WYEP Interview 2/17/99

OK everybody, same set up as the other interview. The song is copyright of Ellis Paul (as if you didn't know...) and the rest of this stuff is probably property of of WYEP. I just transcribed this the best I could from a tape that Karen Z gave me. (Lovely woman)

Rosemary Welsh - RW

Ellis Paul - EP

RW: I'm Rosemary and Ellis Paul is here with me today. It is your moment to shine in the sun, son are you ready?

EP: Yeah, but I'm glad it's not cloudy.

RW: It's ... It's not? Well, a little bit of the sun just has broken through.

EP: Yeah, it's beautiful.

RW: Yeah, it's, it's a perfect day for you being that you're from New England and I'm sure you've seen your... your share of windy, cloudy, high blue, and high gray skies and all that sort of thing...

EP: Yeah, you know it's been one of those strange New England winters. One one, day very, very cold and the next day 60 or 70 so, you know.

RW: Well, you know you've got a full house tonight...

EP: Yay...

RW: There's going to be four hundred plus people who are going to be standing there saying, "OK, show me the goods buster."

EP: [laughs]

RW: This is a tough business to be in, isn't it?

EP: Yeah, I hope, I hope I don't suck. Cause occasionally, you know, you never know. You might have a hard night. But it won't be tonight. It's gonna be great.

RW: You were telling me a little earlier... I mean, you've been doing this for how many years? Ten years or maybe a little more than that?

EP: Well, I started umm...performing out in Boston around ten years ago and then I hit the road full time seven years ago.

RW: And you were telling me that you were just really beginning to enjoy this.

EP: Yeah.

RW: Tell us a little bit about this business.

EP: Well ya know, ah... it's... it's like a little cottage industry. It's like you know you come up with this thing, this thing you make at home. These songs and uh... you bring them to a studio and you dress them up and then you bring them out to... to people and uh, you know, you try and knock everybody over, one by one by one. And it's a big country and um, you know you're doing it kinda the old fashioned way. Most of the radio stations that play me don't have the wattage of WYEP. You know, they have little hamsters in some cage just spinning, spinning, spinning...

RW: And it's important that you support those people because they won't be able to buy the pellets for those hamsters... isn't that compelling?

EP: [laughs] That's right. Well they've been supporting me, so it's... it's been great. And uh, it's just gotten to the point nationally where I'm comfortable. I can afford to bring people to travel with and um, you know, other musicians or road managers and it's... it's just been great.

RW: Well, we want to jump into a tune here. You know you've got the new release out. It's called Translucent Soul. We talked a little bit about some of the folks that you've worked with on this one in a bit. But let's make sure that the folks get an idea what they're going to hear tonight down at the Rosebud. Doors are opening at 6:00. Tracy Drach, local artist, very good artist is going to be starting at 6:30. And Ellis will be coming on at a little bit after seven o'clock. So we're going to hear from Ellis Paul right now on 91.3 WYEP.

Ellis plays "Take Me Down" here...

RW: 91.3 FM, WYEP. You're listening to live music with Ellis Paul. He is going to be performing tonight at Rosebud. Full house for a WYEP member appreciation show, it's our way of saying, "Thank You" for supporting the radio station. It's our chance to get Ellis in front of an audience full of music lovers. And have a good time. We get to hang out with a lot of cool people. Now that song, "Take Me Down" that opens up Translucent Soul.

EP: Yeah, It's my favorite song on the record. That's why I put it first. You know, it just has this great vibe to it.

RW: Well, you know, I think there's this sort of an idea that you can go into it... If you're writing anything you think, "Aw, I've got to create something incredible, something wonderful like a new book for the Bible. Sometimes it's the simplest ideas... [EP: I've been working on that. (laughs)] The simplest ideas are the ones that seem to touch people the most.

EP: Yeah, it's the universal ideas that um, you have to somehow you have to make them your own. But um. in telling them they have to be everybody's story, ya know? And uh, it's all about details, it's about little things that we all see and we all witness and just capturing them, you know, in the right way. So it feels like everybody owns the song as well.

RW: Sort of like the cop on the beat...

EP: Yeah, yeah exactly. You know, we've all seen it, ya know?

RW: Now this record, uh, it's... Wow! You've put out a bunch now...

EP: This... this is number four. And I had a couple... The first time I played in Pittsburgh at the Beehive in Oakland, I think it was. Or maybe it was... Is the Oakland one, the big one?

