Skye Sweetnam – Interview

Skye Bubbles Up
by Colleen Maree Quill

While on my way to interview Skye Sweetnam on her tour bus, I encountered a venue security guard who jokingly told me the show was cancelled. Skye’s tour bus is purple covered with her image and stick figures she drew for her website. Amidst rumors of freaking out episodes by tour headliner, Britney Spears, Skye was bubbly and enthusiastic. A vision of turquoise and black glittering from head to toe, Skye was the opposite of another young Canadian female singer making headlines for taking potshots at Skye’s tour mate. At fifteen Skye has co-written songs with producer James Robinson on the upcoming ‘Noise From the Basement’ CD due out this August.

Skye’s band members are Toronto rockers who’s own side projects encompass the diverse sounds of Reggae to Peter Gabriel-rock. An unlikely match, once Skye hits the stage with astounding confidence, the chords and camaraderie come together like a teenage boy downing five cans of Red Bull and hyperactivity.

During Skye’s twenty five minute set, she sings five songs including her hit ‘Billy S.’ from the ‘How to Deal’ movie soundtrack. It’s an upbeat blast of energy to start the concert off right. Skye and her band end with a cover of Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass’ in their own ‘Skye-ified’ version. Skye has just been added to European dates and the second leg of Britney’s ‘Onyx Hotel Tour’ stateside this summer. She took a few minutes on her tour bus to talk about the tour, songwriting and the myths of touring.

What’s the one question you are tired of being asked?

(Laughs) Hmm, I don’t know. I know that I always have trouble answering what my favorite kinds of music is and what my favorite artists are because I listen to so much I never have one or two favorites. I listen to everything all around the board. Whenever it comes to picking favorite some thing’s, I can never do that.

How did you start writing ‘Skye was here’ on people’s faces on tour?

Well it started out on the last tour. Me and my band have this kind of rivalry going and we always like to tease each other. When anyone would fall asleep we would write on their face. It’s the way it’s always been. So now everyone is afraid to fall asleep because they know they will get Sharpie all over their face. I actually did one of the crew members on the Britney tour. He got me back though cause when I came off stage he put silly string all over my hair. (Laughs.)

How do get Sharpie off?

Just have to scrub and makeover wipes. Luckily I’ve never been gotten. (Laughs.)

Is that because your mom is there to protect you?

(Laughs as her mom peeks her head in) Nah, she’d hand them the Sharpie!

You are touring with Britney who became famous when she was 16 and now is 22. A lot of people have a problem as thinking of her as getting older then 16. Madonna released ‘Like A Virgin’ at 23. Do you find that people are focused on you being 15 as a problem too?

Sometimes when I play for someone or do a concert, I love it when they don’t have any expectations on me. And then I come off and say ‘Yeah, I’m 15’ and it impresses them rather then them going into it saying ‘oh she’s 15, blah blah blah’ expecting certain things. That’s one thing I find different being on the Britney Spears tour. People going into this they paid like 100 something dollars a ticket so they expect something amazing. There’s a lot of expectations to be really, really good. Normally when I was performing in bars no one expected anything of me so I’d go up and really impress them. It’s kind of a challenge for me. I have to come up with new things and impress people coming to the concerts every night.

The song ‘Imaginary Superstar’ talks about playing at being a rock star. How is it different now that you know everything like the marketing that goes into it?

I almost pretend that I’m back in my room with the brush as my microphone, jumping around my bed. That’s the kind of emotion loving the music that I want to intrigue people to feel. I want to invite the audience into my world having the time of my life through the music. If people can share in that, I’m doing my job right.

‘Tangled Up in Me’ is the first single off ‘Noise From The Basement,’ can you tell us about the video?

I’m not sure. We’re about to film it. I always come up with concepts cause I love every aspect of this process. I’m involved in everything. I know my band is going to be in it and I know its going to be fun.

What are some of the myths that you had about the glamour of the road vs. the reality?

I always thought there’d be a lot more time to see the cities. Really all you get to see is the inside of a tour bus and the venues. Places really do start to look the same when you are on the bus, then you come out and there’s the venue and you perform there. I love it so much when we have a day off or some extra time off.

I remember being in Vegas on this tour we had a day off. I was so excited because I’d never been there before we got to go walk down to the strip. Even though I couldn’t gamble, I got to go into the casinos and see the spectacular amount of effort that’s goes into making it look all glamorous. When I can go see the cities it makes such a big difference.

Did you have any inhibitions expressing yourself and your ideas as a female to your producer James Robinson, a twenty three year old guy?

I found out, at the very beginning I had a huge obstacle to get over that hump of being able to show my inner feelings, what I think is cool and showing my ideas to someone. It took me a while to get comfortable with a lot of people with songwriting. With James we have that connection where I totally feel comfortable. He is my friend as well as my producer and co-writer. I feel comfortable laying my ideas on the table and he’ll do the same with me. We’re not afraid to tell each other that it sucks. If it sucks, it sucks.

We’re trying to have fun and do the best music that we can possibly do. It definitely was an obstacle to get over that and say what I was really feeling. I’m improving on songwriting. That’s something I’m really looking forward to in the future. Being only fifteen, I have so much room to grow. I can’t wait to see what these experiences bring out in me on a songwriting level.

How much of a role do you think image plays in getting a record sold?

A lot unfortunately these days. You are the visual for what you sound like. You have to make sure you take care of that. And that, you present yourself in a way that is complimentary to what you’re doing musically. I think that there are a lot of times when you can make a break an artist with their image. There’s even sometimes when it’s about their image more then the music. And you have to realize that going into the entertainment business, that it’s an overall entertainment value and not just about the music.

There are a lot of people who compare you to Avril but I can’t really see a lot of similarities past you both being Canadian female singers. Do you think the media likes create rivalries?

Oh totally. I think they are comparing our images more then our music. When you look at it on paper that we both come from Canada and I’m doing a sort of rock thing. There is so much more than an artist and a person then what you see on the outside. I wrote this song called ‘Hypocrite’ and the chorus says ‘don’t try to label me hypocrite because I’m going to do what I want to.’ And ‘Avril-light’ and ‘brat’ are some of the labels that I think people are going to put on me that are in the song.

I just want to say no matter what people say, I’m doing what I love and being true to myself. The media loves to do that comparing. It’s kind of entertaining sometimes to see what else they will come up with next. There are so many differences between me and Avril. I’m such a girlie girl. If you listen to our albums back to back, she is coming from one place. I feel like I haven’t even found where I’m coming from.

+ Colleen Maree Quill