alk to Julia Fordham for a few minutes, and you'll like her. Her easy laugh and wry sense of humor punctuate her banter, and after a twenty minute phone conversation, it's easy to see why her songs are so good. Originally from England and now living in Los Angeles, Julia released her eighth album, That’s Life, on Vanguard Records, on August 10. SSF Co-founder Sean Schmidt and SASS Magazine Editor-in-Chief Collin Dunn had the pleasure to chat with the effervescent and joyful songwriter and musician Julia Fordham, on her day off during her current tour.

SS: Hello Julia! How are you doing?
JF: Great! Didn’t I just meet you? I recognize your name from the card you gave me.
SS: Yes, we did meet, right at the end of your performance here in Seattle. I actually get to see you again in New York; I’m coming for Fashion Week and you happen to be there at the same time. But until then, I want to thank you so much for chatting with us. So, Collin’s going step in here as well; we’ve got some questions for you, and I think we’d just like to chat for a few minutes if that’s okay. I’m going to hand it off to Collin to begin with; he’s been listening to all of your records non-stop, and has memorized all of your lyrics.
JF: Good, I will be testing you at the end of this, and I want to hear Collin sing and I need to hear dancing as well.(laughs)
CD: Oh man. (laughs) I’ll do my best. First off, we’d just like to congratulate you on the release of your eighth album.
JF: Thank you.
CD: That’s Life has been very well received by critics thus far. For example, I’ll quote metroG.com: ‘If That’s Life does not push her to the forefront of L.A. singer songwriters, something is terribly wrong, or horridly unfair. Easily, this is one must own CD.’
JF: Oh, how nice. Who wrote that? Was that my mother? (laughs)
CD: (laughs) The St. Louis Dispatch said 'That's Life is another sparkling effort from an often overlooked singer.’ How does it feel to read all these great reviews on something you worked so hard with?
JF: Well, you know, I only read the good ones, and there are occasionally horrible ones, but I don’t ever see those. If someone says, ‘Oh, it wasn’t so good,’ then I never read it. Basically, it’s wonderful to hear those things, because it’s a great source of support, in a way, for what you’re doing. I’ve always been very fortunate that, predominately, I’ve always been what they call a ‘critically-acclaimed artist.’ I mean, I’ve always just had that. Billboard just did a fantastic review; I mean, I just couldn’t believe it. It’s just perfect; I’ll like print it off and frame it. It’s wonderful, because I think that it does fuel a certain amount of interest. I don’t know that it helps you proceed to that next level, and that first quote said it was going to be a ‘horrible, horrible thing’ if I’m still under the radar, I think that seems to be my destiny and I’ve just kind of graciously accepted that now, because to break into the mainstream just seems to be almost impossible for me now. I basically now just go along with what I’ve got, which is that it’s great to be critically acclaimed, great to be on an independent label that allows you to make the kind of music and record that you want, and great to have a loyal fan base who come out to all the gigs and continue to buy the records. It would be fantastic if I could smack one out of the park and go to that next level, but, for some reason, that continues to elude me. I think you need youth on your side for that, for one, and I think it also helps if you have a ton of cash behind you, or you have a video, or whatever it is that kind of propels the very small percentage of artists who make it into the stratosphere, so to speak. It’s not a bad place to be, really, being me. It’s not so bad.(laughs)
SS: Well, you actually did very well with the song ‘Happy Ever After,’ a while back.
JF: That’s true, and I think that’s also indicative of where I was; I was sort of the ‘young, hot thing of the moment,’ and, also, I think it’s easier since I was out on a major label, and had a fabulous video, which was picked up by VH1. There was an incredible amount of exposure around that time. It’s so hard to sustain that level of success; very few people do that. I’ve been fortunate that the success of ‘Happy Ever After’ and the album Porcelain, and ‘(Love Moves In) Mysterious Ways’ from my third album have really enabled me to continue to do what I do, because I sort of set some kind of blueprint in motion that people can refer to and remember. I think that’s great; if I didn’t have that, I think I’d be out in the garden right now.
SS: I remember seeing the video for the single ‘Manhattan Skyline’ on VH1 a lot as well.
JF: Yes, ‘Manhattan Skyline’ was also really big here in America. I’ve also been really lucky that ‘Happy Ever After’ was such a big smash hit in Japan; it was number 1 for weeks on end, and I’ve also had an incredible amount of success in the Philippines, of all places, where I’ll be going in November. It’s been great; I’ve had this very unusual trajectory, in a way, where I’ve managed to be giant in other parts of the globe, and have barely registered on the barometer in other places. But America just seems to be a good place for me. I seem to do consistently well here.
SS: Definitely. So is L.A. treating you right?
JF: I’m lovin’ it! I just bought a house up in the Topanga Canyon Hills, and I’m a southern California babe now.
