Addie Brik
talks to paulie
Writer, singer and producer, Addie Brik has released a brand new single on her own Itza Music label. ‘I Know What I Do’ was recorded in London and is the first in a series of monthly digitally releases featuring recently re-discovered archive studio material. The follow up to last years ‘I Have a Doctor Onboard’ album,the new single features Bedouin Ascent’s Kingsuk Biswas and funk artist Menace.
About
Originally from Savannah Georgia, Addie Brik began writing poetry in her teens and this led to the prestigious Naropa Institute where she was mentored by Allen Ginsberg and famed CBS journalistJohn Steinbeck Jr. She joined a young artist’s troupe on Francis Ford Coppola’s lot at Zoetrope with such luminaries as Ed Harris and produced and acted in a production of Sam Shepard’s Cowboy Blues there.
She relocated to the UK in 1998 and taking musical inspiration from artists such as Henry Purcell, Joni Mitchell, Serge Gainsbourg, Washington Phillips, Shirley Collins, Joanna Newsom and Missy Elliott her demo recordings were discovered by Peter Gabriel which led to a deal with Geffen Records with Andy Gill of Gang of Four producing.
Since then Addie Brik has collaborated with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Simple Minds, Plaid, Tarwater, Wendy and Lisa, Sugarhill Gang, Luke Vibert, BJ Cole, members of Funkadelic, Fishbone, Maxim Rysanov, Andrei Samsonov, HB Barnum (Aretha Franklin’s legendary writer and arranger), Kate St. John and John Philip Shenale.
She relocated to the UK in 1998 and taking musical inspiration from artists such as Henry Purcell, Joni Mitchell, Serge Gainsbourg, Washington Phillips, Shirley Collins, Joanna Newsom and Missy Elliott her demo recordings were discovered by Peter Gabriel which led to a deal with Geffen Records with Andy Gill of Gang of Four producing.
Since then Addie Brik has collaborated with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Simple Minds, Plaid, Tarwater, Wendy and Lisa, Sugarhill Gang, Luke Vibert, BJ Cole, members of Funkadelic, Fishbone, Maxim Rysanov, Andrei Samsonov, HB Barnum (Aretha Franklin’s legendary writer and arranger), Kate St. John and John Philip Shenale.
Photo Link - Addie Brik.com
In Conversation
Hello Addie firstly we all love the song -
You’ve worked with some incredible people, stand out for me Allen Ginsberg - John Steinbeck Jnr how did these opportunities come about?
(Francis Ford Coppola is in there somewhere!)
I went to the University of Colorado in Boulder and lived at the Hotel Boulderado.. It was, at that time, a cheap, student friendly, quite nice dive from the gold mining days.
The Buddhists used to go to the bar there and that’s where I met John and Allen.
I had never heard of Buddhism, nor had I heard of them though I had read John Steinbeck at school. I was quite confident about my poetry
and I’d read it to anyone who would listen.
I don’t remember the poems, if they were any good or not but both John and Allan must have liked the temerity of it ‘cause they took me under their wing. I was lucky there.
(A throw in question can you remember when you first saw ‘Rumblefish’ - )
Yes, at Manns Chinese on Hollywood Boulevard. I remember being $5 short for my ticket and think it was Natalie Merchant who was also in the queue who gave me a fiver.
Related to Ginsberg & Steinbeck, you started writing poetry when you were young did you have to share your love of music with writing? (I don’t know how old you are I’m 54 now) can you remember something really important that inspired you, a person, book, song, film?
It is something with words and music that for me, is the best way to say what I want to say, music is the right punctuation to just about anything that I’m feeling. I like the idea of enchantment and how this word came from the word chant. Chanting; this is what monks and priests did for thousands of years, literally connecting the country through sound. And..we need music to make the sun shine in our lives, not just come up. The Navahos knew this, they’d sing to the sun so they could be more like the sun.
I can remember being really little, 3 or 4 years old and listening deeply to the stories in the songs I’d hear. When I was 11 or 12, it being a school night, I was falling asleep to the radio which was playing very softly, almost inaudibly. A Joni Mitchell song came on and hit me in a very particular way. I’ve been writing ever since.
Am I right in saying your releasing some archive studio material, with technology moving so fast are you tempted to change/add
A project called Unearthed is coming, that’s correct. I haven’t wanted to change or add anything with the exception of one song called Hot Biscuit where we’ll be adding real drums to. The old drum machine is just not cutting it. It’s not Kraftwork or Salt n’ Pepa…I reckon this song deserves a real drummer so it’s going to get one in the name of Steve Shelley.
Following on do you know when a song is finished?
Either when I run out of money, am extremely happy with it or just can’t bear to hear it again. Seriously, I can be a bit regimented; make a plan and stick to it. This is good for a person who takes on a lot of responsibility- which I do- however, there are a few things from the past I would have liked to recall, they could have been better. Now as I’m hearing 25 years of archived work, some of it, very, very good work, I can’t help but wonder why it was shelved.
These days, a song is finished when it is what it should be. This requires a certain objectivity towards oneself, too tight or too loose and you’ve lost it.
