View fullsize

Juliana:

Painting requires more concentration and more time. It’s quieter, obviously, and more solitary. Painting hurts my brain in a way that music theory does—I’m forced to think about what I’m trying to do, and why, and how. Physically, they feel different, too— playing music can be a cathartic release whereas when I’m painting, I’m usually in a state of heightened anxiety the whole time.

Juliana has shared three of her paintings in an article at Paste which also features the work of 22 other musicians.

Q: “I Got No Idols.” What’s the story behind it? The first verse seems to respond to the media-hyped virginity brouhaha you found yourself in after the Interview interview (“you may think we all need that stuff/but I don’t think about it much”) while the second verse tackles false gods as well as how some ardent fans may perceive you (“but I’m a liar, that’s the truth/go home and think it through”).

JH: It was existential. (Become What You Are, the album title, was taken from Nietzsche, you know). I think I was trying to be tough, or to appear tough, to mask my fragility/weakness by claiming to not need anyone, and to not be impressed by anyone, but then acknowledging/admitting my weakness and fragility (“when I do I have to leave the room/I’m scared of what i might do”—i might get weak in the knees, I might fall in love). I am trying to convince myself while trying to convince the listener that I am a lone wolf. But not really believing it 100%, even as I am saying it. I don’t remember the specifics of what was going through my head. I think I was thinking of Sonic Youth and “Kill Yr. Idols,” on one level trying/wanting to be ‘cool’ like them. I think you are right about the second verse. I wasn’t comfortable in the role of rock or pop star or objectifiable object and I thought it was all really stupid in a way and I never was any good at it because I could never believe the hype.

Read another of Juliana's PledgeMusic Q&As at The Old Grey Cat.

Juliana:

I will say that from the last album [There’s Always Another Girl] I am really proud of the song “Wasting Time”. I think it might be the saddest song I’ve ever written but it’s so pretty and so grown-up. It’s subtle and toward the end of the album so I think it was overlooked by lot of people.

As part of Juliana's current PledgeMusic drive she has again offered the opportunity to ask her 20 questions via email.

With thanks once more to N'Awlins Contrarian (and Juliana) for sharing, you can read a set of her responses here:

Another20QuestionsAnswered.pdf

If you missed last year's Q&A between the same parties, you can view that pdf here.

People discussing "The Internets" will never get old.

Who will you be covering and was it hard to narrow down the songs?

A funny thing is that a bunch of the songs are from about 10 years ago. I don’t know what it is about that period of time, but I keep going there. One example is the song “Fruit Fly” by Nada Surf, a band I like a lot. And I was lucky to have Matthew Caws (the singer from Nada Surf) sing on a few of the songs on the album. He did not sing on his song, “Fruit Fly,” though.

You can read a short Q&A with Juliana on PledgeMusic's blog.

Juliana:

If I could afford to, I would just paint for the foreseeable future. It’s the way I saw music before. I only wanted to do that. Now I want to paint. That is probably going to sound so pretentious coming from someone who’s been a musician. It’s weird, no one even knows I’m doing this school. None of my quote unquote fans knows that I’m in school. I haven’t really told anyone.

Juliana is interviewed by Middle Mojo - a site focusing on "what happens when creative people get older and older people get creative."

Juliana goes on to indicate that the proceeds from There's Always Another Girl were intended, in part, to fund art school.

The interview also covers why she has previously found it difficult to fulfil her wish to quit performing live, and how her art is proving a different form of expression to her music:

It’s going to be interesting to see. I am starting to see some of the themes from my music in some of my paintings. It’s not really planned, it’s just sort of happening. Look at my past few album covers. It’s naked parts of my body. And I’m painting stuff like that. Body parts with no heads. Fake boobs. I’ve always had these issues with my identity, anxiety about my femininity. I never felt I really expressed it the way I wanted to with music. This is just another way to work through some of the issues I have.

