Interview with vocalist behind Light of X about her fears, prejudices, and how she believes music can change lives
1. What's the first piece of music you listened to today?
I haven’t yet--I had to check a mix of my own this morning, very boring, but I can’t listen to music and work very well at the same time, so I usually listen to music in the car.
2. What are your vices?
Chocolate, red wine, and black tea with milk and honey.
3. What is one of your prejudices?
Know-it-alls! People who think they are right all the time and don’t see that we all have different opinions and realities. Know-it-alls are such know-it-alls you can’t even agree to disagree with them, which is so infuriating to me!
4. In what way do you think music has the ability to change
the way people live their lives?
Music has the ability to inspire and elevate our moods. It also has the ability to make us feel "cool" or understood. That’s why a person’s taste in music so quickly defines them.
5. At what age did you first feel distrust?
When a friend of mine in the fifth grade promised me she had these certain Garbage Pail Kids cards, but she really didn’t have them and strung me along. I was like, “Oh! Some people aren’t trustworthy!” From that experience, I learned to recognize when someone was being a jive-ass.
6. Do you think that your name is appropriate for you?
(If not, what name would be more appropriate?)
I do think my name is appropriate for me, and I’ve made a living from it, so thanks, Mom! When I was a kid, however, I sometimes wanted a really normal first name, like Amy.
7. What is the best piece of music you've ever created,
in your opinion?
A few songs in particular I spent months on the orchestration/arrangement for: "The Landscape," "Seven Hours," "Sunday Morning," "That Baby."
8. Right now, how are you trying to change yourself?
I am working on lessening any kind of fear and procrastination, and working on gaining clarity, focus, and power of my intention, and honest communication with others. I also want to exercise more for the positive physical changes I am seeking!
9. If you had the time, what else would you do?
Political activism, photography, filming, intellectual pursuits, seeing friends more, starting a family, entertaining, drawing, acting, gardening, watching a regular TV show, staring out the window...
10. What social cause do you feel the most strongly about
(negative or positive)?
I feel most strongly about climate change and environmental pollution because I feel that is literally the mother of all issues! We could cause our planet to become so unstable that humanity would become extinct. Who cares about healthcare if the sea levels rise and cause massive world wide volcanic eruptions? Of course, I do feel strongly about healthcare--there are global, national, state, local, and community problems, and healthcare is definitely our most pressing national problem as it affects our entire economic system. I also care so much about the plight of the polar bear, penguin, wolves, childhood poverty and suffering, and species extinction, maybe I should write a song about those issues.
11. What are your fears?
Big male dogs, sharks, airports, storms, crazy people, being a passenger in a car with someone who’s tailgating, hardcore wilderness camping, heights, walking alone at night in a weird area, new situations, sometimes performing. But I continue to face them all and many have lessened over the years. There is really no reason to be afraid of anything, I have learned, just careful.
12. What is your favorite joke (tasteful or tasteless)?
I am not a joke person--half the time I don’t get them, and when I do, I can never remember them!
13. Who is your favorite author?
Anne Lamott
14. What is your favorite movie?
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
15. Favorite album(s) from the last few years?
Beach House Devotion; Bat for Lashes Two Suns and Fur and Gold; School of Seven Bells Alpinisms; Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes; Andrew Bird Noble Beast
; Alison Krauss and Robert Plant Raising Sand.
16. What would you like to know more about?
Literature, global economics, the afterlife.
17. What is one thing you would like to do/see/accomplish
before you die?
Win a Grammy. That would be quite an accomplishment in my book--I don’t care what anyone says! Oh, and being a mom, of course.
Visit Miranda Lee Richards on MySpace.