Interview: Ellie Maybe

Meet Ellie Maybe: local musician, foul-mouthed degenerate, and all-around funny gal. While she's been gigging around Chicago in various incarnations since before puberty (Eli Emily, Precious Blood, Rah! Rah! Replica, Haywood Yards, Little Red & the Hoods, the Karaoke Dokies, the Deccas, etc. etc. etc.), she's lately been splitting her time between local garage pop veterans The Sonnets and her own project, The Ellie Maybe Experence (and just like there's no "i" in "team," there's also apparently no "i" in "Experence"). With a brand spankin' new EP and a slew of live dates coming up, WOW cornered her in-between rehearsals and sat her down for an interview. (Plus, she'll be playing live in the studio on this week's show! Tune in to 88.7FM in Chicago, or listen online at wluw.org... and that's Tuesday, 8-10pm, for those of you who haven't been paying attention.)

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You have quite a lengthy band resume! How long have you been playing music?
I came out of the womb with a piccolo. It was all that they could fit in there with me.

Wow, piccolo? Do you still play?
Frequently, much to the chagrin of my neighbors. I also dabble in other woodwinds... concert flute, bassoon, saxophone. I even know six notes on clarinet, but I have no idea what they are.
They're good notes though.

But you play bass in the Experence, right?
Sure do. On occasion I'll convince the band to do a cover that includes the odd flute solo, at which point I (and the audience) remember why bass is my primary instrument.

Wait, what do you cover that has a flute solo? "No New Tale to Tell" by Love & Rockets? Jethro Tull?
We've done "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker Band. Sometime soon I want to do "Hocus Pocus" by Focus. Or is that "Focus" by Hocus Pocus? I can never remember. Who cares, it has yodeling!

I think it's "Hocus Pocus" by Focus... but I only know that because there's a band called Bitesize that mentions it in the lyrics of one of their songs. Either way, any song with yodeling in it is cool by me. So what drew you to the bass guitar? When did you pick that up?
At some point in the '90s I accompanied my father to Guitar Center and fell in love with a guitar because it was purple. Pops bought it for me and it almost immediately went into his basement to collect mold. Some years later, I had an audition for the Chicago Academy for the Arts and wasn't very good at the flute... but they needed a bass player. So Ol' Purple came out of storage, I faked my way through an audition, and started playing jazz standards later that year.

It seems that you've got quite the musical arsenal!
It's a musical arsenal, sure, but I only have ammunition for about a quarter of it.

So I understand you were part of a songwriting retreat last month? Can you tell us about that?
Steel Bridge Songfest! It was probably the most amazing and enlightening experience of my life. I showed up worn down, pissed off, and worried I'd walked onto the set of A Mighty Wind, but after a few hours I was randomly thrown into a writing group that included Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's and a fantastic musician from Milwaukee named Dixie Jacobs (of the band White, Wrench, Conservatory.), with whom I ended up working all week long.

Wow, you got to work with Jane Wiedlin? How was that?
Working with Jane was a blast. We have a similar sense of humor, and being that my own music is based in comedy, the creativity flowed like non-dairy butter. (I'm lactose intolerant, which is important for your readers to know if they want to send me presents.)

What is the focus of the festival? How was it structured?
The festival started four years ago as a benefit to help restore the Michigan Street Bridge in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. It was founded by Pat MacDonald of Timbuk 3, a lifelong friend and a musical influence since childhood. There's a week-long songwriting retreat, and then a huge outdoor concert. Only a few hours after my half-hearted arrival, the whole group of songwriters met in a tent for dinner and introductions. Somewhere in the middle of dinner that night my mood lifted as I started realizing I was surrounded by an enormous group of amazing musicians from across the country, and even a few from overseas. My biggest fear was spending the week writing folk songs, but the other musicians came from every walk of music: hip hop, rock, R&B, country, bluegrass, pop, and everything in between.

So everyone formed new bands for the week, is that correct?
Everyone formed new groups each night; we played rock & roll spin the bottle. It was completely random and led to a lot of weird pairings.

Was it beneficial to you as a songwriter and musician, or was it more of a struggle to work with people you weren't familiar with?
It was a completely new feeling. Musically, Chicago can be such a clique-ish town that everyone's got preconcieved notions of you as a musician, either from seeing you play, hearing your album, or dating you. Some of the groups had instant chemistry, others not so much. But it was a learning experience regardless. Like learning how to disarm egos... including my own. Between the thirty writers and musicians who were there, we recorded dozens of songs that never would have come about without that collaborative element. It was something I'd never done before and I'm super excited about returning next year.

How do you think it affected you and your work?
It was a different and freeing experience to work with people who had no idea who I was or what I do. And because of it, I think I was able to be exponentially more creative than I have been in most of my previous writing partnerships at home.

Were any of your bandmates there?
Nope. I was actually the only participant from Chicago for the songwriting workshop, but my guitarist (Vee Sonnets) came up Friday evening to play a few gigs. The whole weekend culminates in this SXSW-style clusterfuck -- can I say clusterfuck? -- of shows, but it's all based in the tiny downtown commercial district of Sturgeon Bay. The whole nightlife strip is less than a three block radius, with a few venues scattered on the outskirts. Hundreds of bands played the weekend shows, including the mainstage event that takes place on a pier with the bridge in the background. That was the moment I finally got it... watching the sun set behind people lining the bridge end to end while my writing partners performed was aesthetically and emotionally breathtaking. Wow, I sound cheesy! I would have laughed at anyone that said this before I participated in it... but it really was that intense of an experience.

