July 26, 1999
Amanda Marshall live in KINK's Performance Studio
Jeff Clarke: Woohoo, go ahead. We're having a little sing-a-long, a little jam session in the KINK Performance Studio. Jeff Clarke with you. Of course Mr. Springsteen right there with "Glory Days" and Amanda Marshall is our guest this afternoon. You'll remember her fine and very successful first album, came out in 1996. Had memorable songs like, maybe I can mention just a couple of them, "Birmingham" and "Dark Horse." We enjoy playing those. Amanda will be doing an in store performance tonight at Borders Books & Music downtown at 7pm. Am I I correct so far?
Amanda Marshall: You are indeed.
JC: Thank you very much for coming.
Amanda Marshall: Thanks for having us.
JC: Welcome to Portland. Hope you do a full-blown concert in our town real soon.
Amanda Marshall: I hope so too.
JC: You are a whirling dervish on stage. Amanda is out with her long awaited second album. I think that's one of our functions here today. To promote this fine piece of work. It's called "Tuesday's Child" and if we're lucky maybe you'll do something from the album first? Could you please introduce your cohorts and companions?
Amanda Marshall: These are indeed my cohorts and companions. On the piano this is Eric Webster and Jim Bosha on guitar. Hello Portland.
JC: Are you going to do something off of the new disc?
Amanda Marshall: We are. We're going to do...this song came out shortly before the release of the record on a television soundtrack
JC: Touched By An Angel
Amanda Marshall: Right. This is "Believe In You."
JC: You having a good time y'all.
Amanda Marshall: We are.
JC: She can belt 'em out with the best of 'em. Also, are your headphones loud enough? Is everything adjusted O.K.?
Amanda Marshall: I think so, yes.
JC: I can see why Elton John called Amanda Marshall one of his favorite singers. How'd that make you feel, Amanda?
Amanda Marshall: Oh, it made me feel horrible. I couldn't believe it. I was depressed for weeks. (laughs) It's like a blessing from the Pope, are you kiddin'?
JC: In addition to being an interpreter of songs you now write those songs as well. You co-wrote most of the tunes on the new album. What opened up the song writing experience for you?
Amanda Marshall: I think I was on the road with the first record for about two and a half years and during that time it gave me an opportunity to kind of use the audience as a gauge to see which songs were eliciting the strongest reactions. What I noticed was the songs that people seemed to really connect with were the songs that I had written on the first record. I guess part of that is because they were a little more personal and I was a little more attached to them. I just decided to make a concerted effort to see if anything was there. I never anticipated to become as involved with the production of the record as I did. Or writing the extent of the record that I did. It became very obvious early on that I was much more productive than I thought I was going to be.
JC: This is a big step in the Amanda Marshall evolution, phase two you might call it. The songs on your new CD are very personal. I was really struck particularly by "Shades of Gray." Tell us about that one.
Amanda Marshall: "Shades of Gray" was written by accident. It was written the lyric and melody sort of came in one big chunk. Basically it's my perspective on growing up as the product of an interracial marriage. My mom is from Trinidad and my dad is Canadian. I grew up very unaware of racial difference but very aware that there was a division within my immediate family. I wasn't very close to my paternal grandparents. I think when you're a little kid everything in your world revolves around you. Because of that my interpretation was that I didn't have as close of a relationship with them as I might have liked because I was different. Or because they regarded me as different. That's what the song's about.
JC: Well, there's no black & white really. It's all pretty gray to me.
Amanda Marshall: There you go.
JC: It's a very touching song. Your primary song writing partner on the disc is Eric Bazillian also you did some work with Desmond Child and a true legend, Carole King. What's she like?
Amanda Marshall: She was tremendous. I had great time working with her. I called Carole when I was in Los Angeles. Eric and I were talking about the nature of song writing and her name came up. I said, "Whatever happened to Carole King, Carly Simon, Joan Armatrading and Janis Ian. Nobody writes about them anymore but everyone writes about the young up and coming artists.
JC: These were the originals, the pioneers.
Amanda Marshall: Yes! Those songs she wrote with Jerry Coffin will be around forever. I called her when I was out in LA sort of on a whim and she called me back and once we met...she was very, very busy...she said, "I've got two hours on Monday if you can be there I'll be there." So I sprinted over to the studio and we started working together. She and I really formed a relationship, a strong relationship very quickly. I think one of the neat things about it is that when you get to work with someone who is really established, who is really comfortable in her own skin, there's a lot you learn from them. You get to see yourself reflected in someone else's eyes. I could see her thinking, "I was there once. I was that green once." It was really fun.
JC: You can hear two of the results on the new CD the titles are...?
Amanda Marshall: Actually, we wrote two songs together. One of them was released as a B-side in Europe and is called "Just Love Me," and the other is on the new CD called "Right Here All Along."
JC: Gotcha. It's always been said that the second album is tougher. Did you find that to be true?
Amanda Marshall: I think I was blissfully unaware with the pressure of this record. I was so overwhelmed with my own contribution to it that in a lot of ways it was more fun than making the first one. I had fun on the first one but was out of my element. My background was as a live performer. A lot of times it's very difficult when you first go into the studio as a live performer because it's an alien atmosphere and you feel like a fish out of water. This new record was a lot more sitting around with my friends making music. Eric and I formed a very strong bond both as friends and song writing partners so I was having a great time getting the record made. By the time we were finished I sat down and listened to it and said, "I guess it's done." There wasn't high pressure to get it done.
JC: It's got some really strong stuff on it. "Love Lift Me" is a great single, I think you've got a hit on your hands.
Amanda Marshall: Well, thank you so much.
JC: I remember very vividly you opening up for John Mellencamp. For a lot of us, you stole the show. You are very energetic up on stage. What happens to you on stage? Is it really a magical transcendent experience for you?
Amanda Marshall: Yes. I'm really comfortable on stage. I dig getting up in front of people. This record was the most comfortable I've been in a studio setting but part of me always stays up on stage. I think I pick that part of me back up every time I get back on the stage. It really is very fulfilling for me, the most immediate connection you can make with a large group of people. Everything's is different all of the time. The show is different every night and there's something freeing and magnetic about it. It's a pull to me.
JC: What's your next big gig? Are you going to be touring?
Amanda Marshall: We're going to be in the US for the next three weeks and then we're going over to Europe and touring with Simply Red for a little while. Then I don't know what we'll be doing? We'll either stay over there on our own or come home.
JC: This is kind of out in left filed but you are about the third musician that I've encountered recently who is in to boxing. One is Chris Isaak and the other is Joe Henry and now you. Do you think this is a trend?
Amanda Marshall: Well I'm the only chick that you mentioned so I'm excited about that. I don't know if it's a trend but I started doing it because I'm incredible lazy and I have a tendency to get...I'm a bit of a sloth. I was in LA making the record and I was running. I was getting really bored with that and starting to put on weight. I was on a plateau. There was this gym by my apartment and I saw this sign for boxing lessons. So I started taking lessons and it was the greatest thing. All I kept saying was, "When do I get to hit somebody?" I finally did with the guy who was training me and decked me. He just clocked me and laid me out. But I loved it. I got up and said, "Wow, That was great! O.K. Now teach me how to do that."
JC: A great tension reliever.
Amanda Marshall: It great. It keeps you fit and it's a wonderful form of stress release.
JC: Amanda's new album is called Tuesday's Child. Could you do something off of it for us? Or whatever you'd like to sing or play would be just fine by us.
Amanda: Sure! We'll do "Love Lift Me."
JC: Amanda Marshall, Thanks for joining us today.
Amanda Marshall: Thanks for having us.
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