An Interview with Beth Arentsen

New York singer/songwriter Beth Arentsen is the girl next door, that is if you live in an art school dorm. With the kooky flair for the dramatic and piano prowess of Tori Amos along with the thoughtful lyrics and business acumen of Ani DiFranco, Arentsen has moved confidently from her work as the lead singer in the jazz/funk/electronica band P-1 to her recent, more personal solo CD, Sap. Arentsen passed through Chicago in late July, alighting at the upscale coffeehouse Uncommon Ground where she took a few minutes to chat with me as the cafe clattered and murmured around us.

Queerky.com - I understand you attended Tisch School of the Arts in New York. That’s a unique school.

Beth Arentsen - Yeah, actually before I went to Tisch I was studying classical piano at Rutgers and I got really burnt out. I knew my chops were never great enough to be a classical pianist so I took a year off. I was singing with this woman named Liz Swados and she said, “You know what, I really think you should try this experimental theatre program at Tisch. It would incorporate your writing skills and singing.”

Q:- So were you interested in theatre?

BA - In my early twenties I was writing self-scripted theatre pieces about women. I would perform these pieces in character and then I would play on piano the song that represented the piece, like monologues. I love connecting with the audience through these more storytelling pieces. I really explored (acting) as much as possible. It was a natural progression where I went from acting and singing separately and then I thought, “Hey I can do it all at once.”

Q: - I read on your Myspace page that you’ve played to standing room only crowds at New York clubs like The Living Room. Does New York feel like home to you performance-wise?

BA - I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, like where is home? Home for me is a few places. It’s definitely the East Village of New York but it’s also in New Jersey ’cause that’s where I grew up so I’m really drawn to the country and the ocean. And I spent most of my early life on a boat. My parents are divorced; growing up on a boat really influenced my life, so being on an island is really great because I always have the sea around me. I also love Chicago. I’ve been performing here with my other band P-1 for four years and I love this city because it’s so acoustic — it’s like a deep breath. There’s a lot more soul here right now than there is in Manhattan. (The New York scene) is a very commercialized, pay-to-play type of thing, not a lot of serious art in my opinion. It’s a touring town, whereas in Chicago wherever you are, at any club, there’s something interesting going on. Not that I look down on New York, but a lot of New Yorkers feel like, “Oh God, this is it. I can never leave. I’m here for life.” I bought an old house in New Jersey and I’m living there part time and people are like, “Are you nuts? You’re gonna change,” but I feel so inspired by nature out there and relaxed, so I’m actually writing more.

Q: - Speaking of writing, what’s your process like? Is there a certain time of day you write best?

BA - I’m a morning person. The first thing I’ll do is go downstairs and I’ll sit at the piano and I’ll just ask myself, “Are you gonna say anything today? Is anything gonna be there?” I usually write the songs that speak the most to me in like two minutes. I always write the music first and then I trust that something is there to be said. It just happens really fast again like with that morning coffee. I’ll be tinkering at the piano and then it’s like, “Wow! What a great idea.” But if I have nothing to say I’m not gonna push it. I don’t really put that much pressure on myself anymore. I might go to work or go to the beach. I sort of need to have a whole day, like start a little in the morning and come back at night. It’s like studying, you’re like, “Wow I really retained this and it’s even better and I can go forward here.” So, I’m good in the morning and at night but I’m very uncreative during the day.

Q: - You mentioned teaching. I assume that means you have a day job.

BA - I actually went back to work at NYU as the events coordinator for a couple of years, working with young artists. Then I felt like it was time to work full time on promoting my album and touring, but I still teach at a not-for-profit in Harlem. I created a music program for kids.

Q: - Back to your writing. As a writer, do you feel like you return to certain themes?

BA - Always nautical themes, again the ocean is so calming for me, so I think all of my songs about the ocean are very nostalgic, they bring me back to a place. I write about women. Women really interest me — characters and history. I write about this one woman Penelope who was a Dutch settler who moved to New Jersey and she was attacked by Native Americans who didn’t want any more settlers, and she was sliced in half, and legend has it that she pulled herself into a tree and healed and went on to create generations of families on the Jersey shore. Supposedly they can trace back that it was her descendants who developed my town. In the part of New Jersey I’m from, every street is named after these Native Americans, and you can find little arrow heads on the ground, there’s a lot of culture, but you’re not spoon-fed, you have to go out and find it and then you realize, wow, I’m on sacred ground here. I’m really intrigued by the cultures of the New York/New Jersey area and that’s in a lot of my writing too.