So what was the audience for the shows like?
The audience was a mixed bag. A lot of mulleted Wisconsinite Jackson Browne fans (he headlined the festival), lots of kids, and musicians from across the globe. Some people camped out in front of the stage when the festival started at 11am and stayed all night, others came and went for acts they wanted to see. The Wandering Sons, Pat MacDonald, and Jane Wiedlin were my favorites of the day... Dixie and I performed a song in Jane's set and immediately after, ran into the audience to sing and bounce along to "Our Lips Are Sealed." It was a trip.

Sounds like it. But let's get back to your band... Your latest project is the Ellie Maybe Experence?
Yes it is!

There's no "i" in "Experence," right? Why is that?
No! If there were an "i" in Experence, the whole experience would change. Experiencing the Experence is an event in and of itself and it is not something for one person, something for "i" to experience. Or experence.

Ok, so what's with the Americana theme? Every time I see you play, you seem to have a new American flag-themed outfit.
There are a number of reasons for that one. We love America! I look good in red and blue... white, not so much. In one incarnation of the group, I kept trying to convince my bandmates that we should be called Freedom Poodle. A lot of people think I'm being facetious with my patriotic costuming, but I'm secretly trying to turn the band into a Christian country group. Don't print that, okay?

No problem. This is not the first incarnation of the band, correct?
Nope. We've been through a lot of line ups and name changes and whatnot. I initially started playing bass for a friend's band, Precious Blood. I wasn't big on her formless songwriting, so I penned as many pop tunes as I could before the first rehearsal and weaseled my way into primary songwriter status. After, let's say, "creative differences" with the singer, the band continued on as something else with a handful of the same tunes. Eventually everyone quit except the guitarist and I, so we spent a couple years performing as Ellie Maybe and the One Ray Band. Ray Ramirez was was that One Ray, and would play this bizarre kick-drum-kick-snare-high-hat set up while he played guitar. It was a great concept for what it was, but the recordings didn't translate well, and our ideals were misaligned, so it, like everything I do in life, fell apart before I even noticed.

When I post this, I should insert a link to sadtrombone.com right about here.
Ha! Anyway, after a year's hiatus from being a frontwoman, something I loathe, I started missing some of the funny songs and conned my then-secret-boyfriend-roommate-dude into playing guitar for me with promises of blowjobs and fried eggs. We spun through a handful of drummers before pulling in Eric Yoder (who was also the drummer for my old Eli Emily project) about an hour and a half before our first show as a three-piece.

Did it work? Fried eggs are a mighty powerful bribe.
It worked so well that I also worked my way into his band, The Sonnets... the eggs, that is. The blowjobs just made my jaw sore.

Those must be some good fried eggs!
You should come over for breakfast sometime. But I'm not giving you a blowjob.

Now seems like a good time to point out that your songs are generally not PG... or PC, for that matter. Your lyrics deal with everything from sex with priests, to "social diseases," to outbursts of violence while attempting to quit smoking. In other words, they're not exactly for the faint of heart. While they lean towards vulgarity, however, I've always thought your songs were smart and funny regardless. Where do you find the inspiration for your songs?
To be honest, I always come up with decent punchlines but am incapable of writing a poignant joke. For instance, as a teenager, I knew this kid who everyone called Tampon. I tried forever to somehow turn it into an anecdote or one-liner involving a British accent (which I cannot do) and turning him into "that bloody Tampon," but I failed miserably, since I was confined to the typical three lines or so it should take to tell a joke. Having three minutes and the ability to repeat myself in pop form allows me the space I need to actually be funny. Which I'm obviously not.

Are your lyrics true stories, or are you intentionally trying to amuse and/or shock your audience?
Most are based in truth and twisted towards a more humourous angle, but a few of them are blatant lies, as is most good songwriting.

So how would you describe this latest band incarnation? Besides Christian country, I mean. It's a cliched interview question, but who/what are your influences?
I love Foreigner. Foreigner is my favorite band ever to exist. "Hot Blooded" is the best song ever written. If you argue with me, I will argue back in Foreigner lyrics. I've done it before, so beware. Pat MacDonald, the founder of Steel Bridge Songfest, has always been a huge influence of mine. I've been listening to his music since I was born and I think my comedic timing in music developed almost entirely from listening to his records. I've ripped him off time and again, usually unintentionally. Don't tell him though. Also, I would sacrifice my first born to Tom Waits, but what self-righteous indie musician wouldn't?

Have you heard Scarlett Johansson's album of Tom Waits' covers?
I don't even know who Scarlett Johansson is.

You're better off.
Is she related to that letter chick? Bad joke, sorry.

Ha! No. But I have a friend who once woke up after a night of drinking with a brand new scarlet letter A tattooed on his chest, and no memory of how it got there.
It was me, wasn't it? (Checks for tattoo.)

I hope not. The Experence just recorded an EP, right?
Yep, Meet Ellie. It was originally a commissioned American Apparel ad, but they said it looked like I ate more than once a week so we got dropped from their new indie label, "Underfed Biracial Employee Records." And yes, I stole half that joke from The Onion. Like most of my humor. BUSH INVADES WEST NILE! Okay, I'm done. Sorry.

Where did you record the album? Are these all new and/or original songs, or do we get to hear that Marshall Tucker Band cover?
We recorded at Horse-Drawn Studios with Eric Yoder (also the drummer on the album). All the tunes are original, but a few of them have survived several different incarnations of the band... In. Car. Nation. I think I just found the name for our next record.

If the PMRC doesn't shut you down first. Wait, do they even exist anymore?
Who cares. Don't forget to plug my shows!

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The Ellie Maybe Experience is playing Thursday, July 10th at Martyrs', 9pm sharp. The Sonnets will be playing Saturday, July 12th at the Metro, 8pm. For more information, visit their websites. And don't forget to tune in to the show tomorrow night to hear a live in-studio set!