Featured Artist ~ June
2006
 Annette
Conlon
Bio
Annette began singing at age seven, moving in a natural progression
from church choir, to Music Theater, to rock and roll. Her powerful voice
quickly helped to make a big impact on Denver’s music scene before
heading south to Dallas.
Moving quickly from background singer in “Love Garage and the Earth
Muffins,” to sharing vocals in “Somebody’s Sister”
to lead vocals in “Eden Automatic” Annette has proven her
vocal prowess with comparisons to Grace Slick, PJ Harvey, and Debbie Harry.
Annette is an elite member of GoGirlsMusic and is the Dallas Coordinator
for the GoGirlsMusicFest. She is also a performing member of Indiegrrls
and published an article in ROCKRGRL Magazine (Jan/Feb 2005 “Married
to the Band”)
Annette has been endorsed by Daisy Rock guitars since early 2003 and received
a new Venus guitar from Daisy Rock in December 2005.
Since 2001 Annette has been promoting her sister musicians in
an effort to increase the exposure of women in music. Annette hosts "NetteRadio"
an internet radio show to promote unsigned women in music. The show features
women from all genres and includes artists from across the US and over
22 countries around the globe. For more information see http://www.netteradio.com
With Eden Automatic, Annette has performed at many festivals in and around
Texas including the North Texas New Music Festival (2001,2002,2004), Deep
Ellum Arts Festival (2000-2006), NXNG (2000-2002), Ft. Worth Fall Music
Festival (2001,2002) Westheimer Street Festival 2001, Heart of Texas Quadruple
Bypass (2002,2003,2006), SXSW 2002 and Women Rockin’ 4 Women (1999-2002),
Chicks Rock Fest 2005, GoGirlsMusicFestival (2002-2005) the Invasion of
the GoGirls at SXSW (2003&2005) and Indiegrrls SXS"Y" 2006.
Eden Automatic has also performed on the Main Stage at the Texas State
Fair from 1999–2005!
Not limited to live performances, Eden Automatic was selected
as the feature band for the internationally televised TV Show Net Talk
Live (running thirteen episodes from June 2000 to December 2000).
Movie Soundtracks:
• I'll Love You To Death (Not Your Familiar) - Suburban
Nightmare (2004 - EI)
• Don't Wake Becky (Not Your Familiar) - Suburban Nightmare (2004
- EI) (Music Video)
• Need (Glimmer) - American Nightmare (2002)
• Laughing (EPED) - A Rat's Tale (2000 - Warner Brothers)
Interview
How old were you when you started writing songs and how many years have
you been writing and performing?
I’ve been singing my whole life… since I was a very little
girl. My parents put me in choir when I was seven (channeling my constant
lalala-ing into something more focused I suppose!) and then allowed me
to stay in choir throughout my school years. I had a voice teacher in
high school and was in 5 different choirs in Jr and Sr year. Between Church
and High School I must have driven them crazy. I wrote stories, poems,
and dreamed that someday I could be a school teacher so that I could have
time to take care of my kids in the afternoon. It never occurred to me
that I could write music, or that I could really be a musician. My choir
teacher told me in Jr High that I would never be a singer and his criticism
stuck with me. Even though I received a 1 (1st place) in the State Solo
Vocal and Ensemble competition, sang in High School Madrigal Choir, Show
Choir, Choral Group, the Colorado Springs City Choral, and the First Presbyterian
Adult Church Choir I didn’t feel good enough. I developed horrible
stage fright whenever I had a solo although I was fine when singing in
a crowd or in rehearsal. It wasn’t until my late 20’s that
I was able to get past that stage fright when I decided that I just didn’t
give a damn what people thought anymore. Once I decided that I didn’t
care if they liked me or not I stopped shaking and my voice came out pure
and clean. This was after torturing poor Doug with some warbling renditions!
When I met Doug he and I started to sing together… it just seemed
like a natural thing to do, and then I began helping him write. From there
it was an easy progression to write my own songs. Once I knew that I “could”
then I did.
