Interview w/ Brooke White

by Adam Warner – 2009

 

On the heels of the release of her acclaimed debut full-length album High Hopes & Heartbreak, singer/songwriter/musician Brooke White has announced her first-ever nationwide tour. She will team-up with fellow “American Idol” alum Michael Johns for a co-headlining run beginning September 17 in Pomona, CA. High Hopes & Heartbreak released July 21 via June Baby Records, a new indie label formed by Brooke, Randy Jackson and Carl Stubner debuted as an iTunes pre-release at #47 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, #7 on the Independent Albums chart and #6 on the Digital albums chart. The disc has initially sold over 20,000 copies and spawned 130,000 in single sales.

Hey Brooke, how are you doing?
I’m doing just fine, I’m in Spokane this morning. We left Portland last night and I woke up about 2 hours ago [would have been about 10am PST] and now I have a little dog sleeping on my lap, he’s become the tour mascot, he’s Michael Johns’ French bulldog. Just relaxing and writing a blog and we have somewhat of a day off but we have some press to do and an in-store performance at Border’s; they keep us moving.

The tour that you’re doing is the co-headlining tour with Michael Johns and your cruising up the West Coast, what do you guys normally do on your off days? Do you just bum around town or just hang out on the bus?
Well we haven’t had a lot of off, off-time. When we’re off we’re usually travelling, we had a pretty fair drive from Reno to Portland, that was pretty long. We spent a good day on the bus. We do a lot of press or in-store stuff, so I haven’t had much time off really.

Who are you own personal music idols?
Oh that’s an easy one, Carole King’s “Tapestry” was really like the catalyst that got me moving musically, both from a vocal standpoint and her approach at a piano and song-writing, I think her perspective I really connected with. You’ve got the Eagles, James Taylor, listened to a lot of Capenters, the Beach Boys, Elton John, throw some country influences, some R&B like Stevie Wonder. I grew up listening to the classic, Fleetwood Mac.

You created June Baby Records with Randy Jackson and Carl Stubbner, are there any other artists signed onto the label or is it still just you?
Nope, it’s just me right now. We’re still in the very early stages of promoting the record and foreseeing other signings, I’m not saying we wouldn’t do that but it is such a massive, massive undertaking to release, promote and support a record; and really do that sufficiently. It’s a wild ride but there’s pros and cons about doing it major versus indie. I would have to say the major trade-off for me was being able to creatively control the direction of my record.

Yeah, you didn’t have any executives saying “you must do this or you must do that”.
Nope, I did not, I didn’t have any of that; for better or for worse *laughs*

High Hopes and Heartbreak just dropped back in July, now as far as the writing process was concerned, you did mention having that freedom but was there a lot of stress involved in the writing or did you take it in a real relaxed approach?
I don’t want to say that I stressed myself out but I have a very urgent… like this is what I have to do. Once I got off the Idol tour, all I wanted to do was get into making the record and start writing. Instead of putting all the pressure on myself to create the whole thing in its entirety, I found a couple writers that I really liked and we collaborated and I brought my ideas in to people that I thought were in the same head-space as I was and that could push me a little bit and I feel like my songs are better for it. So the writing process was awesome and being in the studio we ended up writing half the record. We wrote “Hold Up My Heart”, we wrote “Radio Radio”, we wrote “High Hopes and Heartbreak”, we wrote “Little Bird”, I mean for half the record we were just in the studio and it was so easy; it was so great and wonderful, I never wanted to leave.

This album marked the first time that Randy Jackson had produced a post-Idol’s music. How did it feel to be the first Idol he has worked with in that capacity?
Ya know, a lot of people ask me that question and I still have no idea how to respond to it other than I’m just grateful and honored that he would work with me and I’m just happy and he was the sounding board to the process. I ran into Randy after the show and I didn’t know him very well during the show and he was at Guitar Center and so was I, we got to talking about the process of making records and talking about me being a singer/song-writer and he was so enthusiastic kind of to my surprise. It was later when I was in Philadelphia when I was on the tour and he and Carl approached me about working together and I was kind of taken by surprise. He was at our Pomona [CA] show and I don’t know what to say, he’s just a really good guy.

