From day one, PensEyeView has been all about celebrating the independent artist. Artists, who could care less if they have 5,000,000 friends on FaceBook, don’t care if their tour touches five continents and don’t mind if their work of art doesn’t fetch a million dollar price tag. They do it because they want to. They don’t need you or me to motivate them – they’ll continue being creative because the process itself is all the drive they need. Amy Speace is that kind of artist. An artist’s artist, truly. She studied theater, taught herself guitar, wrote about heartbreak, tragedy and triumph, formed and broke up bands, rocked Off Broadway shows, was even part of some of those amazing “East Village Collaborations” that some artists only dream of. Speace wraps up her time in New York quite nicely: “We were all overeducated, unemployed, poor and passionate and it was a thrilling time and place to be a 25 year old.”  

And clearly, you can be very successful commercially even as an artist’s artist – Amy is your perfect example. She gets respect on both sides of the coin for her blend of folk, country and rock. She’s taking on new territory with the release of her follow-up to “Songs for Bright Street”, a collection titled “The Killer in Me”. She talks about her message behind the record: “I think love is a good theme return to. All other writers have. I mean, is there any other, really? I had an acting teacher once say to me, when you were choosing what your motivation was in a scene, there were really only two. You either want to fuck or kill. That’s all there is. And in the end, it’s the same thing. To destroy someone or to devour them. I think that’s what ‘The Killer in Me’ is about.”

The album was written in the rural isolation of a rented cabin in the Catskills after her final separation from her husband, so obviously the content comes from a very poignant place; “I think it’s an album that takes a pretty honest look at love and loss.” Speace’s live shows are just as honest, so check out her touring schedule as she supports “The Killer in Me”. There’s a lot more to learn, so jump into the XXQ’s.

XXQs: Amy Speace
 
PensEyeView.com (PEV): Tell us how you first got started in the music business? Has playing music always been something you’ve wanted to do?

Amy Speace (AS): I started playing piano when I was about 3, just by ear, plunking out nursery rhymes. I wasn’t able to get to lessons until I was 5, but I’ve been studying some instrument or voice ever since, so it seems like it was my 2nd language. Music just made sense to me. And it’s a cliché to say it, but it really got me through adolescence and every hard time I’ve ever had. I didn’t start writing music of my own until I was 25, and by that time I was already firmly entrenched in pursuing a career as an actress/playwright. I’d had a spectacularly bad breakup with, of all people, a songwriter in a rock band, and was forced to crash with a friend in the West Village on her couch. I listened to Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend”, Tori Amos “Little Earthquakes” and The The the entire month and wrote 10 bad songs quite quickly. Which prompted me to show up at an open mic. And somehow I got enough positive feedback to keep going until I had a manager and a record and someone was suggesting I put acting aside and concentrate on music. I think deep down, probably, it was always what I wanted to do, but was too afraid to figure it out. I studied classical voice in high school, went to a school for the arts, was really encouraged to audition for opera programs, got a full scholarship to The Eastman Conservatory of Music but turned it down because someone said to me, “if you can do anything else well besides music, do that.” SO I did for many years. And then music kept biting me on the ass until I paid attention.

 
PEV: What kind of music where you listening to growing up? What was the first concert you attended? Who is on your iPod right now?

AS: My father had a collection of country records—Waylon and Willie, Dolly, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, Ernest Tubb, etc. He also had Neil Diamond, Ray Charles, Nancy Wilson, Jackie Wilson, etc. But I started taking piano lessons when I was 5 and then was studying clarinet and saxophone in school, so from the time I was little I was listening to classical music. Then, in high school, I got really serious about singing, and started studying voice, so I got exposed to opera and then jazz. I didn’t have an older sibling to feed me good rock or pop music. I listened to what was on the radio, and that was kind of bleak. Until I got to college and I worked as a DJ at the college radio station and dated a boy in a band, so a lot of early alternative rock. But also, someone leant me their copy of Joni Mitchell “Blue” and I was hooked and bought everything of hers, then Dylan then Leonard Cohen. So nothing in particular and everything. The only music I don’t really listen to that much is Rap and Hip Hop. 

My first concert – not exactly a life-changing concert. We moved to a small town in Pennsylvania when I was 12. The first concert I went to on my own was Toto-The Roseanne Tour. Sigh. Not really that memorable, but it was the only thing to do in town besides go to the roller rink for the high school dance.  But when I went to college, I went to see Husker Du and it changed things. And blew my eardrums apart.

