Spiritech: Hey Pearl, how are things?
Pearl Aday: I'm good. At the moment I'm just cleaning my house actually (laughs). Very exciting, some fun rock 'n' roll stuff, cleaning the house.
Spiritech: (Laughs) Fair enough. The reception to the new album seems to have been excellent thus far, at least from what I can observe. How do you think the album is going over?Pearl Aday: So far I've been seeing really good reception from everywhere. The reviews we've been getting have all been good to great, and everybody seems really happy with it. I think that nobody really knows what to expect from us, because they hear Anthrax, they hear Meat Loaf and (think) what does that mean; is it something in between? Is it one or the other? Then they hear it and they go, "oh, it's this, it's rock 'n' roll. I really dig this, this girl can sing and the songs are good". I haven't really found many people who don't like it actually, if I might be so humble (laughs). But that's just been my experience so far, you know?
Spiritech: Have you played many shows since the album was released?
Pearl Aday: Yeah, we actually just got off the road. We just played our first headlining club tour in the US. We started on the West Coast and we went across the Midwest and over to the East Coast a little bit, then came all the way back. So that was really fun. Just little clubs across the States, making friends everywhere we go, just trying to spread the word a little bit more, so people will come out and see us and see what we do live, which is really fun.
Spiritech: Mother Superior played on Little Immaculate White Fox. Are they also a part of your touring band as well?
Pearl Aday: Well, the bass player, Marcus Blake is playing with me live in my touring band. On the album, what you hear on the album is Mother Superior. That was Matt Tecu on drums, Jim Wilson on guitar and Marcus Blake on bass. At the time, that was the makeup of Mother Superior. I wrote most of the songs with Jim and Marcus too, so they're very much involved in the creation of the album and then Marcus played live (too). Jim Wilson has played live with me before and I've played live with Mother Superior as my backing band in the past, but the current lineup has just Marcus Blake from Mother Superior.
Spiritech: Did Scott also play guitar on the tour you just completed?
Pearl Aday: Yes.
Spiritech: What's the experience for him been like, being on the road in quite a different touring environment than he's used to with Anthrax?
Pearl Aday: Well, I mean, he's been through it before, you know? Those guys toured in a van way back when, but it's not anything new for him. I think... he said it was fun for him. Going back and sort of starting from scratch a little bit. He was really hands-on and really involved, from driving the van to... we didn't have money for techs, so he was setting up his own gear. It's very grassroots at the moment. We're just trying to start it, trying to move forward really organically and do the best that we can at the level that we're at. With no money, you know? He said he had fun and everybody seemed to be happy, so it was good, it was really good.
Spiritech: You're no new figure to the rock 'n' roll industry, yet this is your first album. Is there any reason it's taken this length of time for the album to be recorded and released?
Pearl Aday: (Pauses) Well, when am I supposed to do it? (laughs) I guess, I mean I did it when I was ready. I sang with my dad on the road for nine years and I sang with Motley Crue and I sort of... I don't think that I could have made this album if I had tried to do it six years ago. What you hear now wasn't going to happen. I had to live my life and get to the place where I am now and know the people that I know now in order to get the album that we have right now, you know what I mean? I think it just sort of had to happen organically. I wasn't ready before I guess; if I was ready before then I would have done it before, but I think I just needed to do it when it was ready to happen.
Spiritech: Fair enough. In many ways the album is such an all-star cast, being produced by Joe Barresi and featuring the likes of Mother Superior, Scott, Jerry Cantrell and Ted Nugent. How did this all come together?
Pearl Aday: Well, we asked Joe Barresi if he'd be interested in producing and he said he was interested. He came down to rehearsal, he liked when he heard and he said yes. We had three weeks with him, so we did the album in three weeks with Joe. Then as far as Ted and Jerry are concerned, we were mixing the tracks in the studio and we had 'Checkout Charlie' up and we just thought it could really do with some really cool, kickass, like Nuge feedback rippin' guitar. So we know Ted, so we thought, "why don't we just ask him? It can't hurt to ask". So we asked him, he said yes and the same thing went with Jerry; Jerry's a really good friend of ours. Jerry came down to the studio, sat down and played the solo on 'Anything'. So I guess it can't hurt to ask (laughs).
