Audioholic Media

Currently in the midst of booking her spring tour with fellow singer-songwriter Shani Shousterman, Amanda will be touring the Left Coast for the second time in two years. In an effort to procure a better understanding of what it means to be a touring musician during the record industry’s re-invention of itself, Shani and Amanda have agreed to let Audioholic Media follow their expedition. We can only accompany them in spirit, but we promise to try to make it as voyeuristic and creepy as it would be if we were following them person.

Audioholic Media: Tell me a little about your background in music.

Amanda Holmes: Well my dad writes songs and he would constantly, always play music around me. I took piano lessons for about six years when I was a kid and then my dad said, “Yeah, you’re really awful at this. I’m not gonna pay for this anymore.” That was the stop of music.

I was actually a competitive-level gymnast. I was at the gym, like, 20 hours a week while going to school. Then my ankles gave out on me and I was like, “What do I do? I’ve been so focused on this my entire life.” I went headlong into music, and from then on, that’s what I’ve been doing.

AM: When did you start playing the guitar?

AH: I’d say probably about five years ago, but I didn’t get really serious about it until probably about a year ago. Me and Shani are learning drums, which we’re really excited about.

AM: That’s very cool. Girl drummers are always pretty bad ass.

AH: Heck yeah!

AM: Do you have a preference when it comes to playing the guitar versus the piano?

AH: Well I’m more comfortable on piano, but there’s something special about the guitar. I’ve been writing on the guitar lately. I think that I write ballads on the piano and upbeat and more percussive things on the guitar. It depends on what kind of song I want to sing.

AM: You really utilize a lot of aspects of Internet promotion. You have a blog, you have a Twitter page, you have a MySpace page, you have a Facebook… The Internet has become a kind of controversial topic amongst independent artists, particularly with the illegal downloading aspect, and some musicians feel as if the market is overpopulated as a result of too much accessibility. What are your thoughts on using the Internet as a tool to strengthen your career?

AH: The Internet is such an amazing tool, but illegal downloading is a bummer. I’m actually writing a paper at school right now about illegal downloading, and I think the part that people don’t realize is that it’s so easy to just download music and the point of it is that it’s in cyberspace. People click a button and get a song for free; they don’t think about all the people that they’re taking money from. It’s a piece of art; you should be paid for something that you do that’s art. It’s in our Constitution, it’s in our copyrights. Painters get paid, you know, photographers get paid, but musicians don’t get paid because it’s a part of cyberspace now. It’s just lost in this realm where nobody cares what they feel because it’s not physical. People aren’t going to go into a CD store and steal a physical CD because they’d feel awful. But it gets lost when it goes over the Internet.

AM: It’s interesting to hear different musicians talk about this because some musicians say illegal downloading is a great way to circulate the music and generate buzz to get people out to shows, and some musicians are very much against it because they work hard to create something worthwhile only to have it stolen.

AH: You can’t change it now. It’s irreversible, you know? They’re not gonna say, “Oh, well it’s illegal now.” The RIAA definitely tried to sue as many people as possible, and it’s a lost cause now. I mean, I’ll still try to make people feel awful about it [laughs], because that’s one of my major revenue streams. That’s, like, pretty much the only way that I get paid. I also argue that if you want good music to keep flourishing and if you want music to evolve, you should support good music. If you think that someone’s music is good, or if you want them to keep working at their music, then you gotta help them out in some way, you know? Keep the music going.

AM: I kept seeing that you have two songs in the movie Emily’s Song. Can you tell me what Emily’s Song is about?

AH: Well, actually, my father wrote Emily’s Song, and he sold the screenplay to Warner Bros., and basically we just recently bought it back because Warner Bros. stabs people in the back. We’re gonna make it happen without them. It’s the most amazing story I think I’ve ever heard. I’m 100% for it. Every person that’s ever read it has cried in, like, the most amazing, uplifting way ever, so when that comes out, I’ll have quite a few songs on the soundtrack.

AM: It would make sense to focus a lot on your upcoming tour, so… how did you meet Shani?

AH: We met on campus. We both go to USC, and we’re both in the music school. It was funny, one day I was saying, “I’d really love to do this tour, I’m planning it, but I can’t do it alone,” and Shani goes, “Oh, well I’ll go with you!” Next week we were booking dates. It was awesome.

AM: So you did this together for the first time all by yourselves last year?

AH: Yeah.

AM: What was your experience with that?

AH: We had a blast. It was absolutely amazing, and thank God I went with Shani. We fit together perfectly. She works so hard, and with us two teamed together, it’s a blast.

AM: Is it really difficult to build your own tour now as an independent artist or do you think the shift in the industry is making it easier to be more grassroots about things?

AH: Basically if you have the drive and determination to call up place after place after place and haggle them– the people that we contact, it usually takes them, like, a month or weeks to get back to you, and you just have to keep bugging them. I really think that anybody can do it if they have the drive, and if they don’t give up, and if they just keep pushing and keep calling, and emailing, and doing the research. It’s just the time and effort.

AM: Are you officially signed to a label?

AH: No labels. But I do have a production deal with Jordan Productions.

AM: Is that the ideal situation, or are you looking to get signed eventually?

AH: My biggest goal is to play music for as many people as possible, all over the world. That’s my goal, that my music would be able to fund that. I’ve had a few friends sign, and I’ve watched what they do and it seems like it’s a tricky situation. I’d rather go out and do it myself and make it happen. Then if I have a strong fan base and I really got something going on that they would contact me, that I would have some kind of upper hand to be able to negotiate something where I’d have a strong say in what was going to happen. But I’m not slowing down to wait for any record label. I’m gonna push forward and make it happen on my own.

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For more information on Amanda Holmes, visit amandaholmes.com or myspace.com/amandaholmesband.