I try and write about as much as I can here, but it’s proven to be a bit of a challenge at times. After a pretty much internetless week (family business, but I took advantage of my location and added a pre-production day with Remco for The Mycah Principle), this week so far has been uncanningly hectic.
Remco and I had our first meeting with our producer Francis Dunnery last Sunday on Skype. We started with very practical things like “do we need to rent a car?” and with questions from Francis like “what do you guys want out of this album?” Quite simple questions really, but Francis wants to get to the core of who we are and what we can. Somewhere in the conversation, he said my energy’s similar to Madonna’s: a diva-like forcefield on stage but also extremely disciplined, which adds to my stage presence. He begged us not to quit halfway through the recording sessions, to trust him in what he was doing. I always knew recording this album with him would mean being pushed to higher levels, forced to overstep the boundaries of my comfort zone and to be bullied to crack some shells. All this to find the authentic Maaike and what she can do.
After a short sleep, I had to travel back to Liverpool. I was on a roll: I worked on our house concerts and PR materials in the plane and I managed to squeeze in a Dreaming of Kate meeting with Paul on my way from the airport to my house to catch up. But when I got back home, one of my cats had fallen ill. He was a bit wheezy and his eyes were dirty. He didn’t really want to get up and only purred softly when I stroked him (whereas he normally sounds like a truck engine).
The vet had given me various medications to help him get rid of the virus he seemed to be suffering from. I decided to continue working upstairs, with the cat quite close by. In between my attempts to write, I tried to feed the cat. I failed at both.
Yesterday, my day started early in the morning, with the cat crawling up to me even closer, the shower head coming loose from its holder and a mailbox that was fuller than ever before. I made coffee, breakfast and a to do list and then decided to go to the vet, where I had to leave the cat behind for further research. I listened to Francis’ take on one our own songs (which was SO different than the original that I had to listen to it several times to take it in), downloaded several songs and albums ‘from Francis to Cleopatra’, had a Skype call with Remco and started on my to do list.
I love to do lists, because they give me headspace and because it is fulfilling to cross things off. But this time my list only grew, and meanwhile Francis was bombarding us with emails with questions. In a Skype call, Francis confirmed my new nickname Cleopatra, but he also stated he liked the nerdy brainiac with the glasses I was that day. The conversation was very good and positive , but I now had an even longer to do list, plus homework from Francis. I looked at all the things I still had to do, and took off for a session job in a studio in Liverpool.
The session job was for a local band I have worked with before. They are nice and creative people, but a bit unorganized (though this time around was miles better than last time). They gave me the freedom to rewrite some of the lyrics to fit them better (which was easier than fitting the old lyrics onto the music). Later on (it might have been 10:30), there was a nice and fresh home cooked roast dinner, which was very welcome. Checking my email though, I found a message for a second interview request for this morning straight after my first interview. Now this is all fine of course, but I didn’t know I had a first interview to start with, nor did I know if I had to be someplace for them. By now it was midnight and I couldn’t reach anyone who could tell me more. I went to sleep around 1, restless because of the cat and the interviews.
I started my day at 8 this morning with a Skype meeting/rehearsal with Remco, while gathering the information about the interviews. We got interrupted by a phone call from the vet that my cat had seemed to be doing better yesterday, but has pretty much collapsed overnight. I might have to decide to let him go this afternoon. Remco and I postponed the rest of our session. I knocked on my neighbor’s door (crying) and asked for tea, to get myself back on my feet again because I had two interviews.
The first interview was actually a recoding for a “What’s On” guide on BBC Radio Oxford. It is a bit like leaving a message on an answerphone. Which I’m very bad at, even in my own language. After about seven minutes of stumbling bits and pieces, the guy said he had enough to edit into a proper announcement. The second interview was a prerecorded radio interview. After the answerphone stress, I feared I just might not have my best day for interviews. The phone rang again, and this time on the other line, the person pronounced my name correctly without asking. I congratulated him with this achievement, which seemed to have broken the ice for me a bit. We had a nice chat about the showl; clearly this was someone who understood the concept of a theatre show, which is always good.
So then it was only 10:45 and I felt like I had already done a whole day’s work. But my to do list is still there. I’ll try and cross of as much as I can before my vet appointment; I might not be able to do much afterwards…
