A Conversation with Rachael MacFarlane – HuffPost 10.10.12
Mike Ragogna: Rachel MacFarlane, otherwise known as Haley on American Dad!, how be ya?
Rachel MacFarlane: Hi Mike. I’m wonderful. How’s it going with you?
MR: Dandy. I’m really happy to be doing this interview with you because I’m, of course, addicted to both American Dad! and Family Guy. That’s a cool little orbit that you’re in.
RM: It’s so nice. Honestly American Dad! has been the redheaded stepchild of Family Guyfor the longest time and it’s been over the last few years that all of a sudden we’ve got people saying, “Oh, I love American Dad! It’s so great!” and it’s always nice to meet people that watch our little show.
MR: I’ve watched that thing from the beginning. This is no casual love affair, and we can discuss episodes, but let’s not.
RM: I know, that would be terribly boring.
MR: I guess that’s another interview. [laughs] Let’s instead talk about Haley Sings. Now it’s Haley singing, but it’s really you singing, but it’s really Haley singing. God, I’m confused, and just what the heck got you into doing this here musical thing-y?
RM: Going back a little far, I went to Boston Conservatory and I majored in musical theater and I’ve always been a singer. It’s something that I sort of put on hold for a little while, while I was doing voiceovers and loving it and having such a good time. But all of a sudden, I started working with my wonderful manager, who also managed Rosemary Clooney for a couple of decades, and we were thinking about a good angle to sort of launch my first record. Then, all of a sudden, I’m talking to my producers on American Dad! and they say, “Hey, we want Haley to be a jazz singer in Roger’s bar in our season opener,” and my manager and I are like, “For real? Seriously? Okay! That might be a fun angle!” We started talking about it, and it just became crystal clear. We’re going to take some of these great old jazz classics that Haley’s going to sing in the episode, and we’re thinking, “What’s the kind of music that Haley would listen to?” Well, she’s a hippie child, right? So she’s going to listen to the music of the sixties and the seventies, which is the music of my childhood. My parents were old hippies and I grew up listening to Simon & Garfunkel and The Beatles and Crosby, Stills, & Nash. We thought, “Why not do this sort of hybrid record, and it’ll be from Haley’s POV,” and that’s where we got Haley Sings.
MR: So it’s an amalgam, and look at some of these tracks–Simon & Garfunkel’s “Feeling Groovy,” Carole King, or The Chiffons, however you look at it, “One Fine Day,” you do, also her original by The Drifters, “Up On The Roof,” and the ballad Judy Collins is credited with, “Since You’ve Asked.”
RM: That’s a really personal one for me, that was my parent’s wedding song, so I had to throw that one on there.
MR: And there’s even Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle.”
RM: My dad introduced me to that song when I was a kid and it seemed to be a good fit for the record. We had a lot of fun picking the music for this.
MR: Plus there’s a hidden track we should tell everyone about right now, just in case anybody’s going to turn off their player, and that’s “Secret Agent Man,” which is a rip.
RM: There’s a funny little story about that. The background singers, who are uncredited on the record, are Wendy Schaal, Scott Grimes, and Dee Bradley Baker, otherwise known as Francine, Klaus, and Steve Smith.
MR: What is the logic going to be in the storyline of Haley suddenly doing jazz songs?
RM: I will give you a little bit of a teaser of our season opener. Roger has this bar, and he wants to turn it into the happening club in Langley Falls. He’s looking for a singer and he hears this beautiful singing of “Someone To Watch Over Me” coming through the pipes in the house. So he starts crawling through the pipes tracking the music, and he passes a couple of rats dancing and winds up in the bathroom and it’s Haley singing in the shower. He’s like “Oh, wow! Okay, so I’ve got to hire you to be my singer in my club,” and she’s like, “Right on, let’s do it!” That’s sort of how the story develops, and what unfolds is that Roger ends up falling madly in love with Haley, which turns into the most insane American Dad!madness you can imagine. (Note: This interview took place before the season premiere.)
MR: Wait, he’s done that before.
RM: Oh yeah, it just gets really, really twisted.
MR: Now, Rachel “MacFarlane,” your last name reminds me of someone else. Who could that be. Hmm…
RM: Oh, gosh, there are so many MacFarlanes.
MR: True, but there’s this one…
RM: Are you talking about Seth?
MR: No, not him. Wait, yes, him. And I have to ask you like now how you got credited for being the original “Meg” in pilot for Family Guy.
RM: This is such a funny little nugget of information that somehow got out into the abyss, but it’s actually not true. Isn’t that funny? I’ve read that about myself so many times online and I think, “What a crackup!” No, I was never Meg, always Haley.
