I think it’s safe to say that if someone told you that a three year old was playing the piano, you probably envision a runny nosed toddler banging on a Fisher Price piano. If I told you that same kid mastered the acoustic guitar at six years of age, you probably think I’ve lost my mind. Well, that’s just how the musical path started for Australia’s own Orianthi. While other kids were busy playing in mud puddles and playing kick ball, this young lady was starting to lay the ground-work for an impressive journey that she was about to embark on. She is definitely proving that you can’t judge a book by its cover, or its age.
Although she is only 28 years of age, she has already traveled the world many times over as a performer. She has a pretty impressive “who’s who” list of artists that she has performed with including Michael Jackson, Prince, Steve Vai, Alice Cooper, Carrie Underwood and Carlos Santana. She’s teamed up with producer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) to record her latest album entitled Heaven in this Hell and it’s her most authentic work to date, capturing who this insanely talented artist truly is. After travelling half way across the globe from Switzerland back to Los Angeles, she somehow found time to sit down with me to talk about her new album.
Hi Orianthi! Thank you so much for finding time to talk to me today. How the heck are you doing?
I’m doing really well! I am back here in LA and my album just came out. We just did a release party at The Whisky the other night and it was a blast!
Did I hear this right? You flew all the back from doing a show with Alice Cooper in Switzerland and then did The Whisky show the next day?
Yeah, that’s right; it kind of seems like a dream these past four days. We did a show at the Grammy Museum and I left the next day for Switzerland. We went straight into rehearsals and then did a two hour show, jumped on a plane, came straight back here and played a show at The Whisky. It’s been pretty crazy for me!
I guess sleep really is overrated at this point; you can catch up on that later.
Oh yeah, definitely (laughs).
[embedplusvideo height=”281″ width=”450″ standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Pu1aQvm5MrU?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=Pu1aQvm5MrU&width=450&height=281&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep2608″ /]
I thought that it was interesting that you worked with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame as the producer this time around. Was that the first time you worked with him?
Yeah. I met Dave about two years ago at a Stand Up to Cancer show. He called me when we went to Nashville and told me that I should come check out his studio, and I did. Then, about two weeks after, I ended up making my album over there. It’s been a real blast working with Dave because he is such an incredible songwriter and producer.
You mentioned that you recorded your album in Nashville. Did the surroundings of Nashville influence the sound in any way? There’s definitely a country feel present such as on the song “Another You.”
We wrote that one in Nashville on a songwriting trip and it definitely has a country flavor to it. I’m a big country fan and I love Nashville; it’s a real musician’s town. All of the songs that came out of there are sort of rock and country and are real “earthy” sounding. That particular song was written with Blair Daly and Bobbie Huff, two of my favorite songwriters over there. Actually, nine tracks were recorded in Nashville and the rest was recorded here in LA and we used the same guys from Dave’s studio in Nashville here in Hollywood.
What made you decide to go with “Frozen” as the first single?
It felt really strong with the lyrics and everything. It’s great to play live and has that catchy type of chorus. We wanted something to represent the album well like that.
I have to say that out of all your work, it’s my favorite album as a complete work. There are eleven tracks and each one sounds like it could be a potential single; nothing sounds like filler. Does this album capture who you truly are as an artist or do you think is it just continued growth as an artist?
I do feel like this album captures who I am; it definitely has a rawer feel to it. That’s basically the whole idea that we had and that Dave had as well. He wanted to go into the studio and make records the way they were made back in the day. Whenever I listen to Eric Clapton or Hendrix or Santana, all of those records were all made in a big room where everyone could see each other and play together; it’s pretty organic. You know my sound right now is really a voodoo rock blues sound with maybe a sprinkling of country in there too. Writing these songs and performing them has been so much fun and what’s great is that they can be performed with a big band or acoustically.
I love it when an artist strips a song down acoustically; that would be awesome to hear.
We’ve been doing that a lot recently with radio. We’re going in with acoustic guitars and playing them live. These songs were all pretty much written on acoustic guitars; there’s hardly any programming at all on the record. There may be a part where we have a drum machine come in, but everything else is pretty much organic.
Your schedule seems pretty full with what you have going on with Alice (Cooper). Other than the visits to radio stations, how are you planning to promote the album?
We’ve got until July, when we go out with Alice again. We’re going to go over to Japan and do some shows over there and we’re doing some stuff here as well. We’re actually going to be shooting a music video next week and that’s going to be fun.
I know a lot of artists who don’t necessarily care for making videos because they can be painstaking and the days are really long. Do you like shooting music videos?
I actually wrote the treatment for the video with Dave and the guy who is going to be directing it and its going to be really cool. It’s nice to have the control on this record and with the video that I do, you know, because I’m a real artist and to have control over creating everything is a really cool thing. Obviously, with making music videos, it does tend to be long days, but I’m looking forward to it.
