A Conversation with Emmy Wildwood – HuffPost 9.4.13

Mike Ragogna: Hey, Ms. Emmy, tell us a little something about yourself.

Emmy Wildwood: My name’s Emmy Wildwood and I’m from Tuscon, Arizona originally. I moved to New York two years ago to play music, and a year ago, I opened my record label and vintage store combination. I just put out my first single as a solo project under the name Emmy Wildwood in June.

MR: Beautiful. So you’re taking your career in your own hands. These days, a lot of artists are doing their own thing, using parts of the machine that a label would supply and doing it themselves. How do you feel about coming into this independently? Are you a feisty, independent person anyway?

EW: Yes, I am definitely a feisty, independent person anyways, I’ve always written for myself and my own bands, I’ve had my own clear vision of what I wanted music to sound like with the help of people I picked because I love their work. So I am a feisty, independent person, but what I would say about the music industry is that I think major labels can be amazing. I think they can be a lot of help if they’re deeply invested in what you’re doing. But there are a lot of times you get lost and become very forgotten if you’re not a top priority. I like what you said about using parts of the machine, because I do treat my record label in that way. I put together a really great team, good PR, great producer, it’s just on a scaled-down level. Ultimately, I get to pick exactly who I want and exactly who I love. So while I’m super independent, I really do know the importance of a great team. Half of my artistry is my producer Tomek Miernowski and we’re definitely fifty-fifty musically on this particular project. I obviously could absolutely not do it without the help of these amazing people, but I do tend to like to take things into my own hands and like to have the last word in a way.

MR: Does that also apply to your songwriting and your approach to recording?

EW: What I would say about songwriting is that’s my favorite part of all of it. I do write a lot, I tend to write on my own, but I take a demo that I would record on GarageBand and give it to my producer Tomek and he produces all the music around it. So I think the finished song is definitely a fifty-fifty collaboration between the two of us, but I write all the songs on my own. They’re very personal, very about me, and what I’m thinking. But I do like to songwrite in groups for people. I have done that quite a bit.

MR: Hey, wait. Ain’t you also Lizzie Stradlin from Guns ‘N’ Hoses?

EW: Yes, I am. I love being in that group. That is the most fun thing ever. That group is actually comprised of four leading ladies who all have their own projects, so that’s a pretty cool experience–just four women up there and we all sort of combine our “independent thinking,” if you will, in that show. We all get along really well and because of it, that band’s been a really big success. We’ve gotten a lot of media attention.

MR: Nice. I imagine your music has been compared to “the fifties meets the eighties meets whatever,” and you do appreciate punk and where a lot of music comes from. This ties in with your eye on vintage, doesn’t it.

EW: It sure does! The vintage store came about because when I was back living in Tuscon and being in punk bands and performing in different groups, I always made my own clothes. I’d go to thrift shops and I’d alter these pieces, and people would always say, “Where did you get that?” I’d say, “I made it,” and they’d be like, “You should totally have a store.” The vision was always there, but music has always been a priority, too. So it occurred to me last year as I was bartending and playing in like five groups and working as a stylist and doing makeup just trying to pay the bills while I was crafting this new project, I thought, “I can’t keep doing this. I want the music to work for me. I want this to be my job.” Then it occurred to me as I was styling other bands, I thought, “I can put this all in one place.” I’ve always wanted to have the record label part of things, I always wanted to do that. I love vinyl and I also love helping the community and collaboration, so the vintage boutique has turned into this clubhouse for musicians. We have in-store performances in here, we print seven-inches for unsigned Brooklyn bands, we just put out Mother Feather’s CD. [laughs] CD? What’s a CD? [laughs] We put out their vinyl single a few weeks back, actually. Huffington Post just wrote them up, gave them a really great write-up. So it’s turned into this sort of clubhouse collaboration, a giant dress-up drawer for musicians, a place for concerts, a place to write songs and have songwriting sessions. It’s just sort of turned into a community-based place that’s also fun and generates money because it has great stuff in it.