Spiritech: Still on the new album, 'Rock Child' seems like such an autobiographical song for you. How much of that is embellished and how much of it is directly lifted from your own life experiences?
Pearl Aday: It's all from my experience. I guess, you know, you can take artistic license sometimes, just to fit the words together in a way that sings well. But as far as like sleeping in a guitar case, that's true. My mum used to work in a recording studio when I was born and an open guitar case, you'd be surprised, is a real good place to put a sleeping baby if you've got a blanket and a pillow. So I used to sleep in a guitar case when I was a baby. So there you go.
Spiritech: You've also covered Tina Turner's 'Nutbush City Limits' on the album, which I think you really did justice.
Pearl Aday: Thank you.
Spiritech: (Laughs) No problems. What was the reasoning for selecting that particular track?
Pearl Aday: I love that song, that's about it. No deep thought went into that; I just think that is a kickass rock song and I love to sing it and I've loved Tina Turner. I think it was one of the last ones we put on the album actually. That one we packed on towards the end, we went into Matt Sorum's studio with the band. Yeah, we just thought, this song rules, we have fun playing it, why don't we try it, we'll put it down. It came out real good, so we put it on the album.
Spiritech: Was it because the end result was so pleasing that you placed it as second track on the album, rather than tacking it on at the end as a bonus track as many bands would perhaps have done instead?
Pearl Aday: Yeah, it rules, why not put it at the front of the album? Why not? I'm not scared.
Spiritech: On the touring side of things, what other touring have you got scheduled for this record?
Pearl Aday: Well, we're trying to figure that out. We just came off this spring in a van in little clubs and we're getting offers here in the States for several of the summer festivals. But as far as that goes, we're just trying to make things work, we're trying to... It costs a lot of money to tour and I've gotta pay my band members, I've gotta rent a van and I have to pay for gas and get hotel rooms on days off. You know, the list goes on and on and everything that we do and all that touring entails comes out of my own pocket, or me and Scott together because we're a couple. But it's tough. So if so we get an offer from a summer festival in the Midwest, we try and see, "okay, can we book some shows around that to make it make sense?" We have to find a way to do that without losing our shirts, because there's not a penny from the record label or anybody from anywhere. So it's just a matter of seeing how we can make it work without going homeless, you know? (laughs)
Spiritech: (Laughs) I suppose in this economic climate and with illegal downloading so prevalent it makes it even more difficult to launch or break a "new" artist at this point in time as well.
Pearl Aday: Yeah, the record business is totally nuts right now. It's going through a transformation and it sucks for artists at the moment I believe. You can't do anything about it; people will steal your album when your bread and butter depends on people buying your music, people will steal it. So there's not really anything you can do about that, except hope for loyal and honest fans who really care about the artist. Because people don't get it; if they're stealing a band's music they're actually hurting the artist that they like, which is... it's a real big bummer (laughs).
Spiritech: Is there any possibility the band could include Australia in their touring itinerary?
Pearl Aday: We'll have to talk to Riot! about that, won't we? (laughs) We would love to do that, we would absolutely love to do that, but it all depends. It all depends on how we get there and how we can get there. If it's tough for us to tour in our home country, (just) think what's it going to be like getting everybody over to Australia? But we definitely plan on coming there. We'll see how it goes, we're trying our best with everything that we got to get it out there to everybody everywhere. So I would expect for us to be there, definitely. We'll make it.
Spiritech: Great news. Changing topics, was there any temptation to have your father appear on the album?
Pearl Aday: No, there wasn't a temptation. I think this is something that I'm doing on my own and I think he could appreciate that. I have sung with my dad before, I've sung obviously with him for nine years on the road and then I sang on various albums and stuff. But as far as this goes, I think this is just something that I co-created with Jim and Marcus and with Scott and producer Joe Barresi. It's taken a while and it sort of my baby. I think my dad can appreciate that and really be proud of me for making the effort to do this on my own. But who knows, maybe he'll jump up on on-stage with me if we're ever together in the same town and I'm playing a show. That would be fun.
Spiritech: Final question - any famous last words?
Pearl Aday: How about famous first words, 'cause I'm just starting? (laughs) Yeah, if you love rock 'n' roll then you'll love this - just come and check us out.
- Spiritech