My iPod. Every album of Ray LaMontagne and Patty Griffen. George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass”. Kate Rusby. Grizzly Bear and Iron & Wine. Josh Ritter. Jenny Lewis. Neko Case. Mercedes Sosa. Neil Young. Ryan Adams. Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt. Feist. Tosca. Nina Simone. Otis Redding. Big Star. Tinariwen.  Townes Van Zandt. My friends: Jonathan Byrd, Antje Duvekot, Anais Mitchell, Anthony DaCosta.

 
PEV: Tell us about your creative process… What kind of environment do you have to be in to make music?

AS: Quiet enough to hear the hum. I tend to write best late at night, alone, when its quiet. But I get ideas all the time and jot them down and if I’m at a loss for an idea, I’ll go back to old journals. I have half-empty journals and notebooks strewn all over my apartment. I’ve got a box where I keep things like bar napkins, backs of receipts, airline tickets with lyrics written in scribble on them. I get ideas when I’m running or walking sometimes. And long drives.  I’ve lost many songs on long drives because I forgot to bring along something to sing into. I also get ideas when I’m at concerts, listening to other songwriters.  I get ideas when I hear snippets of conversations on the street, or in movies. Really anything.

I would love the idea of collecting these ideas and then going off into some solitary place with the specific goal of writing songs, but I wonder if I’d just stare at the blank page all day long. I do have a process I work through when I’m stuck, and that involves writing every day in the morning, to unstick.  I guess I’m partly well-disciplined and partly scattered and I’ve been able to write songs in a more disciplined way, almost like making an appointment with myself to write. And, as well, sometimes a turn of phrase will let a song flow completely out of nowhere and I’ll just show up to the page and trust it. And go back to it and edit the shit out of it.
 
PEV: What can fans expect from a live Amy Speace show? Fireworks and male strippers.

AS: Ha ha. No. Depends. If it’s an acoustic show, whether that’s solo or with a small group, I will tell stories, talk more during the show. I think I come off fairly hones. I’m not trying to be anyone other than who I am.  If it’s a full band show, I allow the songs to stretch a bit, let the band showoff a bit (I can honestly say I’m lucky to play with the guys in my band, they are amazing musicians and I love to show them off).
 
PEV: Tell us about your first live performance. How have you changed since that first show to where you are now?

AS: I clearly remember the first full set I did was at The Bitter End in NYC. I was in a female duo called Edith O. with my college friend Erin (kind of an Indigo Girls like thing). Neither one of us were good enough guitar players yet to carry the show, so we’d asked a friend to play with us. But I still played. My knees were buckling, my lip was quivering. I was so nervous. I’d been on stage before, as an actress, but being on stage and not playing someone else, I just remember being so nervous and stammering a lot and being afraid to look at anyone in the audience.  I felt totally naked out there. 

Now, I’m a better guitar player, but that took a lot of time and effort.  I also think my voice is better, I grew into my own voice over time. By singing every night.  Just like with anything, you get better and more comfortable the longer you do something. 
 
PEV: What can fans expect from your latest release, "The Killer In Me"?

AS: I’m really proud of this record. I wrote many of the songs while living in a rented cabin in the Catskills after a breakup, so they came out of a lot of pain and soul searching. Readjusting my entire perception of myself.  I’d been married for 10 years and I moved out to figure out if I wanted to move back in and try again or just let it go. A lot of the songs came out of that journey. Not that they’re about me, specifically, but the kernal of the idea came from some genuine place.  I think it’s an album that takes a pretty honest look at love and loss.
 
PEV: How is this release going to be different from other albums out right now?

AS: Well, the band recorded this album down at Mitch Easter’s studio in North Carolina. We wanted to do it fairly live, as we’d been touring for 3 years straight and felt really tight as a collective. We also wanted to record on analog and retain a warmth.  We laid down many of the tracks while we were all in the same room, playing at the same time, rather than overdubbing each part separately. I think we captured a vibe, a performance, and most of the songs are either the 2nd or 3rd take.  
 
PEV: How would you describe your sound? And what do you think it is about the your style that has made you so successful?

