the free association
petra answers all ..
i was recently lucky enough to be able to put a few questions to petra, one half of the lead vocals of the free association. i'm rather chuffed that i have had a response. so over to the lady herself ..
firstly going way back .. were you involved with anything prior to exodus77 .. if so then tell all.. what are your influences musically or otherwise ?
i've been involved in a pick n mix variety of bands since i was 16. from meters covers , mc at local hip hop do's , my own punk funk band ,vocals for people like the scratch perverts (who i've known since i about 16), mad professor, nicodemus (nyc), johnny thunders tribute lp with marc almond, worked on small song writing projects with richard greentree (beta band bass) , writen ,performed and produced songs for small independant film makers (phillipe karizan) also i've been developing my own sound . an alternative blues record for a few years with my own publishing deal.........so you can see i get a lot done....
a huge fire has always been put in my belly by old recordings. i love the essance and emotive nature of a charator captured in a recoring. old recorings were performance based. i'm very pashionate about this! aretha franklin, dina washington, ray charles, eartha kitt, sarah vaughn to name a few. on the stereo at the moment .... tom waits, nico case, ravel, the kills, the be good tanyas, karen dalton, ohhhhhh there's so many.
now onto exodus77 ..
- how did you get together with sean ?
we met in nyc 3 years ago. he came to london to do a betaband gig and ended up on my sofa for the best part of a year.
- did you think that the lp was a missed classic ?
i find it very hard to judge things in this way. i think in terms of a great body of work. not singularly. when you've heard something you've made you tend to pick out all the faults. i think we can all do a lot better.
- how on earth did a new name get stereo mc's,creators/roots manuva involved ? thats an impressive list of friends for a first release ..
that's the way we work with friends. common interests leads to good working fun enviroments. thats the way it will always be. these people are our friends. sean is a great loving infectious caractor.
- what went wrong with the album ? did the label mess up ? or was it purely a showcase release knowing that david holmes was interested in your talents ?
definitely not a show case. it was seans personal project. we made the record but sean had to go back to america and i was continuing with my own project.
and now, onto the present.
- so how did the move from exodus77 to david holmes/fa happen ?
i was always consumed with my own solo project. i was just helping sean out with some vocals. i met david whilst, again helping out a mate ( bv's for martina topley bird ). david liked my voice n the rest has just blown up accidently.
- was it always "sean + petra" for fa like a package deal ?
not really no.david wanted some psychodellic (sic) poetry and i thought of sean then gave him a call.
- the 1st free association proper lp .. an interesting mash of styles, how much say did you and sean have in the sounds/songs/production etc or is it all down to david ?
sean and i wrote our songs and the boyz made the music. we have that in common. we all listen to all types of music. just as long as it's good.
- i was lucky to see 2 songs of the glasto set on bbc3 - looked excellent. did you enjoy it or do you suffer nerves and the event was too much ?
i really really enjoyed the performance. glastonbury means so much to us all. i was close to tears all the way through. all those people singing the words to things i had written. the sun. the laylines.
- do you believe that the gig could be one of those well known glasto turning points for a bands career ?
who knows ?
- who do you think are your present day contemporaries as the fa sound is rather unique and different.
there is no one really like us.
- plans for future - all based around fa action or are you a solo artist in waiting ?
solo artist in working i like to think. that's always been the plan but it's great to be open to collaborations and the free ass is a great one.
- will free association always be a david holmes project or could it be a free standing band ?
david makes the music and this band is his vision so his involvement is paramount.
cheers petra.............
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