funk gumbo 5 - irene merring - part 1 - david l. $money train$ watts & howard hobson - funk...

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FUNK GUMBO 5 9-15-2011 - Written By: David L. $Money Train$ Watts & Howard Hobson – Funk Gumbo Radio

Funk Gumbo Radio is greatly honored that the highly talented and very opinionated Irene

Merring is doing Part 1 of our Funk Gumbo 5 Questions. Hearkening back to the days

when music poured from the heart, Irene Merring combines her powerful voice, attitude,

flare, and exotic sex-appeal with a tortured songwriting style reminiscent of her influences

Kurt Cobain and Robert Smith of The Cure.

IRENE MERRING

BIO: Born in Queens, even as a young winner of pageants and talent competitions (Miss

Big Apple, Miss New York State of Hal Jackson International, and Miss Junior Americanto name a few) Irene Merring has always shown great amounts of raw and unique talent.Poised and precocious, she stood out from the crowd because she was unafraid to speak hermind and be herself. This gave her the edge and experience to come out on top, landing hera spot at Berklee College of Music, a nomination from the Boston Music Awards, andbackup singing gigs with top stars such as Mariah Carey. In 2010, Irene found her nicheworking with RVRS:PLAY, who, coming from Industrial, Drum & Bass, and Downtempogenres, infused the singer/songwriter with gritty synthetics. Finding common ground intheir love for 90's Grunge, the pair's nearly psychic connection led to a set of songs that sitsslightly left of centre from the mainstream. This new alternative artist entices you to takethe journey with her through darkness.

Funk Gumbo Radio • Los Angeles, CA 90019 • Live 365.com Internet Network • [email protected] • http://www.funkgumbo.com

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.funkgumbo.com/






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Funk Gumbo 1: Welcome to LA! You and producer Mike Genato

recently moved to Los Angeles from New York. What made you take

the "leap of faith" and move out here? What did you leave behind

personally and professionally and what do you hope to find out here

in both areas? Also, give us a little insight into the differencebetween the two music scenes.

IRENE MERRING: Lol. I like that you called it a “leap of faith”. I guess when you

think about it, it DOES take a leap of faith to leave everything you’ve ever known and start

anew in a brand new place. And L.A can chew you up and spit you out if you let it. But

then again, so can New York so I think we were quite prepared for this journey. It’s funny

because it wasn’t something we needed to give much thought about. It was kind of a

revelation. When we made the decision to come out here, it was almost as if the heavens

opens and the angels started to sing (an exaggeration of course). But when something is

meant to be, it seems as though it happens so naturally. And that’s the way our movehappened. It just all came together. And it still feels right. While New York City will

always be a part of me and I will always have a love for it because it is where I was born

and raised, I don’t miss it at all. I guess I am just having such a great time maneuvering

myself into life out here.

Personally speaking, it became quite obvious to me about a year ago that, that chapter of

my life had come to a close. I started to feel kind of bitter and stuck out in NYC. I felt very,

“been there, done that”. It felt stale. The neighborhood I grew up in had a tendency to feel

like the pit of despair at times. Because it didn’t seem like enough people around me were

trying to make a better life for themselves...progress. They just resolved to self destruct.And that affected me a lot. I noticed when I would walk the streets of NYC or be on the

subway, that nobody seemed happy. Everyone was so angry. And the “every man for

himself” mentality I had grown used to started to actually suck me in and I hated that

feeling. And I started to question all I thought I knew about myself and my life. And

decided it was time to face a lot of things about my past that I hadn’t found peace in just

yet. It was time for soul searching and personal growth. I have a line in my song, “Breathe”

that says, “Couldn’t move ahead til’ I decided to admit defeat.” Sometimes in life, you have

to admit defeat against the things you are powerless over in order to truly rebuild anew,

become stronger, wiser, and reach a higher state of consciousness. And usually this

requires allowing yourself to enter a period of grief which can feel like torture. For me, it

was about cleansing the soul. And through my grief, I was able to create a body of work

that I am the most proud of, of anything I have ever written.










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Professionally speaking, I think I am having so much more fun exploring all different

opportunities out here. In NYC, there is a TON of opportunities but if you were born and

raised there, sometimes you don’t turn over every leaf because everything becomes so stale.

But when things are new, everything is exciting. So I find, I try all avenues and turn over a

lot more leaves out here to find my destiny. I’m trying to not have TOO many expectations

so that I can try to keep my senses open for spiritual guidance and the strength to allow my

path to lead wherever it is meant to lead.

As far as the music scenes on both coasts go, I don’t want to sound like a traitor to my

hometown but I have found that, out here in L.A, there are a LOT more avenues for

different types of music than there are in NYC. In NYC, there is a certain standard of what

is the “cool” music to be doing at that time. And people don’t seem to want to stray from

that standard. Whereas here, I notice that there are SO many music scenes where people

truly appreciate different types of music. And that is refreshing to me.

Funk Gumbo 2: Who is Irene Merring as an artist? What musical

path did you take to get to this point in your career?

IRENE MERRING: I consider myself an artist in the TRUE sense of the word. Thismeans that I find freedom through my art. I feel true art is that which shows vulnerability,challenges societal rules, and is a window into the artist’s soul. I try and be as honest as

possible in my art. With “After The Fall” I really took this honesty to a whole new level. In

the past when I wrote, I always put this pressure on myself to put a positive spin on mymessages. I guess maybe I thought the audience always wanted a happy ending. So evenwhen I went dark, I always tried to lighten the lyrics up by the end of the song. But with“After The Fall”, I stopped putting that pressure on myself. I decided to write whatever it

was that I was feeling at the time without regard for what anyone was going to think aboutit. If it was positive, great. But if was dark, then it was going to stay dark! This was the 1sttime, I wrote for myself as opposed to what I thought other’s wanted. All of the musicians

and artists of the past that I idolize were always honest writers. For me, art is about thehuman journey. And that journey is different for all people. And I wanted to documentMY journey. What inspired me about the artists that I idolize was that, they weren’t afraid

to be vulnerable. And in their vulnerability, I found inspiration. Because their words mademe feel like I wasn’t alone in the world. Hopefully other’s will feel the same way about MY

art.










