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On Monday, 10-12-98, I had the rare opportunity to meet with Alanis Morissette at the Warfield in San Francisco before the third show of her club tour in support of her new album "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie". Honestly, she is nothing in person like what I had expected her to be from her videos. I found her to be extremely wise, calm, spiritual, and loving. Oh, and she's gorgeous even without makeup from 3 feet away! The interview took place in a small private room backstage. It was she, a cheap tape recorder, and I. SM: It's wonderful to meet you! AM: Good to meet you. SM: How are things going? AM: Good. SM: Enjoying the tour? AM: Yeah. It's just started so I'm kinda getting into the mode again. It's been an adjustment but it's cool. SM: I caught your show in Santa Cruz and had a great Time. AM: Cool. SM: My first time actually seeing you in concert. Very impressed! AM: Thank you! SM: A friend of mine wanted to know where you got the Day-Glo Adidas. AM: Oh. they were actually Pumas. SM: Oh! They were Pumas? AM: (laughs) Yeah, and they got them for me. SM: Ok, you have people who do that for you? AM: "People" (smiles) quote unquote. SM: I don't have any questions per se. I wanted to just. AM: Chat? SM: Yeah! Just chat, because I figure everybody's asking you, "So what do you think about the new album? How do you think it's gonna do?" AM: Right. SM: Screw that! People are gonna know that as soon as they buy it eventually. AM: Right. SM: Oh, by the way, first things first. I was outside, out front, and there were two girls by themselves sitting. They were the first ones in line and they said, "Oh my God! You're gonna go talk to her? Can you give her these?" So they gave me these two glow-in-the-dark bracelets. AM: Oh! Cute! SM: I said, "I'll give them to her. Whether or not she wears them on stage is up to her." AM: I'll wear them. If they don't fall off. (Shakes her arm to test) They won't fall off. Cute! Thanks! SM: AM: (laughs) SM: So, are you nervous? AM: Uh, no. SM: No? You're probably beyond that now. AM: I get a little nervous right before I go on. But it's more kind of excitement than being afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of. SM: How was it in Santa Cruz on Saturday night? I mean, that was like the first stop on your tour in a long time.s Did you have, like, Mothra in you stomach? AM: (smiles big and laughs loud) It was a little intense. I hadn't been on stage for almost two.well I, you know, did sort of brief things here and there scattered over the time that I took off. But I hadn't been formally on stage in over two years so it's a bit of an adjustment. But it was great on so many different levels because it further kind of confirmed my belief that, not only with this record, but with the tour as well, I have to kind of start off without taking anything from the past into account this time. Just starting with today and focusing on "Who are you today?" And that's it, you know? SM: Speaking of "beliefs", I really admire your lyric writing. AM: Thanks. SM: You must write from experience. AM: Yeah. SM: That's what I was thinking. Can you tell me about your belief system? I mean, do you follow any specific belief system or is it just kind of going through life and the college of hard knocks type of stuff? AM: I guess my belief system has been kind of formed by reading all kinds of different philosophers and I belief that psychology kind of goes hand in hand with us discovering who we are which then, in turn, allows us to recognize our connection with God in whatever form that you want "God" to take. I don't have a structured, organized religion per se as much as I just feel spiritual, feel connected. The more I understand myself, the clearer I become and the clearer I am, the more conscious I am and the more conscious I am, the more I know God. SM: Well, it definitely shows through in your music. AM: Thanks. SM: Or, at least one person has noticed in your lyrics, you know, that connection. AM: Thanks. SM: I really identify with that. "Thank U". AM: (laughs) SM: For bringing that into your art. It's wonderful! AM: Cool. SM: So you went to India? I heard that you went to India and I assume that's why that's in the song, "Thank U". AM: Yeah. SM: So, what happened in India? AM: Just the experience. of going somewhere that is a completely different culture from the one that I was born and raised in. There is a huge element of people living in the present, a concept that I never really understood. SM: It's tough. AM: It's really tough because I had always been. society and my upbringing it just encouraged me to be kinetic and to run and to grasp and to achieve, all of these things quote unquote. I mean, to a certain extent I had achieved a lot of them and there's still an element of questioning as to what element of my feeling that it wasn't outside of myself that I was going to find who I was.And, going to India, I mean the very act of going to India, in and of itself, said that I still thought that I had to actually travel somewhere to find this but I did find over there so many different answers and all of them sort of pointed it back to myself. You know, that there were more things to find outside of myself. So. just letting go and travelling to people that I had to resolve conflict with I couldn't run away from. So, it was great! It required a lot but it was really beautiful. SM: That's really cool! I've never been out of the U.S. AM: No? SM: No. So, you came a long way, I mean, you were born in Canada? AM: Yeah. SM: Ok, and you were on.oh God, I can't believe I'm gonna ask this stupid question! AM: It's not stupid! SM: "You Can't Do That On Television", I used to watch that show. AM: Cool! SM: Now, how did you get into that? I mean, how did you go from the TV to being a singer? AM: I was a singer first. I had a record out. I formed my own label when I was 10 because the record labels, you know. SM: Get you! AM: (laughs) so I released that when I was 10 or almost 11 across Canada and then the TV show was when I was 12. SM: And you're 24 now? AM: Yeah. SM: Wow! You've done a lot for 24! AM: (laughs) Yeah! SM: And now, how do you relieve stress? I mean, here you are releasing a brand new album, you're doing a tour now, how do you relieve stress? Do you box or do you go running? AM: Yeah, I did some triathlons when I took time off. SM: Wow! AM: And snowboarded. I love seeing my body as an instrument as opposed to just the ornament that society wants us to see it as. But. I breathe, and I sit, and sort of acknowledge whatever comes up, whatever emotion comes up, and I just stay in it and work through it. It lightens me up. It makes me much more available to other people, too when I do that. SM: Well, you seem very calm. I don't know what I expected, coming in here to meet "Alanis Morissette!" AM: (laughs) SM: I'm glad that you're very laid back and very cool and you're just you. That's really great! AM: Yeah, cool thanks. SM: I was telling the other radio people before me because I'm the last [to interview you], "Don't piss her off! Because I'm last! Don't piss her off!:" AM: (laughs) It's all good! SM: Very cool! AM: Right on, it was good talking to you! SM: Good talking to you too! And thanks for wearing the bracelets, they're really going to appreciate that! AM: No problem. Thanks. © Sini L. Man Sinï Man is the Music Director for KCDU, "CD93" 93.5FM WWW.CD93.COM and can be heard Monday through Saturday evenings from 6:00PM to midnight. |