Interview: Sara Bareilles

By Erin Horan

Sara Bareilles skyrocketed to fame after the release of her hit single “Love Song.” In no time at all, the singer-songwriter from Northern California went from normal twenty-something to household name, performing all over the country and even overseas to audiences who identified with her passionate self-expression and strong vocals. I interviewed Sara on the phone one week before she was scheduled to headline Stonehill’s Spring Weekend concert. After she and I exchanged "hellos," Sara set the tone for a lighthearted conversation by asking, “Can you hear me OK? I’m on my Bluetooth!” We had a great talk, and Sara shot down every stereotype about fame making people egotistical. Her humility and sweet nature make her a great role model and an inspiring new voice.

© Epic 2008

We’re all really excited to have you come here in a couple weeks! I have some questions for you.

Yup!

It’s inspiring that you write your own music, because I know a lot of artists today don’t write their own songs. We wanted to know if that presented any particular challenges or rewards for you.

I think probably a little of both. I’ve never had the experience of singing someone else’s songs, so I don’t really know what to compare this to. But I personally love sort of being the voice for what I have to say as a songwriter. A lot of people will write songs for other people too, which is maybe something I’ll get into in the future, but for now I like being the one to deliver kind of whatever is coming through musically for me. So, you know, it’s nice to be up there and sharing, you know, very personal stories and ideas and knowing that whatever connections you make are… It’s just, it’s intimate that way, and I love doing it that way.

Cool. What inspires you to write these personal stories and, you know, give your voice to the music?

What inspires me? … I don’t know! It’s sort of always been, it’s kind of what I did. I wrote songs long before I had a record deal, or, I mean, I’ve been doing it since I was six years old. I don’t know exactly what it is that kind of makes you feel compelled to put your thoughts out in music. I think that’s kind of the magic of music. So it’s kind of one of those—you can’t quite quantify it—but I’ve always, from being a very little girl, always felt compelled to sing and to write down stories and songs.

Do you have any of the songs that you wrote when you were really little?

My first song was called “Starsweeper,” and it’s really bad. But you know it was like a, it kind of sounds like a lullaby. I probably stole it from a Disney movie or something.

That’s cute! What was your relationship like with music when you were in college? Because a lot of our readers are college students.

I felt like college was a super self-exploratory time for me. That’s when I really feel like I sort of realized… I sort of really found myself musically during college. And I spent a year abroad my junior year, and I lived in Italy for that year. And that’s when I really really connected with songwriting. I think I was going through so much, just introspection, and trying to figure out who I am—I think you do so much defining of yourself in college—and, kind of figuring out who I am, and the only way I could really deal with it was through song. It was a really cool time for me. The music became pretty much the most important thing in my life in college. And, yeah, I haven’t really turned back.

So what has been the biggest adjustment, then, since you came to that decision and became really famous? What has been the biggest adjustment to go from a normal life to international fame?

Well, I don’t really think of myself that way, but, it is true, we can go play shows overseas and people will hopefully come. But, you know, it’s just a lifestyle change in terms of… I’ve been busy. I’m much busier now than I ever was before, it’s a really practical kind of incarnation of, you know, being somebody who works a lot, but… I just guess kind of really devoting myself to this art form and just wanting to always work on it and make it better and practice and writing songs. Right now I’m in a very sort of creative part because I’m thinking about the next record. So I can’t stop thinking about songwriting and I want to be at my piano all the time, so it’s a really cool time. And, you know, knowing that this is my job is kind of a, it’s a crazy thing! I feel very, very lucky.

Do you have plans for when your next record or album is going to come out?

It will most likely be early next year. Probably record it this year, and then release it next year.

Cool. Very exciting.

Yeah!

So, what musicians would you say you’ve been influenced by?

Well there’s a lot of, I think, a lot of different styles that have really made me think about music. People like… Joni Mitchell is a really big influence of mine. Fiona Apple, love her; she’s a female [singer-songwriter]… I love Elton John and Billy Joel, and Counting Crows I’ve always really loved… The Police, Bob Marley…

A lot of different ones!

Yeah! You know there’s really not… If I had to just pick, you know, one genre, I really like kind of singer-songwriter music, but I think good music is good music, and there’s inspiration to be had there, you know, from every style. So I do listen to all sorts of different types—I’ll listen to country sometimes, I’ll listen to anything! And I think that good music is good music.

Good point. So, I heard that “Love Song” was written in response to a record company who wanted you to write a love song for them. What’s the real story behind that song?

It’s kind of similar to that… No one ever asked me for a love song. But “Love Song” was written to my label out of [a] response to feeling pressure. It was my first record deal and the first time I was kind of going through the motions of trying to fulfill the requirements for the first record, and it was really intimidating to me, and I felt like they were waiting for something, and I didn’t know what they were waiting for because I wasn’t, you know, I wasn’t in the studio yet. They just said, “Keep writing, keep writing.” And I started to really buy into it and to try to change what I was doing to fit in with what they wanted, and I had no idea what that was anyway, and that all turned into just being really frustrated not only with them but with myself for caring what they thought. I just wanted to get back to what made me happy and why I was writing songs in the first place, and that’s when “Love Song” came out. It kind of just… It was very cathartic, to kind of go through that… It was my little stick it to ’em.

That something that huge came out of the frustration—that’s pretty cool that you could do that. So, kind of going along with that, I know in these hard economic times a lot of people are straying away from artistic career paths in favor of more practical careers. Do you have any advice for them?

I always feel like the world will always need artists. The world is always going to have… It’s never been a solid career path, whether we’re in hard economic times or not, it’s always been a little bit of a gamble but, you know, from the beginning of time, there’s always been a place for artists in society, and it’s because people need art! They need the expression, they feel it creates inspiration, and it really fills a genuine need of people to be able to receive art and to have it be a part of their lives. And I think music in particular is one of those art forms that touches people so deeply, and I just think it’s a shame that someone who is really talented—just because being a musician isn’t the most stable career path—it’s a shame if they don’t pursue it just because they’re scared, you know. But, you know I understand too, it is, it’s a big old fat gamble. Nothing in life is guaranteed anyway. So I think you should pursue your passions if you can.

That’s good advice. For our magazine’s next issue, we had our staff write about five things that they can’t get enough of right now, like websites, TV shows, even food or musicians—anything. Could you just talk about five things you’re really into right now?

The Dog Whisperer is one of them; I love The Dog Whisperer. I love Pinkberry, which is a kind of yogurt. It’s like a frozen yogurt.

I’ve seen that advertised; I’ve never had it though. It looks good.

It’s delicious. I can’t get enough of… Converse tennis shoes; I love them.

Classic.

Classic, right! And Ingrid Michaelson, she’s a songwriter, who I friggin’ love, and I can’t get enough of her. And, let’s see, last but not least, the good old standard classic for me, which is Golden Girls, an old TV show that I still love deeply. So, I’ll never get over them.

That’s great! Thank you so much!

You’re welcome! Thank you! I’ll talk to you soon.

The Kooks

By Jennifer Terranella

I studied in London nearly two years ago now, and I miss it daily. I am constantly on the look-out for anything that reminds me of my time in England, so to get my fix of British music, I ventured down to Providence to see The Kooks play at Lupo’s.

For those of you who haven’t been there, Lupo’s is a great venue. It is a mid-size place that draws a variety of acts from alternative to cover bands to washed-up pop trios. Nevertheless, I have always had a good time at their shows. There is seating in the balcony if you aren’t that interested in the opening bands, a bar for those of you who are legal, and lots of floor space to get you as close to the band or as far away from the screaming tweens as you want to be.

I was only interested in seeing The Kooks, but I made it down in enough time to see the second of the two opening bands, called Illinois. Although put off by their opening song which had quite a country influence, I was pleasantly surprised as their set continued. It moved into a more alternative rock, with an alt-country vibe. Definitely eclectic and worth checking out.

The Kooks are a fairly new band that haven’t gotten a lot of exposure yet in America. They came out with their first CD Inside In, Inside Out in 2006. The record is a collection of upbeat alternative rock tracks that have a great garage band sound. Much like The Strokes earlier stuff, but with happier vocals. The debut made major waves in England, but didn’t break into America until they released their cheerful single “Naïve.” Earlier this year they dropped their mature sophomore disc, Konk. Not as fast and fun, but definitely still worth picking up. The more you listen to the tracks, the more they will grow on you. Although it is not the Kooks of Inside In, it is the logical next step in a long career in music.

Now, I have been to my fair share of concerts, but this one definitely ranks in the top five. Not only did they play every song I could have hoped for, the crowd was into the music without being over-zealous and put on an exhilarating live show. The lead singer has a unique voice, so it would have been easy for the concert to be a complete bust, but I was excited to hear that they sounded better than their CDs. Since they only have two CDs and an hour and a half set, they ended up playing most of their songs, maintaining a nice mix of the mellow tracks off of the second disk and the crowd pleasing favorites of the first, keeping the audience engaged, dancing and singing along the whole night.

The stand-out moment of the night came when the band came out for an encore. They started with “Seaside,” the forgettable intro track found on their first disc. I was blown away by the acoustic rendition. I never really paid much attention to the song, but you couldn’t help but feel the heartbreak that Luke, the lead singer, must have been feeling by the passion and ache in his voice. The song is about someone he fell in love with, and by the tone of the song that night, someone he is still in love with and misses deeply. Easily the best song of the night. He later jumped into the crowd, which made the audience happy even though security didn’t look pleased, but the heart-wrenching version of “Seaside” still stands out in my mind, even two weeks after the show.

All-in-all, it was an amazing experience. I already loved The Kooks, but this show made me appreciate the band even more. Not only can they produce a fun or pensive album, but they are truly talented musicians. If you ever see that The Kooks are making their way through your town, make sure you grab a ticket. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

PC Gaming vs. Console Gaming

By Scott Markoski

Ever since I can remember, I’ve liked playing video games. The first video games I ever played were on an old computer from the early 1990s. It wasn’t much but it had a color screen and the games were comparable to anything you might play on a Playstation or Nintendo console. In the mid ‘90s, desktop computers were starting to become very commonplace and unlike a Playstation, you could do a lot of different things on a PC. It could satisfy almost all of your home computing needs including gaming. If you were lucky enough, you could even plug it into a phone line and explore the internet--albeit a very different internet from the one we know today.

Throughout ‘90s I had a few different PCs the longest lasting of which was one of the first “laptop” computers made in 1989. It weighed twenty pounds, needed to be plugged in and had a 15 inch monochrome screen but I was able to play all sorts of games on it. As computers evolved I started to play games with better graphics, better sound and more elaborate game play. But since then I’ve never owned a console. No Nintendo-64. No Playstation 1, 2 or 3. No Xbox, no Game Cube or Wii. It isn’t that I don’t like those systems it’s just that I already have a PC and it can do a great deal more than an Xbox.

There is something even more than that though. I think PC gamers often take a certain pride in their machines in the same way car enthusiasts take pride in their cars. Many PC gamers do a great deal of customization to their computers. They buy fancy graphics cards with names like “FireGL V8600” or “Radeon X1300 Pro.” They hook up the processor with a liquid cooling system or maybe they install nice case fans with cool looking lights. I won’t even bother talking about tweaking the operating system or other software components. Herein lies the biggest difference between PC gamers and console gamers: while many diehard console gamers may choose to modify or “mod” their Xbox with some fancy soldering hack, most are content just to play more games with the system as it came out of the box. This isn’t to say that there aren’t any really serious gamers using consoles. Quite the contrary. Consoles and their games clearly dominate the market and they show no signs of relinquishing that status any time soon. The casual gamer is obviously a big portion of the gaming market and most would rather play games than buy or modify high end PCs. Game makers know this and so create more games geared towards that demographic.

Here our story takes an interesting twist. The latest generation consoles, like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, are no longer the distant cousins of conventional PCs. Both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 come fully equipped with regular old hard drives, motherboards, integrated graphics processors and CPUs. Sounds an awful lot like a PC doesn’t it? After passing through the 90s it seems PCs and consoles have become more like brothers. How did these newer consoles become the way they are? The people that designed them are the same people that spent untold hours upgrading and modifying their PCs. And so our story of gaming seems to have come full circle. While I still probably won’t go out and get the latest and greatest console, I think I might be more inclined to do so as they become more and more advanced. Maybe someday they’ll come out with one you can build yourself.

Juno

By Grace Lapointe

Teenage pregnancy may seem like a strange subject for an independent comedy, but Juno succeeds because it tells the story of an unconventional teenage girl. Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is an intelligent, sarcastic sixteen-year-old girl who unexpectedly becomes pregnant. Juno initially considers an abortion, but then decides against it. With the help of her loyal friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno decides to go through with the pregnancy and give the baby up for adoption to Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), a young couple desperately seeking a child. Bateman (Arrested Development) and Garner (Alias; Daredevil) skillfully convey the growing tensions between the Lorings. The film follows Juno through the ups and downs of her pregnancy, which makes her an outcast at her high school. (“They call me the cautionary whale,” Juno quips.)

Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) and written by first-time scriptwriter Diablo Cody, Juno defies typical Hollywood conventions. Unlike other movies dealing with the same topic, Juno does not romanticize teen pregnancy or make it seem hopelessly catastrophic. The script is full of witty dialogue, and the unique characters are brought to life through the actors’ strong performances. Through the role of Juno, Ellen Page (X-Men) showcases her remarkable acting talents. She captures the full range of Juno’s emotions, from her snarky wit to her insecurities. Michael Cera (Superbad) is likably awkward as Paulie Bleeker, Juno’s sometime boyfriend and the father of her baby. J. K. Simmons (Oz; Spider-man) and Allison Janney (The West Wing) play Juno’s supportive dad and stepmom. The film uses songs from artists including The Kinks, Cat Power, and Belle & Sebastian, which perfectly complement specific scenes. Juno is a truly original, entertaining movie that manages to balance wry humor and poignancy. It has been nominated for multiple awards, including three Golden Globes, and Academy Awards in four categories: best director, best picture, best leading actress, and best original screenplay.

Across the Universe

By Erin Horan

Strawberries. War. Lesbians. Bono. Frat boys. Love. The Beatles! “Across the Universe” is so much at once. It is a beautiful movie- one of those rare films you can just sink into, letting go of all of the rules and expectations in your head. Just sit back, smile, and be entertained.

There is a pretty coherent and well-established storyline between all of the song sequences- in my opinion, a little too well-established for a movie that is clearly more about its visual artistry than its relatively unoriginal backstory. However, I did LOVE how the songs were seamlessly and appropriately woven into the plot. They were part of the telling of the story. (My favorite sequences were “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “With a Little Help From my Friends.”)

The casting is perfect: I immediately fell in love with Jim Sturgess, who plays a shaggy haired Brit with deep, dark brown eyes that speak for themselves....Evan Rachel Wood compliments him well as his love interest, a blonde All-American girl who becomes an anti-war crusader. Joe Anderson rounds out the principle three as the carefree and confused college dropout- at a time when those two words mean one thing: it’s off to Vietnam for you.

The actors sing all of the songs in the movie; and yes, Bono has a cameo in which he sings “I am the Walrus!”

Director Julie Taymor is at her best in “Across the Universe.” The choreography, movement, scenery, color, sound, and overall flow of each scene is brilliant. I burst out laughing more than once, as humorous surprises are plentiful. Football players tackle, flip over each other, and…cartwheel(?) in slow motion as a cheerleader walks straight through the commotion, singing softly. On a crowded New York City street, everyone wears suits and marches in formations, except for one newcomer from Chicago- the song is “Come Together.” I could go on, but I have already given too much away!

The movie is not without its serious moments- after all, issues such as war and the civil rights movement are highlighted. I was most moved by the “Let it Be” sequence, which takes place in the midst of the Chicago race riots. The “Strawberry Fields” sequence would have been more resonant if the Vietnam scenes had been more developed. The shots in New York City were real enough; the Vietnam scenes should have been shot outside, too. Realism would have provided an even greater contrast between the bloody violence of the war and the obviously fake dripping, squirting strawberries.

The movie is too long- but at the end I immediately overlooked this flaw because on the whole, the experience was fantastic! This movie is sure to become a cult classic. Across the Universe...is gonna change your world...