Andrea Ramolo: Canadian recording artist. 2020 Canadian Folk Music Award nominee for Contemporary Singer of the Year.
Interview conducted on March 5, 2021
By Dan Locke
Cover photo by Meaghan Ogilvie
What is your upbringing?
I grew up in a middle-class Italian-Canadian suburb just north of Toronto. My parents were both Italian immigrants and came over to Canada to make a better life for future generations. I was surrounded by love, my grandparents, dance lessons, music, and lots of good food.
How did you discover music?
My introduction to and love for music started through dance. I was put into dance lessons at the age of 3 and it became a huge part of my life. Tapping to old jazz tunes, learning ballet to classical music, exploring jazz and lyrical to gospel and soul, Motown, funk, and R’n’B. That was how I discovered music… through my body. And I loved singing. I remember writing songs with my little friends as young as 7 years old and we would perform our ballads in front of our entire school body, young and courageous. So I grew up with this wide appreciation for all types of genres and rhythms and loved songs that made me move and made me cry and made me want to dance.
How did you start to write music?
I started very late. My mother was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer when I was 23 and still living at home attending a university for theatre nearby. I was crushed. I sort of felt my world collapse. I’ve always been very close to my mother. And this sort of structured life and tender upbringing I had full of hard work and family and celebration was now met with this trauma. I was terrified of losing her and it is truly the experience that plummeted me into a life in music. My dad is quite musical himself (he plays harmonica and accordion and guitar and a bit of piano) and he had this old harmony guitar gathering dust in the basement because no one really went down there much except to get jars of sauce or bottles of wine from the cantina. I needed something to take my mind off of the fear of losing her… so I brought the guitar into my room one night and started teaching myself how to play. And that’s sort of how the story goes. I wrote my first few songs on that guitar that eventually ended up on my first solo record Thank You For The Ride. The song was for my mother.. and she’s alive and well today.
Describe your music.
I mean it’s hard to describe your own art really. You can’t really be the creator and the critic at the same time because those two roles serve two very different purposes in the world of art. But I suppose I can share some adjectives that journalists or fans or friends have used in the past. My music is soulful and candid and heartbreaking and honest and raw and sensual and low-fi. Many of my records have had that good old analogue sound to them.
How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?
Well the first guitar I played on and mentioned above is my father’s from when he was a teenaged immigrant in Toronto.
What is your guitar of choice is your Dan Electro. What model year is “Danny”?
I’m pretty certain my boyfriend Danny is of the ’56 cutaway series. I’ve bought him years ago from some kid off Kijiji. He is my favorite guitar. I also have a beautiful Gibson acoustic Blues King to replace the one that got stolen years ago. I had an Ibanez electric too but sold it a few years back. I also have a few mandolins at home, a Rhodes keyboard that a friend gave me because she didn’t have room for it anymore, and a goatskin Tamburello which is a hand drum from southern Italy.
What was your first performance at like?
I actually don’t even remember when that was or could have been. I think because I’ve been on stage performing since I was a kid the lights and sounds and smells all sort of get mashed into one. But if I can recall, as a solo songwriter in Toronto, I think I truly debuted a few of my first new songs on the stage at the Free Times Cafe many moons ago.
What makes a good songwriter?
Honesty. Vulnerability. That’s what I like anyways.
What is the process of writing your music?
Well, I have these few songs … very few… that sort of just oozed out of me in under 15 minutes. And those are rare. Mostly I’ll get a feeling or a great melody line or I’ll have something really important that I need to say… and so they all develop into songs. It’s a mixed bag of a process really. I love co-writing. I also love when it’s super personal to keep it for myself and share that story.. that little window into my life… for those that care to listen. I think I write music to connect with people mostly. I like sharing and having those emotional conversations.
How did you form Scarlett Jane with Cindy Doire?
Cindy and I were friends since 2004. We met through the Canadian rock band The Trews and started hanging out and drinking wine and writing songs. She was starting her solo career as a French songwriter when we had just met and we followed each other through out careers. At one point, we both left serious relationships behind and were processing the heartbreaks and decided to move in together and it was the perfect time to start a band. We toured all the time and made some really beautiful music together. We had the greatest laughs and grew though some of the hardest struggles and I can say that Cindy is like a sister.
Back in 2012, your guitar was stolen at the Dauphin Country Fest. And you ended playing the show with a borrowed guitar. Whom guitar did you used?
That was an awful experience. My beautiful Gibson Blues King stolen right out of our rental car. I was livid. I was sad. Cindy started a Go Fund Me sort of page and raised money from my fans to help me buy a new one so I eventually replaced it but it’s such a shot to the heart when your main tool and something you’ve grown so close to and is such a part of you goes missing. It’s a violation. I remember borrowing a guitar from a Toronto band called The Beauties. They were playing at the festival as well.
Did you ever get the guitar back?
Nope.
Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP?