MR: Do they make that mistaken because Haley is yet another MacFarlane TV Show Dynasty teenage daughter?
RM: Perhaps. I mean, everyone know the original, original Meg was Lacey Chabert, right? And then we got our wonderful Mila. Gosh, I may have read for Meg, like a million years ago when Seth was doing the pilot, but it was never a legitimate role. But I like when people give it to me, it’s nice.
MR: How do you explain what’s happened here? Seth has become the King of Animation, he’s a great musical writer, and Ted was an awesome movie. Is there anything he can’t do?
RM: Yeah, it’s been an unbelievable evolution, to be honest, to watch Seth go from my big brother and always an incredibly talented guy, to this mogul that he’s turned into. He’s still the same guy, which is wonderful. He’s funny and sweet and generous and just a terrific human being; all of this hasn’t changed him, which is great. It’s been a really slow evolution, and I think that’s why he’s been able to remain so grounded. Family Guy took a while to catch on; I’m sure everyone remembers the many cancellations, and I think that was really humbling, in a way, for Seth. But then it took off on DVD and on Adult Swim, and then American Dad! grew out of that, and then The Cleveland Show. It’s just been very, very slow. I think it’s over the last two or three years that all of the sudden we’ve become aware of what an empire he’s created–the animation world and beyond, like you were saying, withTed. I was speaking to Seth the other day and I said, “In your wildest dreams, did you ever imagine it was going to perform the way it’s performed?” and he said, “No.” It’s been such an incredible ride.
MR: Yeah, I’m excited for that Ted Blu-ray to come out and hoping there’s great bonus material. Years ago, I was lucky enough to meet him thanks to Tony Lunn when I went to an episode viewing at Seth’s offices.
RM: Yeah, did you go to Family Guy or American Dad!?
MR: Family Guy, I never got to American Dad!.
RM: Well you’ve got to come to American Dad!.
MR: I’m in, thank you! [laughs] I loved the energy of everyone at that company. Okay, back to Rachel now, although, Haley’s always in there, too, isn’t she.
RM: Oh yeah, sure! I think the comical thing, and the thing that made the record work so well, in this regard is that Haley is me, with a few tweaks here and there. When I went in for the audition, unlike most of the other voiceover work that I do, the producers said, “Hey, we want her to sound like you.” So, basically, I go there in there and I go like, “Daaad, I can’t believe you’re letting Jeff sleep in the house! Ugh, this is so unfair,” which is me, yeah. I love working on American Dad!, and to be completely honest, it’s one of the easiest gigs I have.
MR: You playing you.
RM: Not having to come up with some kooky voice.
MR: I wanted to ask about some of your other voiceover roles, like The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
RM: Yes, on Cartoon Network. Gosh, I did that show for a number of years. I played a couple of characters on that. That show, believe it or not, is where I met my husband as well. A lot of history for me on the Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
MR: Not so grim after all.
RM: Not so grim! It was a blast working on that show. And Codename: Kids Next Door. Good stuff from Cartoon Network.
MR: And beyond that, you played Blaze on The Batman?
RM: I did! I did indeed.
MR: That makes you a hero among the ComicCon hordes. And speaking of Batman, did you see the last Batman movie?
RM: I haven’t yet. That’s the trials and tribulations of having a toddler. I think I’ve seen The Lorax.
MR: What’s going on with your personal life? So you’re married and have a kid…
RM: I’m married and have a kid, yes. I have a beautiful almost three year-old girl, which is actually part of the reason that voiceover has been such a lovely occupation for me, because it allows you to have a very rich personal life. I have a lot time and that’s very important for me, balancing my family and my work. It’s going to be interesting as this whole different part of my career begins, this singing piece, which I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember, and balancing that with motherhood and all that goes along with.
MR: Now you have fifteen songs on Haley Sings. It must’ve been hard to whittle down what I imagine was a long list.
RM: You have no idea. We actually recorded twenty-two tracks. It was some hardcore studio time. Once we actually got down to narrowing it down to the fifteen, it became pretty clear which ones needed to be on there. But I’ll tell you there was one that I still am very sad didn’t make it on. Perhaps Haley Sings Again.
MR: And not only that, but there’ll have to the European release with all the juicy bonus tracks?
RM: Oh, of course, there we go! Or the song that I only perform live, right? Yeah.
MR: And then you have to release it ambiguously on the internet so it becomes one of those great pirated tracks that becomes a classic.
RM: Exactly!
MR: It’s great that you have such a cool musical side in addition to your voiceover work.
