Interview with
Stephanie Fagan for WoNo Magazine and WoNoBlog
by Wout de Natris
© WoNo Magazine 2013
Recently we published a review of Stephanie Fagan's latest album 'Heart thief' (click here). It sounded like there was a story behind it, so we reached out and contacted Stephanie Fagan and asked if she would like to do an interview. She did. You can read the result here. It even went one step further. We also got into contact with her producer, Missy Davis Jones. An interview with her will follow later this month. But first this.
As not all readers will know Stephanie Fagan, would you like
to introduce yourself?
I’m just a normal American married woman in my mid-twenties.
My husband is in the military so we move all the time. Songwriting is something
I can do anytime any place. I love it. Ive been writing songs for about 10
years now.
Which musicians are/were of influence to your music?
Gosh , too many to ever name. I’m a real lyrics snob. So I like death cab
for cutie, the Decemberists, the indigo girls, Noah and the whale, Dolly
Parton, John Denver, Elvis Costello, Jim Croce, Sondre Lerche, anybody with
excellently crafted lyrics.
If you were allowed to bring one album with you to the
proverbial deserted island in the Pacific, which would it be and why?
I mixed one I made probably, BUT if I were forced to pick
just one artist and one album I’d say The Black Keys “The Rubber Factory”….
It’s just really sexy.
In your bio it says that you have travelled a lot. What made
the road appeal to you?
The road didn’t so much appeal to me as it was between me
and where I wanted to go. Haha. I mean traveling is fun but it’s exhausting. I
like to sleep and stay home so just thinking about being on the road makes me
tired. When you’re playing music you have to travel, it’s just the way it is. I
was always afraid to travel on my own to places I'd never been where I knew no
one and had no place to stay but I learned quickly how generous and kind people
can be. Everywhere I went people offered me a couch or a meal and people really
listened to my songs and just were so great to me. It made me less afraid of
the world.
In what way did the travelling and playing help develop your
music?
I guess once I left the comfort of the small town I grew up
in I learned how similar people really are. It was amazing to be hundreds or
even thousands of miles away from home and talk to a stranger who felt the same
way I did about being dumped, or angry or homesick. It’s so wonderful how for
all our differences people I think are fundamentally the same. We all want to
be loved and appreciated, we’re all selfish and at times horrible, but nobody
is all bad either. It made me less self
conscious. Before I would write personal things and feel embarrassed like I was
telling a dark secret about myself but really everybody has the same
unflattering secrets. Nobody’s perfect so now I’m less embarrassed and write
more honestly.
Heart thief is very clear sounding. What was the influence
of the producer of 'Heart thief', Missy Davis Jones, on the sound of the album?
The sound of the record had a lot to do with Missy’s vision.
I always say “I have no imagination” when it comes to instrumentation and
arrangement. She’s good with that stuff. She’d say “how about horns here or
strings here?” She really fleshed things
out and made it sound polished. The sound engineer was her husband Ken “Dakota”
Jones. So they worked together on things. I don’t pretend to be a producer, I’m
just a singer/songwriter so it’s hard for me to imagine my little songs any
bigger than me playing them on my bed at home.
How did you meet Missy and when did you know that you would
work together?
Its complete happenstance we met. I was working at a coffee
shop peddling a CD I had made and started talking to Ken when he came in for
coffee. A few weeks after we met he asked me to do some computer work for him.
At the time I thought it was strange but wasn’t in a position to turn down
work. So I went to his house and started doing odd jobs for him and his wife
Missy. I instantly hit it off with them. They are really easy going and had
just moved to the area. I knew them for years and then Missy started a record
label and Ken opened a recording studio and it was just a natural progression
that I would be the new artist. Kismet.
The songs on your album have a few distinctive styles, from
singer-songwriter and country to blues. Were the songs created that way or do
they develop along the way?
They became more distinct in the studio. I came in with the
basic chords and tune but everything else was added later.
The sound of 'Heart thief' is diverse. There are many
different lead instruments. How did you decide what fits a song best?
Haha The simple answer is that I don’t. Like I said,
arrangement is more Missy’s thing. A lot of time we will have 3 or 4
instruments and we pick the one that fits the best and pull it to the front so
to speak.
Most of your songs are what I would call “bittersweet”. At
the same time you can write about a happy feeling or event. From where this
contrast?
It all depends on where I’m at mentally when I’m writing it.
Most of the songs on Heart Thief were written at the end of what I deemed my
“wild year” . I was done with college. I had been fired from my job. I hadn’t
met my husband yet. I was just completely lost. Dating a string of guys that
weren’t right for me. Destitute. Moving from one friend’s house to the next
every few months and traveling around playing music sleeping in my car. When
I’m more settled I tend to write sweeter happier songs.
I read that you’re living in Germany these days. Can we
expect lederhosen music next? (Is living in Germany influencing your writing in
a different way than the south of the US?)
Ah yes I lived in Germany for about 2 years I’m actually in
the process of moving back to the States right now. I don’t know exactly how it
influenced me. I won’t know for a while probably. I really enjoyed listening to
the street performers over there. Making a lot of sound with one or two
instruments. Also I loved the ambient noises. The river, the cobble stone, the
echo inside of a cathedral, it was all wonderful.
In ‘Writer’s block’ you sing “This song, like all the
others, is about you”. How important is your everyday life to your lyrics?
Heart Thief was a record written primarily to or about this
one guy. He didn’t like me and it broke my heart so bad I just mourned for a
year… or more. Before that I was just writing fictional stories about love and
heartbreak but everything changed when it happened to me. It was so much more
powerful than I had imagined. The funny thing is he’s probably forgotten me
completely and he’ll never hear any of these songs. It’s kind of pathetic but
it made me better.
Did you experience a writer’s block and if so what made you
come out of it?
Yes absolutely “Writers Block” was written about it. I was
so frustrated because I was writing these great songs BUT they were all about
this guy I didn’t want to love. I felt like he didn’t deserve songs written
about him, and I was mad at myself for not being more in control over my own
inspiration.
A theme that comes back in your songs is, I would describe
as, “to belong”. How important is this for you?
It’s everything. All I’ve ever wanted is a nice home full of
people I love who love me back. My early twenties was just me trying to build
that over and over and it never really worked out until I met my guy. He’s
good.
‘Prodigal’ really stands out as a song on the album. I
described it as ‘Paris, Texas’ with lyrics. How did this song come about?
Ironically it was the song that was the least work on the
whole record. I had this song with no music. And my friend John Bazen came in
with a dobro. We rehearsed 10 minutes and did 2 takes and that was it. It was
simple and we liked it but didn’t know if anyone else would, so the response
has been surprising.
In your song 'You are the devil' you sing “You are the angel on my shoulder, you are the devil”. Is
this a song about the good and bad that is within every (wo)man?
Yeah kinda of. It’s about loving someone you know is bad.
Wanting someone who doesn’t want you and treats you badly. It’s a strange
feeling to objectively know someone is bad but to love them like they’re good.
To love them even though they don’t deserve it and its killing you. To just lay
there and let someone ruin you.
Heart Thief is from 2011. What can we expect from you in the
near future?
I’ve been writing a lot. We recorded a little but we’re not
sure what it will turn out to be yet, a whole album or maybe a 5 song EP, it’s
all wide open. The new songs are happier. I’m in love and my life is really
comfortable right now so everything is sweet and mellow.
Are there plans to tour in The Netherlands?
Yes! Nothing in stone yet but it’s definitely at the top of
my list. I’ve never been there but I’m really eager to visit.
You can listen to 'Heart thief' (and it is highly recommended that you do so) here. From there you'll find it a small step to order the album directly.
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