Women In Rock Are Back!
Finally! Women in rock are back and Mandi Perkins is leading the charge. The 70's and 80's had Stevie Nicks, Lita Ford, Blondie and Pat Benatar. The 90's brought us Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow, but the true woman rocker quickly faded from the radar giving way to boy band mania.
Enter Mandi Perkins. A prolific writer whose music flows with an energy others can only dream about. When she sings, she transports you to her world. Right now, that world is "Alice in No Man's Land" her debut album released August 5.
This is not a review of her album (which is phenomenal by the way). I lay no claim to being a music aficionado. I just know what I like. Others can do reviews. I prefer just talking to Mandi. Now, we talked back in October shortly after she released "bleeding the line" digitally. Since then, a lot has changed. She's been signed to Victor Records/Sony BMG. She recorded and released "Alice in No Man's Land," and she has people now!
I've said this before and I'll say it again, having a conversation with her is like watching a squirrel dodge traffic on the 405. So many thoughts and ideas just burst out of her. Thankfully, she can't help it.
First and foremost, Mandi is a writer. In addition to the songs she writes, which are mostly based on her own life experiences, she takes to the blogosphere to communicate with her fans. From the Chinese lip-syncing controversy at the Summer Olympics to smashing her middle finger in a car door. She covers everything. So buckle up and meet Mandi Perkins.
"I have so much to say. I think of myself as primarily a writer. I love performing and I love singing. It's everything to me. But I'd definitely put writing first as the most important form of communication. And I think that being able to express myself in this mass form and having this online technology at my fingertips is so important because it gives you the ability to reach so many people that you would have never ordinarily reached. And especially through writing, where you do have the chance to think about it a little bit, no just ranting, but where you actually have time to think about things and digest it and making analogies between your life and what's going on in the world. Or pointing out discrepancies that are going on which people might not even notice. I try to pick up on current events as well as current events in my life and just make parallels. Hopefully people read them and are entertained a bit. Maybe they feel better, or maybe it makes them angry and makes them think. All you can do is hope for a dialog. So I think my online presence is probably the most important asset on par with actually touring."
So what inspires her to sit down and blog to the masses?
"I don't write because I'm upset or angry. I'm just inspired by the fact that I know people are reading it. I know that they are listening...there's a dialog going back and forth. Usually I get hundreds of responses to each blog which is really massive. Either they'll post their comments on the actual blog or they'll email me separately. I try to talk about things that I think sometimes isn't talked about very much in an intelligent fashion. When you're a writer, you really need to present things objectively so people can form their own opinions. Because it's not really up to you to try and cover facts with your own thoughts. It's up to you as a writer to express your thoughts as your thoughts and as objectively as possible."
The same thought process works just as well with her songwriting. This would be a good time to point out that prior to getting into the music world full time, she graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with a degree in English Literature. She then went on to law school and passed the California State Bar exam. All this means I have to spell every wordwrite right stay away from her propensity to swear like a sailor or she will drag me into court!
"When I went to Berkeley and it was a lot about planning your own voice. I remember I wrote a 10-page paper on one word in a novel on what that word meant in the context of the book. It was all about how you feel and how things make you feel. Then I went to law school and it was all about objective. It's reason without passion. It's looking at something and presenting it as it is and not letting what you feel cloud over it or letting your emotions dictate whats going on. It's saying, these are the facts and this is why you should see my side. So I often try to incorporate that in my songwriting where I'm saying this is how I feel but at the same time saying, these are the facts and how I interpret them and making sure each song..."
ZOOM! Squirrel has near miss on 405!
"...I never write a song just to write a song. I write because something actually happened. So every single word is real. And I try to make sure the writing shows all sides. There's always three sides...both people's opinions and then there's the truth. I try to show as much as possible, the truth."
I first met Mandi back in October before she was signed by Sony. Even then she was successful having had her songs played on shows like "The Real World" and "The Hills." Now she's Victor Records/Sony BMG recording artist Mandi Perkins (breathe) and she has a staff of people.
"I have people! But I'm still Mandi Perkins. It's an amazing label. I'm really fortunate. I think that a lot of times, independent artists do things their own way and get things done and they have a marginal amount of success. When they get incorporated into a larger label they have to change who they are or change or what they are doing and they get lost. And I just found myself in a very fortunate position where Sony/BMG was really into what I was doing and how I looked and presented myself. It's so cool to be able to have a bigger team trying to help you do exactly what you were already doing. So, I haven't had to change much. It takes a little longer to get things done and I'm an impatient person. But besides that, it has been such a great experience. My CD "Alice in No Man's Land" looks amazing! It was released August 5 and it went to radio in Canada this week. I got a chance to make another music video of the song "Who I Am". I have people around me that want to help...it's just an amazing experience."
"Alice in No Man's Land" serves a double purpose...it's the title of both her debut album and one of the songs.
