Johanna
Sillanpaa Releases Her New Album Make Of Me
Johanna
Sillanpaa Releases Her New Album Make Of Me
In
the six years that had transpired since Johanna Sillanpaa and I first met in a
trendy coffee shop in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, shortly after the release of her
album Good Life
her
stature as a singer – songwriter has grown significantly and the self-described,
Groove and Funk artist performed at an Olympic Games venue, at a highly regarded
Jazz Festival in Berlin, Germany, has twice toured in the United States,
including the states of Texas and Arizona and has twice toured in the country in
which she was born, Sweden. In the spring of this year, the blonde haired,
pretty and affable Ms. Sillanpaa released her new album
Make Of Me and a few hours
after we talked she debuted several of the songs from the new recording, which
is Johanna Sillanpaa’s most imaginative album so far. Singing professionally
since she was fourteen years old and at the age of sixteen she had already been
presented with recording contracts in Sweden and in France, Johanna Sillanpaa at
a relatively young age is now a veteran of the music scene. In addition to her
solo career, Ms. Sillanpaa fronts the more Pop sounding band Sillan & Young
featuring some stellar musicians, co-bandleader and guitarist Aaron Young,
bassist Kodi Hutchinson, drummer Tyler Hornby and pianist Chris Andrew.
Living in Calgary, Alberta, a
beautiful city of approximately 1.2 million people may be aesthetically
appealing however, just like American cities such as Seattle and Phoenix it can
present logistical challenges for an artist who wants to tour, because other
major cities are so far away, yet that has not stopped Johanna Sillanpaa from
attracting an international audience.
“I have taken opportunities regardless of cost and I
have taken on new markets and the Montreal Jazz Festival was a great example of
that in 2008. They knew of my music, but overall I wasn’t very well known in
that area and I got an opportunity to perform on one of the major stages. The
money that was paid was little in comparison to what it cost me to take myself
and my musicians. I think I have taken a lot of chances financially and I
decided at the end of the day in the bigger picture, it is going to serve me,
because I am going to get exposure,” she says.
“I don’t always work with the
same musicians, but for the original music there are always a number of guys, my
musical family that I will try to get first and we have all sacrificed a lot of
things. There have been many tours that we have gone on and we haven’t really
gotten paid. We have done it for the love of music and for our art. At the end
of the day, the artistically satisfying gigs may not always pay the bills, but
they pay so much more, because that is what keeps you going.
You meet other musicians, you meet other
promoters. The tour that we did of the United States is a perfect example of
that. We were back the following year for a wine festival in Arizona. It was a
Sonoma County showcase. Wineries from Sonoma County came down to showcase their
wines and a bunch of bands were playing, which was great. That was an
opportunity that we got from our first trip down to the United States. If you
don’t take some chances along the way, you aren’t going to have a lot of doors
opening. You have to create your own opportunities, put on concerts and research
where you can go. You have to research the area that you want to go to and then
you have to see what is out there as far as festivals and apply to everything
and don’t worry about the financial side, because it usually works out in the
end. The other thing is too, being a vocalist, not being able to work with your
regular musicians (all the time); you have to make sure your music is well
charted to the point where you can pick up players as you go. I can maybe bring
one of my key players and then pick up a band. That is also a way to cut a lot
of costs when you are touring. It also opens up doors with other circles of
musicians. You
need to constantly meet new people and to create new opportunities,” says Ms.
Sillanpaa.
Six years ago, Johanna Sillanpaa was often inviting
friends and everyone else she knew personally to her concerts to help fill the
venues, that however was not the case while touring Texas where Sillan & Young
performed before a full house in a premiere venue in Dallas.
In 2010 while touring in Texas,
Sillan & Young performed before a full house in a premiere venue in Dallas. “We
were doing more funky stuff and a mix of material of Sillan & Young’s (music)
and my solo stuff.
I realized when we were in the United States
that it is a different music clientele and they really love the groovy stuff. We
got lots of compliments on how the group has a really unique and groovy sound,
something that they hadn’t heard. It was edgier than most of the stuff and the
caliber of musicians that I surround myself with are top notch.
That
is always very impressive.
It
is always nice to see what kind of a reception you will get when you are (in a
place) where people don’t know you.
We got a really, really good response for all
of the shows,” she says.
Johanna Sillanpaa was greeted
with the same positive response in Sweden and in 2011 when she performed in
Poland. “It was a fantastic concert venue and the reception was great.
To have people come out who have never heard
you before and to walk into a new city and country where nobody knows you and
then to go to the venue and to have a packed house. I think there is a very deep
appreciation for music there. It is really nice to have the opportunity to leave
your home base and to go out and to meet a new audience and to get good feedback
from them. That
confirms for you that you are on the right path and that you should keep going.”
As for her new album
Make Of Me “It is
representative of where I am now and the things that make me who I am. That was
the idea behind the album. Originally when I started crafting these songs that
is not what I wanted to do, but it turned into that, just the way the songs were
written and while working with my art director. The art work is basically me
bringing along all of the things that are important to me.
I
am dragging around a bunch of baggage. It is a representation of where I am now
and I think that it is very important as a singer or as a recording artist. Your
album is only a snapshot of where you are right now and what you have done up
until then. You are always going to grow into different things moving forward.
It is a lot of pressure. I seem to go through this with every project that I do
now. I did three solo albums, one band album back in ‘98-‘99 and two Sillan &
Young, so six projects so far. This is number six.
There is a lot of pressure when recording,
because you want it to be the best that you have ever done.
I
can’t even imagine what it would be like to have a multi-billion sold album and
trying to top that.
On
Make of Me the songwriting style is more me.
There are eleven songs and they are all
original, with the exception of two. One was written by some friends of mine and
the other is a cover of a fairly obscure tune.
The
majority is original and there are a couple of tunes that I wrote on my own. The
rest is collaboration between me and Aaron Young, me and Chris Andrew and there
is one tune that is just a big group effort as well.”
“I do not have a formula (for songwriting). For
“Linger,” I just sat down at the piano and started playing some chords and then
writing the melody and the lyric on top of it. A lot of times I write with Aaron
Young or Chris Andrew and they will have an idea or a progression and I will
write on top of that. Sometimes I will come in and I will have a hook or a
really strong melody and I will go I really want to do something with this and
we will write some chords around it. Sometimes I bring in the progressions, but
a lot of times they do. It really is a true collaboration and it really is 50 /
50,” she says.
Looking ahead, “The Sillan &
Young project is going back to being a duo. Soon we are going to be releasing a
duo album. It is something that we have wanted to do for many years and this
time around we decided that instead of doing another band CD, we would keep my
album separate from Sillan & Young. The audiences always really respond to the
duo portions in our shows, so I wanted to go that route this time around. Plus
it is a lot cheaper to tour with two people than five.
It is a big undertaking (with a larger band)
and those are the chances that you take, because that is the only way that you
are going to get exposure outside of your home. We have done a lot of great
tours and some of them have made money and some of them have not.
We have had great experiences on all of them.
“
What has Johanna Sillanpaa learned about herself as an
artist? “I have learned that I am more secure in who I am as an artist, as a
singer and as a songwriter. I do it because I love it. This truly is my passion
and I can’t see myself doing anything else for the rest of my life.”
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