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MadeLoud: You left the corporate world for the music world. Obviously there are some huge differences but what similarities, if any, have you found between the business life and the creative life?

Alyse Black: Passion for what you are doing gets you far in whatever you do. I am someone who needs to be passionate about my day to day life in order to stay alive and awake. Personally, I think that’s true of all of us. I think that staying awake – alive and motivated – has done a lot for me in music. The corporate world taught me a lot of discipline; the job I had was decently high level for someone right out of college. I had a lot of volition in the use of my time. My life is a series of moments; I want to maximize the amount of life in each one. I want to use my moments in a day in a way that will make me proud when I go to sleep. Most nights I go to sleep with a huge contented smile on my face.

ML: You split your time between Seattle and Austin. What difficulties have you encountered in keeping two bases of operation, and what benefits does it offer?

AB: Travel costs are horrid. I live mostly in Austin right now, but I try to get back to Seattle fairly regularly to see family, friends and fans and give a few shows. It isn’t as often as I would like, since plane tickets don’t grow on trees and my piano doesn’t fit in the overhead compartment. My next series of shows in the Seattle area is in November! I can’t wait!

ML: The group on your albums and the group on tour feature some markedly different lineups. What is your approach to arranging and re-arranging your songs between the two?

AB: I think that the meaning of the songs comes through regardless of the instrumentation. I don’t have it exactly nailed what my ideal setup is, so I’m learning with each new group that I bounce my music off of. They grow – the songs – from their experience with different minds and different sounds. It also influences my song writing. More and more I’ve been working myself into a sophisticated pop sound: my piano or guitar, five string electric bass and drums is how I work now. My show for my upcoming festivals (Monolith in Denver and MidPoint in Cincinnati among others) will be solo piano and voice, but I’m putting together an awesome solo show, and solo shows allow you to be so close with listeners. You share ideas. The ideas of the listeners get in my head and it thrives and breathes. So, it isn’t so simple as switching from the group I recorded with to Societe Eclairee. I'm changing all the time, and this evolution shows no signs of stopping.

ML: Most of your songs capture a certain intimacy and carry a distinct jazz club feel, yet you play quite a few festivals as well. Is there anything you do to especially prepare for larger-venue or outdoor shows?

AB: I've actually been working away from the jazz-club feel. It will always be there to be sure, but my heart is more in a singer-songwriter vein – some blend of sophisti-pop, trip hop, soul/jazz, and folk-rock, but I’ll just call it singer-songwriter for ease of use. I don’t think people want to say acid-soul-sophisti-trip-pop-aliscious folk-rock. I just make it. They can label it. I want to be intimate with listeners, whether in person or in a club with ten people or at a festival with 25,000 people. People react to intimacy. And they absorb and you share together.

ML: You have a fairly extensive online presence. Have any tools or sites been especially valuable from either a musical or marketing standpoint, and if so which ones?

AB: So many sites have been fantastic. I am a closet video-gamer, so I especially love the sites that involve points! My latest love is StereoFame.com, but I was in love with TheSixtyOne.com for a while. Otherwise, OurStage.com is wonderful, and of course I’ve found FaceBook and MySpace to be lovely places to connect with people who want to hear my music.

ML: You've followed a rather unconventional path to get to where you are now, but is there anything you see as the next step after creating music? Or do you feel your performing and writing career is, for lack of a better word, the endgame?

AB: I will always perform and write songs. I do plan to start acting in some indie films again sometime in the not too distant future. I’m not sure Hollywood is my style, but film has the same power as music: being able to touch people so deeply and wiggle them awake and life. That is what I live for and make music for – to inspire myself and others to stay alive and engaged with the world and what it is to be a human on this little mound of Earth. I have a few causes that I plan to start doing work for, concerts and anything else I can do to be helpful. So much to do in life!

ML: A few fully-executed demos are already on your MySpace page, and you've hinted at recording a follow-up album. Are there any concrete plans to record a second Alyse Black album, and if so what would you do either differently or exactly the same as you did on ?

AB: I am so glad I did Too Much & Too Lovely the way I did. It is a bizarre Frankenstein doll that is very lovable, and I can hardly contain myself when people tell me how much it has affected them and how much they love it. That being said, I have tons I would do differently. Every big step I have taken so far, I have done largely unadvised and unaided so, to put it sweetly, I’ve learned a few things along the way. The biggest one is what I’m learning about "my music." With so many songs pouring out of me in the last few years, I’ve learned eek gads about my "style." Too Much & Too Lovely was fantastic as it was, but I’ve moved closer to me already. This next album will most likely be called Alyse Black and be incredibly exposing and intimate, while still having a lot of groove to it. I suspect it will be classified in a more sophisti-pop vein, but, again, I’ll just call it singer-songwriter. I really want to hone in on my style, so it will be a bit more cohesive and will have my soul written across each track. Yes, definitely concrete plans.

ML: Many of your influences make sense considering the style of music you write and play (Eva Cassidy, Tom Waits, Nina Simone) but you also give nods to Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, both definitely not known for making music even close to your artistic brand of jazz. What of (or about) their respective forms of heavy guitar rock have you been able to draw inspiration from?

AB: I think of influences more loosely than most. I think of those artists that have influenced my life, not just my music. I went through significant Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix stages. Again, I don’t see myself as making jazz. If I told a jazz purist that I made jazz, I might very well get my face laughed in. Furthermore, I love me some rock guitar. Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix themselves have some aspects that I would consider jazz-ish. I also love me some techno music and the trip-hop side of it especially. I think it will all make a lot more sense to everyone when my next album comes out. I can’t wait!

ML: Finally, you're heading to this fall's Monolith festival as a performer, but do you get time to enjoy the show as a spectator, and if so is there anyone you're looking forward to seeing?

AB: I will definitely be checking out a number of bands as a spectator. You can never pass up a chance to absorb good music. I try get into it so hard that I swallow it up into me. I’ll be going to see some friends who will be playing there as well, and I will just let my feet take me where they will otherwise. I’ll just follow the beautiful sounds like I always do.

Alyse Black hits the MadeLoud.com stage at Monolith Sunday, September 14 at 1:15pm.

- Andrew Reilly

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