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NZ Musician Magazine
August / September, 2002

Bic Runga's Long Drive to 'Collision'

Original article is at: NZ Musician Magazine

Date: August / September, 2002

By: Natasha Francois

I'll never make a record as slowly as this again," swears Bic Runga emphatically. "The reason this one took so long is because notoriously the second album is the 'difficult one', and so I'll never have that problem again!"

It's late on Friday afternoon and we're at the Sony offices in Parnell, Bic sipping tea and recalling the production process of her latest album 'Beautiful Collision'.

It's been nearly five years since Sony released her six times platinum-selling debut album 'Drive'. That time flew by, according to Bic, and she's glad she took her time, clearly pleased with the result.

"I don't think it's that big a deal... if I'd released a record straight after 'Drive', it wouldn't have been ready. I'm 26 now and I'm a little more mature. I think what I've got now was worth waiting for. The craftsmanship is good, it's well made and I'm really pleased with it."

'Beautiful Collision' was largely self- produced, using Pro Tools, and mixed at Quad Recording Studios in New York by Michael Brauer (whose credits include Coldplay, New Radicals and The Rolling Stones). It features a roll-call of top flight guest Kiwi musicians: Dave Dobbyn, Neil Finn, Milan Borich and Tim Arnold from Pluto, and Andy Morton - aka the Submariner (his credits include Dimmer and Che Fu) who added programming on two tracks, synth and keyboards on another, and was also one of a staggering twelve engineers who had a part in the album.

Bic utilised just about every recording studio and engineer in Auckland making the album, "... because she could" says Bic's manager Campbell Smith helpfully. 'Beautiful Collision' also racked Bic up considerable airpoints. She spent time in studios on both U.S. coasts - Sunset Sound in LA, plus both Quad Recording and Good and Evil in New York; also flying over to record drums with REM's Joey Waronker and bass with Sebastian Steinburg. "She'd just pack up her hard drive and go," says Smith. "It was easier to do it this way than to keep flying people to New Zealand."

Questioned about the budget, Smith will reveal only that this second album has cost significantly more than 'Drive'. Bic concurs: "It was a hideously expensive record. By New Zealand standards the budget was big but by American standards it was pretty typical," she says. "I think it's an international standard record."

Despite the time and money spent Bic admits the finished record is nothing like she'd originally planned. She initially intended to steer clear of the singer/ songwriter genre and more towards beats-orientated songs. "I don't know why I did that," she shrugs. "I think it was just a reaction to the singer/songwriter record I'd made before, which I was just totally sick of. "But then, you can't be someone you're not and I eventually came round to making a record that was more honest."

Although in a more round-about fashion she also ended up taking production credits for 'Drive', Bic admits she finds the producer's chair challenging. "I think I'd bitten off more than I could chew really, but I've done that all my life. I'm always trying to outdo myself. I learnt so much I can't begin to stress how much. Three years ago I probably wasn't equipped enough to produce a record but after three years of learning about production, I feel like I could call myself a producer, probably not now, but after two more albums!"

She also found it intensely satisfying, despite the constant assumptions from people, that someone else had helped her do it. "I don't have problem with explaining to people that I really did work hard - because I really did," she laughs.

Sony gave her free reign over the album's overall direction and were content to sit back and let Bic do it her way, a freedom which she greatly appreciated.
"They never made me work with anyone else, so all credit to them really 'cos that's unheard of. Most people kind of get things forced on them but I've got to give them credit for the 'hands off' approach. Maybe towards the second year they were getting worried but I think they're happy with the record now."

The mutual appreciation between Bic and Sony is apparent with comments from Sony NZ's ****GM Michael Glading like: "We think she is a unique talent. There's no one else in the country like her. She's an amazing lyricist with a turn of phrase that makes me want to cry."

'Beautiful Collision' had a couple of false starts, beginning back in 1999 when Bic was living in Grey Lynn, Auckland. With her computer at home she originally began work on a drum'n'bass style, beat-based album. After six months on the project she realised she needed a real drummer. This sent her overseas - to LA to find a suitable candidate. Why did she feel the need to look abroad at that stage?

"Because I never really felt like everything I needed was in one place. I kind of went all out on this record. I'm really happy with it because I got a really great session drummer (Joey Waronker) - he's one of the top session drummers, and Sebastian Steinburg, my favourite living bass player in the world. He also plays with Neil Finn. The quality of players there was worth getting on a plane for.

"I couldn't believe how quickly I could get connected to some really great players," she continues. "A lot of the members of Beck Hansen's band were really helpful. I basically rang the bass player and he gave me all the phone numbers of people who'd played with Air and Tom Waits. The session players there are kind of hungry for work y'know? They're just trying to survive like anyone else."

After a three week stint in LA in 2000 Bic returned to New Zealand with drum parts for about eight tracks. After more work from home she headed again to New York six months later to record the bass tracks with Steinburg. "It was all a bit arse about face really," she now happily admits. "I didn't know what I was doing. It was all imbued with anxiety and indecision!"

That anxiety, she has since accepted, was a necessary part of the learning curve and creative process. "Once I realised I wanted to make an organic record and not a programmed record then it was easy," she laughs.

The false starts allowed Bic to learn from her mistakes. She needed to try out new techniques to find they were not right for her and found the experimentation process extremely valuable. Returning home again she moved to the bush of Titirangi for six months, where she began working alongside Milan Borich and Tim Arnold, the core duo of Pluto.