I met Doug when I was 27 so I’ve been writing a little over 14
years. However I started singing when I was 7 so with the exception of
the time off from when I graduated HS till I met Doug, I’ve been
singing/performing for 26yrs. Doing the math that makes me almost 42 -
that effervescent meaning of life number!
Who were your major influences with your music?
I loved Karen Carpenter and Julie Andrews growing up. I listened to
them over and over. I also listened to John Denver and a lot of show tunes.
In high school a boy played Pink Floyd for me. I thought they were the
coolest band. I’ll never forget sitting in the middle of the room
with headphones on and the music spinning back and forth through my head.
My very good friend Chuck Snow has also influenced me greatly in so many
ways. Of course Doug was very influential, and the 70’s is my favorite
music decade.
How would you describe your music?
A friend has described it as atmospheric Grace Slick and I think that
is a great comparison. I think our most recent recorded music is a bit
of dramatic, operatic, dynamic stuff I love. It weaves and meanders to
huge blinding thunderous rages. Hints of Pink Floyd and Hooverphonic and
a little Russian Ska can be found but mostly its just us over the years
with all the passion we can possibly pour into a project.
What got you interested in starting the "Nette Radio Show"?
Get Comfortable…….
The first ‘NetteRadio show aired Wed., July 24, 2002, 8-10 CT
but it did not take on its all female-fronted format until March 19, 2003.
In 2001 I started as a guest host for “Hurdie’s Happenings”
a weekly internet radio show on Musicians.net. The show format was a few
local songs and conversation focusing on Deep Ellum and the Dallas area
as Hurdie was the President of the Deep Ellum Association. Hurdie’s
then co-host Carmen Menza (of Dallas band Magneeto) left the show and
Hurdie asked me to fill her place as co-host. I urged Hurdie to play female
artists whenever possible (including my band of course). When Hurdie parted
ways with Musicians.net, Peri Brown, president of Musicians.net offered
me the opportunity to host my own show. I was so excited! Doug quickly
came up with the clever name and ‘NetteRadio was born!
For the first 6 months we followed the same format of “Hurdie’s
Happenings.” I worked hard to keep a steady stream of local music
industry professionals coming in as guests to make the show as interesting
as possible. I ran the chat room and the mics while Doug played engineer/bartender
with our music industry guests. We discussed industry events in Dallas,
bemoaned the local music scene and played a selection of seven local songs
including artists that I worked with from WomenRockin’4Women as
well as anything that the guest brought in to promote. We had a great
time but I always felt like I was doing someone else’s show.
In Nov 2002 I was diagnosed with vocal polyps mostly due to smoking,
although smoking while singing was also a culprit. We’d been so
busy recording, playing, rehearsing, and of course, every week chatting
away with ‘NetteRadio. I was constantly hoarse and had lost the
ability to sing long pure notes. I sounded sick even when I was not. After
some trial and error I found a great vocal doctor in Dr. Wayne Kirkham
at the Artistic Voice Institute (he treats LeAnn Rimes when she is in
town). After a really icky exam involving tubes down my nose and throat
he pronounced I had severe vocal polyps and needed to quit smoking immediately
(HORRORS!) and that I needed to take three months of vocal rest. COMPLETE
VOCAL REST. I was horrified with my options but he did make the smoking
choice pretty simple when he asked me what I wanted to be written on my
tombstone “Annette Conlon – Smoker” or “Annette
Conlon – Singer”. Those words echoed through my brain whenever
I felt resentful about having to quit, and helped me to forbear. I never
cheated. Not once.
I began my vocal isolation the day after our glorious reunion show in
Austin with close friends Harlow. I choose that word because that is often
how I felt…Isolated and out of touch simply because I couldn’t
verbalize my feelings. My workplace didn’t understand my need for
vocal rest, and they always tried to get me to speak. Running errands
was impossible since people thought you were rude or weird if you just
smiled or nodded.
During my vocal isolation Doug, Greg, and Scott played the band as Semi-Automatic.
