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loud bassoon interview: Kari Wuhrer speaks to Chillykid
Loud Bassoon staffer Chillykid spoke with Kari Wuhrer, of "Remote
Control" and "Sliders" fame, about her upcoming album Shiny (slated for a
June release on Del-Fi Records.
The album is a fresh alt-pop record
with shades of Alanis, Edie Brickell, and Badfinger, and surprisingly
honest in its lyrical content (reflecting her recent divorce). The
conversation was light, although Kari for the first time ever opened up
about her struggle with "cheesy nachos." Here's how it was, April 29,
1999--- Chillykid Hello?
Kari: Hello, is this the Chillykid?
Chillykid This is the chilliest kid around, yes.
Kari: Hey, it's Kari.
Chillykid Thanks for calling.
Kari: How are you?
Chillykid Yeah, very well, how 'bout you?
Kari: UHHHH! I f**king hate the computer, excuse my language.
Chillykid (Laughs) Okay.
Kari: I was up twelve hours straight with this thing and its software.
Chillykid Yeah, you sound exhausted.
Kari: Tired of this thing. And it's like addicting too
Chillykid Yeah? You just can't help but download internet porn,
basically, is that your problem?
Kari: No, you know, I wish it was that simple. It's, you know, I think
countries are gonna fall 'cause of this computer thing, I think it was
carefully planned out.
Chillykid Well, that's rather apocalyptic sounding.
Kari: (laughs) It's raining apocalyptic ash!
Chillykid (laughs) So, happy belated birthday.
Kari: Thank you.
Chillykid Did you do anything special?
Kari: I surrounded myself with all my friends ... very special. Yeah, we had
a good time.
Chillykid Good. Get any good presents?
Kari: Yeah, I did. I got a poem written on my friend Bill's ass.
Chillykid (Laughs), Well, that's, uh ...
Kari: Specialest of all.
Chillykid Yeah, a memory that'll last a lifetime.
Kari: Oh, I have the picture.
Chillykid (Laughs) So, uh, so how nervous are you putting out the CD?
Kari: Extremely. It's like scary-bear. It is, but you know ... interesting
challenge.
Chillykid It's definitely a new twist for your career.
Kari: Mmmmwell, I'm not afraid of anything now.
Chillykid There's kind of a lot of pressure---I mean you're sort of an
established celebrity already and you're putting out an album ... that doesn't
always work for people, you know?
Kari: Yeah, but I felt like we made it with a lot of honesty, and it's
not like we have any ghosts like that that we're afraid of, it's just
that, it's a challenge, without money, promotion, and whatever else ...
Chillykid And it's not like a Telly Savalas record or something.
Kari: Hopefully not. Even though it'd probably be very collectible today.
Chillykid Oh, but listenable is another question. What instruments do
you play?
Kari: I guess I've been a musician my whole life ... My father's a pianist,
and all my family plays.
When I was growing up it was flute, and I write on the acoustic guitar.
Really, my grandmother's a singer, it was about our voice you know. It's
just in the blood, you know?
Chillykid How do you write do you write on a guitar, or what's your process?
Kari: I write on acoustic guitar and, um, in very different ways all the
time, it inspires me in different ways all the time. But yeah, the
acoustic guitar, and my little Sharpie. (laughs)
Chillykid (laughs) That's cool. Actually the songs that I like most on
the disc were the ones that you'd written.
Kari: Well, I haven't heard that before, that's great.
Chillykid I wasn't really looking at the liner notes when I put it on
the first couple of times, but the songs that stood out, when I finally
did look, were the ones that you had written or co-written.
Kari: Well, thanks.
Chillykid So that's a testament to your songwriting ability.'
Kari: Or maybe to the negative karma of my ex-husband. (laughs slyly)
Chillykid (chuckles nervously) Maybe. Yeah, that's definitely something
that kinda runs through the albumhe wrote a couple of the tracks, right?
