The Shalini
Interview:
October,
2002

Shalini Chatterjee is the frontperson of the rock combo, Shalini, comprised of Shalini, Mitch Easter and Eric Marshall. A skilled songwriter with good taste and a knack for melody, Shalini is an artist with a stunning presence and exceptional ability as a performer.

Shalini will be one of the featured performers at Sparklefest in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on October 11th at 10:15 p.m. I recently had the privilege to speak to Ms. Chatterjee about her musical past, a new release, her songwriting and a myriad of other interesting topics. I really enjoyed speaking to her and I think you will enjoy reading what she had to say. For those unfamiliar with her work, I'd encourage you to check out her website or any of her releases at parasol.com.

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DF: It has been awhile since We Want Jelly Donuts. Are you working on another CD?

S: Very slowly, like a turtle crossing the road.

DF: How many songs do you think are ready to record?

S: A small handful. Some are recorded. I’ve been working and thinking about a new record since last year.

DF: Is there any working title to the record at this point?

S: I have a few ideas with one in particular but need some time to make sure it’s the right concept.

DF: How will the new material differ from Jelly Donuts?

S: I'd say that Jelly Donuts was a stepping stone out of indie rock into a more clarified direction. These new songs mark a stage of development beyond that. I hope they sound really clean and snappy. The basis for the recordings that we have done for the new record so far goes back to a Back in Black sound. Eric uses AC/DC tuning on his drums. There are no keyboards, with real clean, clear vocals and just guitar and bass and drums. I think it is a pleasant collection of songs, even though it is just basic rock music. That makes it fun I think. It's not pretentious at all, yet I think it has an art sense to it, so hopefully it’s interesting and has what I call spook value as well as good simple rock songs.

DF: Do you feel maturity as a writer as it relates to the new material?

S: Yes. I’ve learned to look at my finished songs in a new light, a more scrutinizing light. As a result I have to work harder. It was the kind of stuff I was in the mood for. It's more rock music than pretty pop, which I’m not very good at anyway. When I try to write something pretty it comes out draggy. It’s got to happen by accident if at all. Everyone in my combo had total freedom, so the personality of the songs that I write are formed by the non-constraints on the band. Eric is one of the best drummers in the country. I’m fortunate that he is available to play with us. Mitch has played for his whole life and is amazing.

DF: You can do the rock thing if you play well. A person like Mitch, Eric and a person like yourself, you can do it.

S: I don’t know about me. I guess I do my best but Mitch and Eric are at that session layer level in the studio, live and at practice. They can walk in and get a new song in five minutes. I need at least half an hour to learn a new song and another half an hour to get it down. For our bar-band purposes, however, I’m good enough.

DF: The band is a power trio.

S: It’s a trio. We’re loud. Don’t know about the power part because I drop out on bass sometimes to sing. That doesn’t seem very formulaic power trio to me. We have a lot of energy but we don’t blang, blang away. It’s pretty orchestrated.

DF: Getting better as a player is very frustrating but also exhilarating in the fact that you grow and learn.

S: It is. I always want to improve my musicianship. I kind of feel alone in that sphere, however. I wish I had more musician peers, but the immediate rock scene is kind of small and I’m not the kind of person who gets into the cool crowd. I describe myself as perpetually out of sync. I’d like to grow and learn by playing more shows across the country. But as every musician knows, it is really difficult to tour much these days. We can go out now and then but are mostly weekend warriors. Even that takes some juggling because Mitch is often busy in the studio working on weekends. We try to get out of state as often as possible and drive long distances for a single show, just to get out there. It doesn’t sound like fun, but it really is. I can’t tell what people in NC think of me. Probably as an oddity, ha-ha.

DF: I think the court of public opinion is really difficult. You are putting your records out there and that’s the bottom line. Are they going to cut you slack because you are associated with Mitch? The bottom line is that you were making records before you knew Mitch and they were well received and you have high standards for your work. I’m sure that’s one of the things that may have drawn you and Mitch together in the first place. You are both musicians with high standards.

S: What Mitch and I share is a conviction that life is really short so don’t fuck around. Really practice. It's miserable, it's hard, it's tedious but it's really not worth doing unless you put yourself through the misery of practicing until you can play a flawless set.

DF: What influences are prevalent on the new material?

S: There is a Led Zeppelin influence for sure, and a big garage band influence. We’ve covered ‘7 and 7 is’ (Love) and ‘Talk Talk’ (Music Machine) with glee.

