Eighties artist Michelle Shocked intends to make people forget the girl she once was, writes Jacqueline Smith
The girl whose bootlegged music hit the airwaves 25 years ago no longer exists, Michelle Shocked insists.
Back then she captured people's attention as a young singer-songwriter from Dallas who was thrust into the spotlight when someone recorded what was to become her debut album The Texas Campfire Tapes on to a Walkman and sent it in to a radio station.
These days she represents herself, fronts up at political rallies and is working on a passion with her new sweetheart called project "Heart" (hear the art - he paints portraits of women and she writes songs about them).
When she was last in New Zealand, in the 1990s, Shocked was riding the wave of her early major label releases. Since then, she's gone independent, and consequently dipped below the radar.
"I'm glad to come back and catch folks up," she says.
Fans will still recognise her as a woman who vents her political and idealist frustrations on her guitar. Just two weeks ago she flew last minute to Madison, Wisconsin to perform at a rally for the unions targeted by Republican Governor Scott Walker. It's one of many subjects that get her all fired up.
"People can see through the tactic that it's not about the budget, it's genuinely about breaking the back of the unions," she begins, then stops herself. Yes, she finds rallies inspiring and invigorating, she says, but they don't inspire her to write songs.
"I realised I am not prolific enough to articulate the many facets that this recession is having on people's lives."
Instead, last year she put out a call for songwriters to submit songs that captured the mood of the American people, and streamed the best ten on her website. Actually, one of those songs was just perfect for the Madison gig so she performed it there. "It spoke about solidarity in a very beautiful way that I don't think we have seen since the 60s," she says.
When she emerged 25 years ago, she was referred to as a poster-girl for artists' rights. Her raw, analogue debut album cracked the record-company filter and made it to the radio. These days artists have it even harder, she says, as they are also ripped off by their fans who seem to think they are empowering artists by posting songs on blogs and Youtube.
"I am not only battling against labels and distributors. I am now having to educate my own fans about what is right."
Shocked doesn't browse blogs for new tunes. She doesn't have time. She doesn't have a television for the same reason. Actually, she doesn't even read newspapers as she prefers to get her information from select mailing lists, even though she knows that's just reinforcing her own biases.
She became aware of this when living with her ex-husband of 12 years, Bart Bull, a journalist.
"I tend to be an idealistic person, kind of a true believer, and I don't think I will ever obtain the objectivity but I have seen journalists who are able to look at both sides and not feel compelled to have a principle or a position. I could try to do that as an artist and a poet but I think my biases are just so ingrained at this point."
Shocked says her life has come full circle in the past 25 years, and says her show will be much more than a nostalgic celebration of the wide-eyed campfire girl she once was. "There is no point trying to recreate what happened back then. I think the woman who stands on stage [now] and is confident and bold and empowered is going to be such a revelation that the last thing on people's minds is going to be nostalgia. They will say how did this happen? I don't even recognise this person? I recognise the songs but I don't recognise her."
LOWDOWN
Who: Michelle Shocked
Essential albums: The Texas Campfire Tapes (1986), Short Sharp Shocked (1988), Captain Swing (1989), Arkansas Traveller (1992), Deep Natural (2001), Soul of My Soul (2009)
When and where: The Powerstation, April 12.
-TimeOut
