A Conversation with Renaissance’s Annie Haslam – HuffPost 9.19.12

Mike Ragogna: Annie, you’re one of my hero-esses!

Annie Haslam: Oh gosh, not a hero-ess!

MR: (laughs) During an interview the other day, I joked with a couple, “You are the Mayor and Mayor-ess of town,” and I thought I’d try that bad joke on another hapless victim.

AH: Is that what you call a female mayor?

MR: Nah, a female mayor is a mayor, and a female hero is a heroine.

AH: Heroine, oh God!

MR: Was just trying on “hero-ess.”

AH: I’m going to copyright the word “hero-ess.” I’ll say it’s my design. (laughs) You said that you were solar-powered, and I think that’s incredible. I love that.

MR: Thank you, very much. We’re the only solar-powered station in the Midwest of the United States and that’s very strange to me.

AH: Yeah. It’s not right, really, is it. We should all be solar-powered.

MR: Again, thank you for the kind words, Annie, very nice. Okay, let’s dive into your new project. Can you go into what the motivation was to cover your two albums, Turn Of The Cards and Scheherazade And Other Stories?

AH: Yes, well we reunited the band in 2008 and toured for our fortieth anniversary in 2009. We performed classic songs like “Mother Russia,” “Running Hard,” and others that we thought people would like after not seeing the band for thirty years or whatever, and then when it came to last year, our agent, Wayne Forte, actually brought it up. He said, “How do you feel about performing two of your albums all the way through?” We thought, “Well, that’s a different idea,” not realizing that people were out there already doing this. That’s how that came about, and we chose those albums because they’re two of the strongest. I guess we could have started off with Ashes Are Burning and Prologue, but for some reason, that’s where our minds went to; Turn Of The Cards because “Mother Russia” “Running Hard” are on there, and Scheherazade… . We have new members in the band now that are American, and when Michael Dunford and I, the two leaders of the band, basically, when we were talking about doing Scheherazade… , we thought, “Oh, this is a really big one to give them” because the song “Scheherazade” is twenty five minutes long, but they did a fantastic job of it. Really brilliant. They’re great musicians and we all get on very well. So we made a good choice. The Keswick show that we recorded is just fantastic. I love it. We did a great job that night, it’s toward the end of the tour, so we were pretty well into the music and playing live, and we decided to put out a DVD as well because we haven’t done that for a while. In fact, I don’t think we ever did anything like that on purpose. We never did it in the seventies, which, when we look back, we think, “Gosh, what a lot of missed moments.” There are a couple of things out there, but not very many.

MR: Right. It’s almost like it’s celebrating the albums’ importance as part of the music history and the history of the band. There’s much love there.

AH: Oh yeah. There’s a lot of respect and love in the band at this time and it shows. We all love the music. In fact, I was asked this morning if I was fed up with doing the songs, but these musicians have kind of changed everything and put new life into everything. And, of course, technology is far advanced from when we played in the seventies, so we do sound like we’ve got an orchestra with us now, and we’ve got four very strong lead vocals.

MR: How did this configuration come together?

AH: Well, the thing is, when Michael called me up in 2008 to get this back together, I knew what he was going to say. He said, “Annie, will you… ” and I said, “No!” I stopped him at “Will you.” Anyway, we did go ahead, and we did connect with the original members to see whether they wanted to be part of it and it was going to go ahead, and then they changed their minds. We weren’t sure if we were going to go on with just Michael and I. In the end, we did. Rave Tesar and David Keyes were in my solo band, and they’d already been playing Renaissance songs for years, so they were the perfect choice. We brought in Tom Brislin at that time and Frank Pagano, and it just seemed to gel really well. But it is new blood. It’s giving new life to the songs and the main thing is that they all love the music as well.

MR: Was it a surprise to you that songs like “Running Hard” and “Mother Russia” would become so popular and so identified with the band even after all these years?

AH: It doesn’t surprise me because the band is so unique. Michael and I have always felt that the music is timeless, because, basically, classical music is timeless.

MR: Right, exactly, and you are a blend. What do you think about Turn Of The Cards and its place in pop music?

AH: It doesn’t really fit into pop music.

MR: Let’s say pop culture.

AH: It’s really more of a progressive music, and progressive classical music. Again, it’s unique, and I guess it stands out on its own. Even with the other prog bands, none of them were quite like us. We really just stand out on our own, and I think that’s one of the reasons that the music just keeps going on and on.

MR: Okay, but with an album like Turn Of The Cards, there was not only nothing like your sound on the market, but there was also nothing like that combination of works on one LP at the time.

