This past Friday night I got a chance to catch up with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper before her sound check for her show later that night at The Rock Shop, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. We met at the coffee house across the street from the venue, and it ended up feeling more like catching up with a friend I haven’t seen in a while. I was drawn in by her performance immediately when I saw her last at The Living Room. Her songs often have drastic tempo changes, as well as volume and intensity shifts, making some of them feel more like mini-suites with changing moods. She puts an emphasis on words, but it’s the delivery of the words that makes the songs really stand out, and what I would guess is a main factor in New Music Seminar including her on their list of 100 Artists on the Verge.
Kelly Knapp: How did you come up with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper as your moniker?
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper: A couple years ago I was keeping a notebook by my bed. I was really inspired and I was finding that I was writing lyrics in my sleep, like I wasn’t sleeping very well because I just constantly up there (in my head) working, so I was training myself to roll over and write in my journal in the middle of the night so I could just get it out of my head and fall back asleep, and Lady Lamb was written in my notebook when I woke up.
KK: You don’t even remember writing it?
LLB: No, I don’t. And it was really messy. I’d written it in the dark. It was like – I still have the notebook in my mom’s house somewhere – the words were all overlapping on each other. It was around the time I was putting recordings together, and I knew I didn’t want to go by my name because I was keeping it a secret from people, and so I put it on the recordings as the moniker.
KK: So you were releasing songs secretly?
LLB: I was recording them secretly for a few weeks, like I wasn’t telling my friends or anyone what I was up to. I was just doing it for therapy for myself. I was in it to make the recordings themselves and I wanted to put them on a CD and have it for myself and not duplicate it, but I wanted to make art for it and have a name for it. I didn’t want it to get out, really.
KK: It was more a personal outlet at the time.
LLB: Absolutely. That’s all that it was. I had no plans for performing ever. I was just doing it to get through a rough spot in my life, and I was finding that it was really therapeutic, and I just became really invested in it, and then I shared it finally with my boss, who’s a good friend of mine, and he encouraged me to share it more.
KK: You worked at a DVD store?
LLB: I did, for four years (at) Bart and Greg’s DVD explosion in Brunswick (ME). I did all my recordings at that time in my workplace.
KK: But not while you were working? Like pull a Clerks and shut down the store in the middle of the day to go to the basement and play?
LLB: I did bring my guitar behind the counter and fiddle around when the store was slow. It was laid back.
KK: It seems like you play a lot of instruments. How many do you play?
LLB: I never counted. Pretty much I can play anything, but I’ve never done horns or strings, and I’m not good at piano. My fingers are too small and I don’t have the coordination to do the two-handed thing. I play guitar and banjo and ukulele and auto harp, and the little dinky things, like xylophone, accordion, and all that kind of stuff.
KK: How many do you play live?
LLB: Just one.
KK: Your songs have very strong nature imagery and metaphors. Is nature a big source of inspiration for you?
LLB: I don’t know how that happens. I wouldn’t really say that I’m a nature-y sort of person, per se. I know that sounds kinda bad, but I don’t really love outdoorsy things. I don’t love hiking or camping or anything like that, but I do love coastal Maine, I do love the ocean and the area where I’m from in Maine, so I think that just kind of gets in there. It’s specifically Maine, but when I write about it, it’s more broad. You don’t know necessarily that I’m talking about Maine.
KK: Do you have a certain place you like to go to get inspired?
LLB: When I’m driving. I do a lot of driving, and most all of it comes to me when I’m driving, or trying to fall asleep.
KK: Do you make mind movies while the scenery passes by?
LLB: Yeah, it’s kinda like that and I get to the point where I’ll come up with lyrics in my head while I’m driving, and I used to pull over and write them down but I’ve tried to challenge myself these days to think about it, but not stress over it, and not write it down, and if it’s strong enough in my head it’ll resurface and by the time I get home I’ll have remembered it and then I can write it down.
KK: So your early songs are really layered, and they weren’t intended to ever be played live. Do you ever want to revisit that, or expand the songs you perform now with a full band?
LLB: I’m curious about it. I think that sometime down the line I’m sure I’ll have a band eventually, when I can afford to…I’m curious how I can have those old songs reinvented live, because they’re never ever played, but I think they’re so old even though they’re not – I’ve just written a lot of songs since that are more lyrically relevant to me, so I think some of that stuff…I look back at it and I’m like, I don’t want to sing about that anymore. But I think one day I will, even if it’s a one time thing, or for an encore.
