This Ain't No Crazy Cat Lady

Tracy Shedd’s relationship may have leaked into her writing, but she keeps the cat stories to herself

By Arrissia Owen
IE Weekly

Tracy Shedd couldn’t help but follow in her mother’s footsteps. Growing up in Jacksonville, Fla., the country singer’s daughter went on to become a performer as well, cutting her chops crooning along with Patsy Cline songs like “Crazy” on her family’s living room PA system.

It could be because one of Shedd’s most vivid memories from her childhood was seeing her mother performing in Mayport, all decked out in cowboy hat, boots and fringed jacket.

“I remember thinking, ‘I have a cool mom,’” Shedd says, now a touring musician based out of Tucson, Ariz., where she lives with her lead guitarist/husband James Tritten. She visits Palm Springs Friday, Dec. 23, to perform at the Ace Hotel.

That sort of musical influence in Shedd’s life led to an early start on her musical path, starting with classical piano lessons. At age 6, she composed her own takes on Bach and Beethoven.

But while she was in high school, Shedd’s parents divorced. The baby grand piano went to her mother in the divorce, where Shedd lived part-time. The rest of the time she resorted to a cheaper version of keys.

That led to Shedd picking up the guitar, and by her senior year stepping up to share lead vocals in her high school band, Sella. She was able to utilize her skills on the 88s in the ’80s for that band, taking on Moog and analog synths.

“I guess I just stopped because a keyboard never really satisfied me the same as the grand piano,” Shedd says looking back.

After moving to Arizona and embarking on a career as a singer-songwriter-guitar player, Shedd returned to her first love. The local radio station KXCI FM asked Shedd to join its Winter Solstice radio broadcast. But because she is self-taught on guitar, Shedd didn’t feel comfortable reading music for traditional Christmas carols. But she did know how to read music on that other instrument.

“I thought, ‘Why not try and learn the Christmas songs on piano?’” Shedd recalls. She went out and purchased an electric piano and got to jingling. “To my surprise, everything came back pretty quickly and I immediately started writing songs. It has been a treat to have two instruments to write on.” 

With her new instrument at her fingertips, Shedd composed the songs on piano for her most recent release, the aptly titled EP88, the follow up to 2008’s Cigarettes & Smoke Machines. The songs exhibit fuller, admittedly moodier compositions. She combines her folky medium with shoegaze influences, bands like My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins and other ’80s Manchester acts.

“Writing EP88 was definitely by default different than any of my other records being that it was written on piano,” Shedd says. “It’s way more somber. It’s funny, now I’m ready to pop it out again on guitar when we get back to Tucson.”

Joining her on the recordings is her husband, James, who has played on four of Shedd’s albums since 1991, starting out on drums and adding lead guitar for the last three. Inevitably, their relationship finds its way into the songs, too.

“The songs seem to write themselves,” she says. “I definitely pull from personal experience: dreams, life, et cetera. The only thing off limits would be my cat, Kickflip. She has asked me not to include her in my songs. She prefers to keep her personal life out of the public eye.” 

Besides, writing a song about her cat, well, now that would just be crazy. 

Tracy Shedd performs with Young Mothers and JP Houston at the Ace Hotel, Amigo Room, 701 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs, (760) 325-9900; www.acehotel.com. Fri, Dec. 23. 9 PM. Free. 21+.

Link to the original story in IE Weekly:

http://www.ieweekly.com/cms/story/detail/this_ain_t_no_crazy_cat_lady/4377/

Murphy's Law

The happiest goth in the world...

"Howdy doody."   

"Hello. May I please speak to Peter Murphy?" 

"This is he." 

Howdy doody? Every ounce of nervousness that built as I prepared to call Murphy melted. Turns out the former Bauhaus frontman isn't as intimidating as I expected. We chatted about the difference between American, European and British fans, and about the Catskill Mountains in New York, He he hopes to buy a home in Woodstock one day,splitting his time between Turkey, where he has lived with wife, Beyhan, since the early ’90s. 

Beyhan, artistic director for Turkey’s National Contemporary Dance Company, is a kindred spirit for the lithe, lyrical lothario, whose music has shown much Middle Eastern influence over the years. An admirer of legendary choreographer Lyndsay Kemp and Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, it was no surprise Murphy would fall for a dancer. But still, he insists the whole feel of his show is organic, nothing contrived.