They also wrote songs without me, and sometimes with me. Doug and James
were the voice of ‘NetteRadio while I ran the chat room, picked
the music, and smiled a lot. I tried not to feel left out but the three
months felt like forever and I admit to feeling sorry for myself. I spent
more and more time online in the GoGirlsMusic Yahoo Groups… I subscribed
to the Women Who Rock magazine. Visited the Women Who Rock online Forum
and I read more and more online about women musicians and the inequities
women felt in music.
I remembered a female A&R Rep telling me that she personally could
not stand female vocals…this from a female? I remembered the SXSW
Softball game where I found our CDs discarded afterwards… just ours.
The male fronted CDs were no where to be found. The more I read and the
more I remembered and the more isolated I felt the more I needed to do
something different. Doug and I would have long email conversations during
the day (our best way to talk) and we kept coming back to just changing
the format of ‘NetteRadio to make it female fronted. It needed to
be changed. It needed a makeover as much as I felt I did.
We thought we would test the waters for a new ‘NetteRadio at SXSW.
We were scheduled to play the Invasion of the GoGirls (unofficial) showcase
at SXSW 3/14/03. (Even though I had no business cards or a website everyone
was very supportive and I came home with a CD from every band that was
at the showcase!)
Now I needed clearance to sing! I saw the Doctor, and he proudly announced
the polyps were 100% cleared. He was very proud of me but I wasn’t
allowed to speak yet, not until I had worked with a vocal coach to retrain
me on how to speak again. I had sessions to learn how to speak, and then
sessions to learn how to sing. I probably needed months of sessions, but
everyone was anxious and excited, so we booked a warm up show in North
Dallas, played at Six Flags over Texas in Arlington, then headed to SXSW.
Everyone was very positive about ‘NetteRadio becoming an all female
fronted format. Everyone, that is, except one A&R guy who I handed
our CD to. He had it in his hand, then, asked second-handedly, if it contained
female vocals. When I said yes, he dropped the CD as if it were contaminated,
and walked off.
The rejection of our female fronted band came swift and hard. The A&R
Rep, his name long forgotten left an indelible mark. I had a stack of
female fronted CDs, and now I had a burning desire to fight back. I quickly
designed a website put together a playlist of 12 songs, 11 unsigned female
artists and our band, Eden Automatic as the twelfth track. I sent the
playlist to the GoGirlsMusic Yahoo Group and emailed copies to everyone
I knew! Music submissions began pouring in. I soon joined Indiegrrl, then
Femmuse, Artist Living Room, Indie Guitarist, and other online communities.
I worked a trade with ROCKRGRL Magazine for cross promotion, I reached
out to women’s communities to do my best to find unsigned women
everywhere to play them on NetteRadio.
We now have Indie Women Musicians from over 22 countries world-wide
and the show not only airs live, it is rebroadcast 3 times on the weekends
(www.ntgradio.com, http://www.live365.com/stations/aaronchilds , http://radio.breakthetrend.com)
and is available in Podcast http://feeds.feedburner.com/netteradio and
on iTunes! I put in over 20 hours a week, each week to promote the show
and the artists I play. I make very little back on it and it truly is
a labor of love!
Where do you see that heading?
I’d like to see NetteRadio on XM and Sirius Satellite radio. I’d
like to get further into Podcasting and really push that more. The music
is so amazing. The artists that submit are absolutely incredible and I
am in awe of the talent.
NetteRadio was in syndication but I pulled out of the deal because I
was not willing to compromise my show. They wanted me to stop offering
up the artist’s bios before each song, saying that if the listener
wants to know more about the artist they can look them up online. They
wanted me to give opinions instead. Haha. Personally I think opinions
are like assholes, there are too many of them in this world but information
is the most valuable commodity we have. The Artist Bio is the best way
to introduce a new artist to the audience. Most of the artists I play
are new. Many of them have NEVER been played on any radio show (terrestrial
or internet) before. Telling a little bit of their life story is way for
the audience to connect to them and a way for them to care a little bit
more. If I sit around and espouse my opinion the show becomes more about
NETTE and much less about RADIO. (and that’s my opinion on that!)
