Interview with Misty Oldland


Q: It's been a while since the music world has heard something new from you. Where have you been in the meantime?

Misty Oldland: My second album was released in japan and I toured that (Luminous) and promoted that till 1998. Since then I have travelled studying music including visiting Philadelphia where I worked and hung out with The Roots and their camp...learning about beats and the art of freestyle, (which is to me the most exciting musical artform of true improvisation since the jazz greats.) I learnt so much there and even got to freestyle with them at their new york jam session.
Next I went to live in Bristol and studied/wrote and sung with Mushroom (formerly of Massive Attack) for nearly two years. I supported myself by rennovating properties and was blessed to be making music and learning with such gifted incredible people. The rest of the time was spent setting up my label and writing and recording the album...studying business, environmental issues, learning logic audio etc so I could produce music at home...and rennovating 2 properties to fund it all, so ive been busy!

Q: You are really concerned about our environment and the only artist I know, who takes care that her records are produced carbon neutral and donate a part of the record sales to Greenpeace. Please tell me how and why you've got involved in the ecological movement.

Misty Oldland: I have always been passionate about nature and that is reflected actually on every album. I began developing an idea for a computer game to do with re-forestation which is how I came across my business mentor Anita Roddick and began to see a how I could combine making creative projects with a 'kind' method of business. I'd always wanted to have my own label and passionately believed in creating a new business model. A sustainable model which was not dependant on the majors i.e.: corporate funding with their unfair share in profits making unrealistic targets that inevitably make artists careers short lived. I dreamt of passing this business model on to others and so the whole project became a reflection of my values and attention to this detail. The more I discovered about alternative packaging the more I felt responsible to bring these methods to the mainstream. It was a joy to not compromise on quality in the production and in the creative process. And I believe that there is an audience who will appreciate the care that has gone in to the production even if it may be slightly more expensive. Its all made with love...So the rest of the time was spent recruiting the gifted artists, scientists, musicans and business consultants to pull it off! Being independent has allowed me to make more of a financial commitment to the causes too. At the moment I'm giving 50p of every album sold Greenpeace. Imagine if Madonna, J-Lo or U2 could do that for the causes they support. That would equate to tens of millions of £'s for the movement! I totally admire George Michael for the way he's taking care of business right now. Afterall, at the end of the day, how many £millions does one person really need?! Make Greed History!

Q: Do you think mankind can still make a change for the better and undo the destruction of nature that has already happened? Certainly every attempt counts.

Misty Oldland: Absolutley we can make a difference. It is very bleek and we have to act fast and now. WE have to take the lead. But as humans each and everyone of us has a direct desicion to make. We are either part of the shift in consciousness that is needed i.e. come out of the comfort zone and make big changes in how we relate and are accountable for how we impact the planet or we are part of the problem. We need to be guided. And so joining greenpeace and such organisations is the first step. Then using our consumer choice, then developing the awareness of how we each impact the planet i.e.: 'measuring our footprint' (how much CO₂ emmissions we dump in the atmosphere), and then just getting proactive whether its writing letters or not eating endangered fish or asking shops if the tropical hardwood they stock is FSC certified. We have to make these ideas standard and normal and mainstream. I have learnt as I go along and there is much more to discover I believe we can choose a healthy way of relating to the world and eachother and transcend our consumer conditioning (that feeds low self esteem)! The key is self-love.

Q: But there's one main peril I see. In western countries like the USA or the EU everyone who has the money can buy a car and pollute the environment as he likes without really paying the costs. In economically prosperous countries like China or India there wasn't the need and money so far that everyone owns a car. But in my opinion it would be a desaster for nature if only half of the population of China and India will have the money and want to own a car. Wouldn't such a development defeat every success that have been achived in protecting the nature?