DF: You’re from Madison, Wisconsin.

S: I’m actually not. I just lived there for 4 years when I went to UW from 1986-90. I’m from California. I started playing in bands in Madison when I was 17-18 years old. I played in the bars and snuck by the age laws that were changing when I was there. I played in a band there for 3-4 years that got to be pretty well known on campus. We graduated and went our separate ways. There is still stuff floating around on the internet even though it was like 12 years ago.

DF: You said you grew up in California. Who’d you listen to when you were a teenager? Who influenced you?

S: I listened to a lot of LA bands. In the '80s I listened to the Bangles when they were just getting signed and playing in Sacramento. I listened to some English bands at the time. I had all the Echo and the Bunnymen records. We lived in Davis, California when I was a teen. The local bands that I liked around 1985 were Thin White Rope and The Dream Syndicate, who had already moved away or something after The Days of Wine and Roses came out. Also, I was there when Camper Van busted out. What a bunch of intellectual (sort of) nuts. I have one of their first 1000 albums, etc. I thought they were funny, never thought they’d be a national act. Also, I listened to much Game Theory, especially the Real Nighttime record. That record has really stood the test of time. Because I worked in Davis’s one record store at the time, I also listened to obscure imports like Leather Nun from Sweden and 17 Pygmies from who knows where. I dabbled in Art Blakey and Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf.

DF: In the early '80s, were the Bangles an influence on you?

S: Kind of. They weren’t really an influence. I just liked them.

DF: What about other woman musicians. Are there any female role models for you?

S: No.

DF: How about men?

S: I don’t think in terms of role models. I just think, hey, I would really like to do that too, that looks interesting.

DF: Is there any particular recording that really influenced you to become a musician?

S: There were some singles that my parents had that really influenced me when I was really young, like 6 or 7. The first one was “Baby Love” by the Supremes with the B side of “Ask Any Girl”. The second one was “Rock a Hula Baby” by Elvis. And also “From Me to You” the Beatles with “Thank you Girl” on the B side. The A sides were so excellent. Especially the Elvis Single. We lived in Edinburgh, Scotland when I was about 3-4 years old, and Josie and the Pussycats would come on. The songs were good and they were having fun. I thought ‘perfect’! I’ll do that. I wanted a headband and a cat tail, too. That was 1973. I know better now. No cat tail on stage.

DF: What are your top 3 records of all time?

S: Back in Black, Murmur and Cypress. Cypress (ed. Let's Active: Cypress) are all very worthwhile and spring to mind as enduring recordings. I don’t know if that makes them the top 3, because I’m not a list making, ranking kind of thinker. I’ve enjoyed these records for many many years and don’t get tired of them. I’d like to add the Go-Go’s Beauty and The Beat, and Nirvana’s Nevermind as landmark records for me. While I’m at it, I also thought Veruca Salt’s first record American Thighs was outstanding, mainly because of the excellent vocals and Nina Gordon’s natural songwriting ability. Although there have been great bands like Garbage to come along in the mid-to-late 90’s, I personally have experienced a new music drought for the last years. I hope the wretched music industry shifts so that the next original, unpretentious, uncontrived band can get a chance to be heard.

DF: How did you get to San Francisco from Madison?

S: I went from Madison to Sacramento first to work as a receptionist by day and waiting tables by night, saving my pennies for my solo move to the big city. I got jobs through the papers and I worked my way up in SF. I played in a few lame bands with some flakey people until I formed my own band, Vinyl Devotion, in '93. I found musicians through the paper but it felt like a revolving door.

DF: Tell me your craziest story of any person that ever answered an ad? Who is the nuttiest person?

S: They were all equally nutty. Just irritating, time wasting people, most of them. Not all, of course. But most. The Bay Area is famous for that. I felt like I’d been through the whole city by the time I left. I made a couple lasting friends so it was worth it.

DF: As a bass player, do you compose on the bass?

S: No. I usually write songs on an electric guitar.

DF: Do you play piano?

S: Yes. I also was a Suzuki Violin player for 10 years. I’ve forgotten how to read music and now it seems unappealing. The violin was kind of not my idea (it was my Mom’s) probably foisted upon me to get my mind off that dangerous rock music with all those drug dealers out there. Ha-ha. I wasn’t very good despite all the practicing. But I enjoyed the recitals, at least. Lately, I’ve been playing marimba and organ too. Branching out for educational purposes.