KK: How long have you been writing songs?
LLB: About three years. I would say that overall I have at least 150 songs that I’ve written. Last I counted, there were probably 35 that I think are strong enough to put on a record, but I just need to cut down to 12.
KK: What song is most fun to play for you?
LLB: Probably “Crane Your Neck.” I like the way it feels.
KK: You’ve been featured in New Music Seminar’s Top 100 Artists on the Verge. Did you know that?
LLB: No. Really? That’s crazy! That’s great, I had no idea.
KK: Well, congratulations!
LLB: Thank you, that’s awesome. I’ve known about the New Music Seminar, so that’s really cool.
KK: Do you think you’re on the verge?
LLB: Yes!
KK: And you just won an award in Boston recently?
LLB: I did, I won Best Folk Act of the Year. I don’t really consider myself folk at all, but I was still flattered. I don’t even know what my genre would be; I don’t know how else they would classify me.
KK: You’ve been going back and forth recently between Boston and New York.
LLB: Yes, mostly in New York, though. My plan was to live mostly in Boston, but I’ve ended up more in New York, actually.
KK: Are you planning on doing any sort of tour?
LLB: Yeah, well, for now things are a little on hold. I got an official showcase at SXSW, so I’m headed to Texas, and then after that I have some agents interested, and some labels and things like that, but I’m not making a decision on that until after Texas. Once that happens I think that by mid-March I’ll be in the midst of having a tour planned.
KK: That’s great! That will be a huge audience.
LLB: Yeah, I’m playing on the Brooklyn Vegan showcase. Then, hopefully I’ll be support for a big tour soon.
KK: Are you finding inspiration in your nomadic-ness in the meantime?
LLB: I am! Although I’m kind of at the end of my rope right now…like I kind of just want a room to read in and just be alone. I’m headed back to Maine tomorrow for a couple weeks, to have a room to read in. I feel like I’ve just been going and going and hopping and hopping for two months, and I just need a break.
KK: Are you trying to decide between New York and Boston?
LLB: I think I’ve decided on New York, but it’s the other limbo of if I’m going to make my record this spring and put it out with a label and get an agent, does it make sense to sign a lease or start paying expensive rent in New York if I’m going to be on the road? I’m in the weird waiting game to figure out where I’m going to be so I can make a decision. But it’s all good – I can’t really complain. I have my car, which I got a great parking spot (tonight)! I parked literally right in front of Rock Shop. It’s a Cadillac and I’m obsessed with it.
KK: That is a victory in New York!
LLB: Yeah! I’m obsessed with my car and everything fits in it. I can’t complain. If a friend of mine is like, ‘Hey do you want to go to Philly for the weekend?’ or ‘Hey, do you want to play this show in Vermont?’ I’m like, yeah, why not? Sure, I’m into it.
KK: That sounds great. You can just get up and go at the drop of a hat.
LLB: Yeah, it’s liberating.
KK: Is there anyone you have on repeat on your ipod right now?
LLB: The first thing that comes to my mind is Frontier Ruckus. I’m a huge fan.
KK: And they’re playing tonight.
LLB: Yeah, they’re headlining. They’re this Michigan band that’s like, people either love them or hate them, and I’m a huge fan. In fact, I think of the lead singer, Matt – who writes all the material – I think of him as the male version of Joanna Newsom. He has a very specific kind of voice, and really lyrical. That’s what I love in music.
KK: Your music reminds me of that too, because your songs are like stories.
LLB: Yeah, I like to be wordy. Yeah I would say Frontier Ruckus and Joanna Newsom I have on loop a ton, always.
KK: Well, that makes sense!
KK: Do you have any pre-show rituals?
LLB: I rap Nicki Minaj. My friend mashed together a 23 minute track of all of her verses, like rap after rap after rap.
KK: You rap all 23 minutes?
LLB: If I have 23 minutes of time in my head I’ll go through the entire thing, but I know it word for word and I know each verse that comes next.
KK: So you hype yourself up.
LLB: I do. I just stand there – I don’t even dance – I just rap it in my head.
Lady Lamb’s most recent album, Mammoth Swoon is a collection of the songs she performs live, and is currently available on iTunes and Bandcamp. If you can make it to SXSW, definitely be sure to check her out, because there’s really nothing that beats the live experience.
