Pearl Aday – Über Röck Interview Exclusive 

Written by Matt Phelps
Sunday, 12 February 2012 05:15

Open your ears to ‘The Swing House Session…’ and you’ll find that Pearl Aday has revisited the majority of tracks from her critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Little Immaculate White Fox’, stripped them down and re-recorded them… live, giving them a stunning makeover. Pearl’s ‘Swing House…’ moves from rockin’ hard place one minute to an almost laid back country trip the next. I caught up with Pearl to find out the story behind ‘The Swing House Session…’ and here it is…

 

Hi Pearl. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us at Über Röck today. Congratulations on the new album, after listening to it I’d say it’s like an acoustic companion piece to go alongside your debut album, ‘Little Immaculate White Fox’. So first I’d better ask where the idea to strip back these songs and re-record them came from and how you feel it stands up alongside ‘…White Fox’?

 

In support of ‘Little Immaculate White Fox’ we’d been touring in the US and UK/Europe. On some small legs we were invited to play acoustically. We loved doing the stripped down versions so much, and the fans were loving it too, that we decided to take an afternoon to record the live acoustic experience.

 

It was recorded in just one day, is that right? Did you go in with the acoustic arrangements already in mind or was it just a case of plug in and play so to speak and see how they turned out?

 

Yes. we recorded it live in one afternoon at Swing House Studios here in Hollywood, CA. We invited an intimate group of friends and family and grabbed a few bottles of wine and some cases of beer and just played the acoustic set that we were doing live in front of arena and theatre audiences.

 

The album starts off with ‘Angel Of Montgomery’, a cover that takes the place of ‘Nutbush City Limits’ which appeared on your debut. Can you tell us a bit about what made you choose that song and why you left ‘Nutbush…’ off?

 

‘Angel from Montgomery’ has always been one of my favourite songs, especially the duet version that John Prine does with Bonnie Raitt. We’d been doing that song in our live show, both electric and acoustic, and the fan feedback we were getting was tremendous so we decided to keep it in for the recording. I’m not sure now why we didn’t do ‘Nutbush’ for this acoustic album. Maybe it’ll be something we do at some point coming up.

 

I personally feel that the whole ambience of the recordings give a real sort of laid back Country vibe to the album compared to the sometimes total “balls out” rock of ‘…White Fox’. Is that something you’d agree with and if so was that an intentional direction you wanted to go in? I mean to have the same songs but in a way give them a completely different lease of life rather than just having them sounding like basic “unplugged” versions?

 

Naturally, stripping down electric rock will change the tone and vibe of the songs. We did put a little country-like swing on the song ‘Whore’, but organically we have a bluesy Southern rock taste in everything that we do, so taking the music out of the electric buzz of things allows for all that to come through more prominently. Going acoustic opens up the space to showcase the voices more and the natural twang that we tend to emote.

 

You had a few guests play on ‘Little Immaculate White Fox’, namely Ted Nugent and Jerry Cantrell. Did you have anyone in with you on this one? Who are the players on the album?

 

The musicians on the Swing House Session are as follows; Scott Ian on guitar, Jim Wilson on guitar, Nalle Colt on guitar and Marcus Blake on acoustic bass, and it was produced and recorded live by producer Jay Ruston.

 

I would have to say that the only thing I find a little disappointing about ‘The Swing House Session’ is the absence of ‘Broken White’. That’s probably my favourite track from ‘Little Immaculate White Fox’. How come you didn’t include that one on this release? I would love to hear an acoustic version of that, I think it would been really powerful judging by the way some of the other heavier numbers like ‘Rock Child’ and ‘Lovepyre’ turned out.

 

Thanks. ‘Broken White’ is a powerhouse of a song. I know we can rock that song hard in an acoustic version, but on that day I just wasn’t feeling it. It felt too angry, too hard for the energy in the room. There’s another one to save for a future recording!

