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Nicole Atkins is a 27 year-old singer from New Jersey blessed with a voice so vulnerable and
graceful that it defies description. Her music has earned comparisons to Rufus
Wainwright and Peggy Lee. She"s a
crooner with enough laid back, bar-band atmosphere, and sultry pizazz, that
she garnered a spot in Rolling Stone"s "10 Artists To Watch list last year.
She
has a new record Neptune City out at
the end of the month that"s earning her the praise and attention she finally
deserves. She doesn't just write music about dreams inasmuch as the process of dreaming. A process she describes both metaphorically and sarcastically as "an endless sheet of mist in the middle of a Swedish field. The result was a darkly psychedelic little orchestral record." Atkins isn't merely content to write music so much as paint it.
That is Nicole Atkins in a nutshell. Here"s our attempt to
get to know the rest of her.
Q: How would you describe the sound of the
new record Neptune
City, apart from your
previous work?
Atkins: Well,
for Neptune City, I actually had a budget, so instead
of getting string sounds off of a mini Casio from the 80s, we had real bona
fide instruments. It was also great to be able to work out all the songs and
record them live with a big band everyday in a studio, instead of tracking
layers in my folks living room bar with my grandfather constantly walking in.
 Q: If this record were a movie, which one
would it most be like?
Atkins: Pans Labyrinth meets Blue Velvet meets Poltergeist ending in Beach Blanket
Bingo.
Q: You listed hangovers as a musical
influence. How is that so?
Atkins: When
you are very hung-over you lie in bed alone for a long time, so all that
surrounds you are these lucid thoughts. Its easier to hang on to them because
at that time, theyre all that you got.
Q: Your musical influences are very
diverse as Led Zeppelin and Patsy Cline. It seems you could have opted to sing
many different styles and moods of music to sing. Did you choose this type of music or did it
choose you?
Atkins: I guess
it chose me. I listen to all types of music, so why should my sound only reflect
one? I like to put all my influences encapsulated in a single song.
Q: Does your training in art and
illustration influence your song writing in any manner?
Atkins: The
layering of sound is a lot like painting. It starts out as something so simple
and singular and ugly, but then when you work at it longer, turns into an entire
world.
Q: What was the worst experience youve
had from your early career?
Atkins: Which
one? There are many. Off the top of my head it would be living in the rat-infested wood shop warehouse in Charlotte, NC.
It was a way of living dirt cheap while I tried to get away from
the city for a while and write my record. It was liberating, yet totally
terrifying and gross.
Q: At
SXSW festival in Austin
this year you did a cover of Leadbellys Where
did you sleep last night? with a different band. What led to that?
Atkins: My
bands flight got canceled so that morning I was asked if I wanted to do the
gig solo or cancel. It was a big band show so I was going to cancel rather
than do it solo. That morning I was having breakfast with my friend's band, The Parlor Mob, and they were like dude we know a bunch of your songs so we did
the show. It was ramshackle but it worked out well. Most of all it was fun.
Q: You
are touring with Chris Isaak. What have you learned from him?
Atkins: I
learned to always smile on TV or else Ill look dumb. Haha! Also, he taught me how to make a man-made
mouse trap out of a bucket of water, a ruler, rubber band, 5 pound weight and
some peanut butter. It worked really well.
Q: Which
song or songs have you wished you had written?
Atkins: Ave Maria, 7 and 7 Is from Love, Unchained
Melody, Cherry Cherry from Neil Diamond,
Pissing in a River from Patti Smith.
Q: If
you were to recommend a great record to anyone younger than you, which would it
be?
Atkins: Tonights the Night from Neil young, da capo from Love, The Damned, Meddle from Pink Floyd, and Tomorrow the Greengrass from The Jayhawks.
To learn more about Nicole's latest album, tour, etc. visit her MySpace site.
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