ODONATA - INTERVIEW

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MUZN: How do you approach songwriting and What influences you? Do you have a visual image in your mind as the song is composed, or does that come afterwards as a result of the song?

Most of the songwriting for Odonata so far has been a combination of our keyboardist/composer Don Stagg bringing compositions to the table and Anna and I coming up with melody and lyrics pretty much on the spot in the studio. We did it this way because Don had so many songs fully composed and most of them were fairly easy to tweak to suit our voices and style. However, from this time forward, we are hoping to embrace a much more organic process, where the entire band would get together and either jam outright or take a snippet or theme or incomplete idea that someone brings to the table and play with it melodically, lyrically, instrumentally and vocally until we have something we think reflects our sound and style. I believe we have focused more or less on mood and texture of the music. We listen to a song and let the "movie" of the song play in our minds for a week or so and ask questions like "what does this sound like?" or "what do you see happening during this particular phrase?" or "what would the setting of this particular introduction be"? and then we take all of our visual ideas and try to depict them lyrically but hopefully in a way that is somewhat subtle, where the listener is not spoon-fed our ideas but rather challenged with it or has it proposed to them in such a way that it isn't concrete and allows for more of a personal interpretation. That ensures that the experience of the music is much more personal and more people can relate to its message.
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MUZN: What's your philosophy on music today?

Music itself is thriving and continues to invent and reinvent itself. I am encouraged that projects around the world that fuse unusual instruments, voices and international influences are finding more and more acceptance. We are at a place where the extremes of music seem to exist. There is a demand for butt shaking R&B and pop but there is also room for the avant-garde and the truly outrageous. The biggest excitement for us is the fact that all of the projects out there seem to be embracing the idea that components of all types of music can be broken down and restructured in different ways, with a particular emphasis being placed on cultural and international sounds and styles. Our musical scope is vast indeed if you think about the fact you can listen to tables and African drums and synthesized keyboards and metal and a cello solo all on one CD or even in one song. This is very exciting and something that we want to explore in the extreme.
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MUZN: Tell us about you, when did you begin writing songs ?

In our teens we were very drawn to the idea of expressing ourselves through music. I think it was a revelation one day that all of my angst laden poetry was actually lyrics to songs. Once I made that discovery and realized I was writing lyrics, the melodies would present themselves. Anna was more inspired by snippets of melody and harmonic compositions that would play in her head and so diligently she studies the piano in hopes that these ideas will be translated from head to instrument and which point the lyrics come.
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MUZN: How many projects are you currently involved in?

We are currently involved in two projects. We are singing female leads in Don Giovanni an opera by Mozart in Toronto for the month of February. We are also working to complete Odonata's first full-length CD and will be returning to the recording studio to finish it up in March. Once the CD is completed we will be rehearsing on a regular basis and hopefully start playing live by late spring, early summer.
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MUZN: What's your long-term goals?

We really love music and the creative process of collaborating with other musicians and writing new material and jamming and rehearsing and recording and performing of course. In fact we all just really love every aspect of being a full time musician and that is our main long-term goal, to be able to eke out a living just by being an artist. Of course that said we would specifically love to have our songs featured in movies as the emotional impact of having your musical creation presented in tandem with someone else's visual creation is very exciting and moving. I personally very much want a Juno, which is a Canadian music award and of course a Grammy and to play at the Grammy's and to have platinum records hanging on the wall. So really our goals are a combination of lowly and lofty and wherever we fall in between those worlds, so long as we continue to be involved in music, well I think that's all we can ask for.
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MUZN: How did you get into music?

We honestly cannot remember a time when we were not "in" music but both of us performed a lot as children in music theatre and in school concerts. Ren was on the radio at 8 years of age singing O Holy Night and countless "Oh Canada" performances all through childhood. Anna was singing and dancing ever since she can remember. Music was always around both of us and we both at a very young age knew that singing and performing all over the world was the life for us. Through the years that passion has grown and we have both been blessed to appear in music theatre, recitals, operas and performing in various ensembles and bands.
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MUZN: How long have you been performing?

As stated above neither of us can remember a time when we weren't singing or dancing on stage.
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MUZN: What other artists do you admire? And what bands\artists inspired you the most early on?

Our list is vast and varied as we both have huge appreciation for of all kinds of music but Ren's influences and idols were mostly Queen, Barbara Streisand, Elton John, Moody Blues, Bette Midler, Sting, Mozart, Verdi and Joan Sutherland. Whereas, Anna's were Madonna, Bette Midler, The Cranberries, Sting, Mozart and Maria Callas.
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MUZN: What do you want out of life?

We both just want to be able to make music, share our voices and inspire other people. We believe that music is a powerfully influential potentially healing potentially destroying force in the world today. We want to produce music and write songs that make people think and feel, and challenge them to require more of themselves.
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MUZN: What is the most important lesson you think you have learned so far?

The most important thing is humility and to take everything with a bit of humor and regardless of statistics and criticism to remain focused and full of hope and to always remember that being an artist is an incredible blessing and to realize how fortunate we are to live the life that we do, regardless of the outcome.
------------------------------------------------------------- MUZN: Where do you want to be in the future?

Somewhere warm! It's -16 degrees and there is two feet of snow on the ground here in Toronto. So geographically we want to be somewhere warm and sunny. That said we also want to tour internationally and perform live before as many people as possible. One of our big goals is to do interviews get in front of people like David Letterman and Oprah performing on Saturday Night Live. But the most important thing is to be in this crazy music business as long as we want to be and to be involved in music in whatever capacity our entire lives.
------------------------------------------------------------- MUZN: How many of your songs are "instant" songs, and how many are channeled?

I think it was Mozart that said " I don't know why I get all the credit for writing these songs, when all I'm doing is taking dictation" He believed as I do that all the creative energy is flowing all the time around us and if we only stop to listen and take the time to exercise our creative skills then we open ourselves up to be incredibly inspired by that energy. I believe this is the crux of every song. The more you just open yourself up to the inspiration of the universe the more it flows within you and eventually out of you, in song, prose, lyric, dance or any other medium with which you express yourself.
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MUZN: Tell us about your latest project?

We are currently finishing up our full-length CD in the recording studio, after which we will be focusing all of our time and energies toward creating a multi-media show, including visuals, dancers and our music. Once the show is rehearsed and feels tight we'll find a venue to perform and invite all the industry people to get a feel for how people respond to our music.
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MUZN: Is there anything else you would like to add?

We want to thank you so much for featuring Odonata on MusiqueNet.com. When a band is just starting out it is wonderful to know that people from all over the world not only have an opportunity to listen to our music but also to learn a little about us as a band. Our website address is http://renzworld.tripod.com/odonata and our email address is odonata_fans@hotmail.com Please feel free to write us with any comments or feedback you have about Odonata. We will respond to all emails. Thanks again Sandy.

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