Psycho Sisters’ Vicki Peterson & Susan Cowsill – HuffPost 8.11.14
Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?
Vicki Peterson: Yikes.
Susan Cowsill: Run away! [laughs]
VP: I don’t know that there’s any advice I can give because I think most young artists who are coming up today who really want to do this thing have every tool at their command to take it as far as they can. There’s so much available now that wasn’t available when Susan and I were first starting this, either individually or in different groups, because there’s so many different ways to get your music out there. That being said, it’s in some ways more complicated and difficult because of the fact that everybody can get their music and there are no gatekeepers anymore, there are very few to filter things through. I say if you really want to do this, put your heart and soul and energy every day into it and figure out what you really want to do and who you really want to reach and then just go for it. But it ain’t easy, baby.
SC: I agree with everything my sister just said, but I would add to it that I concur, we are in a different time, we have eight hundred thousand more options but we also have that many more people on the planet and creative, beautiful, artistically talented, should-be-heard young people. It’s a bigger, bigger world, making it harder to be individualized and heard in that way so do everything she said but bottom line? Do it because you love it. That’s what you’re really going to end up with the most gratification from is making the music because you have to, you need to, it’s what you love, it’s how you feel yourself and how you express yourself. Do it because of that first. Then you’ve got a shot at the rest of it following. If you’re doing it just to get famous or rich or noticed or whatever those things are, you’ll never be satisfied, even if you get that. It’s a heart moment. You’ve got to love what you do. It’s a long road.
MR: Futuristic social media and technology aside, are the basics of that what you would have told both of yourselves way back when, also?
VP: Yes.
SC: Yes.
VP: The lesson I keep thinking to tell younger Vicki is, “Really trust your instincts.” It’s something I went along with for a long, long time and a few times disregarded to my own detriment, I believe. I think listening to your instincts, and that includes what Susan was saying about following your heart and doing things because you love them, that is your truest path and that’s what will get you where you need to go, whether that means you’re top of the pops or not. It may not be, but it’s going to be where you’re supposed to go.