the Royal Conservatory where I did learn to read proper sheet music and all that stuff. So, it's written out on sheet music and all the little notes are drawn in with a pencil with little kid handwriting. It's quite funny.
Now, I'm only scratching the surface hear with your list of accomplishments. Yiou've performed at some of the world's renowned music festivals. You've graced the cover of magazines. Had some hits that made the top 100. And even attended the 53rd Grammy Awards in Los Angelas. What was that like?
It was an interesting experience. Obviously it goes without saying it was quite an honor to receive an invitation but on the same token it was a bit heartbreaking because these people who are receiving these acculades and being rewarded . . .most of them don't write their own material. It was kind of odd to be sitting there in the audience celebrating the best so-called best musicians in the industry when they're not even legit musicians.
Isn't that sad? That kind of shatters the balloon, doesn't it?
Well, that was exactly it. So, I didn't really know what to take away from that experience because I'm sitting there thinking, well, okay, this is not . . .it felt like there was a bit of a disconnect. This is not really what I'm striving for. I'm striving to be recognized as a song writer, as an artist and this arguably the biggest celebration of those things. It's not even celebrating people who are songwriters. I'm not really sure how to reconsile that exactly.
Did you get to perform?
No! (laughs) I was definitely not up on stage with Lady Ga Ga or Katy Perry.
You're also the former frontwoman of the major label band, Anti Hero. How long were you with them and how successful did that band become?
Anti Hero was together about 3 1/2 to 4 years and we released our 1st album in 2005 and it got re-released when we got signed to Universal. We toured around North America quite successfully. We played Warp tours two years in a row. We got to open for some major bands like Priestess, Jakalope and Die Mannequin. We did some awesome stuff while we were together as a band but sadly, like a lot of musicians seemed to find themselves...just kind of gave way to drug use and that kind of thing and it ended really, really, bad. That's never been my agenda. I'm only about the rock and roll. I'm not about the sex, the drugs and all that other stuff that goes along with it. I'm sure you can appreciate it didn't really end all that well.
That's sad to hear. Has rock always been the genre you've been involved with?
It hasn't been because, as I said I started out as a classically trained vocalist and originally I kind of wanted to pursue a career in New York on Broadway. Rock found me by accident. I was performing at a talent show and this girl comes up to me saying that she plays guitar and we should form a rock band.
Initially I scoffed at her because it's not at all how I saw my future. It was kind of a freeing experience, to be honest, when I gave it a try because unlike classical music which is so regimented by the book and you have to sing the notes as written on the sheet and only do the dynamic as it's written out. Rock is all about attitude and freedom and expressing yourself and, you know, not having limitations in that way. I guess there was a rocker in me wanting to get out because I've kind of being doing it since I was 15 (laughs).
Did it destroy your vocals at first doing the higher pitches and things like that? Did you have to go through any other training or were you able to just let loose?
I had to relearn how to sing. I didn't want to damage my voice in any regard because there are so many terrible stories about singers with incredible ranges that end up getting gross on their vocal chords. Then they lose octaves, the consequence of not singing properly or pushing themselves too hard. And so initially when I tried to sing rock in the early days I was definitely going far to nasily because I was struggling to find my own originality.
I definitely experimented, especially in the Anti Hero days with adding some grit and a bit of growl to my voice to but I always tried to be careful about pushing my voice to far because I didn't want to damage my vocal chords. So I would say with the new album I'm releasing this fall I've really been able to amalgamate my classical training, that background with my rock sensability and find a happy medium between the two. But it's taken me a long time to figure out how badly I want to sing rock but still incorporate the fact that I am a legitimate singer. I'm not just somebody who screams all the time.