"They were such a breath of fresh air," she says. "I'd been working on this record for two years and they re-inspired me and I got excited about what they were doing.

"They were making very organic music, kind of interesting guitars, lots of analogue keyboards... and I suddenly felt like I had some contemporaries instead of trying to relate to people I didn't feel a relationship with. "I think that's vital whatever you're doing, whether you make a movie or paint a picture or sculpture, it's nice to have people you feel are of a kindred spirit."

Bic played a number of her new songs with Milan and Tim late last year at Auckland's tiny Odeon Cafe (formerly a funeral parlour), in a brief, sell-out season of public trialling. The queues wound around the corner and those who couldn't get in pressed noses to the window for a glimpse of the magic.

"I just had to get the songs out of my house," she laughs. "They hadn't left my living room! You've got to socialise your songs otherwise they sort of become socially inept. I don't think I performed well, the audience probably thought I was nervous or withdrawn. I didn't care, I wasn't concentrating on performing well, I was trying to do what was best for the songs."

The extra effort paid off as the songs on 'Beautiful Collision' will attest, there's greater attention to detail and the songwriting has matured as her influences have changed.

"I'm more influenced by country artists like Neil Young. I really like a lot of music from the 1930s as well, and early Ella Fitzgerald. My influences are different now, I guess. Your taste just develops, I mean I used to hate Bob Dylan, I just didn't understand him at all. I really like him now.

"I think it's a good thing to have an appreciation for. He's also a good example of good lyric writing. My idea of good lyric writing while I was making 'Drive' was Tori Amos or something."

The title 'Beautiful Collision' refers to a chance meeting between friends and how fate brings people together. "It's not a negative record," she says. "It's about being excited about coming home, homesickness and love."

Did she feel pressure with this new album to create another 'Drive'?
"Not at all," she replies. "I think the record I've made is infinitely better. 'Drive' has some nice things about it because I was so naive at the time. I think it's really unselfconscious and quite pure, innocent. The craft of 'Beautiful Collision' is better, it's just more mature."

Bic Runga was just 21 years old when her debut album was published and found promoting and touring it rigorous and exhausting. 'Drive' was released here in August '97 and in the US a full year later. Smith based himself in New York and Bic spent from April '98 through to June '99 touring the States, from solo residencies on the Eastern seaboard and full band national tours, to festival tours.

With album number two she'll be taking it easier on the promotions front although the dividends of that earlier American pilgrimage are already paying off. 'Beautiful Collision' will be simultaneously released here and in the US - usually unheard of for New Zealand albums.

"The American company's behind it. They really believe in it. I'm signed to Columbia in America which is an amazing label really. It goes right back to Miles Davis and Bob Dylan. All these really exciting recordings have been made with Columbia. I'm really excited about that."

Of the American 'Drive' touring, Bic says: "It nearly killed me! I felt like some sort of packhorse. The workload was insane for someone so ill-equipped. There were really heavy schedules and a real temptation to chase after every opportunity hoping it was the one. "But now I would be a little more cool about what I chose to do. I can take it or leave it. I'm not desperate. Doing things out of desperation, I think, is when you start doing things badly."

Bic isn't quite a celebrity in the US yet although Sway did become a kind of a sleeper hit over there, especially in supermarkets and Starbucks - it was the kind of song that everyone hummed along to while buying last minute milk and bread, with no idea who it was by. Sway featured in a pivotal emotional scene on the soundtrack of movie "American Pie" a huge film in America that year. "There's no shortage of the song getting out there," Bic says. "It's just making that connection between the song and me ..."

Does the five year gap between albums mean she'll have to start again overseas?

"Yeah, it probably does actually. America is really difficult although if you can have that company (Columbia) behind you, and they know and have personal relationships with you, then that's half the job done. "Just getting noticed in your own record label is half as hard as getting noticed in the world, you know what I mean? So the goodwill that we've created between us and the record company was worth building on and is still there."

Her favourite track off the new album is also the first single, Get Some Sleep. It's an autobiographical song documenting the last five years of her life, a hectic whirlwind of touring, producing, travelling and promoting.

"The song is about travelling incessantly through America and not getting much sleep and singing the same old song over and over again," she says.

Contrary to popular opinion Bic says, touring is far from glamorous. "It's boring and you eat badly. I mean it depends on what level of touring you're talking about. I mean I'm sure touring is fine for Celine Dion."

Whilst in the US she was fortunate to be part of the Lilith Fair - one of the biggest selling tours in America - alongside headlining singer/songwriter artists like Jewel and Sheryl Crow. Although it was considered very cool to be a singer/songwriter in America at that time, she says she never really felt like she fitted in with the rest of the bill.

"Personally I think that's kind of boring. I don't like any of those artists," she explains. "It was just a wave of music in America that was kind of having its time. I didn't really feel like I was really in that family of artists... although whether I liked it or not, I kind of was."

It's been a hectic learning curve for Bic Runga and she's determined to take it easy from now on especially when it comes to overseas success. She's confident about her new album and is relaxed and optimistic about the future.
"This time we'll just choose things more cleverly and do some more touring and playing but we'll just do it well and not rush it or overdo it. I would sooner go away and write a book, or go back to school or paint, than whore myself to break America," she laughs.

That first single Get Some Sleep is released on June 24th, accompanied by a video from US director Jim Gable shot in and around Queenstown. 'A Beautiful Collision' will be in stores early July.