An Interview With Selena Cross
photos, music and video courtesy of Selena Cross
by Steve Ackerman
posted 2006-05-15
Selena Cross, the beautiful, redheaded Aussie songstress with a sultry style and refreshing sound that her fans have come to know and love. After taking some family time off last year, Selena hit the studio once again to put the new EP The Meaning In Sunnyville together. Earlier this year we had the opportunity to chat with Selena about her albums and experiences. We hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did...
PMN - Well Selena, we hope that our readers can get to know you...
Selena - I'm thrilled to be able to let people into my world!!
PMN - Good to hear. You have a great talent to share and I think people will love you for that...
Selena - Thank you.
PMN - So where did you grow up?
Selena - I grew up in a town called Adelaide, in South Australia. A beautiful, small city with a fantastic culture for the arts, great food and wine, great people. It still feels like home in a way, even though I live in Melbourne now. When I go back to visit, I get butterflies in my tummy as the plane touches down. So many memories...
PMN - How was the music scene in Adelaide while you were there?
Selena - It was amazing and very diverse, when I started out professionally, I got alot of support from family, friends and then the fans built and built. I studied Jazz voice at Adelaide Uni, which is where I met the musos I needed to know to really get into the scene. We were all into funk, pop, country, I think that is why my musical tastes are so varied, there was so much variety in Adelaide.
PMN - What made you want to become a musician? Where do you think it came from?
Selena - My mum and dad, genetic maybe. My mum was a well known singer and my dad was in a trio, all before I was born, but as I grew up, the music played at home and stories told of the "good old days" really affected me. Also the Michael Jackson performance at the Grammies when he did the moonwalk... that changed my life forever.
PMN - What do you feel most inspires the the topics of your lyrics?
Selena - Love and life. Trying to figure it all out. The drama of it all. I have a need when I'm writing to feel like I'm really talking to someone, taking them on a journey, and just that simple desire to communicate inspires songs. Challenge. Change.
PMN - With your demo in hand as you were on that train moving to Melbourne, how was it taking that big step?
Selena - Scarey, exciting, that song means so much to me. It was quite dramatic, leaving my man, moving to the big city in search of an audience. I grew up alot during that time, forced to face some deamons, and doing that on my own built a strength in me that had been brewing for some time. For me, I have to dig so deep to find the courage to ask people to listen to my stuff. Even now all these years later, I still expect that I will be singing to the bar person, and when the crowd turn up, well it just feels so great.
Photo courtesy of Selena Cross
PMN - If you don't mind my asking, how old were you at the time?
Selena - I was 23.
PMN - How hard was it for you to find the right people to talk, and then actually getting in front of them?
Selena - When I got to Melbourne, I sent out more demos that I can remember... wow, it was alot. in time it was the writing more than anything that did it. I started talking to producers who got me in touch with musos, the machine slowly started and each day got more and more exciting. After a while I forgot about my nerves. My family helped me, we put the band together and recorded the album in a matter of weeks, a bit of a family project. The goal was to get the album signed here in Australia.
That didn't quite work out though!
PMN - So how did everything fall into place?
Selena - It was years later, I thought of quitting, I was so depressed at the thought that it just wasn't going to happen for me. Then I woke up one day and after a big talk with my husband, decided to do it all again. I am just so drived to write. I got in touch with a producer here, Richard Pleasence, played him some new material and started to record ANOTHER cd of 5 tracks that I was going to use to launch and get the gig thing happening in Melbourne. Well, a week before completing the project, I got a call from a Indie label in LA, and they licensed the first CD Strip in 2003.
PMN - Share with us some of your experiences in the studio while putting Strip together...
Selena - Well it was emotional. Long days turned into long lights, but the energy everyone was feeling kept us all going. I remember when I went to the studio to hear the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra play on 'Memories won't fade', 'Silence', and 'And you were there', I couldn't see straight for the tears in my eyes!! I guess the novelty of it wares off if you are recording your 10th album... but this was my first experience recording my songs and I guess that is always going to be special.
