Hey Guys, I had the opportunity a short while ago to interview Maria Taylor, due to various reasons the interviews a little late but here we are, with an accompanying review of the soundtrack to the movie Adam on which she has a song with Joshua Radin.
On her song with Joshua Radin on the Adam Soundtrack:
Steve: You actually sing on the soundtrack with Joshua Radin.
Maria: Ah huh!
Steve: Youre on the song When you find me, you sing with him on it.
Maria: Yes. Correct.
Steve: Ive heard the song, they sent me the soundtrack and Ive listened to it ten or twelve times now, its fantastic. When I listen to the song, now I do like Joshuas voice and style, but your voice actually stood out on the song that you had with him?
Maria: Oh cool!
Steve: Well it was like, Joshua sounds like he almost whispers a lot with his music, which is fine, it does suit, but when your voice peaks in the song, it makes for a really good contrast to his voice. So what did you think of your contribution to the actual song itself?
Maria: I dunno, Josh is a really good friend of mine and we were on tour together when they asked us, they asked if we would collaborate on this song cause they wanted a duet style song for the soundtrack. So Joshua he already had that song and we were in Berlin at that time. So we went into a studio, we had the day off at that time, and it was fun, you know, there was no producer there, so we were throwing out ideas, so I played my part and added the backup, then Josh threw down all his ideas. It was a real fun experience. I really enjoy singing with him and I think we sound good singing together. So I dont know what I brought to this song except the best I could do *laughs*.
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On tv shows using Indie music:
Maria: Its really great, lots of the tv shows these days, like Grays Anatomy, theyve been really great to me putting several of my songs on their show, theres a bunch of shows and theyre really trying to do that. Theyre trying to find, not the top 40 artists, its wonderful for people like me, they come to my shows, they know my songs because they first heard them on a tv show. So really its an excellent way to, you know, get exposure I would not get otherwise!
Steve: Yeah, it seems like a lot of tv shows are expanding the horizons of music, giving a lot of artists a chance, for instance Lucy Schwartz, she had a song on Private Practise?
Maria: Yeah, I had a song on there as well and got *so* much feedback!
Steve: Which song of yours was on that?
Maria: Oh goodness *thinks* .. I dunno, I think it was Orchards?
Steve: Oh so you havent seen the episode yet? *laughs*
Maria: No I havent *laugh*
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On Moby, Stuffing up and Michael Stipe:
Steve: Now youve worked with Moby
Maria: Ah huh!
Steve: What was it like working with Moby???
Maria: Oh hes great. My friend and I we have a band named Azure Ray, and Moby he just, he likes the music and asked if we wanted to collaborate with him, so we wrote a couple of songs together and went to his apartment in New York to record it together. Wed imagined wed go to this huge studio and itd be this big ordeal, but he records in this tiny little room in his apartment, its so low key, its great. Because thats how I like to do things. So then he asked us to go on tour, so we opened up for him on a US tour. It was a great experience, hes such a down to earth, supersweet guy.
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Steve: So whats the most embarrassing thing thats happened to you on stage?
Maria: I guess If I mess up, Im a human being and when you come to a concert you wanna see a human not listen to a record Definitely its usually the songs I know the best, the ones I wrote ten years ago and sometimes I get lost in the song, I forget where I am. So Ill forget the lyrics and Ill just stand there and look at the people and they know the words, they know Im messing up, thats pretty embarrassing. But Ill say Ahh I messed up! and it makes them feel like theyre a part of it, they shout them out.
Steve: So thats the real reason the artist puts the microphone out to the audience to sing *laughs*
Maria: *laughs*
(Note: Maria worked with Michael Stipe on Cartoons and Forever Plans, one of her songs.)
Steve: What was it like working with Michael Stipe???
Maria: It was awesome! Hes been a friend of mine for the past ten years or so, I knew him from Athens, Georgia, from Alabama, it was my first move. I lived there for four or five years. And we became friend when I lived there, so we always hung out all the time but we never worked on music all the time, but he was always supportive of my music. One night I was working on that song and I couldnt figure out what to say, my mind would go blank, and he was like Do you want me to help you? so I said Uh absolutely OF COURSE! so he was so professional, we stayed up all night, I kept singing the song over and over, and he kept writing lyrics and Id try them out and hed rewrite them. Afterwards we recorded it. It was wonderful.
Steve: Did it ever strike you at any moment, Hey shit this is the guy who sang Losing My Religion whos singing my song!?
Maria: *laughs* I started playing that, I was delirious, it was six in the morning and I started playing REM music, it hit me and Im like OH MY GOD! Sometimes cause Ive known him for so long, I forget that hes an amazing, amazing rockstar.
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So that was my time spent with Maria Taylor, it went on a lot longer than what you read, indeed, but soon we’ll be linking I hope, to the audio, so you can download and listen to that as well! Now, head on over to the music section and read the review of the Adam sountrack…