Michelle Creber took the time with Melodic Magazine to discuss her latest album release “Storm.” In a time of social distancing and self quarantine, “Storm” will be the album you want to blast while stuck at home.
MM: Congrats on recently dropping your latest album Storm earlier this month! How does it feel dropping an album during a time of quarantine and social distance?
MC: Well, I wasn’t so sure whether to move ahead with the album when all of this started to unfold. You know, it took almost a month for everyone to get their lives back on track with all the changes we’ve gone through, from staying at home and seeing several businesses shut down. Once people got the swing of things, it was like everybody just wanted to keep moving forward as normal as they can, and do what they are passionate about. For me, I felt like the music was appropriate to release during a time like this. The whole point of Storm was to have a collection of music that would hopefully help people heal through their own emotional storms. After much deliberation and how things were, it felt like it was the right thing for me to do. Thankfully the music has been really well received, and it just made my heart very happy to see people connect with the themes from the album.
MM: Do you feel like you had to think outside of the box in terms of promoting your album, especially with what’s currently going on in the world?
MC: The digital side is pretty similar to previous projects, but it’s very weird to release album and not being able to do any live performance of any kind, tour, and just connect with people in person. We currently have a whole room in my house with all our livestream gear and musical instruments in one place, in order to bring some shows online. That’s definitely has required more creativity, but even though everybody is separated, it kind of feels like we are all more connected now than ever before.
MM: Talking about being connected, you recently dropped a music video for “Like It Never Happened,” formed of several clips of different dancers from their homes. What made you decide on dropping the music video instead of just waiting?
MC: Well originally the video would have had us all together. You know, somewhere in a cool filming location, with everybody dancing together. A lot of the dancers are very close friends of mine, and they mostly live in Alebrta, Saskatchewan, and I’m in Vancouver. Everyone has gone back home during the pandemic, but are still doing classes via zoom. It’s amazing, you have like 36 people on a zoom call, all dancing from their living rooms or garages. It’s pretty incredible how they’ve been able to adapt into that, and I thought it would be really cool to just get everyone filming in their unique locations. It’s truly beautiful how they were able to improv rather than follow a set choreography, allowing them the freedom to express how they felt song. It ended up being so much more beautiful than I could have imagined, it sort of made me emotional to have all my friends dance alone, but to signify that we were together.
MM: With several emotions expressed throughout your recent album, it truly has captivated the idea of a storm. The intro song, also named Storm, showed such a strong, confident side of you, what made you choose Storm as the intro song?
MC: Well unlike most of the songs on the album, Storm was actually written quite a long time ago, I think around 2016 or 2017. It was going to be on my previous album “On Display,” but at the time, I felt like I wanted to wait to release it. Originally I had the concept of a different album called 11 Letters, where each song took the form of a letter addressed to specific people or specific events. I felt like that was a bit too personal, and was limiting both the title and concept. I wanted the listener to be able to attach their own experience onto my songs. That’s how the Storm album concept came to be, an overarching journey through various “storms.” The title track is definitely one of the strong emotional songs on the album, and I felt like it just takes off and has that confidence of moving on.
MM: With such an emotional album, was there a song that was just hard to record?
MC: You know, Storm meant a lot to me when I wrote it, but four years later, I don’t feel that way anymore. That was a very specific emotion, one that was deeply rooted in my experiences. By the time I was releasing it, it really was so in the past that I just like to rock out to it now.
MM: It sounds like you play a big part in the production and producing of your songs, is that the case?
MC: Yes, I’m a big believer in having to be hands on when it comes to your work. At this point in my career, I’ve kind of done every step in the album making process enough times that is comfortable. Especially after this project, being hands on with the super tedious stuff kind of made me numb to the songs a little bit. I think in the next project, I’m just going to get a couple more people on board to roll out the little details that an artist shouldn’t really be focusing on. The album Storm has taught me so much, that it has helped me involve as an artist. I might have been more involved than what I should have been, maybe next time I’ll save myself a couple of hours by getting more help, but it’s truly all about the learning and moving forward.
MM: You’ve done some voice acting, and have recorded vocals for several soundtracks for many tv shows and movies, how do you differentiate between you being a recording artist versus your acting-vocal career?
MC: One of the main reasons why I started voice acting so young was because I grew up in a household where we have a whole studio downstairs. I was always in front of the mic, always singing. That quickly translated into voice acting. It’s a lot of the same, you need to have mic control awareness of how you sound in your ears and on the microphone. There are differences, when it comes to cartoon, there is so much focusing over details, the sound effects, colors, and the character’s traits. Whereas when you are recording music, you can be more natural and relax a little bit more, and get into the groove. Voice acting has helped me in a sense with my music, I’ll have people tell they really felt emotion, and with years of voice acting, I have gotten better in expressing emotions within my songs.
MM: With everyone social distancing, what have you been up to? Are you taking the time to let your music settle, or have you been a crazy work bug?
MC: Definitely far too much of a work bug in the first two months of quarantine! A lot of late nights, and whole work days,14 hours straight, and start again in the next morning. It feels like the music industry flipped upside down, so it’s been pretty crazy. Overall, I consider myself extremely lucky just to be home, and to live in a semi central place, but to also have mountains in a lot of open space nearby. I think in the next couple weeks, I will try and just take it a little easier, because it was just crazy these past two months, but I’m always thinking about the next project.
MM: So for Storm, should a first time listener have it blasting out loud via speakers, or should they take it all in through their ears with headphones?
MC: I would definitely say speakers. I’m warning these listeners, once you get into False Empire, You’re not going to want to hear that one in headphones. With the dynamics that are on the album it’s for sure made to be heard out loud. I specifically have the model of my car for the speaker it has, I’m a big car listener, I recommend to have the album on full blast.
MM: What would you want new listeners to take away from your music?
MC: I just want them to take away, whatever they want to take away. I write songs to share songs, and they all have a special meaning to me, but I never like to inflict that meaning on other people, and I think music is such a cool force that we have, because everybody can interpret it differently. If you do have a chance to listen to the album, just make it your own and share it with fellow music lovers, and just enjoy!
MM: Final question, once we’re out and free, what’s the first thing you’re going to do?
MC: First thing I’m going to do is invite all of my close friends and family over for a party! A good classic Creber party with good food and games, and then eventually go see a movie!
