SEND IN THE CLOWN

Rip It Up, Issue 247, 1 March 1998, Page 10

SEND IN THE CLOWN

The best, most intriguing album titles are the loaded ones. Album titles that hint at a deeper higger picture, that make you want to hear the whole record in order to unravel the true story. Just like the title of Auckland singer/songwriter Karen Hunter's debut album, 7he Private Life Of Clowns,

B & unter, one half of the acclaimed early 90s . outfit Spinning Wheel, has been writing, | recording, and performing her own i @ compositions since childhood. The Private Life of Clowns collates songs from the past

and present, that detail Hunter’s views and experiences from on stage, and off. And the title is a good indication as to where she’s

coming from, explains Hunter. “I know that in public, I'm an extremist and an attention seeker and a performer. When I’m performing, I’'m living for your attention, all of my energy is going into entertaining you. The rest of the time, that’s the last thing on my mind, I don’t want to be dealing with your

attention, I want to be me. The difference between being an entertainer and being a

person, that’s what The Private Life of Clowns is about. When I introduce that song live, I say that it is for waitresses, for nurses, for

entertainers, for bank tellers, anybody who works with the public, who has something else going on inside, but still has to say, yes sir, can I help you?’ with a big smile on their face.” A quick glance at Hunter’s CV makes for impressive reading. For two and a half years, she coordinated the Ponsonby-based Raw Fish Salad weekly performance night, and over the years, Hunter has performed in places as

varied as London, Noumea, New York, Utah, New Caledonia, and Hawaii, and has taught music for lengthy periods in London and

Sydney. In addition, Hunter released a string of cassette albums, both solo and with ; Spinning Wheel. With her professional music career already over a decade long, it begs the question, why has it taken so long to make a record?

Hunter sighs, then begins: “In reality, I could just say money and organisation, but on a deeper level, I don’t think I ever really believed in myself enough to think that I could actually put out a CD. It’s taken me a long time to build up my self confidence. All the stuff like Raw Fish Salad has been a really important part of that, and also having played to so many people on the live circuit, and having received positive feedback from lots of different sorts of people. I just felt ready to do 1t

Not only is The Private Life of Clowns a selection of old and new songs, the album was recorded in short, intermittent bursts at several different studios. Remarkably, the album retains a cohesiveness, both in the sound and

in lyrical themes. ‘ “Other people have said that as well,” enthuses Hunter, “and to me, who was there for each and every moment, and I was hypercritical and hyper-aware of all the different recording techniques, it’s so cool that people aren’t picking up on the fact that it was recorded at different times and in different places. ] ; “The way that it was put together didn’t allow me to intellectually choosea theme in advance. I listened to everything that I had done that was good, and I put that together, - and then chose things from my current repertoire that filled out the spaces, and recorded those fresh. So, it’s really talking

about my theme when you’re talking about that, and my theme is about creative uses of expression and of unusual songwriting techniques. It’s more of a musical theme than a verbal, lyrical theme.” There’s no shortage of private moments on the record, can you only write from personal experiernce? “All of the songs are autobiographical really, they are inspired by how somebody else affects me. If it’s a love song, it’s about my feelings of love for that person, it’s not really about that person. So, I can keep on singing it long after they’ve gone because it’s about me. T could write about somebody else’s experience if I really could identify with it. The sort of

lyric writing that ’'m working with at the moment is very spontaneous, I give myself two minutes to write the lyrics and I write in little short forms, and that’s why my lyrics feel so fluid, they just pop right out of my

subconscious. Sometimes it feels like they’re not mine, sometimes it feels like they are

somebody else’s. That whole process of

working creates atmospheres that are almost separate from me, so I don’t really have to 100 per cent identify as a person with what 'm saying, but it has come from my artist’s self.” The psychology behind an artist’s desire to move beyond the comfort zone of writing

music only for themselves, and on to the stage in front of an audience, is an interesting one. In the end, it comes down to either one of two motivations, says Hunter. There are those who only want to massage their ego, or their are those who have beliefs they feel a need to express. :

“I’ve had experiences where I’'ve got on stage in big auditoriums, there’s been a lot of people, a lot of energy, and I've thought, ‘okay, I’'m here, what am I saying? If [ haven’t got a message then this is pointless.” And that’s when I have to look inside myself and think, ‘okay, what ’m really saying is that women can do this, women can deal with playing music, being strong, and standing for creative self expression.” Some people when they come to see me play, have said they got inspired by watching me, and that is part of what my little thing is, to inspire people to do it themselves. - That’s kind of like my message.” In February, Hunter took her message around the country with her three piece band, the Red Herrings, and will continue that trek in March. After a decade spent working around the periphery of the local scene, Hunter plans to build herself a wider profile in 1998.

“I want to introduce myself to the people in the industry in New Zealand who haven’t heard my material live. I’d like to get out there enough for people to open their ears to my

sound. I think I come with a very unusual sound, it’s copied from so many places that it’s not really like anything else. It’s copied from absolutely everybody I've ever heard in my life. I’d like people to open their ears to where

that’s coming from, because I think that’s part of letting in a whole new wave of especially female recording artists.”

J OHN RUSSELL