Yes I do. I belong to ASCAP. But it’s SOCAN here in the great white North.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
The first official original song that I wrote on guitar was Owl Eyes written about my mom’s battle with cancer and yes I recorded it on my first record in 2008.
After Scarlett Jane you created a new band NUDA. How was it different then Scarlett Jane?
I didn’t create a new band. NUDA was the name of my 3rd solo album that emerged after Scarlett Jane decided not to be active anymore. I had recorded two alone prior to this project and two records within the duo that were released under Warner Music Canada. Then NUDA came at a very pivotal moment in my transformation as a woman and artist. It’s a double album… the main record was produced by Michael Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies and a stripped-down acoustic version of all 10 songs is offered in a companion album called Da Sola which means ‘alone’ or ‘by myself’ in Italian. NUDA of course means naked. I wanted to pay homage to my roots and to this transformation I was going through which was messy and hard and all worth it in the end. I really love that record. I loved making it, as painful as the whole process was. And I love how deep and connected I still feel to the songs.
Lets talking about the theme of your album “Homage”?
Homage was the first time I adventured into exploring and recording songs that were not my own. Leonard Cohen had died a few years earlier and I’ve always been fond of him as a writer. Fond is probably an understated choice of word. I also love the moods he created in his music. Each piece was like a film in and of itself. I wanted to make a tribute album and find my own way into his songs. It was such a cool project, albeit challenging. I listened to every single record he ever made and narrowed it down eventually to 74 songs. Obviously, I wasn’t about to record 74 songs, so finally, I came to my chosen 10. I wasn’t planning on making another album at that time because it was so soon after the release of NUDA which had me on the road a bunch and got some really nice press which I am grateful for. But one night, I was in Montreal and part of a big theatre show celebrating The Band’s The Last Waltz and myself and Leonard Cohen had just died a few weeks prior. The nation lost one of our heroes. I even went by his home in Montreal to say my farewell and there was a beautiful shrine to honor his passing from neighbors and friends. It was fascinating and sad and beautiful. I had actually stayed in that house a few times in my Scarlett Jane days while rehearsing for a show with Adam Cohen, Leonard’s son. It’s a great house. Full of character. I remember I used to try and choose a different empty bedroom to sleep in every time we stayed over. I never met Leonard in person nor did I ever get the honor of hearing him live but that night at that show in Montreal celebrating The Last Waltz, myself and another Canadian singer paid homage to Cohen with a cover of Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye and you could hear a pin drop in a place full of a few thousand people. The song itself sends chills down my spine and so I started covering it at all my shows and one night after I played, a house concert host and friend asked me if I would ever consider returning and doing an entire night of Cohen songs. And then the lightbulb went off and I said I’d love to but I think I might also record those songs. I love singing his poetry.
How do you stay healthy while performing?
On the road you mean? Well, it’s hard to stay healthy on the road. Early mornings, driving forever, living out of your van or hotel rooms. But I try to eat my veggies and at least get some rest and if it’s the summer months I’ll hike or swim in between concerts. Being out in nature helps my mental health a lot so that’s important. I actually can’t remember what touring feels like right now.
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
Hmm… I have a love/hate relationship with the whole concept. I like it as a listener because it allows me to discover artists and songs that I might never come across on my own with generated playlists and Spotify radio features and all that. But as an artist, I sort of hate it. I don’t want to make art that means a lot to me to hit some sort of algorithm and maybe pay me a few bucks. I miss the days when we used to line up the record store for our favourite new release. There was more of a ritual attached to exploring and engaging with music. Now it’s just all about quick fixes.
Digital vs. vinyl?
Vinyl. All the way. It sounds warmer. It’s more of an experience. It’s mindful. It’s a night in with a few candles, a glass of wine, and a good vibe.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
I actually don’t have a song from the past right now on my mind. I’m working on a new record and in-studio mode so I mostly have those new songs on the brain at all hours of the day. It might be nice to put on something old though and just give my ears and brain a wee break.
The last show you played was the International Women’s Day Solidarity concert on March 7th. And now you have the show virtually on March 8th. Do you feel that this year show is a game changer?
I’m not sure I know what you mean by ‘game-changer.’ I know that I’m absolutely honored to be a part of the March 8th lineup. I’m part of an incredible chat group of female and non-binary musicians mostly living in Canada who meet online every two weeks to connect and to support one another and to share all the ups and downs that this past year has offered and that has actually been a game-changer for me. Two of my dear friends in that group known as the duo Madison Violet were part of organizing this online virtual Women’s Day event with the Sound of Music Festival featuring many of the musicians that are part of these biweekly chats and it is a lineup that oozes talent and authenticity and heart. I can’t wait to tune in. It’s a free event. You can all tune in too!