Q: - When you look back at your old songs do you feel embarrassed or do you feel like they hold up?

BA - A lot of old songs do fall out of favor. I did a demo when I was 25 but I only put one of those songs on Sap. But actually I’m rewriting a song that I wrote when I was really young, like 15. I found all of these lyrics sheets I used to write. A lot of artists will tell you that they just write music, play stuff, improvise, and that years later they incorporate all of that into new songs, so that’s sort of what I’m doing right now.

Q: - You have a pretty strong gay following. Was that audience base something you consciously pursued?

BA - Good question. I don’t think it was ever a conscious choice, choosing my fan base. Who comes to your first shows when you’re starting out - your friends, and they bring friends, and before you know it you’re getting invites to play everywhere and that’s basically it. I never purposely seek out anything. I truly believe that you surround yourself with similar folk who share your ideas and passions.

Q: - Changing the subject, I wondered how you think being a woman has affected your experience as a musician.

BA - You know it’s funny, I feel like sometimes when I’m singing backup in other bands or lead vocals for P-1, people don’t trust that I may have written the songs, and in the business I’ve had a lot of experience with guys who are wining and dining me and they just want to string me along, but you know in the first ten seconds. When I was younger I didn’t know, but at this point I’ve had enough experience to know when someone’s serious or when it’s bullshit. You can get abused if you’re vulnerable in this industry. I’m sure it happens to guys too, but there’s something about being a young female in this industry that they just wanna rip you apart. This business you know, it’s all about marketing and again people are like, “Women and money? No way!”

Q: - Is that really still the case?

BA - Yeah I think so. I think people are still like, “You need a good manager. A guy, an old guy…” But women, we can get a lot done just going out there and using our sass and charm and just, you know, saying, this is what I want to offer the world.

Q: - Other than being charming and sassy, do you have a specific business vision?

BA - Right now I’m on my own label but I’m hoping to secure distribution. I’m on iTunes and CD Baby. I’m looking to be in stores but I’m not too concerned with getting signed. I’m most concerned about developing my fan base out of New York, out of little regional pockets, and playing more retail stores, more store fronts, more indie cafes. If someone wants to sign me, if I’m lucky enough to have a label that will really support me and if I get to work with really creative fabulous people, that’d be great, but I’m going to be choosy.

Q: - You seem really goal-oriented and centered, like you really know your way around the industry. Has it always been that way?

BA - (Laughs) I was rolling around at the piano and in theatre when I was 21. I was like Karen Finley in mud and feathers, and I remember when I worked at Universal Pictures in the publicity department, one of the head publicists really liked me. I was 19, and she came to my show, and she brought a really important reviewer for the New York Times, and he wrote a synopsis of my one-woman show and he wrote, “I don’t know what I just watched, but I know Beth Arentsen has a lot of potential.” And at the time, I cried convulsively like, “Oh my God, he doesn’t understand my art!” But at the end of the day, someone saw in me potential. It’s character building. If I’d gotten signed to a major label at 19, God knows where I’d be. I had nothing to say back then, I mean I did, but I didn’t know how to say it. Now it’s like not only do I know what I want to say but I’m able to arrange and play my songs — performing is so different from just writing. Not every writer is a performer, and I’m in a really good place right now. I’m very confident, and even when I’m totally insecure and freaked out and nervous, I just know that I have a really good support system, and it’s just music. It’s not brain surgery.

For more information on Beth Arentsen, including tour dates, song downloads and her latest video for the single, Sap, please visit her homepage or her Myspace page.

Written by Sarah Terez Rosenblum

Sarah Terez Rosenblum spent the last four years of her life in Los Angeles and plans to return even though she hated it. She will be thirty in two years. Thank God she’ll have received her MFA in Creative Writing by then. That way, even though she’ll still be lacking any real idea of what she wants to do with her life, at least she’ll be massively in debt. You can contact her at zeret18@gmail.com or visit her at myspace.com/raininariver. You can also buy her a pony. She’s always wanted one.

Photo courtesy of Patty V Michels.