Does this album have a lot of true to life stories or are any of them kind of fictitious if you will?
Ya know, I don’t want to say that every song is derived completely from my life but I would say that there are moments in each song that are derived from my life. And there are definite moments that I have derived from those around me, so it is absolutely not fictitious but it is not necessarily a narrative. I mean sometimes these songs are very personal to me or to another person who is very close to me. What I could say is that even though some are very personal, they may not be very current to a current situation in my life. I do better at writing things that happened a while ago, I need that rear-view mirror perspective to write a song. So I find it funny because I’m happily married and have been for 5 years, and I think some people are like “oh Brooke, are you doing ok in your marriage?” after hearing a song and I’m like “oh no it’s fine, I promise” *laughs* I will take from past experiences and I’ve got a strong memory and I feel deeply and I can connect to every experience on a pretty deep emotional level.

Speaking of connections, do you get a lot of feedback from fans who come to you saying that one of your songs helped them through tough times?
Yes, absolutely. It happens a lot and when it does happen, it’s really a useful reminder to help you realize why you’re doing what you’re doing.  I’ve got to be honest, it’s a really rocky road and a really tough business and sometimes it’s easy to feel defeated but when you hear these people come forward and say they are listening, they are connecting and that it makes a difference in their lives and it’s helping them get through their own situations and struggles, I have realized that it is very much beyond me; it’s not about me.

Just about a month ago you did an in-store performance at the Best Buy in the Mall of America, do you prefer smaller, intimate shows like that or larger venue performances?
Well that was a really great event, I like the intimate settings, they’re better for me. I mean when we were on the Idol tour doing arena’s every day with 10,000 to 18,000 people, there are definitely people who get high off of that. For me I felt disconnected, it was hard to feel that there was any kind of connections with people. So I think this type of tour that we’re doing in more intimate venues is where we can have people up close to the stage and I really feel like that makes a difference. For promoters it’s not the most lucrative thing, the more bodies you can get into the room the more money made, but on a performance and artistic level that is what I prefer.

Gives you that chance to see people up close rather than just dark bodies off in a crowd.
Gosh, there are nights where it seems like the crowd isn’t even there and that’s when it’s really challenging. I don’t think the audience realizes how much we pull from them to make a good show. They don’t realize that they directly affect the outcome of the performance. It’s very much a cyclical thing, they give to us and we give to them, so on and so forth.

It’s a very give and take relationship.
Absolutely.

How many different instruments can you perform?
It’s pretty much just the piano and guitar and the singing which is enough to keep me super busy. It’s really hilarious but Carly Smithson bought me an accordion in San Diego where I learned to play on that a little bit; so you might be able to add accordion to the list.

So as far as the tour going forward, what can the fans expect to see from you on stage?
Well they’ll definitely hear songs from the new record, they’ll hear a cover or two that sets a certain mood and is familiar to them, and then obviously they’ll be able to hear the other performers, Benton Paul who is a new up and coming singer/song-writer who is fantastic, really talented. And of course Michael Johns, he and I are trading off headlining nights closing the show, but he has a really soulful, high energy performance that is just great. I feel like from start to finish we have a really nice flow and the fans that come, they really respond well and I guess at this point all we need is to get the word out there so that we can have more people at our shows; we want to share it with as many people as possible.

What’s on the horizon for you? Is there any kind of a DVD or a live album at all?
That’s a great idea but I would assume that more touring will be on the horizon depending on how this tour goes. I have a variety of charity events coming up in the month of October; I think I’ve declared October “Charity Month”. Then heading into the holidays, there will be more music coming, so we’re just taking it a day at a time. But I do love the live CD and the DVD idea, that would be fantastic.

Well Brooke, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today and enjoy the tour and we look forward to seeing you in Minnesota.
Thank you too, we’ll see you soon!