So, I’ll continue to make NetteRadio the best it can be and hopefully
learn to market it a little better.
Is it hard getting people interested in promoting, backing and listening
to an all female radio show?
I have the best backer in Jerry Hayes (ICEBERG) who owns and operates
RenegadeRadio.net. He wooed me from Musicians.net over a year ago. He
not only provides our broadcast stream he has also provided me with the
equipment to host NetteRadio from my home (this is heaven!) When we thought
we were moving to California Jerry was supportive enough and believed
in me enough to say “take the equipment, keep on doing NetteRadio!”
I’ll always love Jerry. He is my benevolent benefactor and wonderful
friend. RenegadeRadio.net is a great internet radio station that supports
the Dallas Music Scene and Jerry works hard to promote local bands. Jerry’s
faith in me keeps me going and makes me feel very proud!
Daisy Rock is another great supporter! We’ve swapped “Top
8” spaces on MySpace. Daisy Rock believes in what I am doing to
support women in music. I am constantly looking for artists on the Daisy
Rock MySpace page! I love the Daisy Rock guitars… I love my Venus
Starburst and I think that Daisy Rock and the entire company works tirelessly
to promote women in music and create a positive environment for women
in music.
Our Podcast downloads and website hits grow every day, we’re in
the thousands and I’m so very thankful for that. I love that the
chatroom gets full and rowdy and a little bit crazy and sometimes makes
me disoriented when I’m doing the show because there are too many
people in there!
I do get some great Artist feedback such as: “I’ve had people
contact me or order my CD or made contacts via MySpace, etc., because
they heard me on NetteRadio” and that’s so amazing, that means
it’s working, people hear me, they hear the information and they
are reaching out to the Artists! That is so exciting. I love getting that
feedback!
I’d love to have a big backer who would PAY me something to do
this since it cuts into my earnable income or sleeping time (haha I’ll
be honest) and most of all I’d love to have an Artist say “I
got signed because someone heard me on NetteRadio”.
How many personal CD projects have you finished and are you working
on or have any future project in the works?
We have released 4 CDs:
2006 - as for now
2003 - not your familiar
2000 - Glimmer (dist by Crystal Clear Distribution)
1998 ¬- Earthly Pleasures and Erotic Delights
1994 - Post Grunge Glam (as Somebody’s Sister)
I have some songs I am currently working on. 1 almost finished, 2 half
finished, one just started. I think I’m always working on something.
I get my best ideas when I’m half asleep and when I’m in the
shower.
What special honors or awards have you received over the years in your
music career?
DaisyRock is awesome! I have been endorsed by Daisy Rock guitars since
early 2003 and received a new Venus guitar from Daisy Rock in December
2005.
I am also on Pg. 31 of the Daisy Rock Girls Guitar Method book being
the only unsigned artist in a book filled with photos of artists like
Liz Phair, Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, and Courtney Love!
Eden Automatic has been #3 on BarStar Dallas Hot 100 bands for the past
two years! That is a great honor!
In 2004 I was nominated as Best Female Vocalist in Dallas by ScreamForMeDallas.com
Do you remember MP3.com? On March 25, 2001 "Say You’re Sorry"
reached #1 on the MP3.com Texas Alternative Charts and #12 in the World.
It remained in the top 50 for over 2 weeks and remained in the top 15
of the MP3.com Texas Alternative Charts for many months. – again
on May 22, 2003 "Say You’re Sorry" reached #8 on the MP3.com
Alternative Charts in the USA appearing alongside national acts like The
White Stripes, Evanescence, and Bowling for Soup! That was such an incredible
rush!!! I’ll never EVER forget that feeling!! Someone out there
was listening to our music! We released a live version of “Say You’re
Sorry” recorded at the Texas State Fair this past year on the new
CD. It’s available at CDBaby!
What is your favorite venue to perform live and why?
