May 27, 2009
Anya Marina

Cathy: How would you describe your music to someone who's never heard it before?
Anya: Satanic folk in the vein of Sabbath meets The Carpenters... on acid. Kidding. I would say it's rock and roll with a funny, supremely intelligent and witty bend.

C: How has the tour been going with The Virgins?
A: It's been so fun driving the country and doing it by myself - they're in a big bus and I'm in a car following behind them. But, it's been really great coming to new markets that I've never really played in, like Denver, Sacramento, and Salt Lake City. I've never been to New Orleans and that's coming up next week, so I'm excited about that.
C: Why aren't you in a bus with them?
A: I have a lot of promo that I have to do, like record in-stores and radio appearances and stuff like that. I think it would be inconveniencing the bus driver to drive out of his way to where I need to be. We figured it would be better this way.

C: This isn't the first time you've been on tour with them (you were out on the road in January) - how did the opportunity arise for you to go on the road with The Virgins again?
A: I don't know, I guess I got lucky! I was out at a bar with the head of my label and she happened to be having drinks with The Virgins manager. I was like "Oh, I just got back from hanging out with those guys!" I don't know, maybe he had one martini too many and was sitting there with a tour on the table. He asked if I wanted to go out with them and I was like, "Um, hello! Yes!"

C: You've made a lot of tour diaries and videos on Youtube. What inspired you to start doing this?
A: Pure boredom and a free flipcam. It beats talking to yourself. I got a flipcam in the mail and I figured this would be a good way to keep track of what I'm doing. I've always kept a diary and a journal and this is a really unique way of doing that without getting into a car accident. Although, I do use one arm to flipcam while I'm driving... Don't tell the CHP. I feel like I've been pretty safe so far.

C: Along the line of tour diary videos, how's your face bruise doing?
A: Thank you for asking! It's healed, I'm pleased to say. Although, the most recent video blog that I'm uploading today or tomorrow still has a tiny remnant of the facial bruise. But it's gone, completely gone. I bruise pretty easily. I really socked myself with that guitar. But, it just goes to show how much heart and soul I put into my music.

C: What are your plans for after this tour is over with?
A: Keep touring until I fall over. I really don't get tired of travelling. I was thinking about that the other day - I drove for 9 hours and once I got to my hotel, it was so creepy and gross looking that I just figured "Well, I still have energy and only another 2 and a half hours of driving, I might as well get some more green tea and hop back in the car." So I did. I just got back in the car and kept driving. It's weird how I don't get tired of it. I really enjoy the alone time and seeing the country. I've never travelled the country. As a kid we didn't really do any long road trips. We would drive up to San Francisco and down to LA - I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I never did any cross country trip or Chevy-Chase-Family-Vacation-Clark-Griswold stuff. Now's my chance, I guess.

C: That links in perfectly with my next question! Did growing up in the Bay Area influence you at all musically? If so, how?
A: Oh certainly. There's such an open mindedness and a diversity and acceptance that it's sort of hammered into your head as a young kid... Which is great! I'm glad that I was brought up with that. It was a fairly progressive household. My parents were both professors and my sister and I were always encouraged to be in dialogue with one another. We were always learning about new things, people, experiences, etc. so I think it was a really great environment for an artist to grow up in. Without sounding really hippy, we were definitely encouraged to pursue our dreams and to be insightful about our art, and that is something I'm so grateful for. I think that is a direct result of the area I grew up in. Although, I have seen some pretty progressive places in my travels that have opened my mind a lot as to what I thought other places were like, which was maybe judgmental on my part. There are some really great cities and communities around this beautiful, gorgeous country.

Hm, what else? There's definitely a downside to being so progressive and leftist. I was in a snow storm last winter in Ann Arbor, Michigan and I remember thinking, "Oh yea, Anya? You want everybody to drive a Prius or an electric car and recycle? You sure about that?!" I was trapped in a blizzard and all I wanted was the biggest Hummer with 4-wheel drive and massive tires. It was petrifying sliding all over the road! There are exceptions to that rule - I can see why people would want a big car.