Kari: Yeah, we did a lot of stuff together, but in the end it doesn't
really seem that way.
Chillykid It's kind of a weird thing because there's some optimism in
the album and there's some pessimism in the albumit starts out sort of
upbeat and ends up really sort of downbeat, you know?
Kari: Yeah, well, kind of like our marriage.
Chillykid (laughs perhaps a bit too loudly) Well, we won't go there.
Kari: Ha, no, it's interesting, you know you always hear people talking
about what has given them their muse, or their reason for writing a
certain album, and it always has something to do with this kind of thing
I went through. I just happened to go through it kind of in the middle.
But you know, I welcome the experience.
Chillykid It's definitely an honest record - People who are making their
first album don't always get real honest with it, and this one is
definitely honest.
Kari: Well thanks, I think so too. I think since then I've become a lot
more honest, but it's definitely an expression of where I am and who I
was at the time I was making it.
Chillykid So what do you want to do with it, I mean, do you see this as
being a new path for you or are you just gonna see how it goes?
Kari: Well, I'm learning to live life for the process and not the
result. So, we're putting it out this way now, it gets released in
June. I'll do as much as I can, and hopefully I'll have a little bit of
luck, you know, we all need that. And then, I have the next record ready,
I'm just waiting to see if it's going to be a cheap record or made with
lots of money. (laughs)
Chillykid (laughs) Yeah, yeah. So what are the influences that you have,
what kind of stuff do you listen to?
Kari: I thinkeverything from Cat Stevens to the Violent Femmes have been
very influential on me. And also I would say, sort of my spiritual
juice. I think that music is everything to me. Kind of runs my emotions
for the day. Everyday it's different, something different turns me on.
Like I had the new Cake record, Prolonging the Magic for months ... and
months and months and months and months. I was just like "Yeah, this is
a great band. The last couple days, man, that thing has been stuck in my
CD player in my car and you can not pry it out, and I'm boogyin'. I mean,
like I can not help but just like boogie and like rock out to this record
now. Every day it's something different.
Chillykid What's the worst CD you ever got?
Kari: (stupefied chuckle) The worst CD ...
Chillykid Yeah, there's gotta be some total clunker that you picked up
along the way.
Kari: K-Tel, probably. (laughs) You know, I try to give everything the
benefit of the doubt. It's very personal, isn't it? Subjective. One day
I can hate it and a week later I can absolutely love it, so you never know.
Chillykid What song would you like on your car stereo playing if you
were involved in a high-speed car chase?
Kari: Mmm.right now, it's that Cake song. "I need your arms around me, I
need to feel your touch"---boogie!
Chillykid So you could outrun the cops to that song?
Kari: Oh, man, I'd race to the hills if I heard that song right now.
Chillykid (laughs) Very cool.
Kari: My arms in the air, screaming, out of my sunroof. "Yaaaaaa!" like
some crazy John Hughes movie.
Chillykid Yeah (laughs), that sounds good.
Kari: Either that or like, Black Flag.
Chillykid Mm, so you've got a hardcore side to you.
Kari: Absolutely. (laughs)
Chillykid Do you have a headbanger past?
Kari: I have a punk past ...
Chillykid Oooohh (imagining Kari decked out way punk) ... wow.
Kari: And then of course in the 80's when I was like, the MTV chick - VJ to
like the Slaughter set. I was way into that stuff.
Chillykid Yeah?
Kari: Guns N' Roses!
Chillykid Yeah, that's totally the time you were on MTV. That stuff was
the shit. So what's your theme song?
Kari: My theme song ...
Chillykid You gotta have a theme song. Something that defines you. At
least ... right now.
Kari: I think it's Cat Stevens' song "Sitting," from ... which you can find
on the Greatest Hits record.
Chillykid A little plug for Cat Stevens there.
