Jan. 20, 2010 - Issue #744: The Great Indoors
Billy the Kid: Billy is a punk rocker
Vancouver songwriter eschews covers in favour of her own pen
"Right now I'm doing a lot of trying to remember every song I've ever written," Billy admits wryly. "I have a bunch of nights where I'm the last act to go on, and I'm thrown into this world of having to play 60 or 90 minutes of music, which is hard to do when you only have a five-song EP out."
Luckily for Billy, she's able to draw on more than just her own self-titled repertoire: as frontwoman for the energetic punk group Billy & the Lost Boys, she has four albums' worth of material to reinterpret, and she promises some slowed-down and slightly more intimate versions, with just an acoustic guitar or a piano and her breathy, soulful voice. Those will come in extra handy since, as she explains, she doesn't really know too much in the way of covers, a musician's best friend for extending a set.
"I've never really learned anybody else's songs, but there's about two cover songs I've basically been playing my whole life: 'To Have and Have Not' by Billy Bragg and Springsteen, 'Atlantic City,'" she says, noting that, unlike most musicians, she learned her instruments by writing songs, not playing things she heard on the radio or at shows. "The only time I ever played other people's music was when I was playing drums, because when you're playing drums you don't actually really have to learn the songs: you can kind of listen to it a few times and figure out how the beat goes, but you don't have to remember any notes. So I did drums for a Ramones cover band, but that doesn't mean I know the chords: sadly, as I'm finding out."
It makes sense that Billy wouldn't really be too concerned with other's songs, however. Her writing style, whether she's performing solo or with the band, tends towards the earnest and confessional, a very close-to-the-bone kind of openness that's striking in its straightforward intimacy. That's the kind of thing that doesn't really lend itself to covers.
"I never want to create anything that's contrived or not truthful or honest," she explains. "I'm very specific about who I am and what I do, and I don't tend to compromise for any reason, especially not being exposed. I'm not worried about that, I'm more worried about being influenced by outside forces, and not being true or real." V
Fri, Jan 22 (7:30 pm)
Billy the Kid
With guests
Haven Social Club, $10
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