DeadJournalist.com Exclusive Interviews:
Sara Radle

EXCLUSIVE Interview: Sara Radle
Chuck Norton, DeadJournalist.com
01.25.08

 

What you need to know about Sara Radle:

- Sara Radle is a songwriter and musician;
- She is founding member of the band Calamity Magnet;
- Radle is also a current member of The Rentals;
- She released the solo LP, You Can't Make Everybody Like You, and EP, People You've Been Before, in 2004, and Jellybeans With Belly Buttons under the name Fred Savage Fanclub in 2000;
- She formed the band Lucy Loves Schroeder in the mid-90's in her native San Antonio and was with the band until it disbanded in 2003;
- Calamity Magnet is currently recording their debut EP with an expected release date of early-2008;
- The Rentals are working on a new full length album, excepted to be released in 2008.

For more information of Sara Radle, visit her MySpace page at www.myspace.com/sararadle. For information on Calamity Magnet visit their Web site at www.calamitymagnet.com or their MySpace.com page at www.myspace.com/calamitymagnet. For more information on The Rentals, visit www.therentals.com.

DeadJournalist.com proudly brings you this exclusive with Sara Radle.

Many people know you from your work with The Rentals. How did you come to join the band?

SR: I met Matt Sharp when my solo band toured through Los Angeles in the summer of 2004. We happened to play a show with Goldenboy (who he was playing with at the time) at Tangier. A few months later I booked a show for Goldenboy at a club in Dallas, where I was living at the time, and Matt and I kept in contact.

In April of 2005, Matt agreed to record vocals with me for a duet on my next solo record. I flew out to Los Angles with my little four-track recorder, and it was then that he told me he was thinking about starting up The Rentals again, but that he needed to find someone who could help him put it together.

Two months later I packed up my little car with my three cats, various musical instruments, and whatever belongings that would fit, and headed west to become a Rental. It was a very exciting time!

What have you, as an artist, learned from working with Matt Sharp?

SR: Patience!! :) Matt is the kind of person who likes to take his time with everything. I'll admit that it can be super frustrating at times (I'm not telling you anything I haven't told him already), but I understand his approach. We just work in different ways.

I'm the type of person who likes to capture songs in the moment and how they first come out most naturally, and his first instinct is to always explore every other option. I guess there are advantages and drawbacks to both ways of working, which is maybe why we have a good dynamic, balancing each other out.

Tell us about your new project Calamity Magnet. How did the band form? How would you describe the band's sound?

SR: Calamity Magnet has been in the works for almost three years now. When Matt asked me to move to Los Angeles to help reform The Rentals in 2005, it was with the condition that I'd have enough time to continue working on my own music.

Well, The Rentals ended up being more time consuming than I think any of us had thought (I'm not complaining, of course), so the only time I had for my own stuff was when I would work on demos at my house. It was hard to find the time to form my own band, so I took those years to continue writing and demoing songs until I would have a window of time to be able to give it the proper attention it deserves.

Now that The Rentals are in Los Angeles for a while, working on the next record, I've taken this opportunity to get Calamity Magnet up and running.

Calamity Magnet went through a couple of different combinations before we settled on a solid line-up. I met Joe Bourdet (guitar) first, and for a while there we joked that we may end up just being a duo because nobody we tried out was really working!

When Valarie Ngai (bass) and Genevieve Kwong (keys) answered an ad I placed on Craigslist, things really started heading in the right direction. Then I talked my friend Joe Zabielski (drums) into coming to a rehearsal, and that was the icing on the cake!

After a few years of frustration, things really did seem to come together quite quickly towards the end.

We describe our sound and indie-pop meets girl group harmonies of the sixties, with a dash of country. I don't know how accurate that is, but it sounds nice, doesn't it?


Is there a Calamity Magnet album in the works? What are the band's tour plans for 2008?

SR: We just started recording our EP this week, and I am SO happy with the way things are turning out so far! We're working at Dennis Moody Studios in Los Angeles. Dennis is an awesome guy, and really great to work with. We're all so amazed with how great it's sounding so far, so that's a good sign.

We decided to take a pretty organic approach to this record, recording all of the basic tracks live, with minimal overdubs. I want to make a record that sounds like it does when the five of us get in a room and play together, because I think there is something really special about that. I feel very lucky that I get to be in a band with such talented people.

We're hoping to do some shorter touring in the Spring (mostly West Coast-area), with a more extensive U.S. tour this Summer.

Who were your musical influences? Have you found that they have changed over the years?

SR: As a kid, The Monkees were my favorite band. I also loved Elvis, and all the old girl groups - The Supremes, Ronettes, Chiffons, etc. When I first started writing songs, I was listening to The Ramones, Hole, Nirvana, L7, Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland, and then Liz Phair, Elliott Smith, and actually Weezer - and all of those bands had an influence on my writing at the time.

I guess some of my current influences as a songwriter would include The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Dolly Parton, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles, Neil Diamond, and Queen, just to name a few. It's funny, because what I'm currently influenced by is more in line with what I was listening to when I was six.

Which do you enjoy more, performing live or writing and recording?

SR: That's a hard question to answer, because I love doing both so much. Writing is such a release - I've always said it's like therapy! There's something so special about working in a recording studio, as well. I really do enjoy the creative process surrounding writing and recording music, but there is also nothing like playing live. Nothing ever comes out exactly the same way twice, and nothing beats the adrenaline and excitement - or the challenge of wanting to do your best in front of a live audience.

The most bizarre thing that has happened to you while on tour is ... ?

SR: Well, it didn't happen to me directly, but the drummer for my old band, Lucy Loves Schroeder, was once offered a hand job for a cigarette at a rest stop. He hates it when we bring that up.

Who and where was your first concert?

SR: I'm not exactly sure ... My parents are folk musicians, so I grew up seeing them perform at coffee houses and festivals. I remember meeting Odetta, and seeing them play with Town Van Zant, Guy Clark, Rambin' Jack Elliott. I also spent a lot of time going to see my older brother's punk rock band play around town, and I thought that was just about the coolest thing in the world.

It wasn't until I saw Babes In Toyland at Sunken Garden Theater in San Antonio that I realized girls could front rock bands, too, and quickly decided to do so.

Is there a band or artist that you've discovered this part year that you've recommended to your friends?

SR: Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen

Who were you listening to in 1997?

SR: The Ramones, Hole, Social Distortion, Elliott Smith, Liz Phair

Which do you prefer: Vinyl, CD or MP3?

SR: Vinyl sounds the best, no doubt.

One Drink, One Album, One Movie:

SR: Drink: Throat Coat Herbal tea mixed with lots of honey and a double shot of Jack Daniels (It's my pre-show ritual concoction).

Album: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

I'll never get tired of that record. I'm training for the L.A. Marathon, and I've found it's the perfect record to run to!

Movie: A Star Is Born

It still makes me cry when I hear Judy sing "The Man Who Got Away" or talk about being on tour with a bunch of men and putting nail polish on at rest stops across the country.