Misty Oldland: The essence of what you are talking about is energy. Cars aren't the enemy; the energy that is currently used to create and power them is i.e. fossil fuels that are burnt to produce energy. The waste from this process is converted into heat trapping (greenhouse) gases such as CO₂, that cause global warming. The situation in China is a huge opportunity to implement the solutions to massive problems like climate change that already exist i.e. dramatically improved energy efficiency, the rapid creation of already proven forms of renewable such as wind and solar power and more fundamentally, to create and innovate the future of energy systems that will be key to a truly sustainable future. Us 'developed' countries have created a model of economic development that has been based upon consuming the earth's resources in an incredibly wasteful way; if China and the rest of developing world are following in our footsteps, it's only because they are aspiring to what we already have. We've built their desire. The reality is that if everyone lived at the consumption levels of, say, the average American, we'd need around nine earths to provide us with the resources that would be needed!

Q: Your new album Forest Soul is one of the few recent albums in the soul music genre that has a political message. Please tell me something about the writing and recording process and your motivation behind Forest Soul, e.g. why you recorded songs like Cracked Ship or Civilized.

Misty Oldland: I write from the heart. Ooften they start as poems and then I either compose at the piano or fender rhodes or jam over beats or ideas from colaborators. Sometimes I have sampled a loop and written the song over it, then translated it into live instrumentaion after. There are no rules. I just love creating, I love words, I am interested in the sculpture of melody as that is how I see it. It is very visual to me which is how I inevitably began to use the sound effects to describe the words...growing up on peter and the wolf and the jungle book, classical and soul, elton john and carol king...songs and sounds are my biggest joy. I loved having my own studio and leaning logic audio as I was free to create with trial and error. I spent hours and hours perfecting the sound effects and mixing and making it all work. I would mix it and test it on loads of systems and then go back again and again until the effects were audible but incidental and supportive of the melody so that the lyrics were easy to hear and the heart was captured in the performance. A the end of making forest soul I was up at 5am every morning I was compelled and driven to make this record in a way that I can only describe as a mission!
I recorded Civilised as it is one of my favourite songs and shows the duality of feelings within people : our conscious and unconscious ideas in a tug of war, our hearts vs our heads and the gracious and loving way the characters in the song choose to approach the challenge of breaking up. It is also a metaphor for the love-hate way we relate to our world. I hope it offers hope. It offers an example of how with positive action and solutions we can move forward, grow stronger and wiser and create and protect eachother.

Q: I assumed in my review that Orange Fox could have a connection with the movement in the UK to ban fox hunting. Did you have that in mind when writing the song or is it just an over-interpretation from my side?

Misty Oldland: I heard the line "if I was an orange fox" in my head one day ...like a nursery rhyme...and it got me thinking well what if I was? How fascinating this little creature has divided the nation and that inspired me to write it, exploring all the interesting characters each with their own agenda, in the world of a fox!

Q: You've set up your own imprint Mistic Discs to release your music. Where do you see the advantages and disadvantages as independent artist?

Misty Oldland: I set up Mistic Discs to develop a new sustainable business model that ensured I could survive as an artist doing what I love to do: making music. Having had two major deals I know the pitfalls, traditionally 80% of profits go to the major company, they own your copyright, they spend excessive ammounts of money on your advance and videos all of which you have to pay back through record sales. So to survive the artist has to meet very high and often unrealistic sales targets to maintain a deal. Majors also creatively direct projects and fund them. I realised I didnt need either of those with the arrival of the internet, so set about developing a way to fund myself and raise investment privately to fund distribution and marketing. It's very challenging doing it yourself but extremely rewarding and I hope to pass the biz-model on to other artists to help give unique talent a platform. Without the internet this would not have been possible. And now I can reach fans all over the world form my shop on line which is just amazing. Majors also often dont value smaller countries as they are not so profitable, for example I was number 1 in Iceland and never got to go there or promote there or exploit that opportunity. Now running my own business I can form relationships with any country and visit and gig there and that is all very exciting!

Q: Do you want to promote and sign other artist for Mistic Discs too?

Misty Oldland: Yes I have 2 people lined up if it all works!

Q: Will there be a tour in the UK and the rest of Europe to promote your album?

Misty Oldland: Yes I will keep you posted! The Orange Fox is coming...and the Golden Tamarind Monkey too!

For more infos visit mistyoldland.com and read my review of Forest Soul.