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My musical path has been an interesting one. I have been so inspired by so many differenttypes of artists since my childhood. I have an affinity for funk/soul music. One of myfavorite bands of all time is Jamiroquai and 1 of my favorite singers of all time is N’dea

Davenport from the Brand New Heavies. At Berklee College Of Music, I was in a funkband called Decifunk. We were nominated for a Boston Music Award. I also love all forms

of Blues and Blues rock. Another favorite of mine is The Black Crowes. Chris Robinsonhad such great musical instinct when it came to his vocal delivery and lyrics. But of course,my heart has always latched closest onto my absolute favs like The Cure, Nirvana, Alice InChains and the 90’s Grunge Scene. Robert Smith of The Cure is probably the most

amazing lyricist I have ever known. He is SO poetic and emotional and I could only dreamof being as great a lyric writer as he is.

Nirvana has been my salvation since I was a child. It would take me a year to explain mygenuine love for Kurt Cobain and Nirvana (same goes for Alice In Chains and the genius of that band as a whole) so I will spare you the details. But to sum it up, I had some Nirvanalyrics tattooed to my arm. They say, “Hate Your Enemies and Save Your Friends. Find

Your Place and Speak The Truth”. Words to live by. When I get into a piece of music, IREALLY get into it. Reads the interviews, do the research, get the fanzines. So my musical journey has been that which I have found inspiration in just great music overall. I am gladthat all of my inspiration has led me to a place where I can keep exploring and growing inmy writing and my sound.

Funk Gumbo 3: Your After The Fall Pt. 1 EP contains three

beautiful songs of what might be called angst and despair. What'sthe story behind each song and what can we anticipate in the nextset of songs?

IRENE MERRING: Well, “After The Fall” is the story of my personal journey through

the various feelings of grief, loss, and then rebirth and growth. It’s A Shame was born outof pure rage. During that period, I was re-living (and in some cases living for the 1st time)experiences where I was fucked over by past lovers and loved ones and shitty people ingeneral and also the ugliness of the music business. I was remembering times that I didn’t

stand up for myself enough when I should have or when I was too passive and allowedcertain situations to take place. Grief is interesting because it is an influx of repressedemotion that comes flowing through once you let the flood gates open. Most humans neverallow themselves to fully experience grief because it is too overwhelming. So they usuallyshorten the process by replacing the feelings of loss, with another form of distraction.










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I allowed myself to feel grief FULLY and thankfully, it turned into a cleansing process. It’s A Shame allowed me to cleanse out all of my angry feelings of the past andthat present time. And it was quite therapeutic. Mike Genato came from a Drum N’ Bass

and Industrial Background. And I think he did a great job of bridging the gap betweenthose 2 genres with the music of It’s A Shame. My friend Jeff Reid added some background

vocals to the chorus to give it that extra gritty feel. We were also able to draw from ourPunk Rock backgrounds as well musically so that was cool.

Don’t Feel was a typical case where I wrote from my heart without regard for what othersmay think. That was my period of numbness. I felt absolutely NOTHING aboutEVERYTHING. And it took me a while to shake that numbness. My favorite line in thatsong is, Another Day That I’m Not Dead in the bridge. Because feeling nothing was reallytaking its toll and at a certain point, I would have preferred to not wake up at all than towake up to feeling nothingness. The song is very anti-climatic on purpose because there isno extreme emotion that is being felt by the narrator in that song. And I wanted the musicto properly convey the feeling of numbness and how that feeling can be very sad. The song

was musically and lyrically inspired by The Cure and also Nirvana’s Dumb

. I had myfriend Yury Shubov play a beautifully emotional viola on it. And what happened out of myvulnerability is a song I am most proud of in my existence so far.

Breathe is an epic piece of work. Breathe is a lot more hopeful than the other 2 songs. Itisn’t necessarily about grief alone. Breathe is about a soul’s journey through pa in,helplessness, and being stripped down to nothing. But the song begs the questions: Onceyou’ve lost it all, what happens next? Where do you go? Who do you become? How does

that experience change you? What have you learned? And what I decided is that, theanswer to all those questions is freedom! The last line in that song is, I Can Be ME! Itbasically says, the worst is over, and no matter how hard it gets from here, you are freefrom your past and you are now free to be who you TRULY are! Musically, the song isepic. I think it should be the theme song for a Batman movie or the like. Kind of like Seal’s

Kiss From A Rose was. Yury Shubov composed and played some amazing string parts andMike Genato created beautiful orchestra parts around it. It’s a quite emotional song allaround.

Part 2 will continue the soul’s journey but it will come from different angles than just the

feelings of grief alone. It will still be vulnerable however. Part 2 will touch upon thestruggle of addictions. It will also touch upon spirituality. Begging theUniverse/God/Higher Power (whatever you believe in) to hear your cries for the things youso desperately want to accomplish in the world. Musically on Part 2, we drew from someTrip Hop influences as well as Break Beat reminiscent of the group Lamb.. We also wereinspired by Sonic Youth on 1 of the songs as well. So like all of the work Mike Genato and Ido together, it’ll be a bit left and it will combine musical genres in perfect harmony but it

will still be catchy and emotional enough for everyone to be able to relate to it no matterwhat kind of music you are into.








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