Kristin Hersh - Throwing Muses

Kristin Hersh has been a hero of mine for 20 years, both for her solo work and her band Throwing Muses, who she's been with since she was 14 years old. She's had several kids, lived with her bipolar condition, written books, recorded absolutely tonnes of music, attempted suicide and was diagnosed as schizophrenic. She's a survivor. A beautiful, creative, intelligent survivor, and she plays with Throwing Muses in Norwich on September 21st at the Waterfront, to celebrate Throwing Muses' new album which come with a special book. I was delighted to have a chat with her...

Something about your lyrics, especially on Hips and Makers, has always reminded me of Sylvia Plath; that kind of suffering being expressed through choice poetic words. Do you have a favourite poet/lyricist?

 I tend to hear lyrics as a visceral pattering, like melodic percussion. If they move me, I'm transported by their "truth" which is more like a resonance than a truISM. Brains'll memorize truisms and organize them into something you could follow as a life plan, but the truth of poetry is a moment plus a response. 

All words work this way for me, whether I'm reading about an experiment or overhearing a conversation. No idea why this is...

 Your four sons have grown up on the road; how have they chosen to move into their own worlds? Are they creative types or fighting against their upbringing and going into the corporate world? Did becoming a mother make you feel more settled as a person?

 I became a mother while I was still kind of a child, but it probably saved my life. I stayed restless, I experienced fear for the first time, I was swamped by gravity...but all that humanity is definitely grounding. You rise to its occasion and realize there's no such thing as "hard" when it comes to the work of parenthood - only biological imperative, so physical that it's spiritual.

 How do you feel about Throwing Muses now? Perhaps hearing and playing some of those songs hurts a lot and may remind you of some difficult times.

 Only the lousy songs remind you of yourself and how lousy you were being when you wrote them ;) The good songs grow up alongside you and walk in and out of the room like old friends, always surprising us with what they have to say.

 I feel that the silences within your songs, the parts you don’t say, are as interesting as what you DO hear. You give your vocals lots of space. Do you work on your lyrics a lot or do they flow straight onto the page?

 In the atmosphere of the song, one can do no wrong. Take a step to the left and everything gets lame all of a sudden. So sometimes the lyrics fly, sometimes I need the shit edited out of me. 50FootWave songs always look beautiful on the page somehow. The weird part is, they never SOUND beautiful.

 Do the subjects of the songs on Purgatory/Paradise differ to what you sing about on your solo work or with 50 Foot Wave?