Kari: You know, it's really amazing, but the very first thing I did
online was I went to search for music sites, of course, right? And I
found that he's got his own official website, and I bought two records by
Yusef Islam, that you could get through imports, that I just did not know
were even available, I mean, I just freaked out. I just bought them and
they're probably coming today.
Chillykid Cool. Yeah, he hasn't been doing like the straight pop music,
but he's doing a lot of sort of religious ...
Kari: Islamic music for children, I think.
Chillykid That's gotta be really different, I haven't heard it.
Kari: Oh, I can't wait, I'm so excited.
Chillykid It's good to hear that he's still doing it, you know?
Kari: I mean, after like selling and auctioning off all of his like gold
records, and instruments, and everthing else ...
Chillykid He wasn't even doing music at all for awhile, so that's really
cool, actually.
Kari: Yes, you know, you can't run away from your calling.
Chillykid So on the topic of the internet, I'd been on your official
site, "kariwuhrer.org" and I was going back to it later and forgot about
the "org," I typed " kariwuhrer.com," okay? That takes me to
"hollywoodwhores.com!"
Kari: Yeah, somebody bought that, somebody licensed that name a long time
ago, I couldn't get it unless I paid them.
Chillykid So they actually own it?
Kari: And they didn't do anything with it, and this is what they decide
to do with it, isn't that lovely?
Chillykid It seems like you should have some recourse to get that back.
Kari: Oh, let's talk about the laws, shall we?
Chillykid That's no good.
Kari: You know what, I don't care, I just go to the site, it's like my
head on somebody else's body.
Chillykid That's kind of invasive.
Kari: Could be a little classier, you know?
Chillykid But I guess there's a lot of people out there who need
"hollywoodwhores.com" in their life, so
Kari: Yeah, whatever. "www.whatevah!"
Chillykid "whatevah.com." I found a weird site the other day, it's
called "prisonpenpals.com."
Kari: Oh my god
Chillykid And it's just prisoners placing personal ads, basically. Do
you get a lot of prison mail?
Kari: I got one that was like 12 pages long once when I was on "Remote
Control" and I remember them protecting me from it. Like not showing me
til like the end of the season.
Chillykid Was it scary?
Kari: Yeah, of course! And I remember people calling my folks in
Connecticut from prison telephonesinmates. 'Cause the number was listed.
Chillykid Oh yeah?! I assume that's been changed since.
Kari: Oh, yeah, definitely.
Chillykid Ughh. So, if Celine Dion called you and wanted to do a power
duet, would you be there?
Kari: Celine who?
Chillykid Celine Dion.
Kari: Who?
Chillykid Oh yeah, okay, I get you ...
Kari: "I don't think anybody's here by the name of Kari"
Chillykid (laughs) Ahayou wouldn't even return the call.
Kari: No, she just scares me with all those sporadic arm movements.
Chillykid So if you could do a dream duet, like an "Almost Paradise"
type thing, who would it be with?
Kari: Maybe, aside from Cat.
Chillykid Oh, that would be a coup.
Kari: Maybe like Billy Corgan ...
Chillykid Wow.
Kari: Or um, god, that'd be awesome.
Chillykid That would be pretty cool.
Kari: Or maybe.anybody in the world or anybody in the universe?
Chillykid Anybody you want!
Kari: Tom Jones would be kinda fun!
Chillykid (laughs) That would be definitely different.'
Kari: (chuckles) No, Billy Corgan, or maybe even like Kurt Cobain.
Chillykid Wow. You've definitely got that angst side to you.
Kari: I have a weakness for musical geniusgets me in a lot of trouble.
Chillykid Yeah, that tortured artist effect,
Kari: I just can't stand putting myself through that anymore. You know,
from now on I'm looking for guys with pocket protectors.
Chillykid (laughs) Well, I know plenty of those, but.I think you may be
idealizing the nerds of the universe too.
Kari: They've been very sweet to me.
