Piney Gir : Q & A

Piney Gir is a name that many musicians cite as an influence emanating from her varied and extensive musical cv that begun after she wrote her first song aged nine.  Originating from Kansas, USA, she was notably the leading lady in female groups The Schla La La’s, Vic Twenty and The Panther Girls before leaping headfirst into a solo career that has seen her span genres including jazz, country and electronic pop. 

Summer of 2009 sees Piney Gir release her third full length solo album entitled ‘The Yearling’, produced with sonic collaborators The Age of Reason and allowing for a dramatic direction change yet again through its genre transcending qualities.  Experimental at times, with a nod towards her country roots once more, yet encompassing twee moments and folk traditions on it’s 16-track zig zagging journey.  And still the electronica rears its digital head, making this perhaps Piney’s most mature and accomplished body of work to date, displaying her sharp aptitude for musicality and a boldness for taking risks.

Aesthetically Piney is an amalgamation of Cath Kidson kitsch and a kooky kind of wonderland, all vintage chintz and country plaid.  Effective and striking, and ultimately quite ironic as musically she doesn’t necessarily fit the mould of this visual persona.  It’s an unusual combination that makes for a very unusual artist and that in itself is stimulating in today’s musical minefield.

‘The Yearling’ is unleashed on the 14th September in all it’s DIY ethic glory, and if the torrent of rave reviews already being lavished upon it are to be believed this could be the songstresses' further defining moment.    So to celebrate this achievement and to offer an introduction into the past, present and the future of her talent, Piney Gir answered some 4or The Record questions via the wonder of email... 


4or The Record: For anyone that doesn’t know anything about Piney Gir, tell us how you got involved in music and about your extensive musical cv.
Piney Gir: Gosh!  My musical CV is vast because I started playing piano at the age of 4; my aunt was a pianist and she lived across the street from me so she gave me lessons.  I was at church 2 or 3 times a week and it was a real happy/clappy church so I learned a lot about harmonies (bluegrass & gospel mainly) there and from the age of 10 I started playing the drums.  I went to Uni to study percussion but loads of my stuff got stolen at the end of my freshman year so I changed my instrument major to voice (because nobody can steal that). 

When I came to England in 1998 I was invited to join a synth-pop duo called Vic Twenty and we put out a single and toured with Erasure.  When we split I put out my first solo album ‘Peakahokahoo’ on Truck Records in 2004.  I then formed The Piney Gir Country Roadshow (kinda by accident) and we put out ‘Hold Yer Horses’ also on Truck Records in 2006.  Now 'The Yearling' is about to come out on Hotel Records (which is mine & Paris Motel’s label) and I’m really proud of it.

4TR: The name Piney Gir is intriguing, why did you call yourself that and does it have a meaning?
Piney Gir: From the moment I could speak I made up this name for myself: ‘Piney’ and people would be like ‘is that really your name?’ and I’d get mad if someone didn’t call me Piney… so for ages people called me Piney.  I think they stopped when I went to school, but it’s kinda always been there as my ‘other’ name.

Gir is because I had this bowl haircut that kind of made me look like a boy and I didn’t want people to get confused so I often said ‘I’m Piney and I’m a GIR!’ (because I couldn’t really say ‘girl’ properly).

4TR: Your don’t necessarily stick to one sound or genre through your music, so in your own opinion how would you describe your music?
Piney Gir: I think this is the hardest question in the world.  I am influenced by so many styles of music.  Jazz, country, electronica, 60’s doo-wop, 80’s synth-pop, gospel, bluegrass, classical music, indie rock, lo-fi casio beats, bossa nova… All these influences come across on ‘The Yearling’ and I just wouldn’t know how to pigeonhole it.  We use a lot of found sounds, so percussion comes from tea cups, cutlery, an empty accordion case… you name it; if it’s in a studio we’ve probably hit it with a spoon, sampled it and put it on the record. 

