Here's Juliana interviewed by Gregory Druker Day for The Portland Podcast, talking about the Police album and the current tour.
Also, if you missed it there's another audio interview with Juliana at wbhm.
From an interview by Brent Thompson for Birmingham Stages ahead of the upcoming US tour:
Birmingham Stages: You have a large catalog of music at this point in your career. With that said, how do you comprise your set lists these days?
Hatfield: It can be really random. I made an album of covers called Juliana Hatfield – it was self-titled and kind of an obnoxious name for an album of covers [laughs] and I made it seven or eight years ago. Someone reminded me of the song I recorded by Teenage Fanclub called “Cells” which I hadn’t thought of for a long time. And I thought, “Oh, maybe I’ll play that one in the set” because I remember how much I liked it. There’s no real system. I’m trying to pull things from lots of of different years – doing a bunch from the last few albums and then going back to the first and second albums.
Sunshine Boys - the three-piece Chicago band which includes Freda Love Smith on drums, have announced their second album with a new single Infinity Girl and a crowdfunder at Indiegogo.
The band will also be opening for Juliana at the Evanston, IL (Jan 16), Indianapolis, TN (Jan 17), Nashville, TN (Jan 18), Birmingham, AL (Jan 19) dates on Juliana's upcoming US Tour.
Also of note for that Nashville show:
Update: Juliana has confirmed who will be opening on some of the other shows:
Juliana is interviewed by Craig Rosen, talking about her Olivia Newton-John and Police projects as part of a feature at Tidal on the subject of covers:
Hatfield admits that she has done at least one ironic cover, in her earlier days. Earwig, a 1989 album by Hatfield’s band the Blake Babies, featured a cover of the Stooges’ highly sexualized anthem “Loose.” “That was a little ironic,” she says. “It was also kind of a joke, because I was a virgin at that time and I was singing this cock-rock song.”
These days, Hatfield says she’s no longer interested in being ironic. “What’s the point in belittling anything that was made with love?” she says. “Music is really precious, but it’s complicated because it’s all caught up in commerce. You have to be careful. If you’re going to knock something publicly, there has to be a real reason for it.”
New official video!
Directed and Edited by Rachel Lichtman.
This is wonderful.
Here's a couple of 1993 TV interviews that have appeared on YouTube in recent weeks, both of which I don't think I've seen before.
There's Gary Crowley giving it a big British "JuliARNER" pronounciation in his London interview (which also has an acoustic version of My Sister), and a Japanese TV interview from earlier in the year previewing Become What You Are.
Thanks to Carlos for the info.
New shows have been added to Juliana's US tour in early 2020.
In addition to previously announced dates, the tour continues in February heading back east with shows at St Paul, Milwaukee, St Louis, Annapolis, Sellersville, Somerville, and Northampton. update - Brooklyn too
Juliana's band for these dates is Dean Fisher (bass), Mike Oram (2nd guitar), and Chris Anzalone (drums).
The updated list:
Jan 16 Evanston, IL - SPACE
Jan 17 Indianapolis, IN - HI-FI
Jan 18 Nashville, TN - The Basement East
Jan 19 Birmingham, AL - WorkPlay
Jan 21 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
Jan 22 Austin, TX - 3TEN Austin City Limits Live
Jan 24 Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
Jan 25 Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet's
Jan 27 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
Jan 28 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
Jan 30 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
Feb 1 Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
Feb 5 St Paul, MN - Turf Club
Feb 6 Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall
Feb 7 St Louis, MO - Blueberry Hill Duck Club
Feb 10 Annapolis, MD - Rams Head On Stage
Feb 11 Sellersville, PA - Sellersville Theater 1894
Feb 12 Somerville, MA - ONCE
Feb 13 Northampton, MA - The Parlor Room
Feb 14 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
Juliana is interviewed by Dan Alleva for The Aquarian to talk about the Police covers album:
[DA] I think a perfect example of that on the record is your rendition of “Roxanne.” You completely deconstructed and reinterpreted it in much darker context. It sounds as though you were really trying to underscore those lyrics and the narrative as well as you could.
[JH] Well, actually I think I didn’t really have a clear concept when I went to record that. I was thinking that I can’t do reggae. I’m not a person who can play reggae authentically or anything like it. I’m not going to even attempt to go there, because it would seem false and poser-ish. I was just thinking like, ‘Oh, take away the band and just make it really stark and it’ll be like me talking to my friend, the prostitute, and trying to help her out of the life of the street.’ And really, that’s the whole concept. Just break it down so it’s like me pleading in a way with her, like, ‘Come on, you can have a better life.’ It’s sort of supposed to be like a conversation between me and my friend, Roxanne, the prostitute. It’s very raw. The situation is very raw, and to me—I don’t want to make a big thing about it, because I think that sex workers have a right to do that kind of work—but when I do think about prostitution, I just think like, ‘Ugh… what a harsh life that must be.’
[DA] It’s an interesting construct because with the original version, it’s a man speaking to a woman, and with your interpretation, it’s two women having a conversation with each other. I don’t know what the right word for it is, but it seems—I don’t want to say that Sting was disingenuous—but the patriarchal nature in which Roxanne’s plight is narrated by a man is different than how you presented the theme.
[JH] I think it’s more sympathetic coming from me. Because in the Police version, it is certainly a john who’s in love with a prostitute, and he’s just really selfish and jealous. Like, he doesn’t want this person that he’s in love with to do it with any other men. And it’s really selfish, I think. My version is not selfish; I’m trying to help my sister out of that life rather than just be like, ‘I don’t ever want you to [see] any other men.’ It’s about being better to yourself.
From a feature in The Boston Globe by James Sullivan, Juliana on The Police:
“I was a huge fan,” she said. “I had everything. All the B-sides. I had all the bootlegs on cassette. I knew every second of every bootleg. Every nuance.” While still in high school, she saw more than one Police show at the “enormo-domes,” including the 1983 gig the band played at what was then Sullivan Stadium in Foxborough, with the Fixx and A Flock of Seagulls.
Sullivan also mentions a bit about the writing project she's working on:
Since finishing the latest album, she has turned her attention to some new long-form writing — essays, mainly, about the process of making a record from an artist’s perspective.
From an interview by Bruce Fagerstrom for Magnet Magazine:
[BF] Sting has commented that the surface prettiness of “Every Breath You Take” lulls some people into missing the sinister nature of the lyrics. As a singer how do you approach songs with such strong narratives? I’d throw “Roxanne” into that as well.
[JH] I know these songs and the melodies so well that I almost don’t even think about the lyrics because they are like second nature to me. Especially when I am singing; singing is such a physical act for me. I rarely think about the words I am singing. It’s just trying to push the notes out. But when I listen, I am drawn to things that have a darkness, have more than one layer of meaning. I get bored by love songs, I don’t relate to them. If “Every Breath You Take” were a straight-up “I love you forever, baby” song, it would bore me.
Juliana, from an interview with Will Hodge for GRAMMY.com, on the genesis of her latest covers project:
Almost immediately after releasing the Olivia Newton-John album, I started thinking about who I should do next. For a while, I was actually thinking of doing Phil Collins, both his solo songs and also his time in Genesis. I had already started to make a list of his songs when one day I was listening to "Long Long Way to Go" from No Jacket Required. Sting sings background vocals on that song and as soon as I heard his voice, I was immediately struck by the thought, "Wait, I should really be doing The Police."
I have much more of a connection to The Police and was a bigger fan of them than I ever was of Phil Collins. Apart from two Genesis albums that I really love, Duke and Abacab, Phil Collins is more of a singles artist to me. But growing up, I was truly fanatical about The Police and had all their albums and knew all the deep cuts. I just switched my brain over to Police mode and that became the new concept.
Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police is released today. Marvellous.
A selection of the reviews:
Chris Ingalls, PopMatters (8/10):
As Juliana Hatfield has demonstrated, the Police songbook is wide and varied enough to be open to endless interpretation. As she has demonstrated with this album as well as the Olivia Newton-John project, she's a musician who is dedicated to paying tribute to the music of her youth and finding new and interesting ways to present it.
Andy Crump, Paste (7.6/10):
You will not at any point feel like you’re hearing The Police for the first time while Juliana Hatfield Sings the Police streams on your laptop, but you will feel like you’re hearing them from a new angle.
Pablo Gorindi, Associated Press:
Among the best versions is “Murder By Numbers,” originally a jazzy tune also covered that way by Frank Zappa, which sounds here like it’s been adapted for a remake of “A Clockwork Orange” as Hatfield emphasizes the song’s violence and dread over its morbid humor. “Hungry for You (J’aurais Toujours Faim De Toi)” turns into a high speed J.J. Cale track with some very Cars-like keyboards near the end, while “Next to You” seems to have arrived straight from the early 1990s indie craze.
Hal Horowitz, American Songwriter (3/5):
Hatfield’s choices are an intriguing mix of hits like “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take” with less iconic tracks such as “Landlord” (an obscure B-side) and “Rehumanize Yourself,” a deeper cut from Ghost in the Machine, the latter two played close to the original versions. The project is more intriguing the further Hatfield strays from how the Police recorded these songs, such as when she removes reggae touches from “Hole in My Life,” infusing it with a far darker tone.