 

At the moment ‘The Swing House Session’ is only available as a download which is a bit of a shame. For those of us old schoolers who still like to hold something in our hands are there any plans to secure it a physical release. Maybe a limited vinyl pressing even?

 

Believe me, you are preaching to the choir. I am “Mama Old School” when it comes to classic formats. The fact of the matter is that it costs a lot to press CDs and vinyl, and those are funds that I just don’t have right now. It’s a shame that the record business and the way people consume music has changed so much that it’s harder and harder for bands to get their music physically into their fans’ hands. People are addicted to the internet nowadays and fortunately, or unfortunately, it’s the cheapest and easiest way to get it out there. We don’t have funding, no record company, no love on the money front to make these most desirable formats readily possible. It is possible that we’ll be releasing a very limited edition vinyl pressing of ‘The Swing House Session: Pearl Live And Acoustic’ in the near future, which I am very excited about. I’ve got the design all laid out in my mind. There have been discussions…. Stay tuned!

 

And what about live shows to support the release, do you have any acoustic gigs in the pipeline?

 

Yes Sir!  We’ve actually just booked an acoustic show here in LA on April 14th at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. I’m super jazzed about it. There are more in the works on the West Coast, and possibly some coming up on the East Coast.

 

So, looking towards the next album of new material do you have anything set aside for that yet and if so when do you think we might be seeing getting our hands on it?

 

Yes! We have 4-5 solid and strong new songs that we’ve been perfecting for a while now. I had to take a little time off for the birth of my son 7 months ago, but we’ve been getting together here and there to work on them and more new ideas. We will be going into the studio to record them shortly. We’ve got some seriously great material. We’ve brought people to tears with one of them just running through it at a sound check. Can’t wait for everyone to hear it.

 

I believe I read somewhere before that it was a special moment at Wembley Arena when you were a little girl that first made you realise that being on stage was what you wanted to do. Would you mind sharing that story with us?

 

I get asked for this story all of the time. When I was a little girl about 4, 5, 6 years old it was my job to bring the different coloured scarves out to my Dad on stage in between songs; Red for ‘Bat Out Of Hell’, White for ‘Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad’, Black for ‘All Revved Up’, etc. For this story he was playing to a sold out Wembley Arena. I was bringing a scarf out to Dad like I’d done before, but this time for some reason I stopped half way to Dad and looked at the crowd. I froze. I guess I hadn’t paid attention to who was out there before and was just focussed on Dad. In that moment I clearly remember feeling terrified, and excited and thrilled at the same time. I remember hearing the audience collectively go”Awwwwwww” in a “How-cute-the-scared-little-girl-is” kind of way. My Dad swooped me up in his arms and said to me and into the mic something along the lines of, “Don’t worry, these are all our friends.” The crowd went wild with applause and I smiled and buried my face in Dad’s sweaty neck. At that moment I felt love for the stage. I felt safe. I felt the overwhelming power of an entire audience pouring love up to you. Since that time my Dad has taught me that being on stage is a privilege and not a right, and you owe it to your audience to give them 1 million percent every time you step on it.

 

And if you had to choose just one word to sum up the journey you’ve been on both as a person and a musician since you made that decision to follow your Dad into the spotlight what would it be?

 

Wow, this is a tall order. One word to sum up my life until this point… FIERCE.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to talk with us today, we really appreciate it. I’d like to wish you all the best with ‘The Swing House Session..’ and hope that we get to see you on UK shores in the not too distant future.

 

Thank you so much for being interested in me and digging what I do. It is my appreciation that I need to give to you because your help and care in spreading the word about our music is what gives it life. I know, it sounds heavy but I am “FIERCELY” in love with what I do and it means the universe to me. Thanks again for your time. We hope to be back over there rocking with the UK again super soon.

 

Cheers, Love, Rock, Always,
Pearl

 

Read the Über Röck review of ‘The Swing House Session: Pearl Live And Acoustic’ here!

 

Pick up a copy of Pearl’s ‘Little Immaculate White Fox’ from Amazon.co.uk