Branching Out

06/08/2003 8:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Neal Weiss

Nineteen-year-old Michelle Branch first began singing at the age of 3, when her parents made a tape of her perfect pitch to send to Grandma. After that cute debut, Branch spent her childhood listening to classic rock, making up her own words to Beatles tunes and watching/reinacting musicals with her sister. After attending a New Kids On The Block concert, she decided she simply had to become a pop star, in order to positively influence people with the power of music. Realizing she was serious, Branch's parents enrolled her in vocal lessons. For her 14th birthday, she asked for and was presented with a guitar. One day later, Branch wrote her first song. The following year , she dropped out of high school to follow a home-schooling program and concentrate on music. A chance meeting with a music executive in 1999 led to a record deal two years later, resulting in The Spirit Room, Branch's soulfully touching debut. Her career is still going strong in 2003: Her sophomore album, Hotel Paper, is out soon, she was nominated for Best New Artist as this year's Grammys, and her hit duet with Santana, "Game Of Love," recently picked up a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. Here, the budding songstress talks about what it's like to hit the big time.

LAUNCH: People make a big deal about you being a young singer who writes your own material. Why is that?

MICHELLE: The reason why everyone is making such big stink about me being a singer-songwriter is because there hasn't been a lot of that right now. And a lot of the young singers that are out there don't write the music, so it's not coming from a 19-year-old. With me, it's like a 19-year-old writing music for a 19-year-old, and hopefully I write about experiences that maybe a 19-year-old age group can take more seriously, if the lyrics seem more personal. I really have no clue, though. That's just my opinion on why.

LAUNCH: While you started cultivating your record, was there ever anyone that said, maybe "You should have these songwriters" or maybe "You should start dancing," or anything like that?

MICHELLE: When I did my record, no one ever came up and said, "Maybe you should try to sound a little more pop," or "I think you should dress a certain way," or "Maybe you should dance." If anyone ever saw me dance, that would be the end of my career! I was really lucky when Maverick Records found me. I played with my acoustic guitar and I was kind of like, "Here I am, take me as I am." And they did, and I was fortunate that it ended up that way, because what you see of me is what you get. Because I don't know if I would take opinions of me too well.

LAUNCH: Where did you learn to draw a line when it comes to your art?

MICHELLE: I think the reason that I've drawn a line about my art is because it is an art to me, and I think is should be more about my music than what I look like. Maybe it's because I've been exposed to...in the last three years, it's been pop and I've seen what's gone on and what people say about them, and so, you know, if you're just yourself and the focus is your music, then I don't think you can really go wrong with it.

LAUNCH: Who are your influences?

MICHELLE: The classic rock influence comes from my parents, who are constantly listening to classic rock. As I grew up, they'd blare it. They'd blare Led Zeppelin and we'd be in the car and we'd listen to the oldies station. It was really a music that I latched onto and was inspired by, and I always preferred it to Paula Abdul or whatever was going on when I was growing up. And people would always ask me. "What do you listen to?" and I still put on those records. I still listen to Queen, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith. Stuff like that. But more of the modern stuff...I like the Black Crowes, Train, Lifehouse, and the Calling.

LAUNCH: What about female influences?

MICHELLE: It's funny, because people always ask me about female influences, because I always name the male rock bands. I'm a really big Lisa Loeb fan and I really love Joni Mitchell. But it's funny--I always gravitate towards to male rock bands. I don't know why.

LAUNCH: There's some modern touches on your album--where did that come from?

MICHELLE: When I was in the studio, a lot people asked me if I decided what I wanted the record to sound like. If I wanted to put loops on it, or if I wanted it to sound like this. We didn't really talk about what direction I wanted to go in, we just went in and it was a really creative space. John Shanks and I would work very closely and we would write a song. And we would just start playing to it, and I think the drum loops would come from...I mean, like, in the past few years pop music has become such a big thing, and I can't help but be influenced by it because it's going on right now in the world. And so the obvious step was making what sounded good to us, and we didn't go, like, "Oh, is this going to be too pop" or...we just did what felt right for each song. Everyone keeps asking, "Why did you do this and this?" Because it felt good, and so I never really sat and thought, "I want to be like this and this."

LAUNCH: What was the big sort of epiphany of being in the studio and having this creative process?

