Allison Weiss
Brooklyn, NY-based singer-songwriter Allison Weiss first picked up the guitar at the age of 14 after being inspired by a D.I.Y pop punk ethic and the roller coaster rides of young relationships.
“An Eight-Song Tribute to Feeling Bad & Feeling Better” was Allison Weiss’s first release on January 16, 2007, “& The Way She Likes It” following in October 10, 2008.
Growing up to be a shameless self-promoter, she never counted on finding anyone who believed in her as much as herself, learning to handle everything on her own. That is until these past few years when using her social networking talents and building a steady fan following led her into being able to have her last full length album “…Was Right All Along”, almost entirely, funded from her fans through Kickstarter.
She has had two widely successful Kickstarter campaigns (2009 and 2011) resulting in New York Times and Wired Magazine features and a panelist position at SXSW. For this last launched Kickstarter she had a specific goal of taking things to the next level.
Following her release of “I Was An Island’ EP (November 29, 2011) from February 2012 – January 2013 Allison Weiss released a song a month, which formed The Teenage Years. Each song, written between 2004-2007, features different producers and musicians.
Since picking up the electric guitar again, getting a van to tour in, and getting to play in Europe with the legend Lou Reed, Allison has said that she has made the record she’s been dying to make. Proof that positive things come to those who work there asses off; Allison Weiss signed to No Sleep Records on November 8th 2012, released her ‘Making It Up’ 7” on January 29, and is releasing her full-length this Spring 2013 via No Sleep Records.
Photography by Shervin Lainez
First off, tell us a little bit about yourself. (How did you know you wanted to be a musician? What sparked your interest?)
I don’t think I ever really knew I wanted to be a musician. In middle school I got into writing poetry, but really goofy rhyming stuff, like I wrote a limerick about a no-legged dog. Around that time I was obsessed with radio, and I loved listening to music. I had learned some chords on guitar but didn’t really start writing songs until I was 16. I had a pop punk band but we never played shows. It wasn’t until I got an acoustic guitar that I really started playing out. There was an open mic in my town that I did every week. When I got to college I started playing coffee shops, eventually moved up to clubs, got a band, and by the end of it I was performing regularly. I had gotten this following online, and made all of these connections in the New York scene, and that led me to believe I could do this for real.
WHY do you play music?
I play music because I have to. When I was a teenager it was really the only way for me to say the things I wanted to say. I’ve always been a very emotional person, and it seemed to me that music was a good way to get a lot of feelings off my chest. It always came much easier to me than actually talking about my problems. Plus I am obsessed with the way a certain chord progression can convey a feeling. For me, music is the closest thing to physical manifestation of something you feel. I love that you can hear a song and say “This! This is how I feel. Hear this chorus? How the drums hit and then the synth bass comes right after? That is how I feel right now.”
What was it like when legend Lou Reed asked you to join him on tour?
It was pretty unbelievable. A couple months before, he came to see me play at a really small club in Brooklyn. He showed up with Laurie Anderson and they watched the set and he came up to me at the merch table and told me he loved it. Next thing I knew I got an email that he wanted me on a few dates in Europe. A week before I was scheduled to leave, they told me to come to the rehearsals because he wanted me to sing in the band. It all happened very fast.
The Teenage Years is a monthly song series running through January 2013; with each of these 12 songs having been written between 2004-2007 and featuring different producers and musicians. How and what made you want to finally record this songs, then release one each month?
The Teenage Years is a product of the Kickstarter campaign I did for my upcoming record. It started out as a bonus project where I would record a few fan favorites as an EP. I made 10 YouTube videos and let fans vote on them, but found myself really just wanting to do them all, so I did. I had been dying to release new material and I’m a very impatient person, so doing a Teenage Years song every month pretty much got me through 2012.
Which one of these songs holds the most meaning to you?
The last song, “What I Need”. It’s always been one of my favorites, but it just hasn’t fit on any albums. I worked my friend Paul Hammer (of Savoir Adore), who is such an amazing producer and he took the song right where I wanted it to go. It came out exactly how I’ve always heard it.
What is it like to look at these older songs compared to your newly written ones? Has your writing style changed over this time?
Absolutely. A lot of the Teenage Years songs feel so immature lyrically. To me, it’s very obvious that I wrote some of them when I had just started writing. Everything is very simple and sometimes cheesy. I don’t know though, maybe that’s a good thing. There’s an innocence there that’s nice. It was me before I had any outside influence, when I was just a kid in my bedroom who didn’t have any songwriter friends and hadn’t heard any bands that weren’t sold at Hot Topic.
Back in early fall, you and your drummer Keith had spent a month auditioning musicians to take with you out on the Leaving Forever Tour; you had only known Pete (guitar) and Liam for about 5 days before heading out, in a van, for a month long tour. What was that experience like?
The auditioning process was something I had never done before. It was so weird because I wasn’t just looking for someone who could play the songs, I needed them to be cool, laid-back, and willing to get in a van and sleep on floors with a bunch of strangers for a month. I had been emailing with Pete several months prior, actually. I already knew he was great so the audition was easy. He broke a string on the first song but nailed it anyway. Finding a bassist was a lot harder. We tried out at least 10 different people who were all good, but not quite right. Liam emailed me at the very last minute. He had already known my music for years, and a friend of his had passed the ad along. When we all finally got together, we all hit it off right away. Everyone was excited about the music and excited to go on tour, and nothing will help you get to know someone better than living in a van with them for an extended period of time. One week in we were already a team.
