This is my first interview blog post and I’m so excited it is with the very talented singer and songwriter Siobhan Heard who is also a dear long-time friend. I’m honored to have this opportunity to dive into her world and play a small role in sharing her music with you. The Album “Love in all Aspects,” is due November 2015, so look for it on all major digital downloading sites! You can also take part in the creation of this Album, by supporting the crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo, but first, lets get to know a bit more about Miss Siobhan Heard and this project!
Photo by Channing L. Martinez
Music can be such a powerful medium for healing energy. Can you speak to Healing through Music? The line on this track the that really got to me,”Free your mind and get yourself together,” it gives me a smile when I hear it.
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Love Bap one of the oldest songs on the project, and I think when I wrote it I was reaching into my own ability to speak healing into existence. Like the saying, “All wounds heal with time,” “Free your mind and get yourself together” is like a string on my finger to reminding me to let go of pain that isn’t useful for me. I was very careful with this project to only include songs that were helpful to me spiritually. I didn’t want to end-up singing songs for a long time that only reminded me of the saddest moments in my life, because that’s just depressing. Singing is one of the moments when I feel like God hears me. When I was a kid, I met a priest who once told me that, “Singing is like praying twice,” and I have always loved that idea. It’s been formative in my faith. I don’t want God to get the impression that I’m ungrateful for what I have. I’m just trying to make an honest sound that is a reflection of the gratitude that I feel for having the gift of song.
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That’s a beautiful idea! It really shines through the music. I’d like you talk about self love, can you say a little something about how you love you? True healing has everything to do with loving yourself. How have you struggled and learned to “get yourself together?”
I’ve always struggled with feeling like an outsider. I think other people can pick up on that energy. So, I’m very often checking my attitude at the door. Life isn’t fair, but I’m not that special, I’ve got attitude issues just like everyone else. I’m learning everyday to humble myself and realize where to improve so that I can be better and stronger. Self love and respect are consistent themes in my life. Maturity for me has been the conscious decision to focus on people and activities that nurture me with positivity, while dis-allowing others to take up space who do not.
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I was a really sensitive kid who grew into a sensitive adult. My mom used to say to me about any bullies I faced in school, “Think of your life as a ruler. You’ve only got 12 inches on it. You got God, family, school. She [bully] ain’t even on your ruler!” It makes me laugh to think of it now, but that is one of the most helpful things that anyone has ever told me.
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Music is like my safe place. I’ve come to understand that most of the emotions that I experience are a bit…louder than what others experience. It can be a bit much. While I believe that I’m getting better at navigating socially, I feel like it has been challenging interpersonally—understanding what is too much.
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But, when I’m singing, writing, or performing it’s my socially acceptable space to be emotionally loud. Heavily heartbroken, the pinnacle of pissed, horribly honest, eviscerated by embarrassment, relieved, serene, detached, and higher than cloud 9. I get to let it all out. Music is one of the things that is on my ruler, and when I remain focused, it makes me happy. When I’m doing music, about to make some music, or even talking about music that I’m excited about, I find that I attract the people that my spirit needs for encouragement.
Photos by Channing L. Martinez
I love that ruler analogy your mother used. I’m piecing together that the love from family and loving yourself enough to allow for honest growth have been major gifts on your journey. After listening to Love Bap and seeing the name of your album “Love in All Aspects” that really brought it all together for me. In art and in life we can get caught up in romantic love where that is just one aspect of love. “Love in All Aspects” is not just the title to the album, but a theme in your life, can you tell us what sparked this artistic representation of that theme.
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My mother told me when I was about 5 that the reason that everybody loved Tracy Chapman’s songs was that they weren’t just about love. I took this to heart, and tend to fall in love with artists that write about things that are incredibly heartfelt, but not exclusively about romantic love. Artists like Stevie Wonder, India. Arie, Lauryn Hill, and James Brown made lasting impressions on me. They were my first understandings of what music should sound like, feel like, and what you could sing about. The underlying theme of music that I love is honesty. Even if it’s about something that I haven’t experienced, I think that when a person is singing or writing about something that they know it cuts through all the noise, and people really react to its vulnerability.
So, when I started working on the songs that eventually became this project, I wanted people to have an experience that mirrored their lives. It wasn’t just about romantic love, ‘cause that’s not all we experience. I knew that as a child listening to the radio, it was easy to get the impression that love was limited to romantic relationships. Every person in the world has experienced someone loving them: a family-member, a friend, or a romantic partner. We all want someone to love us. And though we’ll admit it to varying degrees, every single person on this planet has struggled to love themselves.
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The video for Love Bap, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. You are wearing a lot of hats on this project as many DIY artists have to do, but you make it look good! There is so much going on graphically, its beautiful can you talk a bit about that collaboration and what it was like to work on your video?
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Well, a couple of years ago, I decided that I was going to learn how to do it all. Everything related to making and promoting my music. I knew it wasn’t possible, but that the more I learned, the more easily I could communicate about the things I wanted. It turned-out, I really enjoyed video editing! When it was time to release this song, my manager said that I should do the music video myself. And thank you for the compliment, while it was fun, it was not the easiest project in the world. But, I think that was mostly because I hadn’t ever done anything like it. I ended up finding some really great stock footage online, for which I am eternally grateful. I shot the performance shots of myself and my feature, the talented Ms. Samantha Purple, at Sanctuary Sound Studios in Van Nuys, CA, where I did most of my recording for Love In All Aspects.
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Love In All Aspects: Siobhan Heard’s Debut
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We are living in digitally driven world, and this album is being released in that format, which is a statement of the times for DIY artists such as yourself. It definitely has an organic feel to it nonetheless. In the past, you spoke about how you really appreciated the sound of a live band, how it made you feel “alive.” Can you please elaborate on the “magic” that happens when working with other artists in real time, improvisation, live audience and the beauty of a digital world and 3D real-time world all coming together?
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The material included in this project spans a collaborative creative process over five years, so it could definitely be described as organic. The older songs are songs that worked great in connecting with my audience, when I perform. Once I began working on the project with a title in mind, the others were made to fill-in thematic gaps. It spans debilitating heartache, spiritual and physical illness, and recovery. The lyrics are created from prayers that I have chanted in hospital beds, and laughter through tears. They are my affirmations that I am enough, from days when I was too weak to get out of bed, and tongue-in-cheek reminders of days when I am feeling myself to the utmost degree.
Performing live is the one moment when the intensity of my experience is considered art. Musicians are a colorful bunch, and when I’m on stage, I’m playing like a child with a few other adults who never forgot how. Once we’ve set the rules, they play with me and make the world we’ve created a tangible experience in the room for us and our audience.
As a DIY artist, I have embraced aspects of the digital world, and fallen in love with others. When I was a child dreaming of growing-up to be Whitney Houston, it was impossible to create a record as cheaply as I am able to today. Because of the advent of digital recording and home studios, there is SO MUCH MORE music out there today. So many different kinds. I know that being an indie artist in the digital age has given me an opportunity to share a very important part of myself much more easily than 20 years ago.
Social media has surprisingly become pretty fun to me. I’ve begun to enjoy making videos, and it’s given me a place to play and see what other artists like me are doing around the world.
Thank you Siobhan for this interview you! I’m excited about this project and can’t wait to hear it start to finish in November 2015!
Become a collaborator on a truly authentic and healing work of art. You can support Siobhan Heard, Love in All Aspects, and the many creatives on this project by going to the Indiegogo page.
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