Winter, 1998
Publication title: In 2 Print, vol. -, Iss. 10, pg. 41
Place: Unknown
Writer: Tabassum Siddiqui
Sarah surfaces
Sarah McLachlan talks with IN 2 PRINT reporter, Tabassum Siddiqui
Congratulations on the success of Lilith Fair.
Thank you. It was amazing fun. I’m very proud to be part of it and to have been able to perform with so many amazing women.
You mentioned the sense of community that you wanted to build among female artists. Did that develop with Lilith Fair?
It helped to nurture relationships in an amazing way. It’s a really strange journey we’ve chosen, being women in the music industry, and it’s nice to be able to connect with your peers. We’ve come out of it with so many friendships. We played together on stage, were in each other’s dressing rooms jamming — like summer camp.
In Toronto, you mentioned that you had been thinking of adding men to the bill but you’d changed your mind. Why?
We did press conferences every day and I started getting weighed down by the pressure of the media, of having to defend Lilith every step of the way. So, I starting thinking maybe we should add men so that it’s truly egalitarian. Then I realized there’s already more men on stage than there are women — most bands are full of men. Honestly, Emmylou Harris was the first person that came to me and said, “Sarah, please don’t change it — it’s so beautiful the way it is.” Talking to the other women, we agreed that we’re in the infancy of something and we just wanted to keep going with it for a while. Those women gave me strength to say, “No,” instead of succumbing to the pressure.
It seems ridiculous that you’ve constantly had to be on the defence by explaining, “This is about celebrating women, not excluding men.” Or the backlash from Rolling Stone saying “Lilith is as safe and nonoffensive as it gets.”
Do they want dangerous and offensive?
That comment was upsetting because it came from a women. She came the first four days when we were all just floundering, trying to figure out ways to make it work. We were incredibly busy and basically she just lied about almost everything – whatever suited her purposes. I’m sorry that’s what she got out of Lilith; it was basically the opposite of what we were actually doing.
There has been criticism about the diversity of the lineup. You answered that you did ask some harder – edged artists but they were either busy or said no.
It’s frustrating that every day you have to defend the thing. How can you say that all folk music or all pop music sounds the same? Within the genres, we had great diversity. Yes, we could’ve had Hole, but could you see Hole as part of that bill? It’s a real balancing act to make a line up that has something for everyone.
In Toronto, you had artists as diverse as the Wild Strawberries to the Indigo Girls yet you had the media lumping them together as folk rock.
It’s lazy journalism. It’s ghettoization of women’s music. So many people threw it in my face, “Aren’t you furthering the marginaliztion of women by lumping them all into this type of festival?” Well, no. If I were saying it was all the same kind of music, then, yes, I would be. But I’m saying that everybody’s different, uniquely beautiful and let’s celebrate that diversity.
Lilith showcased a lot of local and smaller artists. Was that important to you?
Absolutely — that’s what the B – stage was all about. A young spoken word artist like Kinnie Starr, for instance, could play to 200 or 300 people in a bar anywhere in Canada. At Lilith she can play to thousands. It’s a great opportunity. For me, live music is the best way to see and hear music. There’s an amazing energy in live music that you can’t help but get a bit caught up in it.
I understand there’s a live Lilith CD in the works.
Yes, and I think it’s going to be the first release on my own label.
Temple Records. Why did you decide to start your own label?
It’s the same reason as the B – stage — I want to try and give young starting artists an opportunity to play in front of people. I’d love to find some young raw talent and give them an opportunity.
The startup costs for Lilith were huge. Have you determined whether you’ll take a loss this year or break even?
We broke even. It’s like any kind of business to start up. We had amazing expertise working for us; my two managers and my agent who knew how to put the whole thing together. It was a lot of money but the cool thing is that next year it’s not going to be so much — no start up expenses and we know more from this year, how we can streamline things.
A lot of money was given back into the community. Was that concept integral to Lilith?
When we realized how much money could be made, we wanted Lilith to be a community thing. Anytime you go into a place and put something like this on, for me it only makes sense to try and give something back. I’ve been long with Lifebeat, an AIDS organization in America. It was one of my main choices for the national charity when we realized that we could get corporate sponsors to give not only us money, but charitable dollars as well. We didn’t want all women’s charities, so we picked Lifebeat and RAINN (the association for anorexia nervosa) and WOW, a women’s organization. Those were the national organizations that got money from corporate sponsors and from book and record sales.
Then, in every city we donated a dollar of each ticket to local charities — about 89% of those were women’s shelters. I got to be the lucky person every day to hand the woman the cheque. They thought they would be getting $500 and I’d give them cheques for $25,000. Tears would well up in their eyes, they were so shocked. It was amazing; things such as, “This money will help us open 50 beds for a year.” They were really excited. The experience was completely rewarding.
Another organization you’re involved with is World Vision. You could choose to lend your name to any group.
Why this one?
Well, quite honestly Terry David Mulligan (MuchMusic host) really got me excited about it about five years ago. He had done a trip with Tom Cochrane (singer – song – writer) to Africa. World Vision was trying to bring in people from the music industry to speak to youth, trying to get young people to understand what’s going on outside our backyard. I looked into the organization quite a bit, because it’s religious. I was skeptical at first, because I’m not necessarily a religious person. But the people are doing really great work and they’re really, really dedicated. They go into a place and they don’t just put a bandage over it. They teach people within the community to be able to run everything on their own. Once the community is self – sufficient, World Vision people can leave. I like the way they work. World Vision invited me to go to Thailand and Cambodia to make a documentary to see where the money was going – to get the word out to kids through me, I guess. It was an amazing, eye – opening experience to see the poverty first – hand and to see where all the money went.
That came out in your music later on “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.”
The experience changed my life in so many ways. I can’t say any song is completely tangible — you know, this is the song that’s about this. The energy, the way my life changed and in the way I look at things, that’s definitely come out in the music.
Recent media hype has been huge with Lilith and the new album. Last year you said “I’m still not a media darling. I can walk down the street and be recognized by hardly anyone.” Do you think that’s all going to change?
Things haven’t really changed. I don’t really go out much. It’s funny – – I guess I get recognized more by people as the “girl who did Lilith.” I’m not Sarah McLachlan the singer – songwriter anymore — it’s something else. They’re not really fans of my music but people who recognize my face.
On the “Surfacing” tour you’re playing smaller theatres. Are smaller venues your preference?
I’d love to play in a 5000 – seat theatre because then I could actually make some money or break even. But there are none. There are only about five marketplaces in America that have 5000 – seat theatres. Most of them are full of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and stufflike that so you can’t get them anyway. After doing a big thing like Lilith I really wanted to get back into the theatres and play a show where everybody had a good seat — where everybody could have a good seat and see well instead of getting out the binoculars.
You’ve had a great response to “Surfacing”. Are you able to savour your success after 10 years of building your career?
I always did. I always was able to. With Lilith, I knew it would be a success. What I didn’t expect was the media jumping on like it was the best thing since sliced bread, or the worst thing depending on who you talked to. In my heart I always knew it’d be successful. I try to go into any experience with an open heart and an open mind and not expect too much. Daily, I was blown away by Lilith and it’s remained really innocent and intact. I just love it.