RM: Yeah, honestly, I kind of have to give it up to Seth for being that push that I needed to get this done, because, as I’m sure you know, when he recorded his record a couple years ago I thought, “Are you kidding me? Really? He’s doing this? This is what I want to do! All right. It’s time. It’s time to get here and make this happen.” So, as always, that brother-sister rivalry helps. It works.
MR: Did he have anything to do with the arrangements on here?
RM: He did not, although he provided his wonderful insight and opinion. He’s always been one of my biggest champions when it comes to my singing and music. So he’s sort of been cheering me on the whole way, which I’ve greatly appreciated.
MR: Where did you record the album and who did these arrangements?
RM: This was such a trip. We recorded it almost a year to the day after I was at Capitol in studio A listening to Seth record his record, Music Is Better Than Words. I was back there in Capitol Studio A recording Haley Sings. It was quite a year. The arrangements were done by two incredibly talented guys, Matt Catingub and Tedd Firth, who just killed it with this stuff. One of my favorites is what they did with “All My Lovin’,” ripping it down. It’s dangerous, taking on a Beatles song, and I feel like what we did with that was just really trying to give it its own feel and kind of make it into a totally new vibe.
MR: I believe that Capital’s Studio A in Capitol is the last place–at least on the West Coast–where you can really do these kinds of orchestral or fully arranged recordings these days, because they really know what they’re doing there and have such a love for music.
RM: They know what they’re doing, they’ve got the space, and I’m telling you, there’s just nothing like walking down that hallway. It’s so iconic, that studio, and just seeing all the photographs of Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland and Dean Martin and all the greats. There’s nothing like that to inspire you to go in and record a good track. I considered myself so incredibly lucky to record there.
MR: It’s a beautiful place. Rachael, what advice do you have for new artists?
RM: You know, I think I can say this without a shadow of doubt–if you keep working hard at this, you can make it happen. I mean, for me, this was a dream that I really thought had passed me by. I’m not a teenager, and music can be a young persons’ endeavor these days, and I had sort of gotten to a point where I resigned myself a bit to the fact that this was going to be something I would do as a hobby and that I would have my voiceover career, which I love, but that the dream of recording an album and being a singer professionally maybe wasn’t in the cards. But once I recommitted myself to it, it was amazing how all of the pieces came together. I will never forget that feeling of being in the studio thinking, “I can’t believe this is happening. I’m actually doing this.” So I would say it’s just all about perseverance and commitment and not giving up. I know it’s such old advice, but it’s the truth. I feel like I’m sort of living proof of that.
MR: And for voiceovers? I know there are a lot of people struggling, I know I was struggling to get voiceover gigs years ago. What advice do you have for those guys?
RM: Yeah. It’s really hard. You get into one little niche of it, and your career can flourish. I’ve had a lot of luck in animation, but you struggle in other areas like film trailers or on-camera commercials or whatever it is you want to do. So again, it’s all about practice, practice, practice, and when you find yourself in that lucky situation where you’ve got the ear of somebody that can take you where you want to go, put together your best demo and let the chips fall where they may.
MR: Seems like everything is “a difficult field,” everybody wants to be an actor, but it’s such a small niche to get in. And voiceover is an even smaller niche of people.
RM: I agree with you. It’s almost comical, the little voiceover community, because you just run into the same people over and over and over again. Part of it is wonderful because it feels like this great little family, you know? And it feels like this wonderful little niche of acting, which is great. But it’s really, really competitive and really challenging, too.
MR: Yeah, and I imagine the producers really feel comfortable and appreciate the good working atmosphere with the people that they trust and have used.
RM: Exactly. To use an example of one of, I think, the best voice actors in the industry right now, Dee Bradley Baker, who’s Klaus on American Dad!. The guy is on every show you could possibly think of, because when people hire him, they know they’re going to get an incredible product. People get comfortable with those actors and they use them over and over again.
MR: Any last words, so to speak, of wisdom? Any shoutouts?
RM: Any last words? I’ll give a shout out to my manager, Allen Sviridoff, who, honestly, I wouldn’t be doing this without. He’s a tremendous manager. And to my producer’s Mike Barker and Matt Weitzmann on American Dad! who embraced this project wholeheartedly and have been so supportive the entire way. It’s been quite a journey making this record come to life.
MR: You’re beside yourself with oodles of joy from having the album finally come out, ain’t ya.
RM: You know, I really am! To be honest, again, I’m still sort of pinching myself that it’s happened and I’m doing a little touring. I have some live performances coming up in LA, New York, and Boston and all of it seems like a dream, you know?
MR: Very nice. All right, all of the best, Rachel MacFarlane, thank you for your time. All the best with the new album Haley Sings and the new season of American Dad! and everything you ever want to do for the rest of your life and beyond.
RM: Mike, thank you so much.
Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne