Female Persuasion

Female Persuasion: I recently bought your cd Neverland, it's beautiful & lucid & moody. Who are your influences? What is your creative process like?
Jillian Ann:  Thanks for supporting the artist:) It's so strange.  No one buys cds anymore. I sometimes wonder how artists will survive if it continues this way.  My influences...well, it is people more than bands.  There is David Kirby who is the most progressive artist I know.  He filled my head with thousands of avant garde and  cutting edge amazing artists no one knows.  So part of my influence comes from the underworld. Then I think I am haunted by the ghost of Beethoven, which inspires the dark and moody layers of pianos. I often think what would he make now if he was still here? Then, for my more pop influences, I would have to give credit to Brian Sirgutz, who was the most positive and encouraging person from within the industry.  He introduced me to and helped me understand the pop and the dark wave worlds. My music is a strange influence of many forms of music and many types of sound. To me, music is an expression, not a formula and so I learned and understand the formula, but I like to bend it to my moods. I have been influenced from everyone from Beethoven to NIN, Massive Attack, Joy Division, The Birthday Massacre, Depeche Mode, Mum, Kate Bush, Portishead, Aphex Twins and anything by WARP records.

FP:  What is your creative process like?
JA:  I don't stop creating. I am active spiritually.  Much of my work comes from dreams, visions, and also insights. Most of my ideas are given to me. I am like a channel. When I am in the process of creating, I tend to spend the majority of my time when I am not creating meditating, walking, doing yoga or day dreaming. I have an inspiration and I sit down in front of my keyboards and pianos and computers and work till it is finished. Then, David Kirby comes in and adds the last touches. Creating is not a problem; stopping is. I composed over a hundred songs.  Many are being used for soundtracks and movies now. I am learning that the more I learn, the faster I can create. I have a millions songs in my head.  In fact, I feel like I will never get them out. It is like there are tapes playing and as soon as I take one out, another starts. When I am moved, I just channel it.

FP: I noticed you have several links to sound therapy, bioacoustics, etc. Do you apply these studies to your music---is there more in there than meets the ear :) ?
JA:  I understand music and sound therapy. I am working on two projects that are centered on that.  I did my homework. I understand the power of music and how the energy that goes into a song can alter people's moods and states. In much of my music, the point is to open people up and to transfer energy through sound. You can't heal until you open up and let out whatever you fear.  Some of my music is also about opening up and letting emotions out. People who cry and laugh live longer and are healthier.  Some call my music dark, but just because something is deep and intense doesn't mean it is bad. I wont tell you about all my subversion because then it would no longer be something to question, but I feel that we live in a world where people need something to make them feel.  So much music has little soul. It's like I hear it and under the noise I hear nothing but a vapid emptiness. I feel music no longer has a message, but, rather, it is all image.  No one is saying anything anymore. Granted, Neverland was me being soft spoken.  My next album will be a bit less soft spoken and a little more assertive.

FP: Other than reaching a slew of people, has the internet influenced your music in a creative fashion?
JA:  Yes, the internet has given me freedom. I got a record deal because I was on the internet. I was funded through the internet. I found my street team through the internet. I am doing what the rest of the industry is just starting to catch on to doing. But they are behind. I have been at it for a few years. I believe the future of music involves more than a pretty face and a naked girl or an angry man who likes to yell about how all women are **&^% .  Record sales are showing that the public is growing bored and sick of the pop princesses and the rappers who don't talk about anything but seem so upset over everything. I saw the vision of what I could do with the net when I was fourteen or so and then I just worked at making it real. Needless to say, while most of the people I know are flopping around like fish, I am thankful that I saw the door and walked through it even though I only had a vision and continue to as my guide. I never auditioned. I never had to sleep with anyone and I never had to sell out to get somewhere. I always slept with who I wanted, made the music I wanted, and let my heart guide me. I was not told what to do or how to do it. I gathered ideas for years. I have been underground reading, watching and then when I was ready, I came out to play. The internet gives me the ability to create and to control my art and project my vision directly to the fans and it's not created by men in suits telling me how I need to say this or do that. The internet gave me freedom and it gave me a way to reach thousands of people I couldn't have reached without it. The internet is the tool I use to deliver my vision to the world instantly and without any censorship. It is powerful and amazing and I hope more artists wake up and see the power at the touch of their hands to reach the world with their

FP: You have quite a web following...do you do any of the designs on your extensive site yourself?-
JA:  I do everything you see in HTML and I have someone who is an angel who does all the flash.  So, yes, I do it myself.  Other than the flash. My site is constantly changing!
I am always changing.  Life is short so why limit yourself?
FP: How much time daily would you say you spend on your computer?
JA:  Between music and the site, emails, writing, editing, building promotion, 8-19 hours per day.  Nineteen is when it is super crunch time.  If I am not on the computer, I am running, doing yoga, meditating, going to the gym, reading, or in meetings.
FP:  Are there any sites out there that rock your world?
JA:  Well, I like the strange and unusual. I like the beautiful and odd. There are not many I have seen that  blow my mind.  So many are so the same, over and over and over.  But I like these:
http://www.virtualom.com
http://www.larrycarlson.com
http://www.robertgregorygriffeth.com
I created my website because I was bored with the ones I found. I wanted to see something deep and personal and I never saw one, so I made it. I like yours and I am sure there are others out there I just haven't found them.