4TR: Was that the sound you have always aspired to create or have you found it has evolved over the years since you released your first album?
Piney Gir: The sound has definitely evolved organically from album to album.  I find that songs spill out of my head and I do my best work when I don’t over think anything.  Once the song is written it is usually pretty clear how it needs to be treated in the studio.  Some trial and error happens (of course!) but usually when the melody is in place the rest simply HAS to go in the direction that it goes because that’s what it’s made to do.  The song dictates itself.  Does that sound weird?

4TR: Not at all!  In that case what influences you musically?
Piney Gir: I really love melody; to me this is the most important aspect of a song.  So I’m really influenced by music with strong melodies.  I love Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, but I equally love Bjork and the Cole Porter Songbook and Debussy and The Violent Femmes and Paul Simon’s Graceland and old Disney music.  There’s just so much great stuff out there; I can’t list it all.  At the moment I’ve got into The Four Lads.  They are about as wholesome as it comes; I love that era (the 50’s).

4TR: How does your writing process work? Is it more storytelling as opposed to coming from an autobiographical standpoint?
Piney Gir: It is inevitable that all music with lyrics would have the artist’s own slant on any type of story… so I guess I would say both.  I actually feel like I’m not very involved in songwriting as a method (despite being a songwriter!).  I feel like I’m channeling music from somewhere else.  The less I think about it the better my songs are, so I just let them spill out and think about the details after I’ve written it out.  I think I’m very lucky that I don’t struggle with the creative process.  I’m almost always writing, but if there are moments when I’m not, I consider it an incubation period and eventually the songs spill out again.  I think the worst thing a creative person can do is to freak out if they are not actively creating… that only makes it worse.  I quite like the bit where I scribble down ideas that are half done and waiting for the other half to pop into my head and onto the page.  That’s the act of creating and going into the studio is making that creative act a tangible thing that can be shared.  I love it, all of it. 

4TR: You are about to release your 3rd solo record ‘The Yearling’, this time in conjunction with collaborators The Age of Reason – how did you come to work with them?
Piney Gir: Firstly, I met Alex on the synth pop scene when I was in Vic Twenty and he was in Baxendale.  We did a gig together at Cherry Jam and we were fast friends from the get go.  We’ve remained friends for years and he’s always been really supportive of my work.  Simon (the other half of Age Of Reason) came to be my guitarist because the other Simon (the Country Roadshow guitarist) fell off a roof a few weeks before our big main stage gig at Bestival.  So AOR Simon offered to step in for Roadshow Simon.  In the end it turned out that Roadshow Simon’s broken arm was put in a cast that was the right shape for playing guitar (fate or what? P.s. I’m so glad Roadshow Simon didn’t suffer worsely from falling off a roof!)… so AOR Simon never got to play with the Roadshow but that is how he and I met and started to work together.  AOR Simon and Alex have grown up together all their lives and are practically like brothers, so it felt like a very natural team of people to collaborate with.

4TR: What do you think they have brought to the record?
Piney Gir: Together we all developed this sound that is consistent throughout 'The Yearling'.  I don’t actually know how to define that sound, but I know that it took three of us, locked in a windowless basement in Hackney for a year to achieve it and it was very much a team effort!

4TR: You have a very strong image – how important is that to you and/or representing your music?
Piney Gir: The image is about giving Piney an identity.  I need her to ‘front’ the band because without her… Well, I don’t think I have it in me to get up on stage in front of 100’s of people and bare my soul.  It’s a scary thing to do and so intimate because my lyrics are quite blunt and honest really.  Piney gives me a persona to hide behind.  The songs are 100% me, but Piney is the voice and the vehicle to get it out there.  If it was just me, I might stare at my shoes and sing at the floor, I would feel vulnerable.  Piney enables me to perform and enjoy it and connect with people.  She’s the ultimate ’raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens’ kind of alter ego that’s fun to get lost in.  Besides, having an alter ego feels kinda like being a super hero and I like that!

Watch the video for new single 'Say I'm Sorry'...

4TR: Your videos are renowned for their imagery, are you involved in the whole conceptual process behind your videos and what are you aiming to represent about you and your music through them?
Piney Gir: I am very lucky to have talented people that want to work with me.  The directors I’ve done videos with are my friends and we bounce ideas off of one another and it snowballs into more ideas until we’re all excited talking about the endless possibilities.  At the end of the day though, I do have to put my faith in these people (that’s why the trust and friendship is so important).  Because I am a songwriter and not a director I will not tell them how to do their job, in the same way that they would not tell me how to write a song.  So we brainstorm together but we reach a point where I have to let it go and they can get on with what they do best… I simply cooperate with them to achieve the vision.

4TR: Are we right in thinking you have made this album in the absence of label support?  And if that is the case was that a result of wanting to control the entire creative process of making the record?
Piney Gir: Yes, I have no label here.  That kinda wasn’t my choice (I am not such a control freak really!) but after shopping the album around and getting all kinds of great feedback from labels, and feeling really strung along by some of them (err… you know who you are guys!) I thought, ‘Sod it!  I am not going to wait around for some label.  I want my baby out in the world!’  And so I’m putting it out myself. 

It seems like the music industry is in a weird place at the moment.  I could either get caught up in that weirdness or pretend it isn’t happening and get on with things.  I chose option b and I’m glad I did.  It’s a lot of hard work though.

4TR: What can audiences expect from a Piney Gir show?
Piney Gir: I always, always make an effort to put on a show.  We have themes to each gig and sometimes we do interactive songs that involve audience participation, sock puppets, conga lines, underwater gigs and all sorts.  I try to project the fun Piney persona that she is… I think a gig is an event and should be treated as such.  If someone is up on stage, I feel it is his or her responsibility to entertain; otherwise what’s the point in being up there?  I find lots of approaches to live music entertaining but my way of expressing myself is by making each gig inclusive and special and sprucing things up with a bit of glamour.

4TR: How easy is it to translate the multi-instrument, multi-layered sound on record into sounding right for the live environment?
Piney Gir: For a start there’s up to 9 of us in the Age Of Reason & The Reasonettes, so that is a pretty good way of getting a layered sound.  Our normal touring party is about 6 and I think in that instance it’s more important to do a good live show than to try and re-create the experience you have listening to the album.  The album has some crazy studio-as-an-instrument affectations which I think wouldn’t translate well in a live capacity.  I do have a concert in the pipeline that will include a string section and possibly a choir (the last track on 'The Yearling' features a gospel choir and there are strings all over this album) so watch this space because that’s going to be great!

4TR: Where do you find you get the best reaction to your music or shows?
Piney Gir: There’s no rhyme or reason to that.  I have had a lot of great shows at a lot of great places and sometimes I’ll go back to the same place and it won’t have the same vibe.  I don’t know why that is.  I do really love playing in Scandinavia, Greece, Turkey because they simply treat you like royalty in those countries.  It’s nice to be treated like a princess sometimes.

4TR: What can we expect for the rest of 2009 from you in the wake of releasing ‘The Yearling’?
Piney Gir: Well, the album comes out in the UK September 14th… I’m doing some live dates around then… The single ‘Say I’m Sorry’ is out in October, so a few more live dates around then.  My album is out in the States (on Greyday Records) in October as well and I’m planning a whistle stop tour of the West Coast of America to promote the album.  I have a Christmas single coming out in the UK, which I’m currently making the video and b-side for right now!  The Piney Gir Country Roadshow’s album is done now too, so I guess we need to think about getting that one out next.  Oh yeah, and there’s this audiobook I’ve had in the pipeline for a while, Mark Radcliffe narrates it and there are lots of indie pop stars doing a Radio 4 style dramatic reading on it, it’s beautifully illustrated too.  Yeah, my work is cut out for me actually…  Bring it on!  The devil makes work for idle hands anyway, right?

Words: Francesca Strange

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