Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL August 2014 Female Bassist Issue | Page 117

As a bassist AND a front-woman, do you feel that gives you an advantage (doing both) or is it a challenge? I absolutely see it as an advantage and a challenge. The advantage is that not many females fronting a band are playing an instrument, and especially an essential instrument; it sets me apart. But it’s also an incredible challenge to lock down that groove and pay attention to the music side of it without sacrificing the performance. You have to completely split your brain and feel the music with one side and read the audience with the other. It’s a good thing I’m ADD. In an industry dominated by male musicians, do you find that this hinders or helps your opportunities? That is a constant question mark. Some male counterparts are more than welcoming of me and my talents, whereas others have a real problem with me being there at all. I hear comments about how I only play the top 2 strings (hahahaha), so I don’t qualify as a true bass player. Ultimately, I think they’re just intimidated or jealous of the attention I’m getting. REAL players with REAL talent have always been really welcoming. They are too confident in their own abilities to be intimidated by anyone else. Those guys can play circles around me, but they’re more interested in sharing the love for the music, rather than beating anyone down…and I’m down with that. I’ve had great opportunities by being female and I’ve been shut out because of it as well. What is your advice on how to be taken professionally in the music industry? Be consistent. Be professional. On occasion, someone will challenge me and it’s nice to have an army of people behind me that will have my back saying, “She would never do something like that.” They know that and can say it without question because I’m consistent. Take pride in your integrity. It still counts for something…I promise. What do you wish someone had told you when you were first getting started? I studied. I read books about the music industry and I listened to people that had done it for years. I took notes. I learned a lot. But what I absolutely could not grasp for many years was that people would just blatantly lie to you. Sometimes they have a motive, and sometimes they have no reason at all, but they will lead you on wild goose chases forever, just for the attention. I wish someone had taught me how to be a better judge of character. I see the best in people and it still blows my mind to this day why anyone would want to waste their time and energy just to ruin your day or career, but they do and they always will. I just wish I wouldn’t have been so trusting of some people. With the landscape of promotion going more and more toward online interaction, how do you keep current with social media? Anybody that does it knows, it’s a full-time job! I have the option of hiring an intern to keep up with posts and managing my 10 sites, but I bassmusicianmagazine.com | aug 2014 | #bassmusicianmag | the face of bass I chose to have a career in rock ‘n’ roll instead of county music. Pat Benatar set the bar for vocal abilities and I trained myself to sing as much like her as possible from the beginning. Chris Cornell was my songwriting inspiration. His lyrics were poetry in the most abstract ways. I’m inspired by all styles of music. I love anything that is pure emotion.