RW: Yeah, yeah, uh-huh...

EP: It's the little one I played, on the other side of town.

RW: That's, that's here. That's here on the South Side of Pittsburgh actually. [EP: uh-huh] That was what... the early nineties, very early nineties?

EP: Yeah, like ninety... probably ninety-one. Ninety. Sometime around there. And um, then I put out... I had solo cassettes. You know that was pre CD.

RW: [laughs] Well, now you've got the CD and you've got some pretty impressive names on here. First of all, being produced by Jerry Marotta. I remember that name whenever I was... back when I was still buying vinyl copies of Carly Simon albums [EP: yeah, yeah] and he did a lot of... he was a drummer?

EP: Yes, he's a drummer. Great drummer! Great drummer, he still plays with the Indigo Girls and he does studio stuff with Jewel and um, Suzanne Vega and uh, everybody, you know.

RW: So you've got somebody with a ton of experience coming in and taking your music and saying, "Well, let's do this with it."

EP: Yeah.

RW: That must be fun.

EP: Yeah. It's been great. And he's a drummer. You know, he comes from a different, um, he's a very musical drummer, which means he creates a lot of tonal things with his drum kit. It's what he's pretty famous for among drummers- is how different each of the drums sound. They're very colorful sounding instruments. And, uh, the record is blessed to have him on there, uh, doing that thing, ya know.

RW: Well, you're blessed with a lot of good folks on here. I mean Tony Levin is on here and uh I have a few other names... I. Duke Levine has played with a million people. KD Lang amongst many others and, of course, Dar Williams. Dar Williams gets to pop up. But, Dar is quite a trip to work with, I would imagine. She was in here a few weeks back... very smart... great sense of humor.

EP: Oh yeah. She's completely nuts. She's like this completely unique individual. Very, very bright. Like, sort of like the girl next door, but with like a Ph.D. in life, ya know. And I love her to death. I think she's a great, great songwriter.

RW: Let's pop into another tune here.

EP: Sure.

RW: This is Ellis Paul, 91.3, WYEP.

Ellis breaks into "She Loves a Girl"

RW: 91.3 FM, WYEP, Pittsburgh. You are listening to music live with Ellis Paul, who's here in the studio with us. And tonight at Rosebud. 6:00, the doors open. Tracy Drach takes to the stage at 6:30 and then Ellis Paul in the seven o'clock hour will be stepping into the limelight and exposing himself as only a songwriter/singer can do.

EP: [laughs] That's rather graphic, isn't it?

RW: Yeah, well you know...

EP: Bring your cameras. We accept flash photography.

RW: Don't... Don't you feel at times, that your songs can be rather graphic. I mean that song right there has got to be the one tune that people ask you about the most on the CD.

EP: Well they, they're curious about it because it's obviously a song about a, you know, a lesbian and I'm so happy that stations like YEP are brave enough to get it on the air. And, uh, so it's been great, you know, it's... when I handed the record to the label, um... You know, it's a pretty personal record. I was going through a big break up at the time and I really couldn't write any other kind of songs. So all the songs are relationship songs. And this one is about a friend's relationship with a woman and her family. And how the family sort of disowned her when she came out of the closet. And that... I wrote the song and I had all these people coming up to me and sort of sharing their... their stories. And I just can't believe how often that happens, still. And, uh, so it's... it's great . You know it's one of those songs that actually wakes people up a little bit.

RW: It takes a little bit of a different look at it too, in the sense of somebody who's being left. Not only is there just the heartache of being left. But it's the whole social disapproval of the whole situation that uh, complicates all that much more.

EP: Yeah, yeah. I wish... you know, I think, you know love will win out in the long run in these things anyway. And uh, eventually people come around. But that's a tough thing to watch anyone go through. And, uh, you know the whole idea of being in love with someone and then having that cost you the love of a parent or the love of friends who don't approve of the lifestyles. That's very devastating to me. To watch from the outside, ya know? And it's fun to be a heterosexual and look at it and get... you know, here I am, you know writing a lesbian pop song but I'm a male folk singer you know. [RW: laughs] It's good. It'll be my ticket to Lillith Fair or something, I don't know.

RW: You might get in.

EP: I'm trying to get in.

RW: They'll kinda make you know... they'll take a look at the people who have an option to get in. "Well what about the chromosomes?" "Forget about the chromosome, look at that song..."

EP: [laughs] Right. It's about the songs man, it's not DNA. It's about the songs and how they change your DNA.

