Photo: Press
Sitting in The Lexington pub in North London, Virginian country singer Natalie Prass takes a deep breath, laughs nervously and proceeds to describe the fate of her pet cockatoo, Earl.
It's an unlikely conversation starter - but then again how many other singer songwriters spend their teenage years live action roleplaying and cycling around town with a pet bird perched on one shoulder? Prass - gamine and garrulous in equal measure - laughs nervously and tells Gigwise her tragic tale.
"It's such a sad story," she says. "It was Halloween and I was actually dressed up like Earl. I came home that night and I could smell a gassy smell coming out of the house. It smelt really sweet and I thought 'Are they baking brownies?' I walk in and the house is really smoky and one of my roomates had left a teflon pan on the stove top...and teflon is poisonous."
Only now Prass can see quite how surreal the situation actually was. "I'm dressed as Earl, with my dead bird Earl in my hands. It's pretty crazy. It was like something out of Wes Anderson movie or something."
It's fair to say that there's more than a touch of Anderson's work about Prass - not least the fact that on the day we meet she's gone full Moonrise Kingdom by wearing a 1950s scout shirt. Like Anderson's best work, her own songwriting is meticulously constructed and has a charm and beauty all of its own. Prass' wonderful self-titled debut was actually recorded back in 2013, but has only just been released after her labelmate Mattthew White found success. Created in Spacebomb Studios in Virginia with the help of the inhouse band, it's one of the year's most striking debuts so far.
To mark her summer UK tour and her shows supporting Ryan Adams, she talks through what she learned from Jenny Lewis, her advice for Kendrick Lamar and what it's really like when Bill Murray turns up to watch you rehearse.
Growing up in Virginia, all of your friends were into hip-hop or punk. Did you go to a lot of punk shows when you were younger?
You kinda had to. Surf punk was huge because its the coast, so I was really into Strung Out, Hot Water Music, Mineral, MxPx, NOFX. Piebald I liked. Gosh this is really going back! If you wanted to go to a show, that was it: it was just punk music. There was a place called Cogan's in Norfolk and I remember going there when I was 13. All the girls would stand on the periphery and the guys would throw down. It was wild. That was my exposure to the live music scene. I had no perspetive, no idea.
What was the wildest show you ever went to?
I crowdsurfed at a Goldfinger show with my best friend. It was pretty crazy but it was a lot of fun. My best friend lost her shoe so we had to leave shortly after. We were up there, she and I, for at least a good two minutes or so.
As a teenager you tried LARPing and dressed up as both a werewolf and a banshee. Anything else?
I was Persephone, the Greek Goddess of spring. I was a fairy a lot, a princess. Elves! I was a ninja one time: that was awesome I loved that! I put my hair into two buns. It was just so much fun I got to be so many different things. And sometimes you're just a plain character, you're just a peasant.
What did you get most out of it?
I didn't even think about it being cool at all. I just liked it and did it. I think because when you're middle school - especially middle school - you're so confused, it just helped me get out of myself and pretend I'm someone else. It just really helped with dealing with all these different emotions and things I was experiencing. It was very helpful. You start to get mad at your parents? You take it out on the field.
You're wearing a Kiss t-shirt today. Are you a fan?
It's from 1979. I used to have a big crush on Edward Furlong and so... Detroit Rock City, y'know? Shamefully I got into Kiss a little bit after that movie came out after high school. I had some of their music that I downloaded on Limewire or Napster or something. But they're just so iconic - I don't really listen to it but I appreciate it.
You've talked about how tough Nashville is as a singer songwriter. What's been your toughest gig?
The one that sticks out was when I was added last minute to this weird 7pm show at The Basement which is my favourite venue in Nashville. It's tiny and I just love it - it's below [legendary record store] Grimeys. But there was no-one there! I had to play another show that night and [the owner] Mike Grimes was watching. This was when I first moved to Nashville and he was like "This girl was supposed to bring people but she didn't bring anybody." Over the years I had to gain Mike's trust so that he would book me at the Basement. Now Mike and I are bros.
You've moved from Nashville to be nearer the Spacebomb recording studio in Virginia. What do you miss about Nashville?
I miss my friends of course. And I miss the food. There's a lot of really great vegetarian places. I miss Pie and Pint night at the Family Wash - vegetarian shepherd's pie and a pint of beer for $10. I miss that.
Your album was on hold for a couple of years. Is there one of your own lyrics you really regret?
You always think about "Oh Geez... there could be a much better lyric there". Of course as you get older you get better. I mean 'Why Don't You Believe In Me?' is probably the most emotional - that one I was just splurting out this is how I feel. I wrote it so fast. Maybe I wish I'd taken more time with that one a little bit. But also I think it's kinda nice that it's just so stream of conscious in a way. Because there's a place for those kind of lyrics too.
You've played as part of Jenny Lewis' band. What did you only notice after playing with her night after night?
No matter what happened that day, how tired we were, Jenny said "This is going to be a great show". She would just perform the hell out of it every night, no matter if she's sick. At Boston Calling festival, she had to go to the hospital at 6am before we played. She got really sick and she put on an amazing performance: you'd never know. She just got in the zone and that's really important.
Probably my favourite track on her record is 'The Voyager'. It's funny because she never wanted to play it but I was always like "Let's do it!" It's hard to fit into the set but I love the chorus of that song. "'Cause The Voyager's in every boy and girl / If you wanna get to heaven get out of this world." It's really perfect.