We have been lucky enough to perform on the main stage at the Texas
State Fair for the past five years. It’s an honor and a thrill to
perform on such a great stage where artists like LeAnn Rimes, Christina
Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Lee Ann Womack, Blues Traveler, Garth Brooks,
and Hank Williams Jr, have all performed. The sound crew is amazing, the
stage incredible and the audience outstanding. You feel like you’re
“big time”.
What music organizations are you affiliated with?
ASCAP, also great groups like Indiegrrls, GoGirlsMusic, Femmuse, Songsalive,
and others give independent artists like me an opportunity to net work
with other musicians and share our successes, failures, ideas, thoughts,
inspirations, and make new friends. I have observed people reaching out
to each other in times of joy and sorrow, in times of urgent need and
it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly generous the WOMEN are on all
of these lists. (I’m on two “mixed gender” local lists
in Dallas and mostly they bitch about politics or the local music scene
and are seldom active posters… The women lists put these “music”
lists to shame!!) I have made friends with people on the above mentioned
lists that I’ve never met that I truly adore. How amazing is that??
What do you think of politics and expressing political views in music?
I think people have the right to express whatever they want to in music.
I have the right to listen, or not...LOL
We’ve played almost everything submitted to NetteRadio because
I believe everyone has a chance to be heard. I do reserve the right to
not play something if it is just too vulgar. I’ll ask if the artist
has something else to play.
When you are writing songs do you pull from personal experiences, and
headlining news or events that are around you? If so how easy or hard
is it to create songs expressing what you feel about these topics?
On “as for now” the songs touch on love, loss, death, sex,
hunger and pain, joy and yes, even a cat! I wrote “Starved”
about young women who struggle with anorexia and cutting – two very
real mental health diseases that affect young women today. “Russian
Blue” is about a girl who had problems with drugs and held herself
back from life and changing her ways until she found the ability to love
herself and life by the love of a cat. This is based on a true story that
Doug read in a collection of stories about cats. “Thus” well..
it started out as a poem that I wrote about sex, love and aging. Figure
THAT out!
Doug and I have very different writing techniques. Usually the songs
just come to me and then I have to figure out how to get the music out.
(for me that is the hardest part… I don’t play strings, or
drums, or what-have-you so when I hear these parts in my head with layered
voices and instruments I become infinitely frustrated! By the time I get
some sort of recorder plugged in and turned on I’m fully awake and
have forgotten half of the song! I have always said if I could just download
my brain I’d have a great catalogue!) Doug is very disciplined and
sits down to “write a song”. That’s probably why he
has written many more songs than I have!!
We do have some fun though when I get inspired with a part. It’s
usually when I’m getting ready to go out. Doug will be in the living
room playing guitar and I’ll be in the bathroom (typically naked
or half-dressed) doing my hair/makeup. I’ll run into the living
room waving “stop I have it!!” and sing whatever it is.. guitar,
bass, drum, voice and Doug will patiently record it and then we can work
it out!
So, Doug says I do my best work naked!
What does it mean to be "Indie" to you and do you own your
own record label or publishing company?
“Indie” is supposed to mean DIY and on so many levels it
really is. (tell that to the Major Indies out there!) You pay for your
recording, your press, release, promote, sell, market to radio, market
to brick and mortar stores, market to internet stores, market digital
downloads, market traditional radio, market internet radio, oh yes, keep
writing, rehearsing , booking gigs, don’t forget your job, rent,
car payment, boyfriend/girlfriend/cat/dog/fish/frog and all of the sudden
you’re in your 40s and you look around and say “WHA HAPPEN”
(that’s a quote).
A management company can help alleviate some of the work but they want
a percentage of your income to do it. The good news is that if you are
good and THEY are good then you’ll have an income to pay them..
and it frees up your valuable time to do your other stuff like work, sleep,
write songs.
There are Major Indie and Minor Indie and Indie-Indie. It all depends
on where you are with your career! A deal with the right label can be
gold or platinum for your career! The wrong label can leave you bankrupt.
Don’t forget you want to keep control of YOUR MUSIC! If you give
it up you’re not Indie, even if you’re on an “Indie
Label” owned by your local record store.