MICHELLE: I left the studio definitely more of an artist than when I went in. I learned a lot being in the studio, especially being in with John Shanks--he's an amazing guitar player. I got to see how he wrote songs. And I brought little pieces of what everybody did and kind of incorporated it into what I do now, and it was really cool. I recorded an independent record, but being in the studio was just so completely different because of the budget that I had available to me. I'd be in the studio and if I wanted to hear a cello, and go, "I kind of hear a cello for this," someone would go out and get a cello. A lot of stuff was accessible to me that wasn't before, and it left me with room to be creative, and now I know don't compromise anything. If you're thinking about it, express it. There's no reason why if you have something you can't get that down on tape. And it was really fun to just be in there and create stuff. I can't wait to get in there and create stuff. Actually, I'm still writing and working with John Shanks, and I'm already thinking about a second record.

LAUNCH: Do you write all the time?

MICHELLE: Writing is something that never stops. I'm constantly writing. And nothing really inspires me, no one thing really inspires me. It catches me off guard. Sometimes I'll get in this writing mood where I'll write tons of songs, and then I'll get in this slump where I won't write anything.

LAUNCH: Do you find there are certain themes that you always return to?

MICHELLE: I think the theme that I most write about is love. I think about it--almost every song out there is about love. It's the universal topic--everyone can relate to it, everyone wants to love somebody, everybody has been in love some time in their life, so it's the easiest topic to write about. You hear about it in books, in movies, you hear people talking about it, and you can talk about it and kind of know what the feeling would be like and talk about it in songwriting. It's pretty much the topic I gravitate towards.

LAUNCH: Looking back, what was the coolest part of making the record?

MICHELLE: The coolest part of it was...well, I think when we were finishing it, when we were getting near the end, I started realizing what all our hard work had led up to. Finishing the record and saying goodbye and saying, "OK, I'm not going to be in tomorrow to work with you"--it was really kind of tough. It was cool to see that all of us that had worked on the record had hit it off so creatively. And it's just exciting to see that that can happen. It's just inspiring. The coolest part about the record: We had a couple of drummers play on the record. I'm a huge fan of drummers. And I like, love Led Zeppelin and I'm always listening to drums, and we had Kenny Aronoff play on the record and Vinny Caluda, who are both phenomenal drummers, and just being in the studio and having musicians of that caliber play on my record...it just didn't feel like I had a record until I had the live drums on it and I could just see that and I could just sit back, like, "Whoa, this is heavy-duty stuff." It was really cool. It was unbelievable.

LAUNCH: Tell me about the first time you heard yourself on the radio.

MICHELLE: The first time I heard "Everywhere" on the radio, I was in Detroit. And I had just left the station and the program director called up and was like, "Has she ever heard herself on the radio?" And everyone was like, "No, I don't think she has," and he was like, "Stay in the car, we're going to play it in five minutes." And my dad was with me that weekend and we were with the people from Maverick Records and we were all kind of just sitting in the car totally blasting it. It's really cool. When I heard it on the radio, it was kind of just affirmation that I was doing the right thing: Just keep doing what you're doing. Every time I hear it I'm kind of like, "I must be doing something right." So it's just kind of nice to get rewarded back for what you do.

LAUNCH: Tell me a little about where the first single came from.

MICHELLE: The first single, "Everywhere"--everyone keeps asking me what it's about. It's really not about anything too specific. I try when I write to keep it really open, and I mean I don't want to write songs and people will be like, "Oh, this girl went through this and this and I never went through that," and so they can't really relate to it. Obviously, I mean, it's going to touch up on something that I'm going through, because I'm the one who wrote it. But I don't want people to listen to it and go, "I think it means this." And I can kind of go through that too sometimes, where I think, "She means this" or "I can totally see where she's coming from." Or a lot of people will email me, like, "Me and my boyfriend listened to it. It reminds me so much of him and blah blah blah." Or other people will write me and say, "Oh, we're really religious and it reminds us of our faith in God." Totally two different interpretations, and they both equally love the song. So I'm glad that I write that way. Because I think that it makes it easier for people to listen to and grasp.

LAUNCH: Do you remember where you were when you wrote that song?

MICHELLE: I remember I was in my bedroom when I wrote "Everywhere." And I called up the girl who designs my website, and I told her, "I just wrote this really cool song and I really want it to be on the new record ,and I don't know, I want it to be the first song on the record, I can totally like feel it." So when we went in and sequenced the record, it was the first song and I called her up and I was like, "I was right! It's the first song on the record. I totally know!" So it's really cool.

LAUNCH: Obviously, you knew you were on to something.