C: What pushed you to make the switch from being a DJ to focusing on performing?
A: It was a really gradual process, it was definitely not an overnight thing. I had been doing both and balancing both for a really long time, and then I did what I always do whenever I'm faced with a challenge like that: I waited until the absolute last moment, to where I was just about to have a nervous breakdown because I couldn't juggle anymore. I said to myself "Okay, something's gotta get cut out." I was waiting for the moment where I said "this is ridiculous." Showing up to work 5 or 10 minutes late every day was just not going to fly and asking for all this time off to drive up to LA to meet with people wasn't going to work. I was asking for my vacation time early so I could go on tour - I would never actually take vacations, I would just use my vacation time to go tour. It was fine with me, but at a certain point I was starting to feel like I was burning the candle at both ends. It came down to one tearful conversation with my boss where I was like, "I really don't want to do this because this is my dream job, but I have to because I'm going crazy!" It was really great when he said, "If you don't take a leave of absence, or quit, or try this, I'm going to fire you, because I know how much this means to you." It was really surprising and an extremely generous reaction.
C: Would you ever consider going back into DJing again?
A: Oh yea! I'm still on the payroll! Technically I'm still an employee. I'll always have that to fall back on, and I'll always have a love of radio. In a way I feel like all of those needs or desires that were met for me through radio are being met now on the road tenfold. Everything from flipcam videos, which are an art form to me because I have so much fun making those things, to performing every night on stage, to meeting people after the show, to formulating what I'm going to talk or sing about that night. I'm getting all of those needs met, and if ever that stops - knock on wood that it doesn't - I'll know that I always have those skills to fall back on. I can always do a satellite radio talk show.

C: How do you feel about the current direction radio is going in, leaning away from terrestrial and towards digital? There is so much changing with it, where do you think it's going to go?
A: I think all of these technological changes might be frowned upon in the beginning, but they're exciting! I love that we have all of these options now. We still have a choice to listen to either terrestrial or satellite radio. I think that it's unfortunate that so many wonderful indie radio stations have gone under, though. You can't really point a finger on exactly what the fault is, the listenership just isn't there, sadly. I think a lot of technological advances are being made in terms of a thing called the "People Meter" which will help get a more accurate feel for how many people are listening. Before, Arbitron would ask people to submit these diaries, or they would call people at home... How many people do you know that still have their home number, much less answer that number? Not a lot of people. It's taken all these years to solve this. The People Meter gets a much more accurate number of how many people are actually listening to which station at what time.
C: There are also a lot of things like Pandora, where you can personalize your own "radio station" to cater to who you like. That's been taking a toll on terrestrial radio as well.
A: That's not real radio though, it's more like creating a playlist online. There's no DJ or transmitter or anything. I like Sirius and XM a lot. It's really cool to be able to listen to Howard Stern and then switch over to talk radio and then listen to comedy. It's exciting to find so much at your fingertips. It's part of my rental car deal, I always ask for that now.

C: What do you believe is the biggest problem with the music industry currently? If you had the opportunity to fix it, what would you do?
A: That's a heavy question. I should know the answer to that, but I really don't. I'm closed off in my little bubble and I'm just trying to focus on how to get people to buy as many of my CDs as possible. I'm trying to gauge the audience and see what they need and talk to them after the show to find out why a certain demographic isn't buying the CD. Is it because they aren't into the music, or because they are going to go download it? I'm noticing these different patterns. I think the most reliable data is gathered through interpersonal connections and through actually getting out there on the road and doing the research yourself.