“I am not a corporate Madonna type,” the self-proclaimed rock ‘n roll outsider says. “My performances are all real. It’s not staged, not silly experimental choreography just to make it look good … I love to be on stage and create something out of that with a musical element. ” 

Here is an awesome video from the 2006 Radio Sessions, a version of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" with Trent Reznor and TV On the Radio. It's awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8W4tslqVSg

Here's the story I wrote for IE Weekly based on the interview:

The Hunger Lives On

Peter Murphy’s career extends well beyond his Bauhaus days

By: Arrissia Owen Turner

Peter Murphy always knew he would live forever. Not in an undead, Twilight sort of way, but through song.

The former Bauhaus frontman’s career spans more than four decades, kicked off with the unlikely hit, 1979’s “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The single cemented Murphy’s role as the godfather of Goth subculture. The song is not dying off anytime soon.

“I was completely certain from the moment I started writing songs that it was meant to be,” Murphy says, putting all English humility aside. “I heard Bob Dylan say once that there was no use in working toward anything unless you believed in it. It’s almost like when you have a sense of destiny. It’s a journey where you are discovering that.”

Now in his 50s, Murphy shows no signs of slowing down with a new generation discovering his influential role in the genre. From 2006 through 2009, Murphy toured and recorded with Trent Reznor often. TV on the Radio and others joined Murphy and Reznor to record the cultish 2006 Radio Sessions, reinterpreting one another’s songs as well as those by bands that influenced the superstars.

Murphy’s journey began in Northhampton, England, with Bauhaus bandmates Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins. The four friends cultivated a new sound that gave life to an inspired gloomy groove.

The band performed “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” during the opening scene of the 1983 vampire film The Hunger, starring David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve, raising the band’s profile exponentially. But that same year, the group imploded due to infighting, launching Murphy’s solo career.

After a brief project with Mick Karn of the band Japan, Murphy recorded a string of albums, including Deep, which produced probably his most recognizable alt-rock solo single, “Cuts You Up.”

But even with an impressive catalog of solo work, fans continually yearned for Bauhaus reunions. The band gave in a few times over the years, most famously at Coachella in 2005 and during a tour with Nine Inch Nails in 2006.

That Bauhaus reunion resulted in the 2008 release Go Away White, but also the band’s second acrimonious demise. On Murphy’s most recent album, Ninth, “I Spit Roses” responds to the kerfuffle.

“The song recognizes an end, but it’s not sad,” Murphy says. “It’s like, ‘Thank God for that.’ I’m free of it.” Murphy says it’s a joyous song, no mourning going on at all about the Bauhaus split. “Why would you mourn something that was such a miserable collective experience after all? It’s my version of the Elton John song ‘I’m Still Standing.’ It’s like saying, ‘I’m fine, darling, come and see me.’”

These days, Murphy is more than OK, fresh off a European tour, skipping around America performing new songs off the David Baron produced album. Murphy recorded solely in the artist-enriched Woodstock, N.Y. area.

While writing and recording Ninth, he made a clear distinction between two types of compositions emerging. Ninth became home to the more radio-friendly single types.

Murphy held onto the others, resulting in the new EP Secret Bees of Ninth. “I wanted them to have a more direct, sledgehammer-like effect,” Murphy says. “For Ninth, I didn’t want to trail off into opus, more esoteric pieces.”

The release harkens back to the baritone’s Bauhaus days, as does an auspicious reminder of the singer’s reach. Murphy had a blink-and-you miss it moment in 2010’s The Twilight Saga: Eclipse as the vampire named The Cold One.

“That was me playing myself really,” Murphy jokes. But the quick cameo didn’t quite catapult him into tween notoriety. “It was really a wry, kind of wink to those who know . . .  It’s sort of a bookend to The Hunger.” As well as proof that Murphy’s career is very much alive.

Peter Murphy with She Wants Revenge and Hussie Club at The Glass House, 200 W. Second St., Pomona, (909) 865-3802. Fri, Dec. 9. 7PM. $25.

http://www.ieweekly.com/cms/story/detail/the_hunger_lives_on/4352/