Denitia Odigie Isn’t Quite Satisfied, Or Is She?

Catching up with Denitia Odigie to see how things are going. She is one of many artists with music for sale through Indyish.

Summer(rough mix preview)

You say that you are trying to streamline your sound for a more solo
oriented approach, have you been playing with mainly studio musicians
for you recordings? What about your live shows?

The people that have been on my past recordings have mostly been the people
I play with live. The record I’m working on now will have that modern rock
vibe, with big drums and bass, but my voice will be the center of attention,
out front, loud and clear. The live shows right now vary a lot. Last
Saturday, I had the full spread: keys, drums, bass, electric guitar,
background vocals. The time before that, it was just me and acoustic guitar,
so its different all the time.

How has the Nashville music scene been treating you? What is the
Nashville scene like?

Nashville is a fun place to live as a musician, I’ve never lived anywhere
else as an adult, so perhaps I don’t know the difference. As far as the scene goes,
I was just telling someone the other day that its not exactly
difficult to book a show at a venue, there are enough clubs/cafes/bars to
accomodate the number of artists in town. Its getting people to come to
shows that proves difficult for beginners. Nashville is up to its ears in
great musicians so you really have to be doing something to build a
fanbase….But its cool because, I have so many friends and acquaintances
whose music I admire and am inspired by, its a pleasant artist community in
that respect.

What have you been doing to help build your fanbase?

Keeping in touch with fans on Myspace mainly.

Did you choose to move to Nashville from Texas because of the musical
history in some of Tennessee’s cities?

Well, I left Texas to go to Vanderbilt University in 2000, part of my
decision to go there was based on “The Music City” draw; I’ve been here
since graduation in 2004. So, yes, I guess I did.

Are you using anything that you learned in university today,
whether it is something you went to school to learn about or not?

Well, everything that I have ever learned or experienced is what informs my
songwriting, but practically speaking, I took some songwriting classes that
definitely helped my writing.

How did you get involved with the 2006 POP Montreal Music festival?

I found out about POP on sonicbids.com. I honestly never thought it would
come to fruition, but I thought it sounded too cool to not apply for it.

What has POP’s calling you ‘the find of the fest’ given you?

Some press credibilty.

Satisfied

I have seen it written, and I can see where they are coming from, that
you have a ‘country’ music element in your songs. With being a
‘person of color’ playing elements of what has been traditionally a
genre associated with ‘white’ musicians and fans, have you run up
against any types of discrimination within the music community in
general? Elsewhere?

Ok, this is funny. I’ve been playing my songs in public for a good seven
years now, I’ve put out two independent EPs and I play out a lot in
Nashville. I mean, I’m a relative “nobody”, but still, this is the first
time I’ve really been confronted with this except when I used to cover the
Smashing Pumpkins at my shows and a couple of white guys came up to me and
were all taken aback, they just couldn’t believe that “A black girl is
singing the Smashing Pumpkins!” I was like 17, thinking, well hell what else
am I supposed to cover, “Disarm” was one of the first songs I ever learned
to play. I grew up listening to country radio, then in my teenage angst
switched the radio dial to modern rock radio, and this was right after
Nirvana sent waves through the industry. So in my formative years, I was
learning the words to George Strait and Reba McEntire tunes and
rocking out to all the nouveau grunge that was on the radio in the mid
90s. So whatever comes out of me is totally a natural succession of
things. And plus, I live in Nashville, so this Americana/roots
rock/alt-country thing is just in the air.

So anyways, no I don’t feel discriminated against based on color. I’m not
sure I’m at the professional level where anyone really cares…yet… Now
being a woman in this industry, thats a whole different set of questions.

Tell me why you feel that women are treated very differently?

Oh, I’ve heard here and there little jokes about cute girls being able to
get gigs easier with male club owners. But there is also the label “female
singer” or “chick rock” that supposes that regular rock, without the
descriptive, is inherently male. I mean, I’m talking about subtext and
suggestions here. More overtly, people have said stuff like, “You really
rock out..for a girl.” There is just a vibe I get sometimes in this
community that women are a little secondary. I certainly don’t feel
overwhelmingly oppressed and I don’t carry that kind of stuff around with
me. I’m more focused on what I’m doing and whether or not I’m happy with it.
Especially at this moment in time, I just want to get better and parlay this
into a career. Thats all I can think about.

What can be done to change these attitudes/problems for the better?

On my part, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. A lot of women in
rock n roll paved the way for me so I want to make the path a little wider
for all the women after me.

What are the lyrics to ‘Satisfied’ about? How important are the
lyrics in the scheme of a song for you?

Satisfied was inspired by my observations of parents who try to succeed
vicariously through their children and raise them in a manner that
attempts to compensate for their own shortcomings and perceived failures. Its
really an obvious psychological concept but I thought it made a cool song.

What drives you to create?

Dude, everything and nothing at all. The very process of creation. The
visceral experience of performance. Its just so natural for me to make
music and write songs. I just do it.

When is your new next release coming out?

Sometime in the early summer.

Denitia Odigie’s next release is called ‘Golden Disposition’.

-euphoreador-

as always, contact me josh (at) indyish (dot) com
view my website for music, videos, art, poetry