AS: I call it a hybrid of folk/country with some rock elements. Americana is a great umbrella for this and I feel at home in that genre.  Oh, I don’t know…I feel like I’m still working on emerging, that my style is evolving. I think my songs come from a really honest place. One thing we do when arranging the band is make sure nothing gets in the way of the song itself, so that when you hear the band show or the acoustic show, either way, its still about supporting the song. At the root of the style is the song. Or at least that’s the goal.
 
PEV: What’s one thing we’d be surprised to hear about Amy Speace?

AS: Hands down, my favorite food is the Big Mac. Its awful. I can’t eat them. But I love them.

PEV: Was there a certain point in your life when you knew that music was going to be a career for you?

AS: I think it evolved. I don’t remember ever making the decision that it would be music. But I think when I moved to NYC after college to study acting, part of my thought process behind the move was just to place myself in a really active, creative environment and see what evolved. I always could feel like I’d end up doing something creative, not 9-5, just wasn’t sure exactly how it would all unfold. I’m still watching it unfold. 
 
PEV: What one word best describes Amy Speace?

AS: Curious
 
PEV: As musicians, you live a lot of your life on the road. How is life on the road for you? Best and worst parts? Any fun stories?

AS: For the most part, I love the road. Its tiring, different bed every night. You get bored with the food. Hard to exercise and it’s a challenge to keep any kind of routine. But its like life is a constant vacation/roadtrip with your buddies.

AS: Best part: works well with my restless personality

Worst part: Interstate food options. 

Stories: Well, there’s too many. How about the Glaswegian Bed & Breakfast owner who was offended I missed breakfast (admittedly because I’d been drinking pints till 4am with the headliners) and in the scuffle to shuffle me out of my room an hour early, punched me in the nose. That works, right?

 
PEV: Do you find yourself often going back to one theme in your songwriting over another? 

AS: I think love is a good theme return to. All other writers have. I mean, is there any other, really? I had an acting teacher once say to me, when you were choosing what your motivation was in a scene, there were really only 2. You either want to fuck or kill. That’s all there is.  And in the end, it’s the same thing. To destroy someone or to devour them. I think that’s what “The Killer In Me” is about.
 
PEV: How have all your friends and family reacted to your success? What’s it like when you get to play at your hometown? 

AS: My family is my biggest supporters.  They’re proud of me and tell me that. My father tells me that he’s so proud I just followed my heart. I think they worry about me, whether I’ll be financially ok, but they’re happy I did something I’m passionate about.  My oldest friends are still my closest friends. I don’t have many close friends. I have a lot of people I really like, a lot of acquaintances, but I keep my close circle pretty tight.
 
PEV: What can we find you doing in your spare time, aside from playing/writing music?

AS: I love running. I’ve run 2 marathons. I’m a voracious reader. I watch a lot of movies. I love to backpack—I’ve done a lot of hiking in the Catskills and Adirondacks. I play tennis when I can. And I’m a pretty good skier and snowboarder. 

PEV: Having played with many great acts in music is there still one artist or group that would be your dream collaboration? Why?

AS: Well, I’d pretty much die to do anything with Patty Griffin. I adore her music. She’s a huge inspiration for me, both stylistically and vocally. I love her writing, I love the soul that comes through her voice. I’d love to sing harmonies with her.

PEV:  Is there an up and coming band or artist you think we should all be looking out for now? 

AS: My 2 good friends, Anthony DaCosta, who’s an 18 year old about to go to Columbia University. I think he’s a great singer and he’s emerging into a really cool talent. And North Carolinian Jonathan Byrd. A truly original soulful dude who I’m proud to call my friend.
 
PEV: If you weren’t playing music, what would each of you most likely be doing for a career?

AS: I might be another kind of writer, maybe a playwright or a novelist. Or I’d be teaching university somewhere. 
 
PEV: Where did the inspiration for the name of the album, “The Killer In Me”? 

AS: I honestly don’t remember. I had it written in my journal since last year. The Killer in me loves the killer I see in you. I know somewhere the Jim Thompson novel “The Killer Inside Me” might have been a kind of unconscious thread, but honestly, it was just a cool turn of phrase that I then turned over to find the truth and found the song.
 
PEV: So, what is next for Amy Speace?

AS: Right now? A nice glass of Shiraz. Tomorrow? Another show. Next year? Another album. I’m just trying to write a good song every day.

For more information on Amy, check out: www.amyspeace.com