A Conversation with Rosie Thomas

This is the original transcript of the interview, only minor editing has been applied for readability. This has been the basis for articles but has never been published in the original form.
Wortraub: After your third album you had a feeling of being at a point of not being authentic. Why did that happen?
Rosie: I worked with a producer that pushed my song writing in a way that made my songs feel pressured and organized rather than inspired and original.

Wortraub: What did you do against that?
Rosie: Took a break for a bit. Re-thought out why I played music for a living. Who was I outside of that? Was I still a lovely person without my ambition or creativity? Could I forgive myself for all the false pressures and expectations I put on myself for so many years? I spent a lot of time in New York during this time and felt re-inspired again.

Wortraub: This album has a very spontaneous touch to it. How were your sessions on this record?
Rosie: Everything was in the moment. Everything I wrote, every idea we came up with we recorded right away. We didn’t spend too much time with song structure, mostly just laid things down right away and built on the song from there. Most of the guitars are out of tune, most of the songs lack consistent rhythm even, but that’s what I wanted…I wanted to capture the songs the way that we played them and practiced them. I wanted people to feel like they were just sitting in the bedrooms and basements we recorded them in right along with us.

Wortraub: Why did you decide to leave the studio atmosphere behind?
Rosie: I needed to do something that didn’t have a time frame or financial pressures either. I needed to work on a project in my timing, without the pressures of deadlines or finances. I needed to trust myself on song structure, I needed to know what I was capable of all on my own and with good friends around to encourage me in that process.

Wortraub: You even went so far as to include the „recording atmo“ in the record, when you talk and joke with each other, why?
Rosie: Because we are close friends. Because we don’t take each other very seriously. Because that is the relationship we have with one another…silly and sarcastic and even immature at times of course!

Wortraub: Did the city of New York influence your music?
Rosie: Absolutely! I don’t know anyone who has visited New York, whether they fall in love with it or not, who isn’t inspired by it’s greatness. There is no city like it. You can feel the pulse of creativity there, the passion from individuals living there, the people who are living there hoping to make their dreams come true…its so fast paced that it got me writing at a fast pace even.
Its as if my creativity took on the pulse of that city and my song writing happened at a faster pace.

Wortraub: How is Seattle different to Detroit?
Rosie: No burned out buildings. No sketchy neighborhoods really. Mountains, ocean, more places to go. It’s a more expensive place to live indeed. Perhaps Seattle is everything opposite of Detroit, almost everything
looks and feels different here!

Wortraub: You recorded the songs with friends of yours. How important is the influence of other songwriters for you?
Rosie: Depends on what is inspiring me at the time and who is around to inspire me. There are records that I have written that don’t feel inspired by anything but what I have gone through. There are songs that I have written because I just got done listening to Stevie Wonder and it inspired me to want to write a song. Maybe it was something in his melody that inspired a song in me or his lyrics I related a similar experience to. Perhaps though it is people more than music that inspires me most of the time.

Wortraub: Are you communal (in the best sense) in writing your music?
Rosie: Not very much at all. The experience I had with Sufjan and Denny was very new to me. I normally write all alone…that sounds depressing doesn’t it?

Wortraub: You also have this alter ego personality on Mytube. How did this come to pass?
Rosie: I have always loved comedy and needed comedy desperately in my life to pull me through. Sheila was discovered at an early age, a character I performed for friends. She’s been with me all along. I started doing stand up comedy in my early twenties and everyone fell in love with Sheila and I thought “ Wow! Maybe people need Sheila to remind them of how good they have it!“

Wortraub: What do you want with her? Why her – she is a little trashy and simple, right?
Rosie: Yeah, she’s pretty strange and she’s definitely a loner. But, I think there is something about Sheila that everyone can relate to (minus the neck brace, glasses, arm sling, clothing, speaking voice, hair…) she is ordinary, she is honest, she is brave, she’s not afraid to fail, she’s a dreamer, she just wants to fit in, she desires approval and appreciation and affirmation from others…there are days I see myself in her very much so (minus the neck brace, glasses, arm sling, clothing, speaking voice, hair…) she may be even braver though…not as afraid to admit her craziness as much as me. I admire her, I do! I think she is important to have around because she keeps me humble and she reminds me not to take life and everything else sooooo seriously. There is an innocence about her that I once used to have more of and she reminds me to hold onto it for dear life.