SOMETIMES JULIE Interview for Museboat Live channel

SOMETIMES JULIE interview for Museboat Live Channel on Thursday, May 6th 2021 in Up In The Alley show with Alison Cowie

Sometimes Julie, one of San Diego’s most engaging and original Rock bands, emerged from a chance collaboration between singer-songwriters Monica Sorenson and Rick Walker in 2012. Walker, former guitarist for Chicago’s Greeley, is a multi-instrumentalist who reveals his Rock and Roll genius as he defines Sometimes Julie’s unique sound. Sorenson paints the pictures, finds the words, tells the stories, and delivers the melodies with her powerful vocals. Walker is the theory, the rhythm, the science, the skill, and Sorenson is the front woman who is all heart and art.

Monica Sorenson and Rick Walker, Alberto Moreno (lead guitar), Bruce Paul Allen (bass), Anthony Sarain (keyboard/sax/flute). and Dave Fuller (drums).

SOMETIMES JULIE

The song "If Only" was one of the few that literally skyrocketed to the top of our music chart, and Museboat was suddenly overwhelmed with requests to play this song, as well as other songs. No wonder, because when you listen to music from this group, you feel like it's always been a part of your life. The group has had a lot of success and a lot of interviews, so we are very honoured that Rick and Monica also supported our broadcast in the form of executive production, for which I want to thank them very much and ask them a few questions.

Hi Guys, how are you?

MONICA: We're doing really well.
RICK: Yeah, we're doing great. We're excited to be doing this interview with Museboat.
MONICA: Yeah, thank you for having us.


Monica and Rick, you met by chance for a musical collaboration. If your paths had not crossed, what journey do you think that you would have taken musically?

MONICA: I think I would have taken a very long, slow path to finding my musicality without Rick. I'd still be in some karaoke bar, probably singing ballads and and trying to work it out every Tuesday night. So I'm really glad that I met Rick so that we could start writing together, and I could develop a greater sense of melody and purpose in music.
RICK: And as for me, I'd probably still be recording compositions for myself in my basement. If not for Monica, I don't think I'd be out performing. That was something I did, you know, earlier in my music career, but I'd put that aside, and I was really just about the writing and arranging and composing, but again, mostly for myself. So thanks to Monica, I'm able to get my music out there to other people to hear, and so I think I'm really fortunate to have crossed paths with her.
MONICA: Yeah, we're really lucky to have each other and all the guys in Sometimes Julie. It really makes it all work together.
RICK: Absolutely.



How do you manage to juggle your family life and musical life?

MONICA: Well, not very well. I would say the demands of family life really interrupt musical life, because all I want to do is music.
RICK: Yeah, so the family might see it differently.
MONICA: Yeah. The fact that we have a parlor grand piano in my bedroom might tell you how we balance musical life and family life.
RICK: But we pretty much force our spouses to come see every performance that we have, and our bass player actually considers that a form of abuse, I think.
MONICA: Yeah.
RICK: But they're troopers. They come and support us like the good spouses they are.
MONICA: Luckily they don't complain very often.
RICK: Very often.

I read in a recent interview that Monica has a Masters degree in poetry. Monica, who is your favourite poet? Does your love of poetry help during the writing process?

MONICA: Well, I do love talking about poetry. I never got to finish my Masters degree in poetry, actually. So, it's something I aspire to return to, but I left that program to go get my law degree. But right now, my favorite poet is Pablo Neruda. I'm reading this volume of his lost poems that are really beautifully translated, and it does really inspire me with songwriting.
Whomever I'm reading, whether it's, you know, Emily Dickinson or a new poet - just to hear the rhythm and the flow and someone else’s voice, you know, it kind of inspires you to remember what your own voice sounds like about that topic, or in that rhythm. So yeah, I definitely read poetry all the time. I have shelves and shelves of it, and I love it.
Oh Mary Oliver. Also I just love Mary Oliver.

You have said that your life story is written in Sometime Julie's songs. Are there any of your songs that have a special place in your heart because of the sentiment behind them?

MONICA: Yes, I would say most of our songs have a personal element behind them. For example, “Own Kind of Savior” is a song that I wrote during a time where I was really, really struggling to get back up.
I had lost my son due to suicide, and you can't imagine what that would be like to try and, you know, continue to carry on. And the whole world is going on around you, and you know you have to get back up, but nobody is coming to save you. Nobody is going to rescue you and pull you out of this feeling where you just, you know, you want to disappear. You hope the earth is going to swallow you. And so I wrote that song in an attempt to, you know, lift myself up, and so every time I sing it, it is very empowering. It helped me overcome a pretty tough period of my life and, you know, it's an ongoing process, overcoming grief, but it's one step.
Another song that sort of, well, exactly falls into that same category is “Lost art”. It's different though, because “Lost Art” is really describing and cataloging everything that was lost when I lost my son, because Andrew was a very creative person, and he had made beautiful paintings and photographs and many other things that he left here for me. And I have them, but I don't have him, and that's what that song is about - how much potential and all the possibilities, and, you know, hopes that you have for your child in the future. All of those things that were lost are in “Lost Art”. So yeah, it's really personal stuff.




You have just finished recording your new album, 'Where Are You'. Due to the current restrictions on live music what are your plans for promoting you album and touring?

RICK: Well, we've been promoting it pretty heavily so far, primarily online through blogs and great radio stations like Museboat and others that have been very supportive. So we're starting there, and we're looking forward to performing for a live audience again, which should start happening very soon. We'll be doing that locally in San Diego, and then we'll see where that takes us.
MONICA: Yeah, I'm really thrilled with how the promotion has been going. We are getting played internationally on so many stations, and we love being on Museboat. Thank you for having us.
We just got another great review this morning that we were thrilled to see. It was kind of a surprise, so the promotion part is great. We know we've got a pretty cool gig coming up in September, and Rick doesn't know about this yet, but I've planned a World Tour. We're going to start in Cabo, because I really miss being on the beach, and then we're going to just work our way up the West Coast this summer and then I'll let you know how it turns out.
RICK: So that's all news to me, but hey, I'm down if you can make it happen.

What is your favourite song from the new album and why?

MONICA: Well, I have a lot of favorites on the new album. It kind of changes from day to day. I like them all for different reasons. Today, my favorite is “Arachne's Pride/Minerva”, because I like the complexity of it. I like the shift in perspectives. I love the guitar part, and it's really fun to sing along. So, I would say today it's “Arachne's Pride/Minerva”.
RICK: And I like “She Can't Kiss You”, which is the first song on the CD. I think it just leads things off, you know, with a bang. It's a really powerful song. Monica's vocal is just really huge, and I think you can really feel her passion in that song. So, that's why that's my favorite.
MONICA: Oh cool.

Is there anything you would like to say to Museboat listeners?

MONICA: Yes, listen! Listen all the time! Listen and like us. Listen and follow us. Follow other musicians. You know, just get in there and discover what you like, and definitely like Sometimes Julie and the songs that Museboat is playing for us. Because I think they have really good taste in music with the other artists that I've been listening to on Museboat Live, and I love the selections that they've made from the Sometimes Julie album.
RICK: And we want to say thank you everybody for listening and giving us your support, for putting in requests for hearing our songs, and yeah, as Monica said, we're really honored to be on Museboat. There's a lot of great artists that are on the different broadcasts, so we're proud to be in that group and thank you all for listening.

Thank you for the interview, guys.

MONICA: Thank you so much for having us. RICK: Yeah, thank you, Allison. Appreciate it.





This interview was brought to you by
Alison Cowie
host to the Up In The Alley show