Front page	From the Event Guide archive! This article refers to an event which took place on, or until, 28 October 2008 Music Interview - Aimee Mann Independent Woman Having had her fill of major labels, Aimee Mann tells Paul Byrne that she has finally found contentment by going it alone. Aimee Mann is far from your typical cute blonde. Having dropped out of the Berklee College Of Music as a teenager, she formed a punk band, The Young Snakes, who specialised in making uneasy listening music. Very uneasy listening. Anything with the merest hint of melody or harmony was immediately turfed. A year later, Mann decided to do a complete u-turn, and her second band, ‘Til Tuesday, embraced melody and harmony with a vengeance, becoming an MTV and FM radio favourite in the mid 1980s. Until, once again, Aimee Mann got bored with it all. And so began the most interesting stage of this Richmond, Virginia-born singer/songwriter’s career, as she began recording solo. Oh, and continuing her battles with record company executives who were constantly trying to push her into being the next Sheryl Crow. Thanks to one too many major label wrangles, Mann has been releasing her albums through her own label, SuperEgo Records, since 1999. Following on from her tenth solo album, 2005’s Christmas special ‘One More Drifter In The Snow’, Mann recently released her latest album proper, ‘@#%&*! Smilers’. Married to fellow singer/songwriter Michael Penn since 1997, Mann currently resides in Los Angeles. Poor thing. I’ve always loved that Vanity Fair shot of you and Michael re-enacting the cover of ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’. The attention to detail suggests it was a lot of work. Yeah, that’s a real Hollywood photoshoot, where they went on a backlot at Paramount. I love that. It’s like a grown-up version of playtime, having three blocks look like New York City. It was a really hot day, and they trucked in snow. Dylan represents the perfect career, one that involves up and downs, some left turns, some right turns, just like life itself. It’s proof that talent will out. A great song will always find a way. And Dylan always has such a fabulous mystique that couldn’t be burned up over 30 or 40 years. Even as an old guy, he has that mystique. You’ve had your ups and downs, your left turns, your right turns – have you reached that point where you no longer worry about ‘a career’, given that you never know what’s going to happen next? That’s exactly it. Because the music business is in strange flux right now, and record sales are way down right now, and people aren’t buying albums anymore - they’re burning CDs for each other, that kind of thing – nobody knows what’s going to happen. Especially for someone who’s releasing a record, like me, where the sales are fairly modest to begin with. You start cutting into that, and you start worrying about your retirement. I think it’s like everything; you can’t control the future, and if there’s something you can plan for, you plan for it, but you don’t really know what’s going to happen, and, you know, you do have to have faith that you’re making the best record that you can make, and you’re writing the best song that you can write, and that will see you through in some fashion. Are you content these days? I am really content. If I get to make the records that I want to make, and write the songs I want to make, then, I’m happy, you know. Releasing a collection of Christmas standards, were you being cheeky, or do you truly believe in the magic of a good Christmas tune? I think it was mostly because I knew I wasn’t going to have an album out for a while, and wanted something to work on in the meantime. When someone suggested a Christmas album, I did, of course, think it was ridiculous, but then, I started to think about the Christmas songs that are out there, and I realised that there was some really great songs. It was very inspiring, and there was something about making a Christmas record in the middle of summer that made it all the more special. Of course, being so thoroughly independent means you can pretty much do what you damn well please. The album before your Yuletide offering, ‘The Forgotten Arm’, was a concept album based around two boxers. You obviously know in your heart that you needn’t worry about battling it out with Justin Timberlake for the No. 1 spot. That’s the thing. I’m so out of that game anyway, it’s impossible for any indie music to get on the radio, so, you don’t have to worry about whether or not it sounds radio-ready, or whether or not you’ve got a novelty single in there. You make the music that you want to make. You’ve used heartbreak for inspiration before, and it’s a condition that’s given us some great albums – ‘Blood On The Tracks’, ‘Grace And Danger’, etc – but you’re a very happily married woman for twelve years now, right? I find it much easier to write when I’m happy and content. Depression just closes everything down for me. It grinds everything to a halt. But heartbreak is always a good inspiration, part of that human struggle to figure each other out. You don’t have to be in the depths of heartbreak to write about it. I have sense memory. I was going to suggest that we have an affair behind Michael’s back, so it might inspire a wonderful album for you. That’s a great idea. I want to thank you for that generous sacrifice. You’re all heart. Your latest, ‘@#%&*! Smilers’, debuted at No. 32 in the US Billboard charts, your highest position to date. That must warm the cockles of your heart. It’s a good feeling, but record sales ain’t what they used to be, you know. The amount of crap bands that score No. 1s now with ease is somewhat depressing. You have lightweight nobodies challenging The Beatles’ run of No. 1s, whatever, and it’s an entirely false record of what is really going on out there. Having said that, I did go to sleep with a smile on my face when the new album debuted so well. Makes this all worthwhile, you know. POD Concerts present Aimee Mann, with special guests the Sharon Shannon Big Band and The Submarines, at Tripod, Pod Complex, Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, on Tuesday 28th October. 7pm. €44.50. www.aimeemann.com / www.myspace.com/aimeemann / www.pod.ie / www.ticketmaster.ie