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music? Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
Sadly, I do feel that this pandemic has had a debilitating long-term effect on our industry. I want to try and remain positive and of course us artists will always prevail in some shape or form. But I do think that the way we shared our music with the world has changed and will continue to evolve and adapt to the situation that we are in. I really do hope that we can all be together one day again soon though, in the same concert hall or theatre, under the same stage lights, singing songs and having a time!
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
At the start of quarantine I actually channeled most of my anxiety and fears about it all into music. I released two Italian language songs (one was my first original called Una Lettera) and I redid the title track off my first ever album Thank You For The Ride which I produced and mixed myself. A dear friend Scott Lake mastered it and I released some music. That was fun. I then started a teaching position at an arts high school which was challenging but I learned a lot and paid my rent. And then I got myself a gorgeous grey kitten named Leo who fit into the palm of my hand and is quite a handful himself, but my days are now fuller and I look forward to being home with him.
Have you become culinary master?
I’d never call myself a master at anything really, but I’m a pretty good cook. I became passionate about cooking later on in my life and after returning from a family trip to Italy which was a life changer and so moving, I decided I wanted to learn more about my roots and our traditions and so I began doing research and asking around and taking classes and being open to learning and that’s when I started making homemade pasta with my grandmother’s old pasta maker. I started a blog on Instagram called The Vintage Italian, where I explore travel and language and Italian music and customs and of course food, and it really does bring me so much joy.
How was it to play Music for our Elders?
It filled me up with such joy. During the early stages of lockdown here I visited a few retirement residencies and amplified my guitar and voice outside of their balconies. They were mostly Italian-speaking elders so I performed songs in their mother tongue for them. They were dancing and singing along and it was so meaningful. That made my summer.
How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merchandise to them at the show?
I think during a global pandemic fans probably understand that artists are humans too and might need to tap out of the hustle and bustle for a bit. But love it or hate it, social media is a very helpful tool to stay connected and to inform and share with fans and grow that fan base on a global scale. Sharing snippets of new songs on Instagram or Facebook, or getting fans excited about my new record are a few things that I’m doing. But as an artist I’m also pretty candid about my life because that’s the type of artist I choose to be and so I use social media to express myself and my opinions and what I feel about the world around me and how angry I am about injustice and how I’m not perfect and still learning and how I want to fall in love. And I think that the people that connect with me connect with me and those that don’t, well… they don’t. And that’s okay. But social media only goes so far. That real human interaction that happens at shows… the sharing of stories and singing in harmony and sweating and sobbing and having a laugh. Those are moments that you can’t replicate online. It’s just not the same thing. Selling merch is hard right now. I wouldn’t bank on it.
Did you know that the Grammys MusicCares can help artist. The MusiCares COVID-19 Relief has helped thousands of music industry artists and professionals during these difficult days. This is the most recipients helped, for any single event, in MusiCares’ history. The need remains great, and these unique times remain critical for music people. It has taken a community uplifting one another to get through this pandemic, and MusiCares has pulled together a list of additional organizations and resources to further support you. https://www.grammy.com/musicares/get-help/relief-resources. Have you applied for it yet?
I have not. I am fortunate to have my teacher’s degree and be able to take contract teaching work to help get me through. But it has been a struggle for sure.
In the past if a musician stop doing music they find a new career. For example David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants.. If you can’t do music what would you like to be doing?
Well, maybe I’m getting too old for this but I’d like to be a dancer again and join a dance company. Or I’d like to have my own television reality docu-series called The Vintage Italian as an extension of my blog.
What is your happy place?
My bathtub with tea and epson salts. Although lately my kitten as been trying to jump into the tub with me so it changes the entire peaceful vibe I loved so much.
Alot of musicians such as Stevie Nicks, Bob Dylan, Taylor Swift, Journey, Def Leppard, and Shakira have sold their catalog rights within the last year. Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog for a reported $300 million. Once you get to the age of about 70. Publishing is far more lucrative then the mechanical royalties paid to artist based on sales, airplay and streams. A good example of this is Michael Jackson brought the rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985. And in the late 80’s the Beatles Revolution appeared in a Nike commercial.
The lump sums being offered by publishing firms are more tax friendly concerning estate planning.
Do you think you would be willing to sale your back catalog if someone like Universal is will to buy everything, such as all the rights to all your songs? Another factor is mortality.
I’d have to think about that. Give me another 30 years and I’ll get back to you.
Spotify just deleted 750,00 songs, mostly from independent artists. Was your saved?
Yes. They seem to all be there.
Do you have any new music coming out in 2021?
Andrea Ramolo: I sure do. I have my 7th studio record coming out this year called Quarantine Dream. It’s being produced by my good friend and fantastic artist as well Sarah MacDougall. It’s an all-female cast. Everything from producing to mastering to video direction, photography, record design, web site, etc… is all being done by women. I love working with women and I really love the direction this project is heading The first single should be out in June followed by a few more scattered over the summer until the full release is out in October. Stay tuned!
Anything you would like to say in closing.
Keep safe and love each other. That’s all.
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