DF: Describe your song writing process. Do you usually come up with the music first?

S: Yes, I have like three notebooks. I usually write the title of the songs, then the music, then the lyrics in separate notebooks or on a napkin.

DF: Do you usually work with a tape recorder?

S: No, I just have a notebook and I keep it in my head. I figure if I forget it, it wasn’t that memorable.

DF: Do you work at writing everyday?

S: Almost, but not quite.

DF: You live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I think it's a real beautiful place with really talented people. Do you agree or disagree that it's a real oasis for talented people there?

S: It is. It's a wonderful place. The general population is horrific but the pool of musicians and the outlets and this one new club called The Garage that we have here are excellent. It’s kind of country and not very ‘cool’, but there is no pressure and people are downright friendly.

DF: Does it inspire you to be around that type of scene?

S: It doesn’t inspire me, since I am not part of any scene I guess, but this is better than getting a parking ticket every hour which distracts me. My stuff doesn’t get stolen like it did in San Francisco. The music that gets the most attention is country-based or bluegrass-or jam bands, yuck. There’s not much of a hangout scene for me anywhere. Same with the West Coast. In SF, I was considered not tough enough. That is a pretty juvenile place in many ways. If you don’t have a tattoo or nose ring in the 90’s, prepare to be treated like an empty-headed enemy of the people. I didn’t care, people liked the band enough, but personally I wasn’t winning any popularity contests. The whole country has been sort of anti-rock since 1995 or so. (Sorry, Jewel does not count as rock). I still feel like we get a lot of blank stares while we play although the audience is generally very enthusiastic when we’ve finished our set. It’s mysterious.

DF: On the Jelly Donuts record, you probably had a certain idea of how you wanted to sound. Did you have experience working with Mitch on pre-production.

S: No, we didn’t have the luxury of pre-production, which is just practice, really, and thinking of how to record the songs. The notion of pre-production is pretty dated, if you ask me. It sounds really 80’s, like that’s when you break out the lines and start snorting. It was jump in and get it done.

DF: You never played any of the stuff for him before you went in and recorded it?

S: Not some of it, no. Some of it we played out, but we mostly kind of winged it which is more fun. There were about four days to make the record. I kind of liked making it that way and the record turned out great. Mitch is more of a perfectionist but as far as getting a sound I wanted, there’s not a lot of discussion. A discussion might last 10 or 20 minutes at the most. Fortunately, we communicate clearly in the studio so there is basically no strife, arguing or frustration. I really appreciate the harmonious and tension-free working conditions with Mitch and Eric.

DF: You’ve worked with Scott Miller and you’ve worked with Mitch. These are two excellent producers and you’ve worked with them in the studio. Have you learned anything from those guys in terms of recording?

S: I don’t know about Scott’s production talents, but to answer your question: I didn’t learn anything from Scott because the way he works is super closed. He’s just not a very sharing information kind of guy. Mitch is and he helped me quite a bit. For example, I wanted to record a Kraut Rock record of my own. I set up a small studio in my office and hall (Mead Hall Recordings) using a Teac 4-track from 1980, the stuff that the 1972 guys in Germany would use. He dug it out of his parents’ barn, pulling it out of many years of storage. I had to do everything myself, including patching which is laughably easy of course with 4 tracks. I had to learn the concept of where the sound was traveling to and from. Maybe it’s easy for some people, but I had to concentrate. I wanted it to be really high quality recording so I brought Mitch in just to hear the end results. He’d tell me if I needed to do it again, if the timing was really off, or if there was hiss. I received some basic recording training with my endeavor there. The record is coming out on a little Berkeley label next month, 125 records (see www.interbridge.com/econoghost). I know this rather bid bite of basic experience will help me in the next round of rock recordings. But, one thing I didn’t do was set up a drum kit and mike it. I used a drum machine in my little set up. When I learn that kind of manual task, I’ll feel more like I have viable studio-minion experience.

DF: Describe the most gratifying moment of your musical career and why it was so gratifying to you?

S: I feel like my musical career hasn’t really started yet to be honest so I can't answer that. You have to have momentum to have what I would term a ‘career’. I’ve worked hard and had some very good experiences-but it’s been in fits and starts. No touring stories or a whole lot of interest or being part of a scene or anything. Just kind of a funny underground existence so far. I‘m really grateful to anyone for listening and I am happy if I wrote some music that brightened someone’s world somehow.

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