MICHELLE: It's funny, because when I write songs, if I don't see the song going anywhere, if I don't get excited about it, I don't put much effort into it. But there's certain songs like "Everywhere," where if I start writing it and it starts to pick up and I can kind of hear how I want it to sound and I can see where it's going, I get really enthusiastic about it and before I know it, I have the whole song. I won't really bother with the song if it's not. Usually I won't really write anything down, particularly, and it's funny because I was watching Paul McCartney and he was saying that [the Beatles] never wrote anything down because if it was good, they would remember it. And that's what I do. It just makes sense--if you're not going to remember the song, then who else is going to remember the song"

LAUNCH: Tell me about your second hit, "All You Wanted."

MICHELLE: "All You Wanted" is one of my favorite tracks on my record. It started out as a really simple acoustic song on the album, and what's really satisfying for me as an artist is that I really heard how I wanted it to be and I really expressed that while we were in the studio. And now on the record, I listen to it and think, "This is 100 percent of what I wanted it to be." And it's really cool when...it is your baby. You take it from this acoustic song and you build it and watch it grow and then you just like, put it on the record and see what happens. I'm really happy with that song. It's definitely up there with my list of favorites.

LAUNCH: Do you listen to your record?

MICHELLE: Do I listen to my record? I've listened to it a couple times. It's kind of inspiring. Like before we went into rehearsal, I wanted to listen to some of the guitar parts and see what aspects I wanted to keep for the live show and how I wanted to change it, but now it's funny, because I'll be hanging out with other people and they'll be listening to it. I'll feel kind of dorky if I go in and blast my own album.

LAUNCH: Tell me about performing and touring in general.

MICHELLE: Performing live is one of my most favorite things. I started out playing--before I went into the studio, I was always playing acoustic. So most recently was when I started playing with a band, but I'm really, really, really excited. I love playing live and really want to get out on the road and see the world.

LAUNCH: So who are your fans?

MICHELLE: My fans are kids I would hang out with. They mostly girls my age, and what's cool about my show is they bring their parents along. And by the end of the show, their parents will be more excited than they are! They'll be like, "Oh my gosh!" They'll have me signing stuff. So I'll get a wide range of kids my age, and their parents or their siblings.

LAUNCH: Your music is being used for the show Gilmore Girls. Is that a show you're a fan of?

MICHELLE: I don't watch too much TV, but the whole time I was doing the record, every Thursday night I'd be like, "John, the Gilmore Girls are on, can we go take a break?" And he'd be like, "No, I'm watching Friends." So we always had this constant battle of what we were going to watch. I'm a huge fan of the Gilmore Girls and so when we were going to do the video, I was trying to get the guy Jared Padalecki to be in my video, but he was off shooting a video, so we didn't get it. So maybe I'll be on that show. So we're gonna see.

LAUNCH: Any acting in your future?

MICHELLE: Possibly. I won't rule it out. You know I stated out wanting to do musical theater, so if I get back to that, I won't complain.

LAUNCH: What has your Internet site done for you?

MICHELLE: I'm an Internet junky, and before I got signed and got all this, I wanted to get my music out there. I live in a small town and I didn't have a big fanbase. And we had demos that I recorded and made MP3s of and I put them up on the website. I sent them to this girl who heard them and said that she did site design and she said, "I'll do your site for the cost of the CD." And I was like, "I can do that." So we made the site, put up the MP3s, and I went to sites of bands that I liked or had the same audience I was trying to get and went on their message board: "Come listen to my MP3s." I did that for a long time; I would be on the Internet all the time. And I was getting email and calls from people from Italy and Germany and Australia and people who've never seen me live but had heard my music and really liked it, and the fanbase kept growing and growing. We have two websites. We had michellebranch.com and michellebranch.net. Michellebranch.com is the label site and it's kind of like your typical photo gallery/bio/tour dates kind of thing. And we have michellebranch.net, which is kind of like a personal thing for me. I have journal entries, photos from the road, I go on there and post, and it's kind of a personal thing. We have photos of the fans, stuff like that. And the coolest thing that both of them do, we started this on line e-team called Play It Forward. I got the idea after watching the movie Pay It Forward. You email three friends this Internet postcard that plays two songs off of my album--hopefully three friends--and hopefully they tell three friends. And it's really cool, because it's grown tremendously and you get points for every time you invite friends, request it at different radio stations/MTV, and you can win prizes. I really wanted to involve the Internet in what I do because my generation and my friends, that's what we're all into. And when we started it, I was like, "What would I want out of a band's website that I'm a fan of? What would I want to do?" And so we've really started and all these kids, I watched them since two years ago, when I started with my independent record. And I recognize their names and I call them up and tell them, "Thanks for voting for me." I'm very proud of the Internet.