded like Meredith was so busy, she might be a bit impatient with me and my horrid accent.
A bit before 20:20 the phone rings again, this must be it! I pick it up, after making sure it's Ilana, he says "Miss Brooks will be right with you". I have no time to get excited, before his sentence is finished a wonderfully familiar voice is asking about the pronunciation of my name, after a quick introduction, we begin with the Interview!
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Ilana: What are your current plans for your near and distant future?
Meredith Brooks: My plans, I'm actually right now recording again, and I've been
waiting for your interview to let my fans know what I'm doing. Umm,
(in a playful voice) 'cause I wanted to have
something special to tell them! Ilana: Do you know which will be the next single you will release from Deconstruction? Meredith: Well, we got everyone's list, and we carried it up, and "I Have Everything" was the winner, I believe on that. And I'm still debating, what we're trying to do is get it into a movie to release it that way, and if we don't by the time I make the next record then I won't be releasing another single I'll just be releasing my next album. Ilana: What are your goals with Anybody's Music Program?
Ilana: That's really great that you do that... You recently had a long trip to Sweden, what have you done there? Meredith: Well, when I saw in Sweden I hung out with Beth, as everybody I think knows. It was a lot of fun. And when I was there, she played me some of her stuff with her new producer and i loved it so much that I joined in and I helped her write a song and I gave them my advice on some of the production and worked with them a little bit and then I continued to write while I was there, then I went off on my own for a vacation, for the first time. I've never had one before so I decided it was time to take one before I started my next record. Ilana: You know what, you really should take a vacation in Israel. (Meredith is laughing). Hey you get a free tour guide if you want. (* Notice I did this interview before the war there began, as I would never invite Meredith to visit a country that's in a war ;) ). Meredith: And come visit you? (still laughing) I would like to, I think it would be fascinating to come. Ilana: Of course, whenever you have time (yeah right). Ilana: Are your song lyrics based on true experiences you've had in your life? Meredith: All of them are, yes. I don't know how to write from any other point of view. Even if the experiences aren't something I'm going through. It might be like my girlfriend, but I have to be close to the situation to understand it. Because I like my lyrics to feel conversational and truthful, as if we're having real talk. You know, not so they feel generic. I don't really like generic lyrics when I write. I've also been writing for other artists, producing other artists, doing some country stuff. I've noticed there was a question on the post the other day about if I ever do any country stuff. Actually I have been. I've been writing with Randy Scruggs, and been trying to get my songs placed with other artists in Nashville. Those lyrics I tend to leave more universal. Ilana: I hear this question a lot, who was your inspiration for the song Watched You fall? Meredith: Umm, you know it's kind of a sad story, I had a lot of inspirations for that. I had a lot of friends, you know when I lived in Seattle and Oregon, you know we partied, which is a large reason I don't know drugs or alcohol now, as a lot of people know, because I saw the Destruction of so many great musicians and artists and it was kinda funny at the time you know, but later when the partying turned into such destrcutiveness it wasn't funny anymore. And I felt personally responsible at times, because I have a lot of surviver insticts in me, and i know when to quit and I know when to go forward it my life but not everybody does. And so I think I felt a little sad that I wasn't able to save more of my friends. And there one person in particular that that song, I was thinking of, and I really haven't heard from her in years, and it was about that. I prefer not to name names, because I would never want to hurt her feelings but she was somebody I was really close to, I played in a band with her and she really went down the road of self destruction. Ilana: I'm sure you help a lot of people with your music now.. Umm, well a more silly question, what is the one thing you would take to a deserted island? Meredith: (Laughing), that's hard! you know, it would either be my guitar or my boyfriend.. umm, I don't know, that is so difficult, could it be two things (begins laughing again), I guess it would have to be, it would definitely be my boyfriend, if I had to only take one, but I would hope that I could take my second thing and that would be the guitar and I would do that over a tooth brush because I can make a toothbrush out of bushes and twigs. So, it would definitely be the guitar. Ilana: I would take a vote. Meredith: You take a vote if it can be two things or not, if it's one, I think I would have to take my boyfriend, my, you know, life partner.. And a.. you know I can write songs without a guitar, I can write songs and sing songs all the time, it would be harder... maybe I can make a guitar from ah.. fish guts and ah.. palm trees. (Gosh, Mer could make a good comedian) Ilana: Must be quite easy... Well, you don't have to answer on this question if you don't want to, but what was your most embarrasing moment? Meredith: Oh no, I'll tell you. Umm... well, you mean since I've became famous or before? Ilana: Doesn't matter, the most embarrasing moment. Meredith: Well oddly enough there are two most embarrassing moments, and they are the exact same thing. Now either this means I have a big butt and I need to do something about this, or it's just a coincidence. When I was a kid I was playing in Eugene, Oregon, and I had just seen this group called The Hots, and there was this fantastic guitar player who went out on the tables, and the chairs, and went out in the audience and played guitar. So I started taking my guitar out in the audience and doing that. Well this was before I owned a wireless, and as I was backing onto the stage I tripped and fell backwards, and ripped my pants when I fell. Well then, I had to figure how to get back up, and then how I was going to play for the rest of the night with a rip in my butt. And then it happened again, my very last show on the "Blurring The Edges" tour. I was in Las Vegas and the weather was incredibly dry, the air was so dry. We noticed that all of our crew members pants were ripping. But I didn't think mine would, except for when I went down to help up all the kids on stage for "Down By The River". My pants ripped, and I couldn't believe it. It was this horrible feeling from when I was a kid and my pants ripped. Beth ran and got me some pants, and then I went into this truck on my encore, and changed my pants. It made my tour manager upset because he was so afraid that cameras would come and see, but all I could think about was getting on new pants that weren't ripped. Ilana: You must have bad luck with something. Meredith: So both times it was ripped pants on stage. Ilana: I know you mentioned boyfriend, but a lot of guys want to know if you would ever go out with a fan. Meredith: Go out with a fan? You know I don't think I could. You might not know a person was a fan that you were dating. But if they ever came to me as a fan, and tried to go out on a date, I wouldn't. Ilana: You shouldn't. Meredith: No I wouldn't. Because you don't know what's really going on, and I've had enough kind of crazy experiences in that department that I'm very careful now. Ilana: Believe me I know. A lot of my friends are your fans. Meredith: (laughing) And they're crazy? Ilana: Yes one of them wanted to marry you. Meredith: Oh well, I don't know about that. That's funny. Ilana: What is your favorite color, and what is the color of your eyes? Meredith: My eyes change colors, which is why you guys have never been able to figure it out. Ilana: Yeah... Meredith: See I do read that board. You guys are so funny. I love it when I get the people on there "That's not her". It makes me laugh so hard. My eyes are most of the time a kind of gray-blue. But sometimes they switch to green. And some days they are super super blue. I guess that's called hazel. Ilana: Ok, you just solved a big mystery. Meredith: Yes I know because they do change, and they'll be different colors in pictures I'm not wearing contacts, by the way. You can write that. I don't wear contacts but, if I'm wearing a certain color or they have certain light, then they will definitely switch colors. Any my favorite color is purple. Any shade of lavender or purple, are my favorite. I'll give you something interesting, I have a huge velvet purple comforter on my bed. Ilana: That sounds very beautiful. Meredith: It's my favorite. ... |
Meredith: My next plan. I've bought a camera now so I can film every time that I
speak and to just keep documenting it, to the point to where, I have enough
in my documentation to give to other artists so they can learn how to go out
as well, and what it is that I talk about, and what it is that I teach in the
mentoring program. It's pretty specific, it's about self-empowerment, it's
about being able to find solutions through teamwork. That's one of my first
goals. The other thing is to continue to go out myself, when schools start
back up next month, go out to the schools and carry on. A long term goal,
which is in about two years, is to encourage students to start doing concerts
in which I or the other artists will come back at the end of the school year,
to see their concerts.