southern records

Take Five: Edie Sedgwick

Dischord are set to release the fantastic new album from the transgendered reincarnation of Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick entitled Things Are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer. To mark this we invited Edie to take part in the first run of our new feature Take Five. Here the artist in question answers five set questions which are standard to everyone.

What would be the ideal listening conditions for someone hearing your new release for the first time?

To listen to my groundbreaking, Grammy-nominated record "Things are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer," brew a pot of chamomile tea or, if you prefer a more intense experience, a floral green tea or kombucha. Once your tea is made, drink 1/3 of a cup, then seat yourself in a chair approximately 4.5 feet (1.3716 meters) from a pair of Sony SS B1000 left-right speakers. Lean forward slightly, but not so much to risk a neck cramp. In between songs, place your index and middle fingers to your temples, and massage them.

Why do you think Dischord was the best label to release your new material?

From the results of a painstaking Google search, I learned that Dischord releases music by popular, independent, forward-thinking rock-and-roll musicians. Since I am a popular, independent, forward-thinking rock-and-roll musician, I contacted the label's offices in Arlington, VA and spoke to the mail-order supervisor, a man who called himself "Ian MACK-EYE" or "Ian "MACK-KAY." Ian M. agreed that my music was revolutionary, and, after I bought him a shot of Jagermeister, he quickly agreed to release my record. I only wish he had increased my advance from $100,000 to $200,000, as I am accustomed to staying in four-star hotels and eating succulent milk-fed veal while on the road. Because of Ian M.'s stinginess, I can only afford three-star hotels and filet mignon.

Do you have any routines or rituals (that you can talk about) before recording or playing a gig?

Before I play a gig, I offer thanks to Christ for the opportunity to fulfill the earthly dream I have harbored since my girlhood in a forgotten corner of Wales: to be, for as long as possible, a performing musician. This "giving of thanks" takes numerous forms - I might offer 10 Hail Mary's on a rosary I always have on my person, or greet the audience with the Sign of Peace, or, if my pocketbook is overflowing, raise my backing band's daily per diem food allowance from 3 Euros to 4.

Are you more comfortable in the recording studio, or on a stage, and why?

The recording studio is a seductive environment. The coffee is fresh. As often as not, a "Danish" or other type of pastry is at hand. Handsome engineers man obscure machinery that generates exciting "bleeps" and enticing "bloops." However, I prefer an unpredictable/hostile live performance to the (if I may coin a phrase) "dustbin of microphones." Any live performance offers the possibility of 1) violence and 2) public nudity. The value of these cannot be underestimated.

What song do you wish that you had written, and why?

I always envied visionary German composer Kurt Weill who, in 1928, composed "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" (a.k.a. "Mack the Knife") with lyrical help from Bertolt Brecht. Many versions of this grotesque song exist ("When the shark bites/with his teeth babe/scarlet billows/start to spread"), but few include a rarely heard final verse that reminds me of the Gothic-with-a-capital-G lyrical sensibilities of The Cure's Robert Smith and Lungfish's Dan Higgs: "There are some who are in darkness/And the others are in light/And you see the ones in brightness/Those in darkness drop from sight."

Pick up the brand new Edie Sedgwick album in the Southern webshop.