Tracy Bonham
The Burdens of Being Upright (Island)
An interview with Tracy Bonham
by J. Fritz
Tracy Bonham‘s major label debut on Island Records was recorded and produced at Fort Apache studios in Cambridge, MA last summer and will be on the streets shortly after, if not before, this article goes to press. The album is a collection of aggressive rock and roll essays, touched with wry humor, each concerning a different aspect of what the disc’s title proclaims, The Burdens of Being Upright. The 12 songs contained therein are strung together in a cohesive succession of melodic hooks and textures, fronted by Bonham’s multifaceted voice, sometimes richly tuneful, sometimes screaming for attention at the forefront of the band’s assault. The songs wind artfully into, out of, and around, a series of different moods and styles that successfully ride the crest of the current wave of powerpop that has its roots in Boston. In fact, Bonham’s own roots appear to have branched out and grown stronger since transplanting herself to this eastern clime in 1987.
So you grew up in Oregon?
Yeah, in Eugene.
What brought you out here?
Well, I’d heard all about Berklee College of Music, from out on the West Coast and everywhere else, and Boston seemed like it had a good reputation. So I just checked it out. I came out after going to a state university in L.A. for two years. I went to USC for violin. I decided to give that up and go out to Berklee. Actually, I was kind of disappointed after only a year, so I stopped going.
That seems like a common story.
Yup, it is. It’s kind of sad. I mean, it’s what you make of it, that’s true; but they’ve got to rework something there. There were people going to school in a class of mine who had only played their instrument for six months. I’m like, what is going on? I felt like I was at a trade school.
When did you start playing in bands doing rock and roll?
I started doing the band thing around four years ago. I decided to get my own group together. I’d bought a guitar and taught myself the bar chord. I had musician friends and stuff… I’d been hanging out with some people who were already in bands, and I was watching them, and it just looked like fun. I was already itching to start writing my own songs. I tried writing on the violin for a while, but that was kind of a disaster. I got a 4-track, and then I got a guitar. The guy I was going out with at the time was a really amazing drummer. His name’s Mike Levesque. He played with Jen Trynin and Tribe and Scarce and all these people. So he helped me get the people together. We kind of just borrowed some players from other bands. I knew that it probably wouldn’t last because they all had bigger and better things to do.
You were on CherryDisc before this, and released Liverpool Sessions last April. How did you end up on Island?
I was still playing with kind of a borrowed band, but I’d actually found a bass player that I really wanted to stick with (Drew Parsons). Cathy (Halgas, publicist and busy person) and I had talked before, and she gave my tape to somebody at Island. They came to see me at Toad in Porter Square. This guy came up to me from Island Records and basically offered me a record deal that night, and I pretty much laughed in his face.
Why’s that?
Because I thought it was so ridiculous. It was kind of like that storybook thing. I wasn’t ready, and it was funny. But he was serious and they flew me down and the rest is history.
Let’s talk about the disc that’s coming out. What are your favorite tracks on it?
They fluctuate. It changes every day. I’m really happy with all of it. It’s weird, because like, “Mother Mother” is old for me. That was one of the first songs I ever wrote when I learned that bar chord. That one’s kind of old even though it’s fresh now, because it really sounds good on this recording. But I really like “Brain Crack” and all the weird ones now. “The Real,” at the end of the disc, is one of my favorites ones. Maybe those are the ones that stick out, kind of like the less produced ones.
You’re going to be touring to support this soon?
Yeah, I guess so. Actually we’re on a tour right now, but I guess the record’s not out so we’re not really supporting that yet. I’m in Boston now, but we’re going to Albany and New York City, and then up to Canada, and all around, touring with a band called Space Hog. They’re very nice.
Are you going to be playing around here some time soon?
Yeah, we’re plotting a record release on March 28.