Chillykid Yeah? I don't know. Guess there's a lot of "Sliders" fans out there,
Kari: Yeah, really, no doubt.
Chillykid So what's your current favorite beverage?
Kari: Current favorite beverage. (takes a sip of beverage) Oh god,
Mountain Dew is kicking my butt right now! That stuff has so much
caffeine, I love it.
Chillykid Yeah? You a big caffeine hound?
Kari: I am, but for Mountain Dew - it's just great!
Chillykid Wowdoes it make you do "extreme" things like jump out of a
plane or anything like that?
Kari: I'm not talking about their advertisements, that's a whole other
thing. I just Do the Dew! Either that or it would have to be a fruit, um,
a frozen fruit drink from 7-11.
Chillykid Ooh! I somehow can't picture you walking into a 7-11.
Getting a Slurpee.
Kari: I'm the new 7-11 angel. I'm doing all their television commercials.
Chillykid For real?
Kari: For real.
Chillykid Wow!
Kari: It's really fun. That frozen coffee thing they have - incredible.
Chillykid Do you do their, like, hot dogs too, that spin around?
Kari: Yeah, dude, definitely. I'm definitely the type of girl that runs
into 7-11 for, you know, a Slurpee, and cheesy nachos.
Chillykid (chuckling) Wow.
Kari: I love road trips.
Chillykid Yeah? What's the coolest road trip you've been on?
Kari: The coolest ... is probably one I'm going to be on next.
Chillykid Where you going?
Kari: I do things that I like to do called scavenger hunts, where you
just find things that you haven't done before, and you just pressclickand
you go. (Laughs) I like to go out to the desert a lot. I've done the
Grand Canyon, I've done Vegas in the middle of the holiday season when
you don't want to be doing it, San Francisco, umI love it. I love
driving. Gives you time to like listen to your Monster Magnet records,
which I love.
Chillykid Well, see I make time to listen to my Monster Magnet records.
Kari: Yeah - good for you.
Chillykid So what's the worst interview question that you've ever been
asked, and I hope it hasn't taken place in the last ten minutes.
Kari: They always ask me, what are my, what am I looking forward to,
what do I want to do next, and you know I just figure, I try to enjoy what I'm
doing now.
Chillykid That's the way to do it. Who cares what you're going to do next?
Kari: Let me just try to get good at one thing at a time! Feel it out
Chillykid That's the way, definitely ... What song makes you cry?
Kari: Just depends on my mood, butevery song makes me cry. Hallmark
commercial songs make me cry.
Chillykid So you've also got a sappy side.
Kari: Real sensitive, yeah, definitely. It depends. Sometimes the very
same song will make me elated. I mean, while we were recording "Take Me
Now" I was just like in a complete state of woeand now it doesn't have
the same effect on me.
Chillykid Were there a lot of moments like that in the studio?
Kari: Oh yeah. It's a very emotional process, and both me and T.K. are
quite emotional people, so you can imagineyou know, avoid flying debris!
Chillykid It seems like there was a lot of intensity in much of it.
Kari: Definitely.
Chillykid How'd you pick "Come And Get It" to cover?
Kari: I didn't, it was picked by an attorney friend of mine, who had a
strategy.
Chillykid Oh, so it's a marketing thing.
Kari: It was at first, and then we just liked the way it came out, a lot.
Chillykid it's a great song.
Kari: But Badfinger? Believe me, there would have been choices that I
would have come to firstThere are a lot of Beatle elements to the record
too, I thought, and since Paul McCartney wrote it, I think we sort of
give it some integrity.
Chillykid Yeah, well you can't go wrong. The funny story about that, I
guess, is that he wrote it in like, you know, 45 minutes, and produced ...
Kari: Oh, yeah, the demo was ...
Chillykid Yeah, really amazing. So we were kind of imagining, you know,
you going into the studio and cranking it out in 45 minutes, you know,
playing the drums and everything, you know.