AH: Yeah. We also had Betty Thatcher, who wrote the words, and she wasn’t just an ordinary lyricist, she was very special. She was a poet as well, and I think that made a huge difference. The words were very intelligent and clever with a beautiful story and very positive. I think that was one of the key elements in the band, and everybody that was in the band at that time that made it so special.

MR: And it was sort of the turn of the cards for the band. My personal feeling is that there was a bit of a creative leap between the albums Ashes Are Burning and Turn Of The Cards.

AH: You know what, I guess you’re right. I’ve never heard it put like that before. It was a natural one. It wasn’t intended. I think we kind of progressed naturally rather than thinking, “Let’s do some longer tracks” or “let’s do shorter” or “why don’t we do a commercial track.” We didn’t. It just came out as a natural progression. So I guess whatever that leap was, I’ll ask Michael Dunford. He’s the one that writes most of the music.

MR: It’s the whole vibe. It was the way you guys were approaching it and the way it came off. And I think another leap happened with Scheherazade… .

AH: Yes, I think it did.

MR: That was very complicated in comparison to the older projects, thematically.

AH: Yeah, I wasn’t part of the writing process then, I helped with the arrangements but I wasn’t there at the inception of the songs. Afterwards, when the band broke up, Michael pursued making The Son Of Scheherazade into a musical. So maybe that was in his mind originally, that it was going to be a longer piece. I’m not sure how else to explain that, really.

MR: Well it’s also the stories, and the themes have a feminist perspective, although that might not have been the intention.

AH: You mean on the album, or just that piece?

MR: Not the album, per se, but the story, the concept of Scheherazade… .

AH: She wanted the end of the stories, though, didn’t she?

MR: Yes ma’am. Now I also want to throw out there that you and Michael have been together as the longest configuration of Renaissance for the recent tours. Are you looking at another studio album at all?

AH: Well, we’re in the middle of it right now, in fact. I have one more song to write lyrics to and then three more lead vocals I’m going in to do.

MR: Are you using the same band that was on this tour?

AH: Yes.

MR: So this residency has grown into a permanency.

AH: Yes, it has.

MR: Will you be touring in 2012 to support your 2011 tour release? Odd question, I know.

AH: Yes, we are. What we’re doing for the Fall tour is that in places we have played Turn Of The Cards and Scheherazade… before, we’ll be doing Novella and other classics. But new territories will hear Turn Of The Cards and Scheherazade…. One night we’ll be doing one set, and the next night we’ve got to turn our heads round and do a completely different show.

MR: So people will have to attend both shows!

AH: Yes, that would be nice. While I’m sure it’s going to work, I must admit, it was a bit daunting. When this was decided, it made sense, but did it make physical and mental sense to us? Will I remember the words? But that’s what we’re doing, plus we’re going to be doing two or three songs from the new album, and then we’ll be supporting the new album in Spring 2013.

MR: Annie, how do you keep your voice sounding so great after all these years?

AH: Somebody asked me that yesterday. I don’t smoke, although I have smoked in the past, but very little, years ago. I like wine, I love French champagne, I don’t drink very much of it, really. I’m very careful with my voice when we’re touring. I just try and stay away from crowds of people. When I started painting in 2002 and decided I wasn’t going to sing again, maybe bits and pieces here and there, I didn’t really know what my purpose was. But now I feel — just from all the comments and the letters of people saying how I’ve helped them get through cancer, because I’ve had cancer and I’ve shared that experience with people, and being on the phone with people because I love to share my experiences and help them — I feel that I’m helping people in all kinds of ways, from my voice and also from my painting, which is an extension of my voice. It’s like looking at me singing when you see a painting. So I feel that there’s a purpose now, and it’s really got nothing to do with me. I mean, it’s got to do with what I can give, but it’s got nothing to do with me personally. It’s what I need to do for everybody else.

MR: Beautifully said, Annie. Can we talk about your painting for a second? When did you start?

AH: I only started in 2002. It was when I slowed down my solo career because I just couldn’t get any further. I thought, “What am I going to do?” and a voice in my head in my head said, “It’s time to start oil painting now,” out of the blue. So I went and got a book on oil painting. I don’t read, I don’t know why I bought a book. I bought an easel and paints and then I didn’t do anything for two months. I did one painting and it was just a flower and I thought, “What’s this about? I’m sure it’s more,” and something said, “No, keep going, it’s coming,” and then I started painting and I couldn’t stop. And I’ve never stopped since. I’ve painted electric guitars, I’ve painted violins for Mark Wood, who was in Trans-Siberian Orchestra and has got his own violin company, so I painted these fantastic electric Viper violins, which a young girl called Lindsey Stirling who’s kind of a fantastic breakthrough YouTube artist, a hip-hop violin player, just put a new video up playing one of the violins I painted. The violin is called Victory. I haven’t actually seen it properly yet, so I can’t wait to see it. I’m very excited about that. I love painting with a passion. I love it. I take them on tour; people can buy them on tour. I do these little tiny paintings, little landscapes of all these different places. I channel with my art. It just comes. I don’t know where it comes from. Everything is a surprise.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