Having come from a singer/songwriter background, where you’re not used to playing with a stable unit. What is it like to now have these reliable bandmates?
It feels so good. It feels like I can finally start this thing for real and build a truly excellent live show. For the past few years I’ve felt like I was starting from scratch at every show. The people I played with are some of the best musicians I know, but I thrive on consistency. Knowing that I can count on Keith, Pete, and Liam to be a part of this and help me take it to the next level, that’s just a feeling of security that I’ve been craving. It’s like I’ve figured out the band thing now, so I can move forward.
A year ago you launched a Kickstarter project with the goal of taking things to the next level. On November 8th you officially announced that you have been signed to No Sleep Records. How did the whole “signing” come up? What was the process like?
When I launched the last Kickstarter project, I knew I didn’t want to put out the record by myself. Over the course of the 2012 I met a lot of people who confirmed my feelings. My friend (and now booking agent) Dan Campbell was helping me out by showing the record to everyone he knew. His tourmate Joe Marro heard it and wanted in. We met for coffee and really hit it off and he totally understood where I wanted to be, so he started managing me. Joe and Dan both had a relationship with Chris at No Sleep, and I knew that No Sleep had a great relationship with their bands and their fans, and only put out really quality stuff. It seemed like great fit so we went for it. Somewhere in there I got an email from Dave at The Working Group, who jumped onboard as a co-manager, and before I knew it I had a full-on team of dudes helping me get to where I want to be.
Your upcoming full-length is going to be released in Spring 2013 through No Sleep, can you give us some insights into the album? Writing process/ influences…ect.
I started writing this record a couple days after I moved to New York in 2010. I was in a long distance relationship at the time that didn’t work out, and I was devastated, but motivated to sort of reinvent myself. I had been talking with my friend Chris Kuffner about making music together, and by the time that winter rolled around we had decided to do four songs together. Eventually four songs became six songs, and six songs became eight songs, became “Why don’t we just do a full-length?” Making this record was the first time I had ever recorded anything without playing it live first, which led to a lot of decisions that I don’t think I would’ve made if I hadn’t been right there in the studio with Chris. We did things I’ve always wanted to do, we’ve made songs I’ve always wanted to make. This record feels like what I’ve wanted to do all along.
When your full-length comes out what are you hoping people take away from it? What have you taken away from it?
It’s definitely a break-up record, but hopefully the kind you put on when you’re feeling good. The songs themselves are about more than just feeling sad and sorry for yourself. I spent a lot of time trying to write about love and loss in a different way than I had before, because I felt differently in general. I am more of a skeptic and a cynic and I think that comes across in the new songs. The record is more of a discussion about relationships in general, why they go wrong, how to survive, etc.
It seems like bands use fundraising a lot more than they used to (especially because of the growth of social media) either from sites like Kickstarter or some other ways. Since you have done some fundraising, what are the pros and cons to it?
The pro is that you can fund a record without a label. You also have this built-in publicity thing, you get people talking. I think the con is that you lose a little mystery. There’s something so exciting about hearing the announcement that your favorite band has a record coming out. When a band does a Kickstarter then you already know about it, what it’ll be like, what it’s called, what the songs are, etc. I like a little mystery. I hope to be more mysterious in the future.
If you could have followed anybody, in history, on social media who would it be?
Andy Warhol. He would’ve been over it before it started, but probably really good at it and really entertaining, crafting tweets full of Emoji and calling everyone “bb”. Plus he would know everybody cool, and I’d love to watch them all tweet at each other.
It seems as though a lot of independent musicians/ bands stick together and really support each other through their growth. What is your outlook of independent music nowadays and the comradery that goes along with it?
Independent music is alive and well and the internet has helped us. I can stay in touch with anyone I’ve met on tour and we can help promote each other to our separate fan bases. Thanks to the internet, I’ve met some of my best musician friends (I Am Lightyear, Mitten, Bess Rogers, etc) who then became my best real-life friends. I am also comforted by the fact that people still tour relentlessly. Koji and I had been MySpace friends since 2006 or so, but it wasn’t until a few years later at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere that we happened to accidentally meet each other IRL. As long as independent musicians are all still sharing gear, feeding each other, sleeping on each others floors, and Instagramming the shit out of all of it, we will be fine.
Who are some independent musicians/bands that you really admire?
Right now I’m really into Now Now, Fake Problems, I Am Lightyear, Candy Hearts, Young Statues, The Art Sorority For Girls, to name a few.
What is a non-musical influence that informs your music?
All of my songs are about my personal relationships. That’s pretty much it.
What do you hope to contribute through your work?
I create songs to figure out my own problems, so I hope listeners can use them to get through their own romantic hardships as well. I work hard to play great shows because I want people to have a fucking GREAT time when they see me. I want them to walk away feeling like they spent their night doing something that made them feel totally awesome.
What song or songs would you say represent your band the most?
Right now, “Making It Up” is a good gateway song. It’s upbeat and catchy and is a great representation of the band. After that, check out to “Boston”, which is a quiet acoustic Teenage Years track. It’s very short and low-fi but it’s probably the most vulnerable song I’ve ever written. Listen to those two and you’ll have heard both ends of the spectrum.
Lastly, this interview is for Decorated Youth Magazine. What is one thing that decorates you, figuratively, the most people wouldn’t likely know of?
Despite its overwhelming conservative majority, I love the state of Georgia and am so proud to have been raised in the South. Yeehaw y’all.
