The Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers Get Back to Basics. (cover story)

Navigation: Main page

Author: Huwig, Pam

You know, Emily and I both think that Kerry is the obvious choice to get Bush out of office. I just hope everyone gets out there and votes because that is the only way things are going to change. It's easy to make fun of Bush because he's such an idiot, but I hope everyone also remembers that he's a really scary man, in a powerful position.

Jane Addams ever so intelligently said, "The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life."

Whether or not someone interested in creating change is a fan of the Indigo Girls' music, nobody can rightly deny that Amy Ray and Emily Saliers' music can be entirely summarized by Addams' words.

For over 10 years the Indigo Girls have been blurring the lines between music and political activism â€" to the point where it's sometimes challenging to determine if their music supports their politics or their politics support their music. Throughout the years they have gained laudable support in both arenas, and love them or hate them, they are making the kind of waves that help to transform a culturally-stunted society.

Currently touring for their most recent release, All That We Let In, Amy and Emily sat down and talked with the Lesbian News about politics, the new record and how finally deciding to part ways with recording giant Epic Records has even further strengthened their credibility with fans.

Amy: We still have this record to put out with them that is a record of outtakes and things we haven't released, a bootleg kind of record. And once we turn that in, we'll be released from our deal with Epic. We've had about the best we could hope for with a major label, so it was a decent experience. But in the past five years it's become obvious that they don't know how to promote a band like us. We're older and we're queer and we're political, and that's not an image that they really want to put out there. I think there's a false idea out there about how there's this queer market niche â€" like right, those queers are all just raking in the money, right? Do you have any reservations about leaving a major label? Amy: I think Emily and I feel differently about it. I think Emily really wants to just wait and see; she doesn't want to make any comments about it because I think she has some trepidation about leaving an infrastructure that has such big distribution, and theoretically the ability to promote you, but my perspective is that Epic hasn't really used the infrastructure for us in a productive way in the past five years. And then on a spiritual level, I just can't handle being on a major label anymore. It just goes against most everything that I stand for.

Amy: Well, I think I've felt comfortable with it because we've been able to be political, and we've been able to... When we first signed to Epic, the music industry wasn't as bad as it is now. At the time, it seemed like a good vehicle to having access to a lot of resources to where I could make enough money in order to run an indie label, which was a big part of it. You can either be on your own label and run it, and not sign any other bands, or you sign a bunch of bands and be on somebody else's label, and have enough time to promote other people. It gave us great access and enabled us to get the word out to other people.

Things are just different now. I don't know if you needed the infrastructure of a major label back then, but you certainly don't need it now. To me, there's just no way to justify being on a major label, and to be on one, well, it would be all about the money, and that's not where my soul is. And I feel good about it â€" really good. Because at a certain point I lose credibility with fans because everything I stand for gets in question because of being with a major label.

Amy: Yeah, lots of things! Probably mostly older stuff. Lots of songs that maybe had one really good image in them, and I should have spent more time on, or too self-involved. It's just age and maturity, you know â€" it's like journaling: You look back at your old journals and you're just like, I'm so glad these aren't published.

Emily: Yes, we still want to work together. But Amy's doing another solo project, and I also want to do a solo project and work on some other side projects. But coming together as the Indigo Girls is something that is very important and special to us, so I don't see us stopping that any time soon, and not being on a major label won't effect that. But I still need to write the songs for my solo record, so it will be a little while before it's done.

Amy: Yeah, and she has an amazing voice. She studied with singers in India, I think. I was happy with how that song turned out. For one thing, it's basically an anti-war song almost, but it's not, it's more nuanced than that. I'm trying to take into account that there are situations where being a pacifist is not necessarily going to work. Or maybe that I could be a pacifist because someone else isn't. I'm trying to look into the nuance of all that, and be honest.

I don't have any mixed opinions about Iraq. I was against that war â€" dead against it â€" from the very beginning. I was thinking more about the Middle East and Latin America, people who are oppressed. And also opinions of people I know that diplomacy, in some situations, just doesn't work anymore. When you're so downtrodden and you need to pick up arms. Compared to the people who think you have to pick up arms anytime â€" all the time â€" the U.S. Military or something.

Amy: Yeah, I'm starting a new solo record and play with them. So yeah, they'll play on the record. So far we've done two songs, and I'm working on two other songs to play with them. So, they're going to be about half the record, and then I'm making a little band with Kate Shellenbach (Luscious Jackson) and Jodi Briley (Team Dresch). So I'm venturing into another solo project and I'm trying different stuff so it's not the same as my last solo record.