AH: What I do is I just sit down and I don’t ask anymore. Originally, I did say, “I need some help,” because I absolutely, totally believed that we’re surrounded by spirit angels and all we have to do is ask for help and it comes. It might not come in the way you think, and I asked for help when I started painting and just to relax and let it pour through you, rather than to think, “I’ve got to paint this, I’ve got to paint that, and I’ve got to paint in this style and that style,” but just ask for it to come and flow through and if you really believe it, it’ll come through. That’s what happens with me. It pours through. It’s not preconceived unless it’s a commission, and then all I do is tune into that person or that pet that I’ll be painting. Otherwise, I just sit and choose colors and just pour it out and I don’t see what it is until it’s finished.

MR: Nice. And the same thing applies for music, right?

AH: Yes, for singing. I don’t really practice. I’m awful, really. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I’m painting up until when I’m going to be doing a tour. It’s difficult for me to concentrate on painting for a week and then do something with singing at the same time. I’ve noticed that is difficult. That is another part of my brain or my psyche. I start rehearsing maybe a week before we go to rehearsals and my voice seems to just build up and it’s strong enough to tour and it stays there the whole tour. With recording, it’s really kind of odd. It’s a state of mind and just kind of plugging into something, I don’t know what it is.

MR: Now, if you had advice for new musical artists, would it be the same kind of line of thinking? “Just allow it to flow out?”

AH: I absolutely believe just to be calm and to ask for help when you’re writing words or anything like that, same thing. Just to let it come, rather than think, “I’ve got to write this about this or that,” or whatever. Somebody suggests, “I would like it to be about this,” well you can think about that, but put it in the back of your mind and try and absorb it. I don’t meditate, per se, but I think I meditate when I’m painting and I think I meditate when I’m singing. It’s just tuning in. I’m a firm believer that we’re surrounded by incredible energy and incredible things and all we have to do is ask and look around and be a good person. I think if you give out good stuff, good thoughts, smile at everybody as you pass them in the street, good things are going to come to you. My father was like that and it’s true. You just have to spread as much good stuff as you can, all the time, every day.

MR: And that’s what you’ve been doing — and I want to be delicate here — after your own challenge with cancer?

AH: I’m fine. That was ’93, so I think I’m a survivor. I’m fine. I still have the scars from when you have radiation, and I’m still sore around my ribcage, and that is something that will never go away, but it doesn’t hurt me unless I bang into something. I’m fine. When I first found out about it, I was upset, and then I turned it around and thought, “Well let’s get rid of this and we’ll be fine. What am I going to be doing in six months’ time?” I’d go and get my chemo done, and it was horrible. It was this red liquid that went into me at the time. I think there’s so many new things that they can do now, but when it was going into me, I would visualize it kind of healing me rather than it poisoning me. I was thinking, “Oh, this is going in and it’s making me better.” Because chemo is pretty strong and it does kill off a lot of things in your body, I tried to turn it around. “Oh, look at this, it’s red and it’s going into my body.” This is before I started painting, as well, which is interesting.

MR: And I was going to infer maybe, did you become more spiritual after that or did you always have that?

AH: I’ve always had that, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was. My mom and dad were working-class people. Very kind people, very good. It was a really good family that I came from, with no arguments, no divorce, nothing like that. I was very fortunate, really. It was a very nice upbringing. We didn’t have very much but I never knew that. I look at it now and I see that we didn’t, but it didn’t matter because it was such a loving family. Of course, that does help to that degree.

MR: Thank you very much, Annie. And I wouldn’t be unhappy if you did go back and doPrologue and Ashes Are Burning as well. (laughs)

AH: We will be performing Prologue when we do the Novella show. If people go to the website, renaissancetouring.com and they go to the tour page it tells you which show we’re doing in which city, with two little asterisks to show you which show where. We did a hybrid of Prologue which is fantastic. We did it a couple years ago, it’s brilliant.

MR: And if somebody wants to see your paintings, can they go online for a tour of your virtual museum?

AH: They can go to http://www.AnnieHaslam.com and also my Facebook, which ishttp://www.facebook.com/annihaslamart and the Renaissance facebook ishttp://www.facebook.com/renaissancetouring.

MR: Annie. Let’s do this again whenever you want. This has been a wonderful experience.

AH: Thank you. let’s do it when the new album comes out.

MR: You got it. Thank you again.

AH: Thank you Mike.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne