Can’t Stop the Music

AfterElton: What are you working on today?
Nellie McKay: I’m working on the next album.

AE: When are you tentatively looking to put this next release into the world?
NM: Well, I guess in the early to mid part of next year. It’s being recorded probably all over the world. I’m hoping for multiple tracks to have been recorded in different places and with different people. So there should be a real eclecticism of songs.

AE: You wield such a musically diverse palette. How would you describe the record you’re currently recording?
NM: I would say it is world music and I’ve tried to focus on rhythm more than we have so far on the upcoming record. There are beats and grooves, but not necessarily in the hip-hop sense. I think that I’ve neglected that a little bit because I usually just write things on piano and the drums are an afterthought.

AE: But the piano is such a percussive instrument and on your past records, you’ve definitely milked the percussive aspects of the piano for all they’re worth.
NM: Yeah, but put on a James Brown record or a lot of the stuff out of Africa and it’s just got that beat. It just has everything; it’s beautiful.

AE: Let’s talk about the release that’s out right now, Obligatory Villagers. Why did you pare down the number of album tracks so drastically after fighting tooth-and-nail with Columbia over releasing Pretty Little Head as a double album? Was this your way of sticking it to Sony?
NM: No, I felt that when you’re free to choose, you’re free to choose anything. When people try to force you to do something, the natural reaction is to not want to be forced.

AE: So what’s the biggest challenge in releasing Obligatory Villagers without the support of a major label?
NM: The biggest challenge is that the record industry is in such crisis. I think that’s affecting everybody.

AE: Do you feel as if the Big Four labels will eventually become extinct or adapt to the new technology?
NM: They have such a history of bilking people out of money, so the labels themselves really can’t claim high ground. I sympathize with the desire to get things for free. What I don’t like is getting things for free electronically. If they were stealing actual albums, I’d feel a lot better about it. I think computers are such a failing and I wish they never had been invented.

AE: The opening track off Obligatory Villagers, “Mother of Pearl” is about modern feminism written from the perspective of the stereotypical meathead who whines “can’t these broads do anything but whine?” Since this is for AfterElton, I was wondering if you felt as if modern feminism is at odds with gay culture.
NM: (pauses, unsure of herself)

AE: I’m not trying to entrap you. I worked at a gay magazine in New York City called HX, and I felt as if the two movements were incongruous.
NM: I would say that both feminism and gay culture are incredibly complicated. There’s no one thing coming out of either. I’m sure there are basic things that they could agree upon. Within gay culture and within feminism, people don’t agree. So good luck getting the two to come together.

AE: I read that you put the instrumentation and everything together by yourself. Which Villagers track was the most difficult to make?
NM: The hardest part was getting the musicians to stop doing crack in the back room.

AE: I thought you had to arrange music for the orchestra included on Villagers for the very first time.
NM: The hardest part of the album is after it’s finished. The actual making of the album is a joyful experience. It’s just all the little shit that kills you. But they played my dopey arrangements and made them sound much better than they were.

AE: Some fans have criticized Villagers. They wanted another Get Away From Me Pretty Little Head. They said that these songs were too serious. What do you have to say to fans who might’ve been disappointed by this album? or
NM: I wasn’t expecting this type of album either, but it came somehow.

AE: What made you want to pursue this album? It seemed like a completely different direction to go in.
NM: I just wish that it wasn’t so hard and that there wasn’t such a drumroll up to everything. I’m just trying new things and working things out. It’s certainly a process from album to album.