Would I sign with any label? Everyone says “Well sure if the deal
was right, why not?” Ha, there are a lot of reasons “Why Not?”
It all depends on the deal, the promotion the label is going to do, the
residuals involved, and the numbers in the end. You don’t want to
get left holding the bag one way or the other! However, for me personally
there is one giant looming question… Would I go on the road?? Only
if they paid me a lot of money and I traveled by plane or REALLY nice
bus. My caveats are that I’m not left paying the label back at the
end of the contract for recording fees or production fees or touring expense
fees, or ANY fees (unless I know I CAN reasonably pay them back) and I
want to travel comfortably and of course keep my rights to my music! I
want a dream deal and I realize that I’m not going to get it. That’s
okay. I’m fully reconciled with that. I have no desire to tour in
a van with a bunch of guys trying to find something vegan to eat for 3
months at a time. That’s not my idea of happy. For some people that
is paradise and I totally salute you.
We have our own record company “Chandojika Records”. We
started that when we had the first members of Eden Automatic (CHris ANnette
DOug JImmy KAra) we added Kara because Kara really was the “Fifth
Beatle”. She is Chris’s wife and until we got the “Green
Beast” (our old conversion van) we had to take 2 vehicles so she
drove everywhere, sold CDs, danced, cheered, screamed, brought beers on
stage, took pictures and video and was the best possible 5 member you
can imagine! We kept the name of the record company for sentimental reasons.
We’ll always love Chris, Kara, and Jimmy and every version of Eden
Automatic has been special and great in its own way!
What advice can you give to someone who is just starting to market themselves
in the Indie music market?
You need the following:
Order and read through the Indie-Music Bible
Create your own website with your name as your URL (learn about keywords
and search engines or hire a webmaster and make sure they pay attention
to this!)
I like CD Baby for selling your CD as it takes a lot of the “footwork”
out of getting your CD into stores but it takes a LONG time to get your
CD into all of the stores. It can take up to a year. This is frustrating
but it is how the machine works.
Create a MySpace account (get over it is a great networking tool, but
learn how to MARKET with it don’t just get a bunch of “friends”)
Create a SonicBids account, use it. Set up a day once a week and make
it a part of your schedule.
Join yahoo groups that are relevant to your music scene
Join the local songwriters association
Join a music affiliate (ASCAP/BMI/SOCAN)
Watch the movie “What is Indie” by Dave Cool. This new movie
really outlines what it means to be Indie by the folks that have laid
the foundation of Indie today and it is FULL of great tips. (www.whatisindie.com)
tell Dave ‘NetteRadio sent you!
And finally please make sure you INSURE YOUR EQUIPMENT WITH MUSICPRO.COM!
(sorry that is a beginning music question right? But I can’t tell
you how many touring bands tell me they had to cancel a gig while they
are on the road because their gear was stolen… When I ask if they
are insured usually they tell me they are not… MusicPro.com charges
$1=$100 so if you insure $20,000 worth of gear it will cost you $200 per
year. OMG does that seem like a lot of money to you??? You can’t
afford $200? That is one or two gigs if you own $20,000 worth of gear.
Otherwise you probably own a $600 guitar which will cost $6 a year! Do
the math, work it out and don’t be foolish! Your auto insurance
DOESN’T cover it, your home owner’s insurance, the hotel,
the club, your parent’s… haha. I’ve made my point. (Dang
they should pay me!) We’ve had many claims and they are worth every
cent!
How involved are you with your recording projects?
Very, overly, obsessively so. I am just as much a producer on our projects
as Doug is. However, the $$$ is the bottom line and as much as I am a
nit-picker some times we have to cut it off. There are always things I
want to change, but I’m always happy with the CDs we produce.
What instruments do you play?
I play the guitar. I played the bass for a New Orleans’s benefit
that my friend Lisa put together. It was just 4 songs and we were doing
a little trio for the event. I decided 3 days before the event it would
be much better to play bass instead of having two guitars and drums. Ha!
I worked very hard and it didn’t sound half bad! I have huge respect
for anyone who plays bass and sings!
