March, 2005
Publication title: Time Off, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Christie Eliezer
Perfect Girl
Sarah McLachlan hates phones and refuses to own a mobile. Her sanctuary is her house in Vancouver, minutes from downtown, which she shares with her drummer and husband Ashwin Sood and daughter India.
She has a studio there, spends a lot of time painting, gardening, in the kitchen (she released a cookbook called Plenty five years ago) and in the atrium, which has a 30-foot high fig tree growing in it. Her home is an oasis of calm away from the intensity of her live shows and her rabid fans.
“I’m very comfortable with that intensity I get from audiences. It’s a huge part of why I love playing live,” McLachlan says. “That emotion I get and the huge contact between me and the crowd – I can understand it because I’ve always said music saved my life because it took the pain away.
“I purposely write my songs ambiguously so they put their own story to it. When they ask me what a song is about, I always say, “Well, what does it mean to you?”. If their interpretation is different, that’s right on.”
With intensity can come madness. Early in her career, a computer programmer sent her hundreds of letters and was seen lurking near her home. She obtained a restraining order and wrote the song “Possession” about it. The guy sued, saying she took some of the song’s ideas from his letters. He killed himself in December 1994 before the case went to trial.
Despite McLachlan’s strong idea of who her following is, she is surprised at some unlikely celebrities who’ve told her they’re fans.
“I’ve just done a video with Daryl of Run DMC,” she reveals. “Last year we collaborated on a version of “Cat’s In The Cradle”, which I sang and he rapped over it. I was surprised when he called wanting to work with me. He came to my studio and did the track, my husband co-producing. He’s a huge guy – all solid muscle – but a real teddy bear. Alice Cooper was another. I met him at an awards night and he said he was a big fan.”
For her upcoming Australian tour, McLachlan is rearranging some of her songs so the show is different from that of her sell-out dates last year. But don’t expect any new songs. McLachlan says she doesn’t plan to release her next album until she’s good and ready, especially given her writing has slowed since the arrival of India.
“As long as I can remember, I always knew I’d have a kid called India. I’ve long had a fascination with that country. I went there five years ago with my husband and it’s such a beautiful and complex place. Unfortunately it was a whirlwind trip, part of a five-week trek in which we were in a new city every other day. But I remember being in Varanassi and going at dawn to the Ganges. There were cremations going, the priests had come down and washed themselves – it was a very spiritual moment.”
Sarah McLachlan plays Brisbane Convention Centre Sunday Mar 27 and the sold-out East Coast Blues and Roots Festival, Byron Bay, Monday Mar 28.
