She’s worked with legendary Ry Cooder, sings with polar opposites The Bird and the Bee and Puscifer, is the sister of Robert Francis, rocks the keytar and is heading towards round two of a solo record. Know who she is yet? If you don’t you should: this lovely lady is Juliette Commagere, and she’s playing the FMLY stage at the Abbot Kinney Festival boys and girls! Her first solo album came out in 2008 and is filled with her angelic vocals and deep electric orchestrations. We’re on the edges of our seats waiting for her next album, and we got a little bit of time to chat with her about the whole risky process of “going solo.”
FMLY: Getting excited for the Abbot Kinney Festival?
Juliette: Yeah, I am excited. I think it’ll be really nice, you know? I’m pretty sure haven’t ever played in Venice. So it’s something new.
F: So how’s your solo stuff been going lately?
J: It’s been going really well and I’m about to start working on my second record. I’ve kinda been in writing mode and just trying to get in the right mindset to go in the studio and start the whole process all over again. So its equal parts all the pressure I put on myself and that I’m also excited.
F: Do you find that you like writing or performing better?
J: I think I used to like performing better, but with this new stuff I think I actually like the writing and recording process better. I mean, I like them both, and there couldn’t be more opposite kinds of experiences but once we started performing “Queens” live I wanted to get back in the studio and start working on more songs. So I was like, that’s interesting, because in the past I just wanted to play shows for ever and ever.
F: Why do you think that is?
J: I guess it’s been a whole new kind of experience for me to start something completely on my own and just be able to have total creative freedom.
F: Were you finding that you were restricted in your other projects?
J: I don’t know if I was restricted, its just when you’re working in a group you’re working with other people. There’s definitely advantages to that too, and it’s a different kind of experience, but I think both are really valuable and I’m glad I’ve had both kinds of experiences. Once I got into the studio by myself, it was this totally liberating idea that I could do whatever I want and that I was also, um, the ultimate decider (laughs).
F: Do you have musicians helping you out in the studio or do you do most of the stuff yourself?
J: For the first record there were three of us in the studio together: Myself and Joachim, who’s my boyfriend sort of husband, and then our friend Martin. The three of us did the record together and we would just take turns overdubbing and playing different instruments. With this new record I want to definitely involve the people I’ve been playing with live. I want to get everybody involved, so it should be a different kind of thing, but it should be fun because we all have a great time playing together.
F: So kind of bring the performing atmosphere into the studio?
J: Yeah, and we record it at our friends house so there’s only so much we can do live. But it’ll be fun, first of all to hang out and play and record. Drink some beers, you know, jump in the pool, jam a little. (laughs)
F: Oh, so he has one of those backyard studios?
J: Yeah, our friend moved away out to Chatsworth, and so he turned his house basically into a studio and he has a pool, a barbeque, so it’s a very LA vibe recording session.
F: Man, invite me!
J: Yeah, you’re welcome to come on over (laughs).
F: So what next?
J: That’s a good question. I keep trying to figure that out, and then I’m like, I shouldn’t think about that, you know? I should just try and live in the moment, do the record, see what happens, probably go on tour a little bit. I guess for musicians you just keep that cycle going. Its kind of a difficult lifestyle because its all about extremes. First I’m locked up in my house writing, then I’m locked up in the studio recording, then your just thrown out onto the road and its just the most grueling… I mean, its really fun, but its just so exhausting, and then you come home, and you get really depressed because your back at home… its a really crazy life (laughs).
F: But is it worth it?
J: I mean yeah, because what are the alternatives, right? I can’t really see myself doing anything else. And you get addicted to it, too, all the highs and lows and the extreme living, I think. Like when you’re on the road you want to be home, and when your at home you want to be on the road.
F: You seem to come from a pretty musical family.
J: Yeah, we all play music, I guess.
F: Did you all start together as little kids or did you all just find your own thing?
J: Our household was very musical, there was always music and our dad was always playing and we were always playing and singing, and I didn’t think much about it until we all got older and people started pointing it like, “oh, your family’s musical.” I guess I just thought everybody’s was like that, but when we all started trying to make it into a career, I guess I realized that it is a little bit unique. But it’s nice. I feel like music should be a part of everybody’s life, just playing and singing together. I don’t think people do that enough together. In other cultures music is so much more a part of everyone’s home life, and there’s something lacking, I think, in American culture that it’s not there.
(We get all sidetracked and discuss the blasphemy that is the American culture regarding music and talk about starting a revolution. Oh, being righteous.)
F: So you’ve collaborated with a lot of people in the past. What has that been like?
J: Its been really fun, I didn’t used to do that a whole lot and its been really fun because its not my project and I don’t worry and I get to just like, drink and have a good time just singing and playing. It really comes down to the people who you’re working with. The two things I’ve been mainly doing right now are singing with The Bird and the Bee and Puscifer. They couldn’t be more opposite types of music. It would be really funny to go from my Puscifer rehearsal to The Bird and the Bee rehearsal, because Puscifer is so dark and The Bird and the Bee is so cute and fun. But I love both of those bands a lot and I’m going be going to Australia and Japan, which is amazing, but I’m gonna be missing the Puscifer tour, so I’m bummed about that. But it’s been such a unique experience and the guys in that band are all really cool and Maynard and I get along really well and give each other shit all the time. It’s really fun, just like a party.
F: So is Hello, Stranger out of the picture now?
J: Hmm, I suppose so. There was never anything official, like, we’re done, but it just kind of fizzled out I guess. I mean, Joachim was in Hello, Stranger, and also Ben who plays bass with me. So the three of us are still playing music together. I just haven’t seen Jared in a while, but I know he’s still working on his own music. I think it’s just the natural course of life. It was kind of sad at first, but it shouldn’t be, because we had a great experience together and now we’re doing something new.
F: Was there any particular reason that made you decide to go solo?
J: It was pretty natural, I had been writing some songs that I didn’t think were right for the band, I would just sort of record them at home, and I kept joking about my solo record… I mean I’d been joking about a solo record forever, because that’s the cliché of what singers do. Then Jared was going to start working on this job for a couple months, so then I thought maybe I should try and seriously record these songs and see if I can make a record in that time. I did, and it was just an incredible, cathartic, emotional thing for me to do this. And I got such good feedback and really good things started to happen really quickly and I just got swept up in it.
Q: Do you still have your wicked keytar from Hello, Stranger? Y/N?
Greatings, Interesting, I`ll quote it on my site later.
Thank you
Zoran