One of Colorado's better known female songwriters, Melissa Axel, will be performing on Saturday (4/3/10) at Swallow Hill. She'll be opening for WOMAD (World of Music Arts & Dance Foundation) artist Andy White, one of Ireland's leading songwriters.
Melissa can be a little hard to track down, but she recently answered a few questions about her craft...
Q: What's your general background? What kind of formal training have you had?
Melissa: I wrote my first song when I was eight years old, up past bedtime singing quietly under the covers with notepad, pen, and a flashlight. I took a few piano lessons in sixth grade, and I sang in chorus from elementary school through my first year of college. I was always afraid to step out as a soloist though; I had pretty terrible stage fright outside of performing in a group. Later on, I studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. There are some fantastic songwriters teaching there, and I loved working with them. The students were amazing, too, I probably learned just as much from them.
In 2008 & 2009, my husband James Jacoby and I studied with one of Ireland's leading songwriters, Andy White, at songwriting workshops hosted by WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance, founded by Peter Gabriel in 1980) in the UK. That was a wonderful experience - I think I wrote something like 8 songs in 5 days the first year we went, and last year, James and I co-wrote a song with Andy called "Every Place Is Home."
Q: What comes first - music or words? Can you describe your song writing process?
Melissa: To me, the songwriting process doesn't really have a beginning or an end. Various songs or fragments of songs seem to weave their way through various possible stages of a non-linear cycle. But the words almost always come first.
James and I wrote our first song together at WOMAD; he's also a musician but had been a writer of poetry and stories most of his life. Now we're collaborating regularly on new material, sometimes writing together and sometimes working on the arrangements and instrumentation of my songs.
I'd love to do more co-writing with other songwriters and also with musicians who are just getting into songwriting. I adore creating new music and especially helping others with lyrical writing and phrasing. It would be amazing to travel the world, writing and recording new music on the spot with people from different cultures and backgrounds.
Q: Who are your biggest influences?
A: Countless artists and so many types of music ... as an '80s child, obviously I've been surrounded by a lot of Pop/Rock and R&B hits over the years. Being a nostalgia buff goes beyond my own youth though: I adore a lot of old Jazz, swing, and some older period music.
I also love electronica, as well as exploring the music of other cultures: African, Brazilian, Scandinavian, Asian. And, I have a soft spot for any songwriter doing something unique, creative, and utterly authentic ... everyone from Peter Gabriel to Sufjan Stevens, Sting to Björk, and of course, Tori Amos, to whom I've sometimes been compared (if only due to the red hair and piano, but her early work is definitely a big influence).
All that said, many of the artists whose music I feel the strongest creative connection with are those I discovered long after I started writing songs, so it's hard to say which of them are influences vs. just simpatico. I've never really tried to write in the vein of other artists. I think it's essential for each artist to make a new statement by expressing something quintessential and true in his or her own unique voice.
Q: Where do you get ideas for your songs?
Melissa: Sometimes words come in a dream or I wake up with something repeating in my head ... or a random phrase will come to me when I'm watching other artists perform, sparking the proverbial "grab napkin, dig out pen, write feverishly amidst whatever's going on." Other times, I'll just be sitting at home and an entire verse, chorus, or even a whole song full of words will come in one fervent outpouring. I really don't know where it all comes from. It just kind of comes to and through me - it's been like that since I was a kid.
Q: Any advice for other song writers?
Melissa: Be honest in absolutely every aspect of your work, with others and with yourself. Write from a place of authenticity, whether it's coming from your life or about what you observe in others and what they are going through. Don't be afraid to say the unsaid, the hard stuff, the little stuff.
Challenge yourself to try new things and to share what you are creating with others; be open to their feedback, but still trust your gut. Only keep what serves the song, but save the rest of the scraps because you never know when something might actually belong in another one. Explore music that seems foreign to you ... look for elements in it that make you feel alive and connected, and make sure what you create makes you feel that way, too.
Q: What do you find is the biggest obstacle in the song writing process?
Melissa: Navigating some kind of path to building a sustainable living with the songs once they're done.
Q: Gotta find that patron! So what does the future hold for you?
Melissa: Recording a ton of new music, traveling, and more performing. I've really come to love sharing these songs with people live. It's sort of like taking the audience on a roller coaster ride and then delivering them safely back home ...we explore these emotional ups and downs together, and they trust me to take us where we'll feel really alive but never in any true danger. However brief our ride may be, there's a deep connection that comes from sharing that experience.
Visit Swallow Hill to purchase tickets for her show on 4/3/10.
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