RW: Well, you know, these songs though... It has to be kind of, a totally different experience than what I know, of getting out there on stage and singing about things. And knowing, at least in yourself, that a lot of these things are tied to really emotional things that you've been through. And that people can make assumptions about. The things that you're singing about. Is it true that love makes you stronger even if it breaks your heart?

EP: Huh. Love makes you stupid. I think is... like love makes you do some idiotic absolutely dumb, dumb things. But, you know, and it does make you a better person and it does make you, you know, stronger in a way... I guess too. But it does a lot of things. I'd never just classify it as just stronger, but it... you know it's... love is like everything else in life. It's a big learning tool. You can abuse it, you can celebrate it, you can do all sorts of things with it. It's like alcohol or any other kind of drug. It's um, it's something that we're given to just, you know, figure out life about and around. So, um, I'm just happy that I can play the songs and put that shit... [RW: laughs] put that stuff in there.

RW: Well, OK. I'll tell ya what, we're going to do. We're gonna do... I just started talking Italian and I don't know why. We're gonna do one more tune here.

EP: OK.

RW: And I want to remind everybody once again. If you're a WYEP member and you didn't get on the guest list. You can show up at the door and, uh we might be able to let you in, if there's still enough room. We do expect a packed house. So, hey people are coming out to see you tonight. I hope that they're gonna have a good time. Tracy's going to be there. I know that these things are a good time for people to get together and get to know each other. And enjoy music. So 6:00 the doors open at Rosebud. 6:30 Tracy goes on. And sometime after 7:00 Ellis Paul's going to be taking to the stage. And we're gonna do one more tune here. I don't know which one it is that you've chosen to do yet.

EP: Well, I'm gonna do a new one. This one's only about a couple of weeks old. So it's a new one.

RW: Oh, it's a baby. So right here, out of the package, this is something from Ellis Paul. We'll find out what it's called in a moment.

EP: It's called, "Everything's..." It's another uplifting song called Everything's Broken...

Starts playing...

EP: I'm gonna tune this just a little bit, I want this to be as pleasant as possible... Alright.

She went alone to the movies

to escape into Hollywood's hands

The screen colors soothing

Can lift a mood like the weather man

and her lover he's asleep on his cross

for the sins of his father and the dreams that he's lost

and she just can't keep out the rain or the rust

cause everything's broken, everything's broken

Chorus

She's just got to breathe

throw the weight off the table

watch the china break up on mid air

and if she leaves

yeah she walks on a cable

but each steps gonna bring her somewhere...

A thousand feet in the air

She wakes up and the theaters bare

A coffee shop at midnight

she befriended a novelist there

the plot thickens by daylight

she's hiding a bruise beneath a lock of her hair

and ain't it a paradox

you find love and get lost

I walked her home on Winter Street

knowing boundaries were crossed

you pay the rent but you don't know the cost

'Til everything's broken

'Til words must be spoken

Chorus

I said you just got to breathe

throw the weight off the table

watch the china break up in midair

yeah you walk on a cable

but each steps gonna bring somewhere.

A thousand feet in the air.

She walks up her Winter Street stair

Yeah.....

She came dressed like a riddle

she's pretty as a turn of a phrase

she's pierced in the middle

she'll catch your eye like a misplaced parade

and in my living room she rewinds to the start

the tale is a tragedy, its Shakepeare's lost art

but you find your voice when your most torn apart

when everything's broken

when you hear your voice spoken

Chorus

She said I just got to breathe

Throw the weight off the table

watch china break up in midair

And if I leave yeah I walk on a cable

but each steps gonna take me somewhere

a thousand feet in the air

and ain't that a breeze up there? Up there? Up there?

RW: 91.3 FM. WYEP, Pittsburgh independent public radio member supported. I'm Rosemary Welsh, Ellis Paul is responsible for the singing I can't claim any of that.

EP: Thanks for having me on . It's really good to be back. And you guys are in new digs since I last ...

RW: Yeah, these are much brighter and roomier than the last time you were in town. It's been a long time... not so long between visits, I hope next time.

EP: Yeah, I'll definitely be back soon.

RW: So, Ellis Paul Rosebud tonight. Tracy Drach opening. Doors open at 6. Tracy at 6:30. Ellis coming on a little bit after 7 o'clock. Thank you Ellis and if you're a WYEP member I hope you're coming out tonight. Because we're gonna have a great time. The Police on WYEP....

End Interview