Yve Adam

By Alex Teitz and Karen Weiss

The duo of Yve Adam appeared earlier this year with the album Fiction. The album comes with strong pop beats and hooks. It also has an adult edge. Yve Adam found themselves together in the Canadian band Molly’s Revenge. In 1998 they made their debut as Yve Adam at Lilith Fair.   FEMMUSIC had the opportunity to talk with Yve earlier this year. Here’s what she had to say.

FEMMUSIC: Can you tell me a little bit of how you and Adam met prior to Molly’s Revenge, and what’s going on?

YA: We met because of the formation of Molly’s Revenge, actually. I was working with a couple of musicians when Warner Canada heard my solo stuff and was interested in a development deal. They sent me some money to put something together, and a couple of the guys, bass player Aggie and Marl – ah, Marlo’s bass, Aggie’s drums-were already working with me to form something and they said, “oh, I know this great guitar player.” It’s sweet because they’ve all known each other for years, they’re all from Vancouver, and they played with each other in high school, and here I am, this traveler moving in from London, I was living in London at the time, and soon after came here, and met these guys. And they introduced me to Adam and said oh he’s in another band and probably won’t be able to do it, I don’t know if he’s your type…anyway, we totally hit it off. We made a demo recording for Warner Canada and the cellist played with us as well on all these events, and from that we formed as a band, and Adam and I continued on as Yve Adam.

FEMMUSIC: Can you describe for me your songwriting technique?

YA: Can I…oh! Songwriting technique is diverse. It varies song to song. Inspiration comes out of nowhere and sometimes doesn’t come at all and you have to really work at it, or it comes like a passionate flame and writes itself for you. So there are many ways a song comes to you, and when I’m writing with other people it works one way. When I’m writing alone, it works a different way. But it seems for this album, you know, we worked with a lot of other writers, and I’m always the main, if not only, lyric writer, and also melody is my forte. And we’ll often just get together, acoustic guitars, sitting in a hotel room or in our house, you know, bent over, all crumpled up, beating on our guitars, and trying a whole bunch of different stuff. And trying melodies, and then I get crazy into the lyrics, and the lyrics totally take over my mind and obsess me, and I rack them until I come up with what feels very satisfying. I can’t let a word go that annoys me. It comes always from an acoustic place, if that makes sense. Always on our guitars. We’re all avid guitar players.

FEMMUSIC: How was it working with Carmen Rizzo on this album?

YA: I love Carmen! He feels like a-we call him “the fifth band member”. He’s adorable, he’s knowledgeable, he’s inspired. It’s great where he is because he’s like a young producer with a lot of experience with big people, cause he’s very in the L.A. scene. So as a programmer he’s very well known, and he worked a lot with Seal, and did stuff with Alanis and Prince. As a producer, it’s kind of-it’s newer to him, but he’s amazing. It was a very humble studio setting, we did it all in his small studio, all on Pro Tools. He just gave the album a vibe, you know. He gave it the vibe that we like. I listen to a lot of ambient music, I’m not really a pop person, but I’m in a pop realm, and I find a pop feel more or less, and pop being a very overused, ambiguous term as you know. He gave it the ambient vibe that we wanted, and he comes from a really cool place. He has his own project, called Toby, which is beautiful…kind of like Portishead on coffee or something. And he was just really mellow. We used all the same musicians for every song, the same musicians who played on a lot of Seal’s stuff. And they became like our band and we keep in touch with them, and we’ve kind of gathered like a bit of a family vibe. We stay in touch, we care about each other. It was cool. It felt more like a band than hired musicians.

FEMMUSIC: That’s wonderful.

YA: Yeah, it was a good experience. I actually just saw them in L.A. The bass player came out, he’s just adorable. He’s such a nice man. He’s worked a lot with Seal and now he’s opening-I think he’s going on tour opening for Eric Clapton, with a new up and coming big band. But a very cool musician.

FEMMUSIC: What was the biggest challenge making Fiction?

YA: I’d say the obvious challenge is trying to please everybody when you really just want to please yourself. You know, when you want to write songs that are totally true to yourself yet you know when you’re 100% artist and you’re signed to a business deal, that you’re never allowed to be 100% artist without seriously finding ways to appease everybody. Cause it’s backed by money-you’re signed to a deal and you become half artist, half businessperson. Which is something you learn hard and fast and you don’t expect when you first sign. Cause you think, “they signed me because they love me as I am!” You know? So trying to please the label, which is trying to please radio, which is trying to please a very general, aloof audience…it’s a crazy business, as you know. And that is the hardest thing for me, because if I had it my way, my songs would probably never make the radio, you know what I mean? They would be quite avant-garde. But I manage with Adam, we found a really nice place where we wrote an album that we’re proud of that is very cool songwriting, intelligent pop writing where everybody can understand it and get something from it, and yet it still has a vibe that’s left of center. So it was a challenge, and I think it was really hard having you know, these singles meetings and we’re like “what’s a single, man?” All we want to do is write cool songs, right? So to have that driving at your back is really annoying, and I think it’s the same for everybody. But when you deliver it’s a nice feeling. And we’re not a proven radio band yet, but we’ve definitely delivered potential singles that are cool, which is fun. It’s a fun challenge to try to meet.

FEMMUSIC: I would agree. I loved a lot of the songs on the album.

YA: Thank you. It was really a struggle to get to that point. And there’s some songs that are-there’s only really one that’s poppier than I would have liked to have on the album. But you’ve got to make a few compromises. You have to in this business. Either that or you stay independent. Which is always a good option if you want to drive yourself crazy. (laughs) Ani DiFranco at 19 got a drive like, I don’t know, a 747 or what. (laughs)

FEMMUSIC: What was the best experience making Fiction?

