FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| MUSIC Attitude is all in how you perceive it. Let's say, for example, you think human beings exist only for your amusement. Now, some people might argue that you're a misanthropic prick who needs a good beating and hours of religious indoctrination to cure that. On the other hand, there are those who might feel you show a great deal of tolerance in being humored by the masses and not wanting to watch them all bubble and shriek as they're burnt alive in a huge lake of fire. So ya see, who's to say what's a good or bad attitude? Admittedly, for the past decade local singer/songwriter Jessica Babe has been fighting the perception that she could use a bit of an adjustment in the attitude department. Maybe wanting to dispel the image or possibly wanting to sort it out in her own head, Jessica is quick to bring it up in conversation. "I very often hear about how I have a bad attitude," she says with a look on her face that's a great mix of bewilderment, defiance and admittance. "So I was thinking, 'Do I have a bad attitude?' And I started calling it my jaded sense of purpose. "I've been going through this whole thing in Calgary playing live music. And I've done everything from leading vocal ensembles to playing in jazz bands to studio work with various people on various instruments and busking on Electric Avenue... and it's been really hard. I find that when you're on the bottom there's a lot of people coming in and telling you how to do it differently." Jessica definitely doesn't need any urging to do things differently, as her songs can attest. Her new independently released six-song CD called The Bedroom Project, is an odd little personally driven excursion into multi-faceted pop music. Sometimes structured like Mummer-era XTC with keen jazz sensibilities, a fondness for quirky melodies, folk leanings and Sundays-like vocals, the demanding tracks engage as often as they frustrate you into abandoning them. The daughter of well-known Canadian pianist Bob Erlendson, she comes by her influences naturally. And judging by how long it took him to succeed - he has only recently been acknowledged as one of the nation's best - the fondness for jazz stylings isn't the only thing she inherited from her dad. His gumption (not to mention his bankrolling of The Bedroom Project as well as an appearance on one track) coupled with the gentle nudging of her bassist, Martyn van Remmen, a growing fan base that can relate to her songs of gender-based boudoir musings, and now, especially, the gradual acceptance by her peers in the local scene have caused her to persevere lo these 10 years. "There's been a big change since I first started, there wasn't a lot of support. The other musicians, they didn't really like what I was doing and they thought I was a spoiled brat because my dad's a big jazz musician. "But now that it's been 10 years and I haven't keeled over or just given up, they actually are happy to see me when I come to a jam," she says. "It's really nice for me because finally I feel like I'm not really in the club, but at least I have the feeling that most of the people aren't saying that I suck anymore - 'She's got a bad attitude and she sucks!' They're saying, 'She's got a bad attitude, but she's alright. At least she's not a quitter anyway.'" Jessica laughs briefly and then gets that look on her face again. "I don't think my attitude's that bad." |