Branching out with The Wreckers
An interview with Michelle Branch
By DAVID DELLECESE
Observer-Dispatch
December 7, 2006
Even after two successful solo albums, Michelle Branch's current musical collaboration with Jessica Harp as The Wreckers was never far from her mind.
"It was a long time coming," she said. "I was asked by my label to start thinking about a third album and I just wasn't in that stage yet.
"Jess and I were on the road together, she was singing backup and we had this huge amount of songs we had written over the past year-and-a-half on the road together," she said, "and I just said 'Let's try this and see if they'll let us go for it and try this as the next album.'"
Being able to do what she loves seems to add to both her success and her happiness.
"Just being able to come to work with my best friend and play in a band with my best friend and husband and have my daughter out with me and get to play music for a living, I think it's pretty cool," she said. While traveling the world is fun, it can take its toll after a while, like any other job.
"I love traveling and getting the opportunity to see the world, but it takes so much out of you being in a different place every day," she said. "Fortunately now having a daughter has made it easier. We've now seen every zoo in every city we've gone to."
Her success hasn't made going out in public a real problem either, with a little help from a built-in disguise. "I have a birthmark on my face that I cover when I work. When I'm not working, I don't put on any makeup ... I think people do a double take, thinking they know me, but don't quite place it."
With her 15-month-old daughter, Owen, at her side as she talked, it becomes evident how motherhood has changed her outlook.
"My job used to just consume everything I did and now there's more of a balance of reality and my work," she said. "Motherhood is a trippy thing. Everything that seemed so incredibly important just isn't anymore and you realize how fast time goes."
With her husband, Teddy Landau, also playing bass in the band, the tour bus becomes a bit of a family affair, with mother, father and daughter all spending time together on the road. A nanny watches over the little one while they're on stage performing.
While balancing work and a family life may be difficult at times, the couple maintains a healthy relationship through honest and open communication, she said.
"I'd say with any relationship the key is communication and being honest with each other," she said. "My husband and I, we're inseparable. We're basically best friends, we do everything together."
The perfect pairing of personalities with on-stage partner, Jessica Harp, becomes evident when hearing what the two probably would've liked to do if music hadn't become their career.
"Before all this happened, I was gonna try to go to Berkley and maybe try to be a music teacher," she said. "I love children. Jess said she'd always wanted to work with the FBI profiling serial killers. So, you have the FBI serial killer profiler and the kindergarten teacher. That in a nutshell says who we are."
Observer-Dispatch
December 7, 2006
Even after two successful solo albums, Michelle Branch's current musical collaboration with Jessica Harp as The Wreckers was never far from her mind.
"It was a long time coming," she said. "I was asked by my label to start thinking about a third album and I just wasn't in that stage yet.
"Jess and I were on the road together, she was singing backup and we had this huge amount of songs we had written over the past year-and-a-half on the road together," she said, "and I just said 'Let's try this and see if they'll let us go for it and try this as the next album.'"
Being able to do what she loves seems to add to both her success and her happiness.
"Just being able to come to work with my best friend and play in a band with my best friend and husband and have my daughter out with me and get to play music for a living, I think it's pretty cool," she said. While traveling the world is fun, it can take its toll after a while, like any other job.
"I love traveling and getting the opportunity to see the world, but it takes so much out of you being in a different place every day," she said. "Fortunately now having a daughter has made it easier. We've now seen every zoo in every city we've gone to."
Her success hasn't made going out in public a real problem either, with a little help from a built-in disguise. "I have a birthmark on my face that I cover when I work. When I'm not working, I don't put on any makeup ... I think people do a double take, thinking they know me, but don't quite place it."
With her 15-month-old daughter, Owen, at her side as she talked, it becomes evident how motherhood has changed her outlook.
"My job used to just consume everything I did and now there's more of a balance of reality and my work," she said. "Motherhood is a trippy thing. Everything that seemed so incredibly important just isn't anymore and you realize how fast time goes."
With her husband, Teddy Landau, also playing bass in the band, the tour bus becomes a bit of a family affair, with mother, father and daughter all spending time together on the road. A nanny watches over the little one while they're on stage performing.
While balancing work and a family life may be difficult at times, the couple maintains a healthy relationship through honest and open communication, she said.
"I'd say with any relationship the key is communication and being honest with each other," she said. "My husband and I, we're inseparable. We're basically best friends, we do everything together."
The perfect pairing of personalities with on-stage partner, Jessica Harp, becomes evident when hearing what the two probably would've liked to do if music hadn't become their career.
"Before all this happened, I was gonna try to go to Berkley and maybe try to be a music teacher," she said. "I love children. Jess said she'd always wanted to work with the FBI profiling serial killers. So, you have the FBI serial killer profiler and the kindergarten teacher. That in a nutshell says who we are."