Kari: No, I just tried to play it the other night at the Opium Den out
here with my friend Morty, and, umit didn't work. (laughs)
Chillykid Well, there's always gonna be those times too.
Kari: Yeah, well usually when you've had a couple drinks and it's your
birthday
Chillykid (laughs) Have you had any bad karaoke moments like that?
Kari: Oh, I never consider bad karaoke bad ...
Chillykid Oh, so there's no such thing,
Kari: Oh come on, no such thing. Look how Cameron Diaz won her fiancee's
heart.
Chillykid That's true, that's a good way to look at it. What kind of
song do you pick if you do karaoke?
Kari: Whenever I do karaoke it's either "Delta Dawn" or um, "Her name was
Lola, she was a showgirl"
Chillykid Ha! Rockin' out to Manilow!
Kari: Or Abba, "Dancing Queen."
Chillykid Oh yeah. That one you can't beat.
Kari: It's 'cause, the less serious you are, the better it is.
Chillykid Yeah, it's always awkward when someone gets up there and tries
to put on a real show.
Kari: Really. Especially after sake.
Chillykid Ah, so there's another current beverage, we have a little
motif going now.
Kari: Current beverage ... you mean like alcoholic beverage or refreshing
beverage? I drink Knob Creek, which is really great whiskey. I'm pretty
much a whiskey girl. But you know, on those moments of clarity, I like a
nice soft, sweetthose Frutopias are good too.
Chillykid Oh yeah, that's good stuff. I'm a big juice person, so
Kari: Well, I don't know, catch me on another day, it'll all be different.
Chillykid Are you doing a ton of press for this?
Kari: I do as much as I can, but I'm not being a total nut about overkill
by any stretch. I couldn't if I wanted to.
Chillykid Have you gotten much advance feedback on the album yet?
Kari: Um, you know, it's done well review-wise on the net, and it's all
subjective.I really don't even take it personally anymore, you know what
I mean? It's such a difficult business, I think a lot of people like
stuff because it's crammed down their throat over the radio. Starting
out non-commercially I think is helping me to build a little bit of
integrity. The slower the better for me, you know ... I'm just downloading at
reeeeally low megahertz ... is that what you use? Megabytes! Mega-somethings.
Chillykid (laughs) I'll ask one of my pocket protector friends for the
right definition.
Kari: Yeah, really. I have a slow modem.
Chillykid It's a hard process putting out an album with kind of an
independent approach.
Kari: You know what, I'm telling you, it taught me a lot about being
honest about having relationships with people in the business senseyou
really stay on your toes. No screwing around. There's no fear of success
here, you know.
Chillykid So, do you expect to get this to radio, or are you just kind of ...
Kari: You know, that's really hard, radio is such a commercial monster.
I've had a lot of DJ's actually speak to me in person and say, god, they
wish that they could, if their program director weren't so tough, or
Chillykid So it's basically the "powers that be?"
Kari: It is. It's, and I don't know, I'm trying to figure out who I can
sleep with, but no bites!
Chillykid Yeah, well, I'm not gonna throw out the obvious offer there.'
(winks)
Kari: No, no no ... but no, there's not even ... payola I can't even do.
Chillykid Yeah, well that's too bad, because I think it does fit in with
kind of what's going on in radio now, I mean, there's a lot of artists
that have a similar sound, I mean it's sort of got a little Alanis feel
to it in some parts ...
Kari: I think so. Well, I've done the live thing on the radio, but
spinning the record.I don't know who makes those choices, but if it were
just up to the, to the DJ's or the listeners.different story. So we're
trying to see how we can get there and bypass that whole corporate beast.
Chillykid What do you see as the lead single, if there is one?
Kari: I think people respond to "There's a Drug," the first track, a
lot. I don't think it'll ultimately end up being their favorite, but it's ...
Chillykid It's a good radio track, for sure. That's the one I heard on
"Loveline" when you were on with them. I think the one I responded to
most was "Your Octopus."
Kari: You know, it's way too happy for these people! Those jazz chords,
you know?
Chillykid "Come and Get It," too, that's very listener friendly, so
there's lots of possibilities.
Kari: Definitely, and "Normal," even, I think, who knows?
Chillykid Yeah, well it's gonna be an interesting journey for you.
Kari: I'm excited. You know, you don't do this stuff to like ... sometimes I
feel like a Willy Loman, or a vacuum cleaner salesman, and that's not why
you do it, but it all goes along with it, you know ... if a tree falls in the
woods and nobody's there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Chillykid I think so.
Kari: As an artist, if nobody's there to hear it, you're already
fulfilled, so you gotta try.
Chillykid I think the most important thing is that you do something that
you're proud of and if it's not commercially successful or whatever.
Kari: Right, I'm definitely proud of the process, I'm not even looking at
it as an event. You know? It's definitely the whole experience. I've
had the worst year and the best year of my life for some reason, in the
same year.
Chillykid Well, there's still some time to balance that out a little.
Kari: Mm-hmm, right. So don't screw it up for me, babe!
Chillykid (laughs) Yeah, the incredible power I wield in the
entertainment industry. We can sink or swim your record, basically,
Kari: You've got an address, and a carrier, and a
server, and a browser.
You're Superman!
Chillykid Oh, yeah, it's enormous. I just get tired of celebrities
calling me at home all the time. It reallyjust gets tiring.
Kari: (chuckles) I'm tellin' ya!
Chillykid So do you get a ton of messages from fans through your site?
Kari: I do, and I gotta start getting to it.
Chillykid Do you actually respond to them?
Kari: I'm starting to now.
Chillykid Wow. That's some serious attention.
Kari: Well, I mean, I don't want them to think I'm a snob or anything.
It was sheer technological ineptitude for the longest time.
Chillykid Yeah, well you know, I think anybody receiving an email from
you would quickly forgive you for the delay.
Kari: I have like this whole book of just email addresses from people who
have given me personal email that I have to get up an access and try to
answer back, and ... it's nutty. I need a robot. Either that or a defrosted
Cro-Magnon slave.
Chillykid (chuckling) That's a nice image. Well, uh, thanks again for
the interview, it was really good talking to you and I wish you the best
of luckI really think it's a great record, and we're gonna post a great
review of it.
Kari: Oh, that's incredible ...
Chillykid There's just an honesty to it I think that's really fresh, and
Kari: My brother just emailed me last night with that, you know, what is
it, that new thing? That new thing that you can listen to for free?
Chillykid Oh, like an MP3?
Kari: Yeah, the MP3. And, umI wasn't on it! And I just bought a 60,000
website address catalog, and under music or celebrities ... I'm not there. I
need to fix all those.
Chillykid We'll have to change that. There's some definite resources on
you on the net, I mean, there's
Kari: There are, but then there's some definite obscurity.
Chillykid There's a lot of fan sites, it seems.
Kari: Kookoo! My dad doesn't like that at all. I'm like, dad you don't
understand, that's not even my body attached to that head.
Chillykid Yeah, that must be kind of weird.
Kari: I mean it's not like I'm against nudity, I've done it, but a lot
of those are just so not me.
Chillykid Did you ever see one that was just hilarious?
Kari: I mean, they're all hilarious.
Chillykid 'Cause those can be done pretty bad.
Kari: Hopefully they're hilarious enough that people won't believe them.
Chillykid I think people believe what they want to believe.
Kari: Yeah, and who cares, really anyway?
Chillykid Right, exactly, but I guess ... I can't speak for that because
there's, uh, no nude pictures of me available to download.
Kari: Well, as soon as there is, you know you're going to be my wallpaper.
Chillykid Oh, good, good. I'll be very flattered. Well, thanks again,
Kari.
Kari: Alright, you have a good day.
Chillykid You too.
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