"I love fairy tales. I took a lot of classes in that genre at Berkeley. Alice in Wonderland, to me, is about a little girl who didn't like what was going on in her reality. She was all bummed out. She didn't want to be where she was. So she either consciously or subconsciously went into this different world and that became her reality. And for me, "Alice in No Man's Land" isn't a literal place. It's about when you look at the world around you and you see some messed up stuff going on. And it's how you deal with that which determines your character. It's how you use your voice in these situations that dictates who you are. And I thought this is my reality. The way I deal with the messed up things around the world and in my life and the people around me is to write about it. So this album is my no man's land."
A great example of this is her song and my personal favorite, "Why Pretend."
"That song really means a lot to me. It was something I wanted to say for a long time and I hadn't found a way to say it. And one day, I met up with Ryan Tedder from One Republic and I told him that I had this situation going on with some people who are close to me, one is cheating on the other one and everybody knows, including the girl, but she's willfully blind to it. And he just sat down and started playing piano and I just sang the words to it. It took 5 minutes to write. And for "Everybody Knows" I found out about something that really bothered me and I was just sitting with my producer and he started playing guitar. And all those words just came out of my mouth. I didn't even know that I felt like that or why I felt like that. Usually I write songs down, but this time it was just spontaneous. It was like if this person was sitting in front of me, what would I say? I would say you disgust me, you repulse me, it's all lies."
"I love "Alice in No Man's Land." I wrote it in between being independent and about to get signed. And I was thinking, this is it! I don't know what's going on, am I going to make the wrong decision...weird things are still going on around me...I don't want to change. "Alice in No Man's Land" is about being in a new place and finding your way. That's how I made sense of that time in my life."
Early reviews of Mandi's album are in and it shows women rockers are back! From Amazon.com:
"I couldn't have done this without fans like that. I couldn't have done this without the people that believed and cared showed me all their support. The label and I are not trying to jam this album or me or my writing or my blogs down people's throats. We want people to find them. We want people to want to listen and to want to read and converse. People write to me and I write them back. I read all the comments people write on my websites. We've noticed that if it's good, people understand it, it's cathartic and they can relate to it, then people will find it. I love making people happy and making them feel better. I always have. It's always been who I am."
In Canada, you're lucky. Songs from "Alice in No Man's Land" are already playing on radio. In the US, that will happen in January and expect her music videos on MTV around that time as well. If you fly Continental Airlines, you can listen to the chatty traveler sitting next to you or plug in your earphones and tune into Mandi. Your choice. She will be touring in the fall and details will be released on her website soon.
Mandi Perkins has a voice that sounds like a finely tuned instrument...an instrument with a powerful message. Mind blowing stuff you don't want to miss!
Enter Mandi Perkins. A prolific writer whose music flows with an energy others can only dream about. When she sings, she transports you to her world. Right now, that world is "Alice in No Man's Land" her debut album released August 5.
This is not a review of her album (which is phenomenal by the way). I lay no claim to being a music aficionado. I just know what I like. Others can do reviews. I prefer just talking to Mandi. Now, we talked back in October shortly after she released "bleeding the line" digitally. Since then, a lot has changed. She's been signed to Victor Records/Sony BMG. She recorded and released "Alice in No Man's Land," and she has people now!
I've said this before and I'll say it again, having a conversation with her is like watching a squirrel dodge traffic on the 405. So many thoughts and ideas just burst out of her. Thankfully, she can't help it.
First and foremost, Mandi is a writer. In addition to the songs she writes, which are mostly based on her own life experiences, she takes to the blogosphere to communicate with her fans. From the Chinese lip-syncing controversy at the Summer Olympics to smashing her middle finger in a car door. She covers everything. So buckle up and meet Mandi Perkins.
"I have so much to say. I think of myself as primarily a writer. I love performing and I love singing. It's everything to me. But I'd definitely put writing first as the most important form of communication. And I think that being able to express myself in this mass form and having this online technology at my fingertips is so important because it gives you the ability to reach so many people that you would have never ordinarily reached. And especially through writing, where you do have the chance to think about it a little bit, no just ranting, but where you actually have time to think about things and digest it and making analogies between your life and what's going on in the world. Or pointing out discrepancies that are going on which people might not even notice. I try to pick up on current events as well as current events in my life and just make parallels. Hopefully people read them and are entertained a bit. Maybe they feel better, or maybe it makes them angry and makes them think. All you can do is hope for a dialog. So I think my online presence is probably the most important asset on par with actually touring."
So what inspires her to sit down and blog to the masses?
"I don't write because I'm upset or angry. I'm just inspired by the fact that I know people are reading it. I know that they are listening...there's a dialog going back and forth. Usually I get hundreds of responses to each blog which is really massive. Either they'll post their comments on the actual blog or they'll email me separately. I try to talk about things that I think sometimes isn't talked about very much in an intelligent fashion. When you're a writer, you really need to present things objectively so people can form their own opinions. Because it's not really up to you to try and cover facts with your own thoughts. It's up to you as a writer to express your thoughts as your thoughts and as objectively as possible."