MR: Emmy, your “ghost pop” needs a little bit of explanation. Do you want to go into that a little?

EW: So people ask me all the time what kind of genre of music it is, and it’s certainly pop that I make because it’s strong hooks and melodies. But I think that in some cases, pop has gotten a bad rap and I think I’ve always like to put the creativity into it so something a little weird, sounds you’ve never heard of before and I tend to write a little bit darkly and hauntingly. My boyfriend was like, “It’s not pop. It is pop, but it’s ghost pop.” He said that to me one day and I was like, “That’s exactly what it is.” It’s mysterious, shadowy, strange pop. So I said it one time to a gal in an article, I think it might have been one of my first write-ups for an MTV blog and then every blog picked it up and started talking about “ghost pop.” I think it’s funny and I love the description, I think it’s really cool, but it just sort of stuck like that. I think it’s just another description for creative, unusual, haunting-sounding pop.

MR: Which then brings us to “Chick Chick Boom (Tired Of Love).” This song doesn’t really sound like you’re tired of love. Nope. Not one bit.

EW: [laughs] I think when I wrote that song I was tired of love. It was definitely a post-breakup song and sort of a feeling that you don’t have anything left, you can’t do it anymore, and “Chick Chick Boom” refers to the loading and firing off of a gun. Somebody finishing something. So that’s dark, right? But obviously, it’s metaphorical. But yeah, it’s definitely a break-up song. I was in it deep when I wrote that song, exhausted by it, so I guess that’s where that came from.

MR: What do you think about the Brooklyn scene? What the heck is going on there? I need to know, tell me!

EW: [laughs] I think it’s the high concentration of musicians and artists. There was obviously an exodus from the Lower East Side a while back, ten or twelve years ago, a quite big one. So there’s just a high concentration of musicians and artists and fashion, initially, because it was cheaper over here, but that’s not really the case anymore. But that’s what it is. Twelve years ago, people came out here and started these businesses on a very small level, but they’ve developed into incredibly creative things like Cameo Gallery, shows like Glasslands, that was just a warehouse. And now it’s turned into one of the best and coolest venues in Brooklyn, it’s just, you know, people coming over here with small ideas that have developed into incredible things because they’re all artists. I knew I wanted my store in a place where people like me could come and enjoy the stuff I like. So it’s really that.

MR: It does seem like the Lower East Side is past the point of being able to be reinvented in the way that Brooklyn has been.

EW: Right.

MR: There was so much entrenched in what had come before, it seemed like almost out of frustration, the exodus was necessary in order to get a jump start on new creativity in the newly trying-to-thrive artistic community of New York.

EW: Yeah, I totally agree with you. I’m noticing that even that is… I’m noticing Williamsburg is still fresh, it’s still filled with opportunity, but it’s spreading even further, now. It’s spreading into Green Point and all this stuff is popping up, all these galleries and boutiques, and out in Bushwick, there are amazing venues, I went to see a band that we’re looking to sign to the label on a rooftop in Bushwick the other day. That was amazing, the whole rooftop filled with kids. It’s now become a DIY venue. Someone just put a show on the roof and it’s officially a venue. I still think it’s spreading. It’s spreading further down to Bushwick, more towards the water and Green Point.

MR: And you’ve also got Fort Green with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, etc.

EW: Totally, it’s amazing.

MR: When did you decide that you needed to be an artist?