I write fiction and i’m always tinkering...
Me too!
Are you technical - hands on in the studio
I like valves, knobs, gear, I set up my studio, record myself and others and tinker around but I’m no engineer.
I do like the odd day of repatching and giving the studio a good overhaul, it makes me feel ready for new work.
Kind of Zen.
What about performing do you enjoy or do you prefer the control of a studio setting?
I don’t like super control it makes me feel uptight. When I’m completely immersed in either setting then I like that a lot.
It’s a kind of energetic peace that makes me feel good.
Have you ever changed a song after playing it live for the first time, can the stage add a dimension to songs?
I’d say the stage is a different dimension. I think a song does change for the live setting near always. Nirvana Unplugged was a good example of this.
Finally whats next.
I’m off to Córdoba this month, and I'm recording with Steve Shelley and Glenn Lewis when they come off the Mick Harvey tour.
The Unearthed project will keep on ticking every month and then in 2020 there’s something coming up in Memphis.
I’m writing a few songs with Doc Livingston who’s based in Skye and I just finished something with Jim Prime from Deacon Blue,- he played Hammond on it and it’s sounding nice and gritty.
Thanks so much Addie Brik
You’ve worked with some incredible people, stand out for me Allen Ginsberg - John Steinbeck Jnr how did these opportunities come about?
(Francis Ford Coppola is in there somewhere!)
I went to the University of Colorado in Boulder and lived at the Hotel Boulderado.. It was, at that time, a cheap, student friendly, quite nice dive from the gold mining days.
The Buddhists used to go to the bar there and that’s where I met John and Allen.
I had never heard of Buddhism, nor had I heard of them though I had read John Steinbeck at school. I was quite confident about my poetry
and I’d read it to anyone who would listen.
I don’t remember the poems, if they were any good or not but both John and Allan must have liked the temerity of it ‘cause they took me under their wing. I was lucky there.
(A throw in question can you remember when you first saw ‘Rumblefish’ - )
Yes, at Manns Chinese on Hollywood Boulevard. I remember being $5 short for my ticket and think it was Natalie Merchant who was also in the queue who gave me a fiver.
Related to Ginsberg & Steinbeck, you started writing poetry when you were young did you have to share your love of music with writing? (I don’t know how old you are I’m 54 now) can you remember something really important that inspired you, a person, book, song, film?
It is something with words and music that for me, is the best way to say what I want to say, music is the right punctuation to just about anything that I’m feeling. I like the idea of enchantment and how this word came from the word chant. Chanting; this is what monks and priests did for thousands of years, literally connecting the country through sound. And..we need music to make the sun shine in our lives, not just come up. The Navahos knew this, they’d sing to the sun so they could be more like the sun.
I can remember being really little, 3 or 4 years old and listening deeply to the stories in the songs I’d hear. When I was 11 or 12, it being a school night, I was falling asleep to the radio which was playing very softly, almost inaudibly. A Joni Mitchell song came on and hit me in a very particular way. I’ve been writing ever since.
Am I right in saying your releasing some archive studio material, with technology moving so fast are you tempted to change/add
A project called Unearthed is coming, that’s correct. I haven’t wanted to change or add anything with the exception of one song called Hot Biscuit where we’ll be adding real drums to. The old drum machine is just not cutting it. It’s not Kraftwork or Salt n’ Pepa…I reckon this song deserves a real drummer so it’s going to get one in the name of Steve Shelley.
Following on do you know when a song is finished?
Either when I run out of money, am extremely happy with it or just can’t bear to hear it again. Seriously, I can be a bit regimented; make a plan and stick to it. This is good for a person who takes on a lot of responsibility- which I do- however, there are a few things from the past I would have liked to recall, they could have been better. Now as I’m hearing 25 years of archived work, some of it, very, very good work, I can’t help but wonder why it was shelved.
These days, a song is finished when it is what it should be. This requires a certain objectivity towards oneself, too tight or too loose and you’ve lost it.
I write fiction and i’m always tinkering...
Me too!
Are you technical - hands on in the studio
I like valves, knobs, gear, I set up my studio, record myself and others and tinker around but I’m no engineer.
I do like the odd day of repatching and giving the studio a good overhaul, it makes me feel ready for new work.
Kind of Zen.
What about performing do you enjoy or do you prefer the control of a studio setting?
I don’t like super control it makes me feel uptight. When I’m completely immersed in either setting then I like that a lot.
It’s a kind of energetic peace that makes me feel good.
Have you ever changed a song after playing it live for the first time, can the stage add a dimension to songs?
I’d say the stage is a different dimension. I think a song does change for the live setting near always. Nirvana Unplugged was a good example of this.
Finally whats next.
I’m off to Córdoba this month, and I'm recording with Steve Shelley and Glenn Lewis when they come off the Mick Harvey tour.
The Unearthed project will keep on ticking every month and then in 2020 there’s something coming up in Memphis.
I’m writing a few songs with Doc Livingston who’s based in Skye and I just finished something with Jim Prime from Deacon Blue,- he played Hammond on it and it’s sounding nice and gritty.
Thanks so much Addie Brik
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