The Weather Station
Tamara Lindemann (The Weather Station) has had to rush off for lunch, after being stuck in hours of traffic on her way to Gullivers (gig reviewed here). This makes interviewing her rather difficult – my explanation of why I’m here to the woman on the door goes down badly and I receive a lot of suspicious looks. Glances are cast my way and emails to the Weather Station’s manager only inch me slightly closer to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – the interview with The Weather Station.
Nearly an hour later less than planned, I see a blonde woman walk toward me and instantly I know its Tamara. She walks up and asks ‘are you Paddy?’ and after a small introduction I follow her to the back room. It’s been hard getting here but now Tamara is refreshed, and thoughts of her terrible journey have now been replaced with excitement for tonight’s show. It’s an exciting time for the Folk musician, who has just released her third album ‘Loyalty’ and is about to play her first ever UK show outside of London. So, it’s time for me to shut up and let Tamara take over. Sounds good, yeah:
You’ve just released ‘Loyalty’, were you nervous before the first reviews started to emerge?
I was nervous. A lot is riding on it; you put so much of your life into a record and everything that happens after the record tends to be because of the reviews or how it’s received. It could be the difference between being a musician and not being a musician. I was nervous but I also thought it would be ok and it was.
So the stakes are high?
Terribly high. This is the first record I’ve released in this way with a label and a manager, I always wanted to do things in this way but in the past it was quite small.
Was the album influenced by your life experiences?
It’s totally honest, I write from my own perspective, I don’t write stories. I feel like I have a duty to not necessarily be honest to my experience but to be honest to the truth of the way things unfold. Whether I’m writing about my experiences or someone else’s I feel irresponsible if I’m not completely truthful about it – which is why I never really write about other people as how can you ever be sure, you know.
On the front cover you’re stood with your back to the camera and your arms flung out, what was thinking behind that?
It wasn’t planned, I was taking photos with a friend and he took it. I was like ‘that’s the cover’ and I had to convince him about it. There’s a power to it, it’s kind of a power move to turn your back on someone, and there’s more expression in my hands on that image than there was in any pictures of my face. Sometimes if you turn away, you almost feel like you can reveal something more intimate. It just struck me as such a strong image and not stereotypically feminine, so that’s what I was drawn to it.
The Weather Station
Why did you call the record ‘Loyalty’?
The record is mostly about being disloyal or places where loyalty is a problem. No, I’m a very loyal person, it’s not always a good thing; sometimes it’s good to be disloyal.
Now it’s out there do you just enjoy it, or are you always thinking about the next thing?
Definitely thinking about what’s next but this one was a lot of work, so I’ve been enjoying it and not been putting too much pressure of myself.
What’s the difference between these songs live, compared to when you recorded them?
The main difference is you tend to record your songs when you haven’t really been playing them that much, now I know my songs so well so I’m approaching them differently. As a live band, they’re much louder and stronger.
This is your first tour over here right?
Yep. It’s very different to when I play in Toronto or Montreal and people have heard my records. It’s kinda more fun to play for total strangers. It feels like more of a show.
There must be other differences to playing here than at home?
There’s a thousand differences – everywhere in Europe has a different feeling, I mean in France I noticed that everyone stood right up against the stage, even though there was room and that’s so not an Anglophone way of doing things. In France people were taking pictures and I was thinking you must be getting like my nosehair in that picture.
What’s been the most touching thing someone has said to you following a gig?
When someone comes up to you and it’s obvious they’ve been living with the music for a long time, and that it’s played a role in their life. People often say it got them through a hard time, so that’s always meaningful.
Finally, would you rather be remember as a good person or a good person?
Oh, a good person yeah. I don’t subscribe to the shitty person, great artist notion. I think you can both. That’s a good question, I should ask that of potential friends.
THE WEATHER STATION Official | Facebook | Twitter
Hi all, my name is Paddy and I have a love for everything from African music to indie to house (basically anything other than heavy metal). Gigging and listening to albums are genuinely the things I most value and love doing.