CD: I’m glad Sean mentioned ‘Happy Ever After’ – I’d like to go back to that just for a second. You wrote it in 1988, and then rewrote it after apartheid was lifted in South Africa. Tell us the story of how that happened.
JF: I don’t think I would have ever rewritten it if we hadn’t decided to do a ‘best-of’ record at Virgin Records. We were looking at the record, and I sort of thought the original production of that song sounded a little bit dated, and I glanced at the lyric and thought, ‘How amazing that, in that time, that there has been this incredible shift in South Africa, and apartheid has crumbled, and Nelson Mandela has been released.’ Originally, when I was writing that song, I had started off writing and when into the front room to have my tea-and-cake break, and I saw a piece about Nelson Mandela in South Africa on TV, and that really struck me. I mean, there I am, sitting in my little room, writing this love song about how ‘we’d be happy ever after,’ and there are so many people in the world that never get to know that luxury of pondering a great love life because they’re too busy trying to survive, and have some kind of decent life. So that’s how it got woven into the song in the first place. Then (at the re-recording) I thought it was such a…not an opportunity, but almost a responsibility, really, to acknowledge the changes that had happened in those fifteen years, from writing the song until the ‘best-of’ record came out. So that’s really why I re-did it; we went back in and re-sang it and re-mixed it and we put both versions on the record. I thought it was a subtle, but relevant, reference to the fact that things can change over time, and that they have.
SS: That’s really great. I don’t know if it’s made it to you, from the email that I’d sent, but I was just graduating from high school, when that came out, and it was a total inspiration for me, to say ‘Hey, look what a powerful force pop culture can be to help change things out there.’
JF: Really? That’s wonderful. Well, I’ve been away, on the road, as you know, so I’m going through all my emails now, and I’ve got about fifty, so it might take a while to go through them all.
SS: If you ever need any more praise, just go find that email.
JF: I will just ring you boys regularly. You know, like, ‘I’m a little flat. Can you help?’
SS: (laughs) Good deal! We’re there for you. I think Collin had this question planned for later, but since we’re talking individual songs and their messages right now, we want to talk about your song 'Genius.' You wrote, 'I know that in South America, they're burning down the trees / stoking up the fires of Western industries...' It’s great, again, that you’re talking about change, and where the world is and those sorts of things.
JF: In my earlier work, there were a few more of those references, but, there were kind of subconscious, and I think the minute you try to contrive them into something, it isn’t quite so potent. But, when I was, you know, ‘the young rebel,’ going ‘They’re burning down the trees!! What’s going on in the world?!?’ It just sort of ended up in that song.
CD: Okay, let’s pretend, just for a second, just for fun, that I’m 17 and an aspiring musician and singer-songwriter. I need some advice. Tell what I need to do to have the kind of success that you’ve had.
JF: Hmm. Well I think there are a few things. Firstly, I think you have to be really good, and you have to just practice. A lot. I think you have to be able to produce your own CD’s, the same way people used to make cassettes to send to record companies. I think the stakes are a lot higher now and getting to the standard takes much more work; I think you almost have to be able to release your own record or be selling it at shows. So, if I was 17, I’d be out, playing all the local open-mic nights; I’d be writing like a crazy fool, I’d be finding like-minded musicians who might want to demonstrate their skills, and I’d find a local engineer and producer who wanted to have their names and credit on your record. And I’d just start my own little fire, in hopes that I could get the record companies to come sit around it and warm themselves.
CD: Hmm. I like that image.
SS: Collin is only 24, by the way, so he’s not so far off. He’s a bit of a budding musician as well.
JF: Are you really?
CD: Um, sort of. I played my first wedding a few weeks ago, but I just play for fun. I’m not nearly as good as you are.
JF: Well thank you. You know, it takes an incredible amount of tenacity and resilience and hard work to keep it going. It’s very hard to finish anything; it’s very hard to finish a song, finish a demo, craft a demo into an actual CD.
CD: So let’s change gears here. You’ve been compared to and connected with artists like Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Shawn Colvin, and, more recently, mentioned in the same breath as Norah Jones. Do you like being compared to other artists, or would you prefer just to be known as yourself?
JF: I don’t mind at all. I mean, when people say to me, ‘What are you like?’ I sort of make it easy for them: ‘I’m not like Metallica.’ ‘I’m not really PJ Harvey.’ When people ask me that, I say, ‘Well, I did the Lillith Fair.’ ‘People sometimes say I’m kind of a cross between Sade and Annie Lennox.’ I love Joan Armatrade, and Ricky Lee Jones and Joni Mitchell, so I sort of make it easy for people who ask. In this day and age, people need to have things spelled for them, more than they ever did. I think we’re all a little like the lazy consumer, and I sort of give them a good ballpark. I don’t mind when people do it about me, because when people ask me, I do the work for them. All those artists you mentioned are pretty fabulous, though, so I certainly can’t complain.