Emily: There's been such a huge backlash of gays across the country. It's sweeping like wildfire. We have states that are just scurrying to add these anti-gay marriage amendments to their constitutions, and so it's a very dark period for gay people. But I do think it's the beginning of a very huge battle that we'll win in the end. I think people will eventually start scratching their heads, wondering what all the fuss is about.

Amy: Yeah, Emily went down there for that, but I didn't go. We were in the studio, so I made a ton of phone calls instead, called my representative. We talked for about 10 minutes. Ultimately, he didn't vote in my favor, but he's Republican and pretty conservative, so it was interesting that he said he is pro-gay rights and all for gays being able to legally marry, but he said he's gotten so many phone calls against it, so he said he felt like he couldn't go against his constituency. That's just a bunch of bullshit to me, but you know how it is.

Amy: For one, I'm going to go door to door and talk to people. We're trying to figure out what the best strategy is. Some people have said that they think I'm really brave to do this, but I'm saying I'm going to do this so I really get out there and do it, I'm not that brave. It's hard to do something like that. But I definitely feel that that's what people need to do. You know, when you're talking to someone one on one, it's harder for them to hate you and to deny you your rights. You have to personalize the issue.

Emily: He's one of the worst Presidents ever, and completely disappointing in his backing of an U.S. constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Amy: He's a complete asshole, and we need to get him out of office as soon as possible â€" not only for the sake of gays, but for the sake of the country, and the world. You know, Emily and I both think that Kerry is the obvious choice to get Bush out of office. I just hope everyone gets out there and votes because that is the only way things are going to change. It's easy to make fun of Bush because he's such an idiot, but I hope everyone also remembers that he's a really scary man, in a powerful position.

Emily: I've gotten a little caught up in the cog of what's it going to be like stylistically. I have a lot of different things that I'd love to do. I'd love to make a record that is a little more edgy than what people expect from me, but then on the other hand I want to make a record that has a lot of beats and grooves, then I want to make a very sparse record that's acoustic. So, I think I'll just need to write a bunch of good songs and then get a good team together and work with people who are going to inspire me.

I guess I have some insecurities about it; it's stepping out on your own. Amy's done it and she did a great job on her solo record, but it's definitely a leap of faith to go out and do something on your own. I just want to make sure that the songs are good because I don't want to do it if I can't, you know? And I want it to be fun. I'm a person who mulls over things for a long while; I'm not spontaneous when it comes to making decisions. But it will all happen.

Emily: Amy comes to my house or I go to hers, we sit there with a cup of tea and work at it all day long. We pet the dogs now and then and keep working. The whole process takes up to a couple of months sometimes. You know, if it's one of Amy's songs, she might suggest I play a mandolin part or acoustic part or whatever, and I spend some time with the song and get the feel of it, and then move on from there.

Emily: I have three cats, too. It's harder than people might think; I miss my animals as much as I miss my peeps, you know? My girlfriend is at home a lot, so she watches them. They give me the cold shoulder sometimes when I get back, but we get it all worked out.

Emily: You know, no she really doesn't. She's wonderful and she really supports me in my endeavors, which is one reason I love her so much. I mean, being away for such long stretches certainly can cause some stress in any relationship, but she and I have that special spiritual connection that lets us survive the time apart. Relationships are complicated things, and they take work. They are fragile and need attention. And she and I, so far, have been able to give our love the kind of attention it needs to survive.

Amy: Well, if it's appropriate to talk about my personal life, I will. But it's usually not pertinent to what's being discussed. You know, music is what I love, but it's also my work. And like everybody else, I have my work life and I have my personal life. And I think most people â€" fans â€" understand and respect that.

Emily: It's a very dark song. And yes, it's one of the darkest songs I've ever written. There's not any hope in it, really. It's about a dysfunctional relationship, and not only that, but the way we betray and hurt each other as human beings. And there's some Christian imagery in there, which was just because it's a bold, strong image of betrayal to use lyrically. It's about how we enable dysfunction to continue in our lives, and how the raging flood of pain and torment continues on, and how we're just these feeble creatures who stack sandbags against it. So I was coming at that song in a personal way, but also in a sweeping bigger way. You know, I think if we could get everybody together stocking those sandbags, the world might be a little better place for it. That's a message that is always somewhere in the songs we both write. That's what we stand for â€" creating change.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE)

~~~~~~~~

By Pam Huwig