What are your main goals for 2006 and in your music career as a whole?
2006 has not turned out as I expected at all but that’s okay!
I was diagnosed with vocal nodes in late November which put off the completion
and release of our fourth CD “as for now”. We were planning
on moving to California in March and I was actually in Orange County looking
at housing when Doug’s job here in Dallas made what we fondly refer
to as the “11th hour offer.” I returned to Dallas, we changed
our CD Release/Going Away Party to a CD Release Party, I unpacked what
was packed, emailed my clients that I was staying and resumed life. Our
drummer in the meantime has picked up so many other bands that he is too
busy to play with Eden Automatic. So I guess my music career goal is to
create a new project. Will that be in 2006?
I don’t know. I don’t even know what it will be, who it
will consist of or what type of music it will be. I’m writing songs,
and when I’m done with the songs then I think I will go from there.
I’m not a kid anymore and I’m perfectly content with playing
the odd gig, putting out a CD and promoting it through CD Baby, MySpace,
the internet, etc., without having to hit the road… again, EVER.
What does Indiegrrl mean to you?
Being an Indiegrrl means I’m part of a world-wide community of
very talented women that I can turn to as simply as sending out an email
when I need advice on booking a gig, CD Artwork, management, labels, band
mates, songwriting, instruments, promoting my music, etc. well.. we’ve
covered everything right? Aging, agism, feminism, music trends, etc. I
will say that I don’t often participate in the “point of view”
threads because of NetteRadio. I want to make NetteRadio a place where
people feel they can submit their music to someone with “open arms”
so I stay out of the opinionated threads even though I often have VERY
strong opinions and am often chomping at the keyboard!
Is there anyone you would like to thank that has helped you along in
your career or in the music industry as a whole?
I guess this is my Grammy Speech (ha ha) Well my parents of course because
they did put me in choir when I was seven.
My friend Chuck Snow for he was the first friend I ever had who was
in a band. He is my oldest friend (ha ha) I’ve known him since I
was 18 and I was amazed by watching him play guitar and sing. I have always
loved every single song he has ever written and think it is a cruel twist
of fate that he is not hugely famous (www.chucksnow.com www.myspace.com/chucksnow)
It is probably a VERY weird twist of fate that I met BOTH of my husbands
at different shows of Chuck’s. Ha ha! Yes. Weird. I met my first
husband at a SIDs show in Colorado Springs. We married and lived in Turkey
for two years then moved back to Colorado Springs where we later divorced.
I was at the Deluxe Tavern with my new best friend Ruth Rakoff. We were
watching The Auto No and a band from Denver named Fear of Sleep was opening
for them. Chuck said, “watch out for the drummer!” (but nothing
about the lead singer!) Well I dated Bob Rupp for a couple of weeks and
the lead singer and I became friends. Ruth started dating bassist Chris
and during the course of their affair the lead singer and I became closer
friends… Six months later I was in Denver catching one of his acoustic
shows and he kissed me on the forehead. The next night we went out and
soon after I moved to Denver and Doug Conlon moved into my apartment…
we were married within a year and have been together ever since.
Doug taught me how to play guitar, and he taught me how to take my choir
voice and morph it into rockNroll. (sing in your car Annette.. loud LOUDER).
So… (are the credits rolling yet?) I have to thank Doug too. Muchly.
Without Doug I’d still be watching my friends play instead of playing.
We played our first acoustic gig together not 6 weeks after we had begun
dating and have played together for over fourteen years.
Now he has his own band (Rawly Punt www.myspace.com/rawlypunt) and it’s
surreal to watch him perform in a three piece. It’s almost like
going back in time.
Of course, along the way I’ve had friends who used to come to
every show until they burned out, friends who’ve taken countless
photos and video, and helped to archive Eden Automatic over the glory
years, and I’ll never forget that or them. Jimmy, Geno, Todd, Chris,
Kara, (the early years) I’ll never forget the early stages of Eden
Automatic, and Greg and Scott, thanks for making this last album so grand!
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