How did you and Alice (Cooper) hook up? Isn’t this your second tour with him?
I met him about three or four years ago when we were on American Idol together and played “School’s Out.” I also did some work with Bob Ezrin when he was producing Fefe Dobson. I was making a record and I got a call from Alice saying, “Hey, will you join the band?” and I was like, “yeah, definitely.” (laughs) I learned twenty five songs in a week and then went out on tour with him. We played our first show at The Whisky, then toured Australia, New Zealand, and all around the world. It’s actually been a few tours that we’ve been on, but they have been kind of broken up.
Wow, what a crazy ride that has been for you. I remember following some Alice fans online who went to the shows and reading their comments on you. There were many who commented, “I don’t know who that girl is playing guitar, but she’s freaking awesome!”
Aww, that’s so cool because I didn’t know how his fans were going to react to me joining the band. I just think of myself as one of the guys. At first, I think I was pretty normal when I started playing with him, but then I wanted to be part of the show so I was covering myself with blood and had it running down my arms. They called me ‘Scarianthi’ for a while. Alice is such a character up there and you have to be part of the show; it’s a whole new world for me and I love it. We just played the show in Switzerland and we were severely jet lagged and the altitude is so high that you can hardly breathe. Here we were at twelve o’clock at night and we just kind of fell right back into it. It was such an awesome show!
Speaking of awesome, you are on the cover of the new Guitar World; how awesome is that? Is that your first cover for them? What a huge accomplishment for a guitarist like yourself.
Yeah, that’s my first time being on the cover of Guitar World. I’ve been on the cover of Guitar Player a few years ago and that was really surreal, and this is surreal as well. To have their support means so much and to be able to inspire more young musicians to keep at what they’re doing and going after their dreams is very cool.
Do you have any dream collaborations?
Honestly, so many of my dreams have already come true with so many great people that I have worked with. I love music and it’s something that I get up for every day. To be able to collaborate with these amazing people is awesome. You just learn so much from them because they’ve been in this industry for like forever. I’ve learned so much from Alice and from Steve Vai and they’re totally different. I’d love to work with BB King and do something really bluesy. There’s a new artist by the name of Gary Clark Jr. and I think he’s great. I’ve talked about him in a few interviews as well, so hopefully he’ll read this one; that would be cool, we could do a song and that would be awesome
What inspired you to pick up your first guitar?
My dad. He was a guitar player and he was always strumming around the house. I thought it looked so cool and I wanted to join in. He taught me how to strum initially and then I played along to Elvis videos and Roy Orbison and The Beatles and then I played in front of my school. I wrote my first song when I was seven: “Spin Your Jackets Around” was the name of it and unfortunately my parents do have video footage of it.
I know you probably get asked this in every interview, but how amazing was it to work with Michael Jackson?
It was incredible and very surreal. It was life changing because I learned so much from him. At the time, it felt like a dream and it took quite a while for everything to sink in. It was just complete madness, but I’m very grateful to have been chosen; such an unforgettable experience.
What’s an Orianthi face that might surprise even your most hardcore fans?
I’ll have to think about this one because I usually announce everything that I am doing on Twitter or Instagram so everybody pretty much knows. Let’s see, here’s something that I don’t think I have mentioned before. When I was really little, my sister and I would enter these competitions on the radio; we were huge Disney fans and into Disney movies and we would send in songs such as Aladdin songs and other Disney songs to try and win competitions on the radio. We were like ten and I hope those tapes are never found (laughs). I was obsessed with Disney films, especially The Lion King.
Here’s a good one for you: I’m sure that you know of the classic scene in the movie Crossroads with Steve Vai and Ralph Macchio. If you were cast in the movie, who would you want to recreate that scene with you?
Oh god, I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to recreate that scene because it’s just perfect. That’s a difficult question because there are so many great players that I am a fan of. I don’t know if I could choose the other person. I would have to give them a list of suggestions and have them pick from it.
I know, you could give them your collaboration bucket list and have them choose one from that.
There you go, yeah!
Orianthi, thank you so much for taking the time out of your crazy schedule to talk with us. It’s been a treat and I wish you all the best with your new album and with the tour with Alice. I hope our paths cross somewhere along the way. Is there anything that you’d like to close with?
The album’s out now and you can request the single “Frozen” at radio. You can download it at iTunes and Amazon. I’m super excited about this album and I want to thank everyone for their support and you guys at RockRevolt for your support and this article and I can’t wait to get out on the road with this record and see everyone. Check out the video in a few weeks; I will announce it on Facebook and Twitter.
Connect with Orianthi on the links above, or below:
http://www.orianthi.com/
https://twitter.com/orianthi