Have you bought something on tour you've regretted?
I needed a scarf so bad I just ran in and grabbed it - it ended up being a blanket. It's like Lenny Kravitz huge blanket scarf that he has. I thought, "Well, I've got to deal with this now." It gets fuzz everywhere. It's horrible. Total impulse buy.
Other than your debut album, you have two other records in the can. What can you tell us about them?
We did a record in Burlington Vermont with my friend Seth Kauffman from Floating Action and Benny Yurco from Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. That was pretty much all live, the three of us in the studio, some overdubs but for the most part we were live. I wrote a lot of the songs in the studio which was fun - I've never done that before. Lyrically it's different. There's still some love songs I guess on there, because I really do like writing about that subject. That's OK! I harp on a few topics and expand a little more.
I did the Nashville one second. I did it with my friend Mike, by Santas Pub - we were looking over Santas whilst we were recording. Mike did the drums and I played everything else on that. We just did that the two of us for two weeks. He helped me mix it. I'm limited on what I can do on his computer so he helped me with that.
Apparently Santa's Pub is particularly grotty and brilliant.
Santa's is literally a trailer. I used to record with my friend Mike at a studio next to it for years. Santa: he's the best. If he hears you cussing, you're out of there. He kicks you out. No hard liquor allowed, only cash, it's two bucks for a beer. It's a lot of fun - and you can smoke in there. I usually go to Santas when you've been out all night and you're thinking 'Where do we go now?' It's the after-after-party place.
You're currently on tour with Ryan Adams. What really impresses you about him?
I was blown away. What's cool is that when we were opening it instantly just felt like this family vibe because Daniel Clarke plays in his band and Daniel is from Richmont and played on my record. So I was watching every night side stage because Daniel is my bro. Then I just started becoming better friends with everybody in their band and I was so blown away. They are such an incredible band.
Was there a particular moment you enjoyed?
I was side of stage last night and he started playing 'When The Stars Go Blue.' I bought that record Gold in Virginia beach in high school. And I just had a moment of "Wow I can't beleive I'm here watching this. I used to love this song back in the day and he's right there... and we're friends now. And that's my friend who I've known since I was 13 - this is weird." And I started to tear up. I was super happy.
Ryan is so proflific. At soundcheck they would just jam a lot and they would just make up songs. He's just one of those artists who has to keep just doing that. He's always, always writing. And that's really inpsiring. Just being around that was cool.
Ryan collects pinball machines. Do you have something similar?
If I had as much money as he did I would be definitely collecting old Casios. I would definitely be on Ebay and Craigslist getting them - hopefully soon I'll be able to get a couple more. I only have two. My favourite? I'm bad on numbers but its a Casiotone from the 70's, it has a fake wooden [effect] and it's pretty baddass.
Your labelmate Matthew White is apparently a big Kendrick Lamar fan. What hip-hop do you like?
Man I love Kendrick as well! I've been listening to older hip-hop and R&B. I listen to more of the Nineties singer groups: I have Mista on there, Jodeci, 112. I'm a sucker for melodies. I have a ton of Janet Jackson on there. New Jack Swing: Matt talks about how that's going come back a lot.
If Matt ever persuaded Kendrick to come to Spacebomb - what advice would you give him on getting the best out of session?
Maybe make some hard boiled eggs in the morning: bring them to the session and see what happens! We started every day with a hard boiled egg. I think Kendrick should just get in there and trust the crazy musical understanding Cameron, Pinson, Matt, Trey have together because they've worked together for so long. So if he was to go in there, just let them do their thing for a little bit and trust that. When they did 'Bird Of Prey'. It' was totally different from how I'd originally written that song feel wise. Now it's bouncy, really groovy. It took me a while to get used to that. Now I think "This is genius! This is way better!"
Can you recommend a good book?
I just read Lena Dunham's new book, Not That Kind Of Girl. I just read that one. There is a chapter at the end talking about the sunshine stealers, the old veterans who when she was the new 'it' girl going to these Hollywood events were just trying to see if she's actually worth it, whether she's actually significant to the whole scene. She calls them the sunshine stealers because they're jaded, dismissive and didn't take her seriously. I thought that was a really interesting part of the book.
When were you last starstruck?
We hung out with Bill Murray twice. Jenny's friends with him and I knew he was going to our show in Charleston but I didn't know he was going to be there during our soundcheck. He showed up and he was wearing cow print shorts, cargo vest, neon yellow Nikes and a straw hat. At first I was totally starstruck but then you start talking to him and he's like an old friend, like an old uncle or something. He's really good at talking to people. The best moment during that soundcheck was when he was there, cheering us on in the empty venue. He would just run up to me saying 'YES! YES! You sounds so good!' Just running around. He was golfing, put putting. He was pretty hilarious.
What's the best cure for heartache?
Songwriting. And moving onto the next one.
Natalie Prass album is out now. Her remaining UK tour dates with Ryan Adams are below. For tickets and more information, visit here.
24 February - Edinburgh, Usher Hall
25 February - Leeds, O2 Academy Leeds
27 Feb. 27 - London, Eventim Apollo
28 February - Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Civic Hall
She also has a headline tour beginning in June. For tickets and more information visit here.
22 June Glasgow Mono
24 June London Islington Assembly Hall
25 June Manchester Deaf Institute
26 June Bristol The Thekla
