Power 107

POWER 107 INTERVIEW

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 2001 11:28AM

CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA

Have to do a little explaining here, um there were two interviews, I caught the first, 20 minute-long one but was unable to record it, and there was a second one that I did record,,,the transcript follows..;) Here's what I remember from the first interview:

Amanda was not looking forward to Christmas shopping, she hadn't started yet, and really wanted to ask the record company "for just an hour off" to go do some:)

One of her favorite songs of the new album is Colleen (I saw him first)

She was 17 when she first heard herself on the radio. Someone from her band had given someone else a demo of hers, and they played it on the radio. Amanda recalled that she was eating dinner with her family, and the radio was playing, she heard it and said "Hey! That's ME!"

It was the dj's birthday that day, and after the interview was over, apparently they came in with cake and they all sang her happy birthday.

When talking about the new album, one of the things Amanda liked talking about the album was that it was her. She started saying "There's a line in one of the songs on the cd I think. Well I know 'cause I wrote it, but it says 'you never ask me about me'." And she said it was true, that interviewers never asked about her, and that's one of the things she likes about the new cd

They finished off the interview by playing Double Agent;)

Sorry my memory sucks:(

AMANDA:..But I mean a lot of people had records coming out at that time and I know that it greatly affected the release schedules for a lot of the record labels, it affected the way the artists are touring, um, that's one of the big bummers about the whole situation. It's taken I think a lot of the impulsive joy out of a lot of the artists wanting to go out and promote their work abroad. You know, just because getting there is such, it's just something that we've never really thought about. You know, and if you were already skittish about world travel and about flying in particular, its really made a lot of people that I know um a lot more cautious and really more fearful of taking a big group of people on the road like that for an extended period of time in a place that you're not familiar with.

MAZ: Now, Amanda Marshall, we've still got you hanging out here. Everybody's Got A Story, its the name of the new cd, its the name of the first single. Very fitting song for what is going on in the world right now. The line that really got me was "the taxi driver with the PHD"

AMANDA: I was on a radio station last week and a guy phoned in, a cabbie, phoned in, and he said uh, I love the song, I'm from, I can't even remember where he was from, he had immigrated to Canada recently, he said I'm an engineer. I'm an engineer by training and I, this was the only gig I could get, and I'm supporting my family driving a cab, because my english is poor, and I'm not really well acquianted with the culture, and I can't get a job, and I'm driving a cab and that lyric speaks directly to me, and I thought, man! Well that's kind of what it was designed to do, but um, yeah, it's remarkable! And I mean that's the premise on which the song is built, its the premise on which the record is built

MAZ: Is there any greater compliment when someone comes up to you and tells you, that song, which you did, touched my life in this way?

AMANDA: Nothing. There's no higher compliment, perhaps, you know, when people--one of the greatest compliments I've ever received was from a 15 year old girl in Japan. She approached me after a show one night, and she had been practicing the phrase "I had a good time" for like a week. And she got her friend to translate it for her so she would be able to, I mean I guess she was counting on having a good time (laughs) but yeah, she tracked me down and came up just to tell me "I had..a good time". And I, for some reason, it really moved me! I thought, jeez, you know, that's really amazing!

MAZ: A small 10 seconds in your life, but this was something she had building up in her mind for a long time

AMANDA: Huge. Huge. And I, you know, it sounds incredibly trite and cliched, but that's why you make records and that's why you write songs, you really hope that you're gonna foster some connection between you and your audience.

MAZ: Is there anybody you'd like to hear sing one of your songs? Who in your mind do you think 'they'd do a great job singing one of my songs'

AMANDA: Who would it be...actually, I was, who I was talking about this to the other day

MAZ: Who would capture the *spirit of an Amanda Marshall song*

AMANDA: (laughs) Spirit of an Amanda Marshall song...a song that I wrote? or a song that I sang?

MAZ: Well--

AMANDA: Any song?

MAZ: Any song

AMANDA: Any song. I'd like to hear a dudddeeee (laughs) a dude singer, um, like I'd like to hear an R'n'B, like a really heavy-heavy male black R'n'B singer cover something that I've done, like a Brian McKnight or an Usher or, like a Sisqo, a Maxwell. Yeah, just cause you know, hearing guys cover songs that have been traditionally sung by women I think is really, I don't know, there's something really compelling about it, I think it's really cool. And I think it would be cool for a guy like Brian McKnight sing a song like, I don't know, lemme think, you know a song like Birmingham or If I Didn't Have You, something like that, a ballad, it'd be really cool

MAZ: We're in the spirit of the holiday season here. Are you a good Christmas shopper or a bad Christmas shopper?