The same thought process works just as well with her songwriting. This would be a good time to point out that prior to getting into the music world full time, she graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with a degree in English Literature. She then went on to law school and passed the California State Bar exam. All this means I have to spell every word
"When I went to Berkeley and it was a lot about planning your own voice. I remember I wrote a 10-page paper on one word in a novel on what that word meant in the context of the book. It was all about how you feel and how things make you feel. Then I went to law school and it was all about objective. It's reason without passion. It's looking at something and presenting it as it is and not letting what you feel cloud over it or letting your emotions dictate whats going on. It's saying, these are the facts and this is why you should see my side. So I often try to incorporate that in my songwriting where I'm saying this is how I feel but at the same time saying, these are the facts and how I interpret them and making sure each song..."
ZOOM! Squirrel has near miss on 405!
"...I never write a song just to write a song. I write because something actually happened. So every single word is real. And I try to make sure the writing shows all sides. There's always three sides...both people's opinions and then there's the truth. I try to show as much as possible, the truth."
I first met Mandi back in October before she was signed by Sony. Even then she was successful having had her songs played on shows like "The Real World" and "The Hills." Now she's Victor Records/Sony BMG recording artist Mandi Perkins (breathe) and she has a staff of people.
"I have people! But I'm still Mandi Perkins. It's an amazing label. I'm really fortunate. I think that a lot of times, independent artists do things their own way and get things done and they have a marginal amount of success. When they get incorporated into a larger label they have to change who they are or change or what they are doing and they get lost. And I just found myself in a very fortunate position where Sony/BMG was really into what I was doing and how I looked and presented myself. It's so cool to be able to have a bigger team trying to help you do exactly what you were already doing. So, I haven't had to change much. It takes a little longer to get things done and I'm an impatient person. But besides that, it has been such a great experience. My CD "Alice in No Man's Land" looks amazing! It was released August 5 and it went to radio in Canada this week. I got a chance to make another music video of the song "Who I Am". I have people around me that want to help...it's just an amazing experience."
"Alice in No Man's Land" serves a double purpose...it's the title of both her debut album and one of the songs.
"I love fairy tales. I took a lot of classes in that genre at Berkeley. Alice in Wonderland, to me, is about a little girl who didn't like what was going on in her reality. She was all bummed out. She didn't want to be where she was. So she either consciously or subconsciously went into this different world and that became her reality. And for me, "Alice in No Man's Land" isn't a literal place. It's about when you look at the world around you and you see some messed up stuff going on. And it's how you deal with that which determines your character. It's how you use your voice in these situations that dictates who you are. And I thought this is my reality. The way I deal with the messed up things around the world and in my life and the people around me is to write about it. So this album is my no man's land."
A great example of this is her song and my personal favorite, "Why Pretend."
"That song really means a lot to me. It was something I wanted to say for a long time and I hadn't found a way to say it. And one day, I met up with Ryan Tedder from One Republic and I told him that I had this situation going on with some people who are close to me, one is cheating on the other one and everybody knows, including the girl, but she's willfully blind to it. And he just sat down and started playing piano and I just sang the words to it. It took 5 minutes to write. And for "Everybody Knows" I found out about something that really bothered me and I was just sitting with my producer and he started playing guitar. And all those words just came out of my mouth. I didn't even know that I felt like that or why I felt like that. Usually I write songs down, but this time it was just spontaneous. It was like if this person was sitting in front of me, what would I say? I would say you disgust me, you repulse me, it's all lies."
"I love "Alice in No Man's Land." I wrote it in between being independent and about to get signed. And I was thinking, this is it! I don't know what's going on, am I going to make the wrong decision...weird things are still going on around me...I don't want to change. "Alice in No Man's Land" is about being in a new place and finding your way. That's how I made sense of that time in my life."
Early reviews of Mandi's album are in and it shows women rockers are back! From Amazon.com:
"A terrific album--a star in the making"Not too shabby!
"The most amazing singer you SHOULD know about"
"Un-freaking-believable"
"This album made me an immediate fan"
"I couldn't have done this without fans like that. I couldn't have done this without the people that believed and cared showed me all their support. The label and I are not trying to jam this album or me or my writing or my blogs down people's throats. We want people to find them. We want people to want to listen and to want to read and converse. People write to me and I write them back. I read all the comments people write on my websites. We've noticed that if it's good, people understand it, it's cathartic and they can relate to it, then people will find it. I love making people happy and making them feel better. I always have. It's always been who I am."
In Canada, you're lucky. Songs from "Alice in No Man's Land" are already playing on radio. In the US, that will happen in January and expect her music videos on MTV around that time as well. If you fly Continental Airlines, you can listen to the chatty traveler sitting next to you or plug in your earphones and tune into Mandi. Your choice. She will be touring in the fall and details will be released on her website soon.
Mandi Perkins has a voice that sounds like a finely tuned instrument...an instrument with a powerful message. Mind blowing stuff you don't want to miss!
I love her songs! Will her tour include Florida?
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This album is my new favorite! It's Grammy worthy!
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Love the article! It does a great job of showing what a unique, as well as talented, person Mandi is. Also, anyone who quotes me (from Amazon.com) is obviously on top of his game!
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i love her cd it is awesome
the way she express herself is amazing
she is a rockstar in the making
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I love this singer.. the way she rocks her songs in modest way.
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