SS: I noticed on your website that you have your 'My Recommends' section. Who are some of the artists that you’ve seen that you’re really into these days?
JF: Well, it’s hard for me to break out. I always get stuck in my old favorites, but I absolutely love Rufus Wainwright. He’s one of my total favorites, though he isn’t exactly ‘up and coming.’ I love k.d. lang’s new record. Generally, on my website, I tend to put people that I know, who I’ve met, who I like, who I’m trying to help. So I don’t even know who the hot, new thing is.
CD: We were also browsing around your website when we found Base, the store in Miami Beach, listed under the favorites as well. How did you find them, living all the way across the country in L.A.?
JF: My very best friend in England is a woman called Angie Giles, who’s a fantastic singer. She does all the backing vocals on the “Concrete Love” album. Her brother, Steven Giles, is one of the most gifted clothes designers, and has this exquisite store called Base in Miami. Basically, I got to know him through her. He sent me many absolutely perfect and beautiful clothes and items for my last tour, so I really wanted to bring attention to his work, because I think it’s something that’s absolutely top-notch and inspired. He also gave me the shirt that I’m wearing on the cover of the Concrete Love album.
CD: What do you think of what they call 'environmental retailing?' They’ve also got a bamboo CD-listening station, patchwork carpet, and more recycled stuff throughout their store...
JF: You should contact them and do a piece on them, because they’re perfect for you.
SS: We always say ‘style is our middle name.’
JF: Yeah, and style is their first name, let me tell you. Those two guys, Steven and Bruce, they are the kings. Contact them and they’ll tell you where they’re at with doing good by the world.
CD: So what’s next for you, Julia? I know you’re touring right now, and you mentioned being headed to the Philippines in a couple of months. What else?
JF: Basically, I’m promoting this record for the next little while. I’ll be doing my east coast dates in September, and coming out to New York, and you guys are coming, and I’m doing a bunch of other dates. I’ll be back in L.A. in October, headed out to the Philippines in November and then I’ll release my DVD in December – I recorded it in July at the House of Blues – and that’s going to be coming out, and we’re also hoping to broadcast it on DirecTV in January. So that’s the rest of the year, all mapped out for me.
After that, I’m really thinking about changing direction and making a jazz record. I’ve been writing jazz songs my whole life and they’ve never fit perfectly on the records. So I’m going to put them all together and move in a slightly different direction; I feel like I can’t take the singer-songwriter genre any further than I have, especially being the great, waiting-to-be-discovered bracket that I seem to perpetually be in. So I’m thinking I’m going to make a new move.
SS: That’s great. You mentioned that at your concert, and I was really excited and thought it was a great idea.
JF: Yep, a new direction. I’m making a bold step.
SS: Okay, how about one last question, since I know you have to move on. It’s come up a couple of times already, some of the issue-oriented things that you’ve mentioned in your songs. I was just wondering if you have any big things now that you’re passionate about, that you’re trying to do?
JF: I really try to do my part. I recycle. My boyfriend is a complete vegan; I mean he is the Right-On Police, my God. (quoting herself) ‘Baby it doesn’t matter that the chicken’s not organic – it's in front of me, and I have to eat it!’ He’s much more into it than me, and very aware of all these things. I go alternative where I can, and play my small part. I’ve got my membership to all those right-on groups, and I let them do their work. I’m conscious of not eating crap food or making too much waste, and I try to play my small part. But I’m not perfect.
SS: We’re big fans of that attitude – nobody is perfect, and all we can do is our best.
JF: I truly do believe that every small amount counts. I mean, people go, 'Oh, well you don’t eat meat but you do eat fish! What about those fish?' Well, it makes a difference; it does help to conserve the land. I mean, we don’t need to use every bit of greenery to feed the cows, you know. Whatever small things that you do has an effect, so even a small amount of people can make a change. That is so evident in so many things in the world.
SS: Yeah, we try to avoid that 'the sky is falling' message. It is way more fun when it’s positive and hip. The more we hear stories about you and other people doing the great things you are, it just totally inspires other people to go out and make their own little changes.
JF: That’s right! Every small little lifestyle is significant. It’s the acorn and the tree, and right here are three acorns and on we go.
SS: Yeah! You go girl!
JF: Yes, I shall. (laughs)
CD: Julia, thank you so much for chatting with us.
JF: My pleasure guys. I’ll see you in New York.

Julia Fordham will be touring the United States through September. For those who miss her on the road, keep your eyes peeled for her DVD, scheduled for release in December. For more Julia, including tour dates, song samples, lyrics and more, click on over to her website