YA: I think it’s the learning process. I think I can speak for both Adam and I, we just learned an immense amount about writing. And about writing for pop, and writing cool pop, and just working with other people. And these guys are all big songwriters, and we felt very a part of them and very comfortable. And felt very…it was very reinforcing to have these writers who wrote with Macy Gracy and Natalie Imbruglia and Aerosmith to say, “Wow! We’re impressed by what you have to offer as a songwriter.” It makes you feel like you can go in that direction and just become a songwriter. So we learned a lot in the songwriting process. We learned about different ways of putting a song together, and how to keep your own lyrics, how to be objective. And also learning about the business. I just like learning, and I think Adam and I grew a lot in the process.

FEMMUSIC: After Molly’s Revenge, when you and Adam did split as a duo, why did you decide to go that route instead of going to another band or going just as pure solo artist?

YA: I think for me-I have to speak for myself, and not for Adam-but it’s probably the same, but we’d already invested so much into each other, and of the people in the band, Adam and I probably had the strongest drive. And we have kind of a very easy working relationship. We work really well together, very peaceful, and it’s very balanced. And he, to me, I like his songwriting. And if you’re going to share something with somebody, you want him to be on par with you as a songwriter. And I liked what he gave, he’s very sensitive to a female voice and female sentiment. He’s not a guitar solo kind of guy. He’s not in it for ego. He’s not about ego at all, actually. He’s an extremely humble person, especially for someone as damn nice-looking as he is. (laughs) He’s one of those people completely unaware of it, which is what is what makes him a wonderful man and is redeeming for men, you know? And as far as going solo, that was really a thought, for simplicity, because that’s how I started. I was a solo artist all my life, and never really intended to make a career out of it, but destiny kind of laid its path for me. So I think at that point, I’d already invested a lot of energy and I know Adam and I already had a vibe, and I knew he wanted to continue working on this project. And I think out of loyalty and knowing how well I work with him, I really like having support. So it’s a pretty tricky balance, because when you go solo, you don’t have a team. When you have a partner, you really have someone who’s got your back. And Adam’s got my back, and I’ve definitely got his. And we look out for each other’s best interests. There’s no competition or animosity between us. And it’s really nice in a very tough business to have somebody who cares about you, and cares about the project as a whole.

FEMMUSIC: What one thing would you like to see changed about the music industry itself?

YA: Oh my god! Only one? (laughs) I’d like to see an end to the music that is purely made for commodity. I’d like to see an end to-how do I explain it?-to music that is created purely for money, because I think it’s destroying the industry. It’s saturating. There’s too much saturation, there’s too much going out without any thought put behind it. It’s all about money. And it’s really killing music as an art. It’s making people who want to really make art have to mold themselves a part of that, because that’s all there is any more. There isn’t art for art’s sake really in music as much as there used to be. And I think it’s largely due to all the crap that’s being out there. It’s so much a business now, you know? Kind of tragic.

FEMMUSIC: As a woman in the music industry, have you been discriminated against?

YA: Umm, that’s a hard one. I mean, I find that I’m kind of a people person. I get along with a lot of people, so I don’t feel that blatantly. I haven’t had ‘”you’re pretty good for a girl’, unless it’s a joke. Because I’m a pretty solid guitar player as well, I’ve been playing for most of my life. It’s my tool, it’s my writing tool. I don’t really think about it from a female perspective except that the blatant obvious, that’s still, if you’re not a bimbo and you’re not a guy, it’s really hard to make it in America. If you’re not some guy screaming rap music with, you know, big guitars…you’re not a white rapper or a bimbo chick…There are the few, there are some exceptions. Sarah McLaughlan took 10 years to get where she is. That’s all the dedication. And the Sheryl Crowes. There are a few. There’s more music now, female artists breaking now than ever. But most of them are music that I really despise. There’s still not a very big margin for women out there, although you can look at the Britney Spears and the Mariah Careys, and the Celine Dions, and call that, “yeah, there’s more women than ever!” But come on. That’s not the market of artists, you know what I mean? So just in general, I still think the margin for women…we make such a big deal and say, “look at all the women now!” But it’s still 90% men, it’s just there’s more women now than ever. So I still think the change is taking place, and it’s still hard for women to get onto American radio, but I don’t find that as a personal attack. I find that as a general kind of observation on what’s being put out there and what’s being supported., As a female artist, I don’t feel like people haven’t taken me seriously for being female or anything like that. If I felt that at all, I would nip in the bud so quickly that I wouldn’t even notice it. Because I just wouldn’t stand for it.

FEMMUSIC: What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

YA: There could be a lot. There’s a lot of thought I have on this. One would be, really develop your skills. Develop it, and don’t just go out there half-assed with something that you think is amazing just because it comes from your heart. Because unfortunately, from your heart can get really trampled on if you’re not careful. It’s really important for people to understand the business aspect before they get into it. Because what you realize is that you have this art that you get signed for, and then suddenly your ass can change in a million different ways. And you have to know how to stand your ground, and know what you’re willing to compromise. Have a good management team. Definitely have to have good management, somebody to protect you. It’s good to be clear on what you want. It’s also good to know whether you’re capable of signing to a large record label or to an independent. Are you more of an independent musician or a large label kind of person. What do you want? Do you want world domination? Do you want a gentle underground kind of break? Do you want to go internet and manage yourself? There are so many different routes. I think the internet, though, is a really good tool for artists, especially independent artists. You can do so much more now because of the communications that you develop.