JA:  Both.  I have four computers
FP: Part of the fp vision is to continually question the current state of feminism, especially regarding objectification of women, whether we do it ourselves (as in exhibitionism/artistic portrayal on the internet or other) or by society, images we see
frequently in the media, etc. As a current or former model, any thoughts on this?
JA:  Current model  :)  rumors :)      I feel the issue is deeper than feminism and objectification.  A very large majority of the American cultural bases its worth on either the job, their partner or how attractive they are. We have been programmed to believe this is how and the way we find our identity. Through our jobs or our relationships. In a culture that bases its worth and value on those things, it makes our focus either the way we look or what we have. The media is not helping this but is feeding it for the most part.  The more people believe that their worth is based on their status, relationship and/or job, the more they will buy and consume and the more they will focus on those things.  The more they focus, the more unworthy they feel and then the cycle continues. As a woman who has learned that it doesn't matter if I have money or a lover or am beautiful internally, I feel the same and if I am not content with who I am without those things, I can never really have or enjoy those things. I believe the best thing a woman can do for herself is to not base her worth on men or jobs or beauty, but, rather, learn that we are all unique and individuals and all are different. It makes me sad and disturbed to see so many women think they are only worth something if they are beautiful and thin. It disturbs me that most men never look past the surface and see women as nothing more than something to use and not to know. But the reason that happens, as I was saying, goes beyond the surface. I see two things on the net -- empowered women who create their art and use their bodies because they want to, and those who do it just to try to please others. I think the ones who do it because they want to are setting a positive example and those who do it to earn the praise of others are just falling into a trap. The media focuses often on the surface and over the last fifty years looks have become more and more of a thing that is valued by our culture. It's sad that we would die for our body but we won't even go through some slight struggle for our spiritual state.
FP: Have you ever seen Natacha Merritt's book "Digital Diaries?" (http://www.digitalgirly.com and http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/books/sex/all/facts/01320.htm) 
You remind me a bit of her.  Your openness and brazenness with sexuality (the fetish modeling), not to mention how photogenic you are. Do you do any self-portraiture?
JA:  Yes, of course, I am aware of her. I do and I am working on a book.  I have to replace my camera  :) Sexuality is a part of life. I love to do self portraiture because I have ideas and sometimes it's easier to do them than to explain them to others.

FP: How much do you think your imagery and visual influences come into play with your music? What do you dress like on stage?
JA:  When I get a concept for a song, I get a vision and I see it.  Then, I create it from the vision and then I try to communicate the vision in images and in visual as well.
For my next body of work, I am making visuals to go with the music that tell a story. I am looking to tour Europe over the summer and then come to the States with my next album. But as an artist, I tell stories and for the next album the stories are the stories that seem to be getting censored and covered up. So, along with the music, I am creating the story in visuals with the help of some people in my team.  As far as on stage, either a vamp or a school girl or a bit of both. It depends on my mood. I am a bit of a changeling. I tend to morph so it all depends on my state.
FP: Are you ready for fame? And if that happens do you think you will approach your personality on the net any differently?
JA:  The deadly question.  Yes, I am ready for fame. I am ready because I understand it and I understand myself.  I don't want to edit or to stop being real. It's been a battle to this point.  My openness offends people and scares them sometimes. I am not commercial and I am not a conformist. If anything, I want to use fame to do things and use it to try to counteract many issues and bring to the attention of the media and the world things it seems they like to ignore that matter or replace with news that has no meaning except distraction. I have never seen the purpose of being famous unless I could do something with it. I could have had it a few times, but if I had gone that way, I wouldn't have been able to do much with it. Money, power, sex and drugs are all things which people seem to think are so important and maybe it is because I have had all of them and had as much as I wanted that I know that in the end no matter how much you have, you're still you and nothing changes. So, now I understand the things that could cause me to end up not doing anything except trying to find my worth in those things. But, back to the net, I will fight to keep my voice and even when I have thought of trying to go another way, I can't.  My heart starts acting up and I like being in peace so even if I wanted to, I don't think I can stop. I used to think destiny was something in fairy tales till these last few years and after all I have seen and been through, I know there is more to life than what I see.
FP: Current obsession?
JA:  Music, mittens, reading, yoga, poetry,yerba mate,tribe, playing out live, coffee, traveling, running, dreaming.