The music side isn't being neglected though. If you've been following Juliana on Twitter in recent days she has, amongst other topics such as complaining about her Wikipedia image (now changed), indicated that new tunes are forthcoming:

that was too many tweets& i'm sorry& & i have to get back to work now but THANK YOU ALL for EMO & TECH SUPPORT and new album coming soon

— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) January 8, 2012

Juliana:

My fans are so cool. (They) understand that it's not 1992 anymore, and that I've evolved and they have evolved with me. They understand that in writing music, I'm in the moment, and I'm not trying to do anything that relates to anything I've ever done before. I'm just doing what feels right now.

Juliana and other artists talk about fan funded projects in a feature at Salon - Don't Just Buy The Record - Help Fund It. (update - this is now a webarchive.org link - the original Salon link is dead)

It's worth a read, although it's a shame they haven't given the new album its updated name.

If you missed the chance to take part in the Q&A email incentive offered in Juliana's PledgeMusic project, one participant has kindly shared their exchange via the This Is The Sound group.

If you're not a member of that group (and why not?!) you can view the Q&A as a pdf here:

Hatfield20QandAApril2011.pdf

A big thanks to N'Awlins Contrarian (and Juliana) for making this available.  If anyone else wants to share theirs (or parts thereof) please feel free to do so.

Given the seemingly endless number of “indie” artists in existence today, how do you think you set yourself apart from the crowd?

JH: "By quitting!"

Find out who Juliana would 'go gay' for in a small 'Ask A Straight Girl' Q&A at The New Gay. Admit it, you want to know.

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s something we’re going to do indefinitely,” Hatfield says. “We may do a few shows on the West Coast or maybe even go to Europe for a week or two, but after that I just don’t want to be on the road."

Ooh. The Juliana & Evan roadshow might cross the Atlantic. More on this and the possibility of an electric Peace & Love in an interview with New Haven Advocate.

There's also an interview with Evan at Connecticut Post.

Juliana's official site mentions that Juliana and Evan are interviewed with Jenny and Johnny in the latest issue of Lula Magazine.  There is no online edition of this UK based fashion magazine which is a bit exclusive and only comes out twice a year.

Dando: "We never did anything 50/50, like a band, a duo. We helped each other out on our albums. We’ve never written together, but we’re going to try. We should really make up a name up for it, but I guess Juliana & Evan is good enough."

It's becoming clear from the recent run of interviews with Juliana and Evan that there is more to it than just a few low key acoustic shows from the pair.  They have a positive influence on each other and appear to be at the embryonic stages of a new project, if not a fully fledged musical duo for the future.  Yay.

The latest feature can be found at the Boston Herald.

View fullsize

"I didn't know what to expect after not seeing him for a long time — you never know if you're going to get the up Evan or the down Evan. When I wrote about 'shafts of light that dart down between the trees,' that's the part of Evan I was describing. Being his friend can be hard, and it's only lately that I've come to accept him as he is and not want to change him."

From a feature in the Boston Phoenix - 'Dando & Hatfield rekindle a musical courtship'

View fullsize

Hatfield laughs and rolls her eyes. “Have you ever seen that movie Leaving Las Vegas?” she asks. “Evan and I are kind of like Elisabeth Shue and Nicolas Cage.” Dando nods, then asks, “Wait, are you a hooker?”

Juliana and Evan interviewed inbetween their recent New York shows in an article at New York Magazine.

View fullsize

"Rather than a reunion, I think it's an experiment, trying to unify the two of us.Or an experiment in trying to blend the two of us, which is kind of a new thing. "

Juliana talks about the shows with Evan, plans to go to school, and using julianalogic explains why rock 'n' roll is dead to her in an interview with QRO Magazine. 

The most elongated series of audio interviews in internet history has now come to an end. Part 4 of Juliana's interview with Gearwire is now online and includes a discussion on her Martin HD-28V acoustic guitar.

Thanks to Carlos for the link.

Q:  Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

JH: Here. Still here.

Read a new Q&A with Juliana at Tuned-Out.

Juliana talks about Gibson guitars and raises the possibility of future live electric shows in the third part of Gearwire's audio interview.    

Motown based music site Tuned-Out is due to interview Juliana:

Questions can be submitted via their site or at Facebook and Twitter.  'When will you be playing a show in my backyard?' themed questions should probably be avoided.  Thoughts on crimes against confectionary less so.

Update

on 2010-05-08 16:55 by Craig

The interview is now available at Tuned-Out.