jessica entner

This is an interview from " Rising", a small independent fanzine. It's the whole story of how it all came to pass...

So I guess the first question is how did you start singing and writing?

It all began about four years ago in Los Angeles. There I was, a typical 20 something, minding my own business, when all of a sudden I stepped in a big pile of god knows what. I mean, I always wrote songs. Like when I was 11 I wrote a really funny pop song, that I still have on a pad of paper, but I was just doing it for fun, not as an aspiration or anything.

Interesting choice of words, "a big pile of god knows what." I Imagine you mean you fell into it, am I right?

( Laughing) I guess you can say, I 'm still pretty surprised at how I ended up here, it's pretty funny, actually. A friend of mine, Shawn, decided he wanted me to sing on something when he called my answering machine. I like to leave goofy outgoing messages, and it was Christmas time, so I got a little carried away with my Bing Croby-esque rendition of White Christmas. He asked me who was singing and I told him it was me, and I guess from there the wheels were put in motion.

Did you guys start working together as a duo, or were you focusing on writing for yourself?

A year went by, and we finally got together to work on some music. I was pretty shocked when the lyrics and melody just flowed out of me. There is nothing like the first few songs that just develop out of thin air. It is an amazing feeling to create something that kind of comes out of nowhere. I became instantly addicted to that feeling of accomplishment, even if I was the only person to ever hear the end result.
Shawn and I started getting together more frequently and collaborating with more people. It just took on a life of it's own. I think at the time I was looking at it as a hobby. I didn't know Shawn was letting people within the music industry hear what we were doing. It actually freaked me out a bit. I thought we were just having fun, but all of a sudden it became a serious choice I had to make. I think we were planning on it being a duo sort of thing, but I got offered some opportunities that I couldn't pass up. Plus, we both had a lot of other stuff going on and I think we just kind of phased out. I totally am indebted to Shawn forever for getting me inspired to start singing and writing. He saw something in me that I otherwise might have overlooked, and I love him always for that. Also, he's just a big teddy bear, and has a great heart. We lose touch and then reconnect, I'm sure it will always be that way.

What were some of the opportunities that came up that changed you into more of a solo artist?

My dad is a pretty big manager, and I had kept what I was doing from him because I didn't want to become the Tori Spelling of the music industry. However, he found out through someone else anyway. A lawyer had told him she had heard some of Shawn and I's music and thought it was really good. I just remember my dad coming into my room and saying, "so let me hear it." He asked me if this is what I wanted to do, and I really couldn't see myself doing anything else, so from then on music is what I have been doing.
I had an opportunity to go to New York for a few weeks to work with MARK SAUNDERS (Tricky, The Cure, Neneh Cherry). He was the first "real-deal" producer I had worked with. I was very nervous and wasn't quite sure if I was going to be able to cut it. Luckily, Mark is as sweet as he is talented, and we instantly hit it off. We recorded 3 songs in four days, and wrote another 2 on a different trip I took to N.Y. We had this brilliant idea to mix 80's sounding bass and guitar with more electronic beats. I think we accomplished a very cool sound, and in retrospect I wish we had had more time to flush out as many ideas as we had. I think being young, and an avid music listener, my musical tastes kept changing and I wanted to explore as many avenues as possible. I definitely think I took a direction that most developing artists don't take. I started working with everyone that would work with me. Amazingly, the people that were willing to work with me were top notch producers who were willing to work on spec. Early on, I think I had a bit of a buzz, and some major players took an interest in me. I had meetings with the heads of RCA and Epic, way too early. But because of that more opportunities came about. I went to England for 2 months and worked with HOWIE B ( U2, Bjork, re-mixer extraordinaire), BACON AND QUARMBY ( Finley Quaye, Skunk Anaszie), PAUL REEVES(Muse) and ROBIN MILLAR (SADE, Everything but the Girl). I had the best time, and came back with a bunch of new tracks that were completely different from the last batch. Then I went to N.Y. again and worked with DAN WISE, and did a few fully original songs in a whole new direction. In the interim of all my travels, I was working in Los Angeles with DAVID NORLAND (ex-Solar Twins), THE MATRIX (Christina A