Interview: Lisa Hannigan, Singer/Songwriter

()

If you walk my way... | Photo courtesy of PhotoFM via Flickr

I will never forget the strange way in which I discovered the music of Lisa Hannigan. Last summer, I was sitting at work trading listening ideas with a friend over IM. I don't remember which one of us suggested Damien Rice, but his name came up and I typed it into my favorite website of the moment (the now lamentably defunct www.mixwit.com). I remember pinging my friend to ask who the female back-up singer was on the song, but she didn't know so I typed it into Google. The answer -- Lisa Hannigan -- came back quickly, as did a link to her MySpace page which I quickly pasted into my browser.

The first song I heard was the demo for the ethereal "Lille". After that I queued up a live cut of "Pistachio", then her duet, "Some Surprise" with Gary Lightbody, and finally a demo of "Sea Song". I was hooked immediately. Every day I would load her MySpace page. I checked out her web site looking for tour dates; I downloaded a digital copy of her album and -- when U.S. dates were released -- I snapped up tickets for her shows at the Largo and the Greek. I won't go into the unexpected events surrounding those shows (you'll have to see my upcoming film, The Lyrical Ballad of Harold Martinsky, for that) but, needless to say, I was a huge fan.

()

...I will keep my head. | Photo courtesy of Starbright31 via Flickr

When I heard she was coming back to the States to play at the Troubadour, I again quickly bought tickets. One of our other LAist writers, Michele Reverte, had interviewed Lisa before so I asked her if she was planning to do it again and, if so, could I join her? To her great credit -- probably sensing my enthusiasm -- Michele deferred on doing the interview and asked if I'd like to do it solo. Nervous as a suicide bomber, I agreed. That interview is transcribed below. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed conducting it. And, incidentally, I have two extra tickets to the show on Saturday night if anyone is interested. I'll be the big-headed Kraut out front.

LAist: All right. I guess we're ready to get started. How are you doing today?

Lisa: I'm very good. It's snowing here. Which is probably something you don't see very often.

Are you in America yet or are you still overseas?

I'm in Ireland.

You're still in Ireland? You're soon to leave? You start in a few days, right?

Yeah, we leave on Monday morning We fly over to San Diego first. Snow to sun. It's gonna be quite a shock.

Well, there's a lot of sun here right now. It was about 80 degrees here yesterday afternoon. So if you like it, you will enjoy it.

(laughter and cross-talk)

So let me get started real quick with you. First of all, I should apologize because I'm a terrible interviewer, but you'll get to know that as we go through it. I sort of jump around. I'm actually a film writer. I've written 400 articles for the website I work for -- this is my first music article. And it was because I had the chance to interview you. I discovered you last year on MySpace and was just totally taken with your music. And downloaded your CD when it was available on your Irish website. And then saw both shows at the Largo and at the Greek. And am going to the Troubadour, so I am very excited. If I gush, you'll please forgive me.

(laughs)

Oh, thank you very much. I'm glad you liked the record.

Oh, it was great. The first question I wanted to ask you is from my friend Michele who, I think, interviewed you last time you were in town. And I remember this as well. When you guys came to the Largo you were all dressed up as characters -- maybe not characters from Deadwood -- but certainly in the style of the show. And I remember you talking about how you guys were sort of engrossed with the show on your tour bus. So I'm wondering, first of all, how that played out and, second of all, can we expect any different outfits when you play here in L.A.?

Well, it depends on what DVDs we bring, I think, with us. We still have another series of Deadwood to go. So I'm gonna bring that with me. But I think the talk was we were probably gonna get The Wire for this tour. Which I haven't seen.

Now you see that would be interesting. That's a shift from Deadwood if you guys came out in Wire-themed outfits.

We'll see how it affects us sartorially. I mean, I do like the Deadwood. We all kind of dress that way anyway. But Gavin took it to more extremes with his little, tiny tie and things. I certainly always wear second-hand dresses and things. And the boys like their suits. It was just kind of a tweaking. So we'll see. I don't know. If you have any recommendations for our tour bus entertainment--

Well, certainly The Wire is great because you have five seasons so that's a lot of drive-time there. That might take you all the way to -- how far East are you guys going? Are you going all the way back to New York?

Yeah. It's taking five weeks. We're starting in San Diego and we're ending up in Texas so I don't know how long we're going in between.

That's quite a circuitous route. So, yeah, The Wire definitely. Flight of the Conchords is a good show. Very good HBO show.

Yeah, I love them.

Yeah, they're good, too. They're good as musicians and they're really funny. It's not fair that people have that much talent.

I watch their show on Youtube. They were just on Youtube doing their live shows, and it was passed around. They're just brilliant.

Yeah, they're wonderful. I saw them at the El Rey here about two years ago before they had their show. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. And then a few months later, the show came on HBO. And now it's one of those situations -- I think everyone has them -- where the minute you find out a certain act is coming to town you're waiting for the tickets to go on sale. So that you can see them again. But anyway, let's talk a little bit about music! When you came last time -- like I said -- I saw both of your shows, and I'm just kind of wondering from your perspective -- because the Largo is a very small space, probably a little more of an intimate setting for you guys. I'm just wondering, how as a performer -- I don't know if it's so much a preference, but just the difference between having that intimate setting like a small theater and having the power of a large crowd like you did at the Greek. Can you talk a little bit about your experience with that? And if you have a preference or just how it feels for you?

It really depends on the place. I always thought when we started out little theaters would be great. And then traveling around Ireland and doing more shows, I kind of -- we all began to prefer the bit more raucuous, bar gigs or standing, a bit more atmosphere to them. But it really just depends on the place and on the night. I mean playing the Greek, that was just quite a daunting and incredible experience for us. To have a chance to play on those stages is amazing, especially before the record even came out! So it was an incredible experience, and I can still picture it actually. I can still picture the crowds. I thought maybe one day we'll be back there on our own. We'll see. I'm looking forward to the Troubadour, though. I've played there before. It's a really nice gig.

Yeah, it's great. It's so close between the performers and the crowd. You're literally right there.

Yeah.

You can literally walk right up to the stage. I can't wait to go. I'm so excited.

Yeah. I kind of prefer that, I think.

For your [earlier] American tour, were there any pieces of it that particularly stand out? Maybe some real moments of Americana that maybe you remember or think about when you recall that time last year?

Oh, we just had so much fun! We really did. It was our first kind of tour on a tour bus. And we stopped in a great many places that were really outside of the motorway where we were just wandering around very small towns. And that was so much fun -- to meet people and to chat with people. With our funny accents! We totally had a blast. Because, you know, I've been to New York and LA and places, but I find it really interesting to visit smaller places or in the middle. That's always an eye-opener. Just really interesting.

[ed. note - I had planned to transcribe the entire interview, but actually thought that -- considering Lisa's heartbreaking Irish lilt -- some part of the interview should be heard rather than just read. The full, longish interview is embedded in the player below.]

Lisa Hannigan plays this Saturday night at the Troubadour.