AMANDA: I'M A HORRIBLE CHRISTMAS SHOPPER!!! (laughing) Oh, and the pressure, the pressure! I can't take the pressure!

MAZ: How many people honestly do you have to buy for in your circle (Amanda's exhaling away) of Christmas presents, how many??

AMANDA: See, that's the, that's the saddest part. I'm an only child, um I have my immediate family

MAZ: So has the princess thing ever come up?

AMANDA: (laughs) Sadly no! You know, could you write to them?

MAZ: So there's Mom and Dad

AMANDA: I got Mom and Dad, I got, you know, I got the boyfriend, the boyfriend's family

MAZ: Now what do you buy your boyfriend?

AMANDA: No idea! And it's funny 'cause I'm either like really great, if I think about it during the year, I usually, I nail it. And I'll get him something really great and it'll be something he's wanted but forgotten about. Either that or I'm at the other end of the spectrum where I'm shopping at like December 24 at 6:30, you know, as the stores are closing. Begging someone, 'I know it's the wrong size, but he'll return it tomorrow!' Um, and I got a couple, I got a couple--

MAZ: Now what would you spend on your boyfriend

AMANDA: What would I spend on him? Ohh...ummm

MAZ: You must have, you know, platinum credit cards

AMANDA: You know, he's a, he's a pretty cheap date (laughs)

MAZ: Okay, is he

AMANDA: Ya know, I'm like--

MAZ: Just, if it fits, it fits

AMANDA: If it fits, it fits yeah

MAZ: K, now what do you want for Christmas Amanda Marshall

AMANDA: Um, I, you know what I really want--

MAZ: ..platinum record..

AMANDA: This is so sad, and it really sounds materialistic, but what I want, I want one of those little wireless, email gadget thingies, because my laptop

MAZ: Oh, oh, like a big pager with the screen on it you can type stuff

AMANDA: Yeah, yeah, there's like a Blackberry, there's like a Palm Pilot, I don't know what it is yet, I don't know which one I want, but I want something that's portable just because my laptop is soo outdated and so heavy and horrible to carry around so...that's what I want. If anyone's listening. (laughs)

MAZ: Amanda Marshall, thank you, happy holidays, happy new year

AMANDA: Thank you!

MAZ: Here she is! What a sweet-heart, again at number 6 this week, Everybody's Got A Story, and we just heard most of hers, Power 107 Power 30 countdown


