By: Mut Asheru
Photos By: DarrenAbate.com
Yea boys and girls...its introduction time! I’ve raised
my head outta my soul induced haze for a moment to share
with you an artist that I believe has real star quality.
While soul music is my forte I’ve come to learn that
any singer/songwriter that puts what they truly feel down
on paper is a soul artist.
Gotta love that SXSW. Where else can you run into someone
in the bathroom of all places, that’ll look at you
and utter, “Hey, I’ve seen you on Myspace?” That’s
right Laura; we’ve had our eyes on you for a while
now.
Laura Marie helped me reach my conclusion. Her album, “Drawn” is
an ode to soul-searching experiences. If I had to give her
a genre (which I loath doing) would be pop-acoustic-folk.
Yeah I just made up a category. Check for the bin title next
time to go to a record shop. Not many of those left around,
but that’s another article. Laura’s sweet, strong
and clear vocals add dimension and life to tunes like “Too
Deep” and “Wait”.
Laura has a degree in music education as was a grade school
choir director before giving in to her compulsive need to
write music. She credits her lyric writing habit as the reason
for initially dropping out of the University of Texas at
Austin. Years of wandering, writing and waitressing eventually
led her back to university to learn how to write down the
music she was hearing in her head. She studied under composers
Alice Gomez and Doug Boyer.
With such honest, heart-felt lyrics we were driven to accost
her with a few of our simple minded questions, such as;
UTM - You mention, being homeless and stuff. Where did your
wandering take you?
LM - The wandering was sort of a mental thing. I kind of
floated between San Antonio and Austin, sleeping on couches,
staying with friends or family and trying to figure out what
I was going to do with my life. The only thing that was constant
was my lyric writing. I was pretty much a mess back then
and there were friends and family that carried me through
that time for which I am eternally grateful because, quite
honestly, I have no idea how they had the patience to tolerate
me. I battled depression for many years. I could have been
a poster child for SSRIs. Now, I am totally devoted to alternative
ways of dealing with such problems. Particularly, energy
medicine and chiropractic. I know that different things work
for different people but, this worked for me.
UTM - Who are some of the people you have played with?
LM - I performed with a band called Sofa Kingdom which later
became Things Between.
The current rhythm section of San Antonio band Bombasta
was part of that group as well as Reza Kaleel of The
Third Tree.
UTM - Can you tell me the inspiration for In Code?
LM - In Code was partially about the break up of Things
Between and partially about a relationship I'd been in many
years before. It was funny how the band breaking up had opened
up those old wounds. I'd had the verses written for years
but the chorus went through several changes. The band and
I are still all friends. Reza and I even perform together
but, at the time, I was really torn apart by the whole thing
and trying to pretend like I was alright with it. That's
where the chorus came from. My way of dealing with things
is to leave myself messages in my songs. I know that people
will assume I mean certain things by certain lyrics but,
only I know exactly what I'm talking about and that's my
'code'. Hence, "In Code".
UTM - What goes through your mind when you're performing?
LM - I'm thinking about the meaning of the words when I'm
singing. I'm remembering how they effected me, what I was
going through, who I am singing to and writing about. I try
not to get in the way of myself by thinking too technically.
It took me a long time to trust my own abilities as a singer
and I don't want to step on that by second guessing everything
I do vocally. Now, performing on guitar is a different story
but I'm beginning to trust myself more and more in that respect.
Such a nice, talented, humble, and creative person. It
almost brings a tear to my eye.
For more information visit:
www.lauramariemusic.com
www.myspace.com/lauramarie
[ BACK ]