Adrian P, pennyblackmusic.co.uk:
Exploring the less familiar material brings up a greater consistency in terms of invention and hooks. Hence, lots of imagination and charm comes packed into effervescently bouncy skanks through ‘Canary in a Coalmine’, ‘Hungry For You’ and ‘(J'Aurais Toujours Faim De Toi)’; a swirling spin through ‘Hole in My Life’; an effects-heavy warping of ‘Rehumanize Yourself’; and terrific punk-meets-college-rock stomps through ‘Murder By Numbers’, ‘Landlord’, ‘Next To You’ and ‘It’s Alright For You’.
Juliana was a guest on Garry Foster's Unchained show for wcr fm in Wolverhampton, which was broadcast earlier this week.
The running order for hour 2 as embedded above:
Juliana Hatfield: universal heart beat Juliana Hatfield: de do do do de da da da Juliana Hatfield: Interview October 2019 Juliana Hatfield: next to you Juliana Hatfield: a little more love Juliana Hatfield: magic Bethnie Rose: the return Grace Potter: on my way The Bangles: watching the sky
Juliana is the guest on episode 236 of The Hustle:
The last few years have been a blur of prolific activity for Juliana Hatfield. There was the anti-Trump album Pussycat from 2017, there have been side projects with Paul Westerberg (The I Don't Care's) and Nada Surf's Matthew Caws (Minor Alps), and there have been albums of new material (2019's Weird and 2015's Whatever, My Love), but what is a wonderful new focus for her are these albums of covers. In 2018 she released Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John to wide acclaim and this week she drops the follow up, Juliana Hatfield Sings the Police. This wonderful collection brings new depth to these classic tunes and presents them in a new light completely unique to her. We discuss all of this as well as her favorite albums and bands, her love life, her feelings about accolades, and much more. She's a total delight and full of great stories!
From Darryl Sterdan's interview with Juliana for Tinnitist:
Are you already writing your next album?
JH: I’m actually trying to write some other stuff first. I’m taking a few months to write a long-form prose thing. But I’m starting to get ideas bubbling up, and I’m writing down some lyrical ideas. So I have a feeling I’m going to start writing pretty soon.
Do you think it will be another introspective album like Weird?
JH: No. I think it’s going to be like Rage Against the Machine, but my style. It’s going to be a protest record. But I want to do something that’s really really simple, with repetitive choruses and not a lot of words so it’s deceptively easy to sing along with — but very definitely protest music.
From an excellent article by Justin Chadwick for Albumism where Juliana comments on each of the songs on the new record:
“Every Breath You Take”
This is another one of those deceptive creations that at first makes you think you are listening to a straight-up love song. But really it’s pretty twisted, sung from the point of view of a creepy stalker, a person who won’t go away, who is obsessed with an ex. The song structure—the way it moves and flows and builds—is perfection. It’s sonic ambrosia. I can’t get enough of it. This song is the gift that keeps on giving
From an interview by Katherine Yeske Taylor for The Big Takeover, Juliana on upcoming plans:
So you’ve already started working on your next album of originals?
JULIANA HATFIELD: Well, I am actually taking a little break. I’m writing other stuff, I’m working on a longer form prose thing. I wanted to step away from making music for a couple months, just to write this other stuff, and then I’ll get back to songwriting in the beginning of the new year. I have to be creative: I also draw and paint. I have to be doing something all the time or I just go crazy.
Are you going to do any tour dates for this Police covers album?
JULIANA HATFIELD: Yeah, we’re going to tour in January and February, about a month in the States. It’s going to start in Chicago and go down and West and all around and end up in New York around Valentine’s Day. We’re still finalizing the dates, but we’ll put them out there as soon as they’re all fixed.
Juliana, from an interview by Dave Rayburn for Discussions Magazine covering a number of area around the soon the be released Police covers project:
DR: ...Why The Police?
JH: I sort of did it on a whim. Actually, I was preparing to do Phil Collins covers, and then sort of at the last minute… you know what, I don’t really have an emotional connection to Phil Collins. And, there’s just not enough depth there. So, I just went sort of automatically to The Police because I do have an emotional connection from childhood. They were a big, big thing for me during my adolescence. Same as with the Olivia Newton-John record. It’s like I’m being drawn toward artists that were very important to me at a certain time in my life. I mean, I have a plan to do more of these albums and I think that in the future I’ll be able to look back and say, “Oh yes, these all had something to do with what I became.”