	POWER 107 INTERVIEW TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 2001 11:28AM CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA Have to do a little explaining here, um there were two interviews, I caught the first, 20 minute-long one but was unable to record it, and there was a second one that I did record,,,the transcript follows..;) Here's what I remember from the first interview: Amanda was not looking forward to Christmas shopping, she hadn't started yet, and really wanted to ask the record company "for just an hour off" to go do some:) One of her favorite songs of the new album is Colleen (I saw him first) She was 17 when she first heard herself on the radio. Someone from her band had given someone else a demo of hers, and they played it on the radio. Amanda recalled that she was eating dinner with her family, and the radio was playing, she heard it and said "Hey! That's ME!" It was the dj's birthday that day, and after the interview was over, apparently they came in with cake and they all sang her happy birthday. When talking about the new album, one of the things Amanda liked talking about the album was that it was her. She started saying "There's a line in one of the songs on the cd I think. Well I know 'cause I wrote it, but it says 'you never ask me about me'." And she said it was true, that interviewers never asked about her, and that's one of the things she likes about the new cd They finished off the interview by playing Double Agent;) Sorry my memory sucks:( AMANDA:..But I mean a lot of people had records coming out at that time and I know that it greatly affected the release schedules for a lot of the record labels, it affected the way the artists are touring, um, that's one of the big bummers about the whole situation. It's taken I think a lot of the impulsive joy out of a lot of the artists wanting to go out and promote their work abroad. You know, just because getting there is such, it's just something that we've never really thought about. You know, and if you were already skittish about world travel and about flying in particular, its really made a lot of people that I know um a lot more cautious and really more fearful of taking a big group of people on the road like that for an extended period of time in a place that you're not familiar with. MAZ: Now, Amanda Marshall, we've still got you hanging out here. Everybody's Got A Story, its the name of the new cd, its the name of the first single. Very fitting song for what is going on in the world right now. The line that really got me was "the taxi driver with the PHD" AMANDA: I was on a radio station last week and a guy phoned in, a cabbie, phoned in, and he said uh, I love the song, I'm from, I can't even remember where he was from, he had immigrated to Canada recently, he said I'm an engineer. I'm an engineer by training and I, this was the only gig I could get, and I'm supporting my family driving a cab, because my english is poor, and I'm not really well acquianted with the culture, and I can't get a job, and I'm driving a cab and that lyric speaks directly to me, and I thought, man! Well that's kind of what it was designed to do, but um, yeah, it's remarkable! And I mean that's the premise on which the song is built, its the premise on which the record is built MAZ: Is there any greater compliment when someone comes up to you and tells you, that song, which you did, touched my life in this way? AMANDA: Nothing. There's no higher compliment, perhaps, you know, when people--one of the greatest compliments I've ever received was from a 15 year old girl in Japan. She approached me after a show one night, and she had been practicing the phrase "I had a good time" for like a week. And she got her friend to translate it for her so she would be able to, I mean I guess she was counting on having a good time (laughs) but yeah, she tracked me down and came up just to tell me "I had..a good time". And I, for some reason, it really moved me! I thought, jeez, you know, that's really amazing! MAZ: A small 10 seconds in your life, but this was something she had building up in her mind for a long time AMANDA: Huge. Huge. And I, you know, it sounds incredibly trite and cliched, but that's why you make records and that's why you write songs, you really hope that you're gonna foster some connection between you and your audience. MAZ: Is there anybody you'd like to hear sing one of your songs? Who in your mind do you think 'they'd do a great job singing one of my songs' AMANDA: Who would it be...actually, I was, who I was talking about this to the other day MAZ: Who would capture the spirit of an Amanda Marshall song AMANDA: (laughs) Spirit of an Amanda Marshall song...a song that I wrote? or a song that I sang? MAZ: Well-- AMANDA: Any song? MAZ: Any song AMANDA: Any song. I'd like to hear a dudddeeee (laughs) a dude singer, um, like I'd like to hear an R'n'B, like a really heavy-heavy male black R'n'B singer cover something that I've done, like a Brian McKnight or an Usher or, like a Sisqo, a Maxwell. Yeah, just cause you know, hearing guys cover songs that have been traditionally sung by women I think is really, I don't know, there's something really compelling about it, I think it's really cool. And I think it would be cool for a guy like Brian McKnight sing a song like, I don't know, lemme think, you know a song like Birmingham or If I Didn't Have You, something like that, a ballad, it'd be really cool MAZ: We're in the spirit of the holiday season here. Are you a good Christmas shopper or a bad Christmas shopper? AMANDA: I'M A HORRIBLE CHRISTMAS SHOPPER!!! (laughing) Oh, and the pressure, the pressure! I can't take the pressure! MAZ: How many people honestly do you have to buy for in your circle (Amanda's exhaling away) of Christmas presents, how many?? AMANDA: See, that's the, that's the saddest part. I'm an only child, um I have my immediate family MAZ: So has the princess thing ever come up? AMANDA: (laughs) Sadly no! You know, could you write to them? MAZ: So there's Mom and Dad AMANDA: I got Mom and Dad, I got, you know, I got the boyfriend, the boyfriend's family MAZ: Now what do you buy your boyfriend? AMANDA: No idea! And it's funny 'cause I'm either like really great, if I think about it during the year, I usually, I nail it. And I'll get him something really great and it'll be something he's wanted but forgotten about. Either that or I'm at the other end of the spectrum where I'm shopping at like December 24 at 6:30, you know, as the stores are closing. Begging someone, 'I know it's the wrong size, but he'll return it tomorrow!' Um, and I got a couple, I got a couple-- MAZ: Now what would you spend on your boyfriend AMANDA: What would I spend on him? Ohh...ummm MAZ: You must have, you know, platinum credit cards AMANDA: You know, he's a, he's a pretty cheap date (laughs) MAZ: Okay, is he AMANDA: Ya know, I'm like-- MAZ: Just, if it fits, it fits AMANDA: If it fits, it fits yeah MAZ: K, now what do you want for Christmas Amanda Marshall AMANDA: Um, I, you know what I really want-- MAZ: ..platinum record.. AMANDA: This is so sad, and it really sounds materialistic, but what I want, I want one of those little wireless, email gadget thingies, because my laptop MAZ: Oh, oh, like a big pager with the screen on it you can type stuff AMANDA: Yeah, yeah, there's like a Blackberry, there's like a Palm Pilot, I don't know what it is yet, I don't know which one I want, but I want something that's portable just because my laptop is soo outdated and so heavy and horrible to carry around so...that's what I want. If anyone's listening. (laughs) MAZ: Amanda Marshall, thank you, happy holidays, happy new year AMANDA: Thank you! MAZ: Here she is! What a sweet-heart, again at number 6 this week, Everybody's Got A Story, and we just heard most of hers, Power 107 Power 30 countdown