I know for me I don't approach it as what the biggest problem is, necessarily. I know it's tough to get a record deal now, there are 360 deals where you wind up giving away a piece of your publishing and merch revenues and all that. Unless you're an artist that's really making headway or breaking big in some way, you're not going to make a big profit. So, maybe the biggest problem is that there isn't the same kind of construct for making a living as an artist as there was before when you would get a record deal with a big advance and live off of that. But maybe the longevity factor is better now. As an independent artist on an indie label (Chop Shop), with the backing of a major (Atlantic), I feel really fostered and taken care of. I'm one of 3 or 4 artists on their roster, so I feel a tremendous amount of support. I'm grateful for that. I feel like we're making changes when people stop buying CDs, which has made a huge difference in sales. Digital sales have gone up, though. You have to find new ways of making an income. I'm working on all new merch designs now and trying to make interesting t-shirts and bags because maybe somebody bought the record and shared it with their friends, and now they want to come to the show and buy my 'rainbow peeing unicorn t-shirt'. Can it help fill my gas tank to get to the next state? Great!

C: Hypothetical question time! You have the opportunity to create your "dream tour". You get to choose all of the bands that are going to play the show alongside you every night. What bands do you take on tour with you?
A: That would be so fun! I would probably choose some of my good friends, because there's nothing like having good friends on the road and hanging out with people you actually like when you're travelling for months. I'd love to get Jason Mraz, Tristan Prettyman, Spoon... I think that would be a great bill. It would be really fun to tour with somebody massive, like Katy Perry. I was just talking about that the other day on Twitter. She's so great and I have so much respect for her business acumen. She seems like a really fun worker bee! I relate to that in a lot of ways, like her unselfconscious attitude and her brave ambition. I like that she doesn't put on a bunch of airs. She knows what she's doing and knows what she wants. Plus, it's always fun playing for thousands of fans! I just went out with Jason Mraz, and that was a blast. That would be a fun tour. I don't know if Spoon would mix with Katy Perry, but I'm sure there are some closet indie rockers who would cite her as a guilty pleasure. There are always people that I think it would be completely cool to play with, also. Like Pete Yorn, Juliana Hatfield, Pavement, and Liz Phair.

C: Speaking of Twitter, I saw you asking people questions and Iive decided to turn around and ask you one of your own - what is your electric chair meal?
A: I never have an answer for that! It changes all the time. I'd probably choose a new place I'd never been to. Like, for my last meal they would have to take me from jail to Eric Ripert's restaurant in New York City. He would have to eat with me because I have a massive crush on him. Either that or Anthony Bourdain taking me anywhere with him on tour on his No Reservations show on The Travel Channel. I don't care if we ate crickets in the Sudan, that would be a great last meal.

C: If you could have any animal be your own personal mascot, what would it be and why?
A: Oh come on now, that's silly! Any animal? People always tell me I'm very bunny like. I don't know why... Maybe it's because I had buck teeth in 4th grade. Oh! I know what my animal totem is. I think it's a dove. I had a weird experience on the roof of my building the other month. I was thinking, "Wow, I can't believe my life right now and how all of my dreams have come true" and I was having this really amazing solitary moment by myself communicating with the universe and then I looked over and what I thought was this gargoyle or rock or piece of debris was a white dove. The dove had been sitting there the whole time staring at me. I was thinking, "What is a white dove doing hanging out on a roof at 11:30 at night? Aren't they supposed to be off in a tree somewhere? Or in a nest?" You never see a white dove in the middle of the night! Then I researched white doves and everything it said about them spoke to me. The dove symbolizes truth, a desire to express yourself creatively, and health. I would say a dove would be my personal mascot. Thank you for asking that, I never really knew that.

C: If you were stranded on a deserted island and had the opportunity to bring 3 things with you, what would they be?
A: I'd bring my guitar, my computer, and probably some kind of sustenance. What could you live on? Oh wait, does the island have food on it?
C: Let's say minimal food and drinking water. Enough to survive.
A: Then I'll get sunscreen, to preserve my milky white skin.

C: Closing statements?
A: I love you guys and thanks. Don't forget to write.