For a little while there Juliana Hatfield was THE 90’s alternative chick rock. “My Sister” was on regular rotation in the Mtv buzz bin, “Spin the Bottle” was a hit off the Singles soundtrack (or was it Reality Bites?), she played with The Lemonheads, and I downloaded pictures of her on Compuserve. And while she may have fallen out of the limelight, the lady has been consistently cranking out well received records for 20 years now. We had a hot minute to chat with her before she’ll be performing this Tuesday (9/8/2008) at the wonderfully intimate IOTA Club in Arlington.

BYT: Congrats on releasing your 10th solo album, How to Wak Away. I feel like it was only yesterday that my teenage love for you ran deep and true. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way and set a nice awkward tone, what are you doing right now besides this interview (be specific)?

Juliana Hatfield: I am looking at my beautiful old dog who is asleep on the floor next to me.

BYT: Aw. I saw him in Spin, very cute. If you could go back in time and play How To Walk Away to an X-obsessed, bottle spinning, sister hating, Jon Stewart Show appearing, no sex having Juliana, what do you think she would say?

JH: She would probably say, “Hey, this is pretty good. It’s not very punk rock but I like it.”

BYT: What regrettable 90’s fashion trend would you scold her on? JH: No comment. BYT: Ok. You’ve come full circle by self releasing albums again. How has making music for you changed since you started your own label? Are you planning on releasing more records from other artists? JH: I’ve always been very independent-minded and I’ve always had strong opinions and a strong vision in the studio. Even when I was on a major label, no one at the label ever told me how to make my records. They left me alone to do my thing. In a sense, nothing has changed. I still march to the beat of my own drummer.

BYT: Can you pick a couple songs from the new record and give us a quick blurb of trivia on them?

JH: “This Lonely Love” has been misinterpreted as a love song- a lost-love song. But it’s actually a song about the love of music. The feeling that a voice or a song can elicit can be incredibly powerful and passionate. And it is a lonely love because you can’t grab onto your object of affection (the
song/the voice).

BYT: How did you team up with Richard Butler (of Psychedelic Furs)?

JH: My producer called him up and asked him if he would be interested in coming down to the studio and singing on my song and he said Yes. It was as simple as that. I had never met Butler before then.

BYT: Ok, one more.

JH: In “The Fact Remains” I sing “I stayed until the Star-Spangled Banner played and I couldn’t keep my eyes open.” People under a certain age may not understand what I am saying here. I am referring to the 1970’s, when I was a child, before cable television existed. Back then, there were only a handful of TV stations and they would all shut down and go off the air at night, and then come back on in the morning. At about 1 in the morning, the star-spangled banner would play, often accompanied by an image of the American flag flapping in the breeze, and then when the song was over the stations would go blank- would go to sleep- until morning. Today, of course, TV stations never shut down. And there are hundreds of them. They are all 24-7 but it wasn’t always this way. There was once a time for sleep, for darkness, for quiet, for contemplation.

BYT: My oldest television memories are of Today’s Special and You Can’t Do That On Television. You should write a song about them.  How do you overcome writer’s block?

JH: I don’t believe in writer’s block. I just think that every writer goes through periods where everything she writes is crap, but if you just keep writing, you will eventually push through the crap to the good stuff. It’s just a question of discipline and perseverance.

BYT: Over the years you’ve covered or referenced a lot of quality tunes. Can you take your iPod/iTunes/Zune/Whatever, put it on all song shuffle, and tell us the first 5 tracks that come up. No cheating, even if it’s embarrassing. “Beautiful” by Ivy “Theme From ‘Mahogany’” by Diana Ross “The Losing” by the Pretenders “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young “It’s Too Late” by Carole King BYT: Good work. Heard any good Sarah Palin rumors today? JH: Don’t get me started.

BYT: Can you tell us a little about this autobiography you’re writing? Full of sordid tales from behind the scenes of My So Called Life and Atlantic exec blackmail material?

JH: It’s not a trashy tell-all, sorry. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

BYT: Whose lips taste more like strawberries ­Ethan or Evan?

JH: No comment.

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IOTA CLub
http://www.iotaclubandcafe.com/
Tuesday, Sept 9th, 8:30pm
Juliana Hatfield
http://www.julianahatfield.com/
w/ Spoils of NW (former members of Peter Hayes Condition, High-Back Chairs, Tuscadero an the Revelers)
$15

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