EW: [laughs] I’ll answer your question in two ways. The first is that I don’t think I ever decided, I think I just was. I started writing songs at ten. Playing and writing songs has never been a choice. I never remember picking up a guitar and being like, “Now I will write a song.” There’s music around, I’m listening to things, I get ideas and pick it up. I think I’ve always been an artist and definitely a child of artistic parents. My mom is a painter, my dad is a musician. But I will say that a huge turning point in my life where I decided that something needed to change and this needed to be the main focus and the priority all the time was probably a year and a half ago when I decided I wanted to put out my solo record and I wanted to do my songs just exactly how I wanted them. I wanted them unbridled, I wanted not to write with an industry expectation, and I just sort of abandoned all oppressing ideas. For so long, I was worried about writing something that would be current or heard by record labels or could be on the radio. I think it sort of kept me from being as creative as I could. So about a year and a half ago, I decided to take things into my own hands and that was a massive turning point for me. I’ve never been as happy as I am with the music that I’ve made as I am right now, and with the job that I do every day and with the record label and helping people. That all happened at sort of the same exact time–starting the store, making this record, all of that. I think that was the biggest turning point in my career that I’ve ever had, and I think that’s when things started working for me, you know? Music started taking off and people started paying attention when I started really being authentic and true to the thing I wanted to do. So that’s that.

MR: You set up the next question perfectly. What advice do you have for new artists?

EW: Oh, my gosh. Okay, so I tell myself this all the time because I’m constantly hitting roadblocks. There are always problems. There are two things: The first is to just keep swimming, just keep going. I think that’s Finding Nemo, right? But just keep swimming. There are days that I end up in tears because I’m so frustrated with not being able to get something figured out and that brings me to the next thing that I tell myself and that I tell other people, which is stop worrying about the problem and get to work on the problem. Don’t stop working on it. Figure it out. You just have to keep going and keep working. If you’re working on what you love doing and it’s a labor of love, it’s going to be worth it. There’s nothing more satisfying than achieving the goal. I put my goals up in little pieces, one thing at a time. “How am I going to get what I need to get done today done?” That’s really it. And being inspired! Always look for new inspiration, growing yourself, growing your art, trying to be better every day is something that will always help you grow and become a better musician.

MR: Really nicely said. I have to ask you, where do you see yourself in like five years?

EW: Man, I would love to have a healthy roster on the label, including myself. I want to syndicate, for sure. I’d love to have a few Brooklyn stores and locations, and frankly, I’d love to be on tour. I’m so ready to be playing my stuff for a bunch of people. That’s in the works right now anyway, but I’m certainly ready to be playing for as many people as I possibly can all the time, and having the label running like a well-oiled machine. That would be amazing, five years from now.

MR: What is something that we need to know about Emmy Wildwood that we don’t know yet?

EW: Oh, hmm, that’s a good one. Just that songs that I have in store just keep getting better. They’re exponentially going to be better and weirder and more exciting. I have a few very exciting collaborations in the works that I’m not really allowed to say yet. But that’s not fun, right?

MR: That’s not fair, actually! Something we need to know but we can’t know yet.

EW: [laughs] I know, unfortunately that’s true.

MR: After “Chick Chick Boom” runs its course, are you just going to have a steady stream of Emmy Wildwood releases?

EW: Hey, you know what? Something you don’t know yet that I just realized? This is a very exciting thing to announce, so you will be the first person to say it. I have my new single coming out for my first song called “Luxurious Problems,” which sort of comments on the states of young stars in pop culture. We have a competing contestant from the current season of America’s Next Top Model who is the star of the video. We just wrapped on that video shoot two days ago, and her name is Nina Burns. We don’t know how far she got into the competition because she’s not allowed to tell us yet, but she’s competing right now and she’s sort of the best part of the show. She starred in the new music video and I guess nobody knows it yet. So that’s a very exciting thing to announce, “Luxurious Problems” with Nina Burns.

MR: Well I wish you all the luck with everything you’ve got going. It’s such a wonderful synergy that you’ve created among all the things you’ve got going.

EW: I just got a little chill because that’s exactly how I would love the world to receive it. It’s a synergy and it’s a revolution. I want to feel the scene come back again and the community of music to come back again. I’m really ready for that, so it really makes me feel good that you perceive it that way. Thank you.

MR: Thank YOU!

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne