Lindi Ortega is a singer-songwriter from Canada with an incredible voice that brings to mind both Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Shes been kicking around the music industry for a decade or more, slowly climbing the rungs and paying her dues as backup on tours with Kevin Costner and the Killers Brandon Flowers. Despite the recent setback of being dropped from her first major label deal with Interscope, shes finally getting some well-deserved recognition. Her new record, Little Red Boots, was highlighted on NPR, which is how I heard of it. She talked to SuicideGirls recently about those little red boots, how getting dropped from a major was a blessing in disguise, and how dinosaurs evolved into birds.
Keith Daniels: So youve had a bit of an adventure getting to your hotel today.
Lindi Ortega: Yeah. There was a medical emergency on our ferry and we had to turn around. This three hour ride became an all day journey.
KD: What happened?LO: I dunno! They didnt say. But they were calling for a doctor on board the whole time and I guess there was none so they had to turn around and go back to port.
KD: Its weird when that happens because you always think of that only happening in old plays, Is there a doctor in the house? LO: Yeah! I was thinking about pretending I was a doctor but then I thought that would be bad so I didnt do it.
KD: [Laughs] So is this your first time in Ireland?
LO: No! My moms from Ireland, so Ive been to Ireland a number of times. This is my second time at this particular hotel. I like Ireland. Its a beautiful country.
KD: They have a weird love of country music there, too. I mean, Garth Brooks was huge there.
LO: Yeah! Its cool. Its so rad that these parts of the world are into country music that you never really expected. I guess maybe because its just so different and so foreign to them that they latch onto it for being such a different thing to what they would normally listen to.
KD: There might be a little of Celtic influence in the way you sing, too. When I played your music for a friend she thought at first that it was Celtic music.
LO: Ive heard that before. I think some of my melody lines might be inspired by Celtic music, because of my mom.
KD: When did you first realize that your singing voice was something special?
LO: [Laughs] I dont really know. I cant really gauge what I sound like. Its kind of like when someone records and then listens to themselves talk, Wow. Is that really what I sound like? Is that good, or bad? I dont really know. But I had a friend in high school who heard me singing. I was at my locker and I had headphones on and I was singing along to the music in my headphones. She tapped me on the shoulder and said, Is that you? I turned around and thought maybe she was annoyed by my singing, but she said it was really good and encouraged me to do some of the assemblies and stuff at school.
The first assembly that I did at school and the reaction to my performance is what gave me the bug to want to keep doing it.
KD: Is there a part of you that still has doubts about your ability?
LO: Its just hard for me to gauge it. Its weird for me. I dont really know what I sound like. [Laughs] I dont know how else to describe it. But I do know that I absolutely love to sing. I probably would whether I was bad or good anyway, because I get so much pleasure from doing it. [Laughs] Thats where I come from.
KD: Your dad was in a latin band, right?
LO: Yep!
KD: So how does the Canadian daughter of an Irish mother and a latin musician father end up getting into hardcore country music?
LO: I dunno if its really hardcore country but more like I love a lot of the old country, and I think a lot of that comes from my mom growing up. She had Willy Nelson records and Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. We used to watch The Dolly Parton Show together and all that stuff, so I think my initial gravitation toward country stemmed from my moms love of country. My mom was also really into folk music too, so we were also listening to Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel and stuff like that. As I progressed.... In high school I was listening to everything but the older I got the more I gravitated and felt like I could relate to what some of the old school outlaw country singers and crooners were talking about in their songs. That resonated with me. So I gravitated a lot more towards it as I grew up.
KD: Your new record starts out with this rhythm thats straight out of Sun records, like Carl Perkins or something. You reference Elvis and James Dean. Do you have a particular love of the 50s?
LO: Im an old-school gal. I like everything from those eras. I just think those old movie icons were awesome. I just have a propensity toward the old times. [Laughs] I thought James Dean was kind of fitting. I was really trying to reference the old school country outlaws that I loved. I just finished reading a James Dean biography, and it kind of fit with what I was going for, because he was the rebel without a cause. I just thought his story, what I was reading, was kind of fitting with the vibe I was going for with the record. But yeah, Im definitely a lover of the old school.
KD: What about, Im No Elvis Presley? What inspired that song?
LO: [Laughs] I did a showcase and got a comment back from somebody saying, Oh, shes good, but we dont really know if she has it, that thing would make her legendary, or whatever. I thought that was a preposterous expectation, like I dont think you should expect anybody to be the next Elvis or the next Dylan or the next, yknow, Michael Jackson, because what made those artists so special was that they were truly themselves, truly individuals. I think people in the industry just want to get in on the next thing, yknow, in comparison to a legend. I think thats really unfair. I guess that that [song] was my way of politely telling them that I thought that was unfair to place upon me.
KD: I was reading your blog this morning, and I thought it was interesting what you were saying about what the little red boots symbolize to you. Would you mind talking about that a little bit?
LO: Yeah! When I first got my little red boots they kind of became this thing that I wasnt expecting them to become. Red is my favorite color, and so I just wanted a pair of red boots. So I went to [inaudible] in Nashville and got them, but somehow those boots inspired so much for some reason. In that blog I talk about walking a mile in somebody shoes, and I thought it would be interesting for somebody to walk a mile in my red boots to see what the Land of Little Red Boots is like. I wrote that song because I was on tour with Kevin Costner. The first few shows I was wearing those red boots onstage and after the shows people would be very appreciative of the music, but they would always comment on my boots. I guess they really kind of stuck out when I was performing. So I figured I should write a little song about them.
My step-dad and I were traveling around following Kevin Costner around in a little hatchback and I just started writing a song about my little red boots kind of like how I envisioned myself as a comic book character or something. [Laughs] So I wrote the song, and then when it came time to name the album I was still wearing the boots, and I had a song, and I just felt like they defined me in a lot of ways. I just thought it was really appropriate to name the record that as well. And Im still wearing them at the moment. Theyre being held together with duct-tape on the soles right now to keep them going until I can get to a shoe repair shop.
KD: Any good anecdotes about being on tour with Kevin Costner?
LO: You know, it was cool. It was pretty surreal, I thought, because Id seen his movies, so I couldnt stop thinking of him as Mr. Dances With Wolves or Field of Dreams. It was kind of weird seeing him out of that character, just a normal guy, just like all actors. I think we forget hat when we see them in movies that we like. We just envision them as those characters. It was super fun, a really great tour. The creation of my album was sort of born on that tour so I have nothing but fond memories of it.
KD: We talked about the little red boots, what about birds? Theres a bird in your logo, you reference them in a couple of songs on the album, youve done some charity work for wild birds... What do they mean to you?
LO: We used to get little birds that would fall into our chimney when I was a kid and I used to rescue them. Im just fascinated by the fact that birds fly. Just the image of a bird flying is just an amazing image in my head. For some reason it just resonated with me. I did volunteer for a wild life sanctuary where I grew up and there were birds there. I just always liked birds. And then I ended up owning a bird, and owning a parrot is what got me interested in learning all about parrots. It started off as just sort of an interest in parrots and learning about parrots and then it just evolved into learning about birds and then birds of prey and owls and all this stuff. I have a bird song anthology at home. Im super into them for some reason or another. I have a tattoo of a bird on my wrist, and on my other wrist I have a Leonard Cohen song, Bird On a Wire, written. Ive just got this thing for birds. I just love them. [Laughs] I cant really explain it, its kind of weird. Maybe its my own little quirky thing.
KD: What I like about birds is that theyre so different from mammals. You look in their eyes and you cant figure out what theyre thinking.
LO: Theyre like super-duper ancient, right? Because theyve evolved... theyre the closest species to the dinosaurs, right? Dinosaurs evolved into birds. Theyre really freaking cool looking. When you look at dinosaurs and birds closely you can really see the transition, especially birds feet. If you take a good look at any birds foot its very, very reptilian, like some kind of dinosaur. Just the way they move, the way their heads move, theyre very dinosaur like. I think its really cool. Theres this ancient thing attached to them which is really interesting, as well as just the awesome fact that they fly.
KD: Have you ever read any Darwin? On the Origin of Species was inspired by finches.
LO: I read a little bit about that. Thats really cool. I actually just saw a documentary all about just that, all about the evolution of species. I think its really cool. [Laughs] I think all that stuff is awesome. We live on a crazy planet.
KD: What did you learn from being on tour [as a backup singer] with Brandon Flowers?
LO: Ive learned a lot. I learned how to survive being on a bus with a bunch of boys and not lose my sanity. [Laughs] Ive learned from taking a backseat and watching how a frontman does his thing. Its interesting to see how somebody conducts themselves at that level. I take away from that. Being on the road, especially on this tour... Were doing a festival run right now, which is different from the bus/hotel kind of stuff. We haul butt and then festival, festival, festival. Its really interesting to see how that operates and how that whole world comes together. Its a constant learning experience every day and its really cool. The more that I see it... Ill be at these festivals and Ill think to myself, Man, I hope someday I can play my music for all these people. It just looks like so much fun. It would be so cool to come back and do it with my own stuff someday.
KD: Is it hard to go from playing in front of a thousand people to playing for a hundred in your own shows?
LO: Its not hard. I love playing my songs. Its just a very different thing. Its a whole different thing altogether. I love playing shows of my own music [even if] its in a bar of like, twenty people. If theyre listening and paying attention and are an appreciative audience who are into the music it doesnt matter to me if its 2,000 people. I love doing what I do. Its just cool to have anybody show up and want to listen to it and enjoy the show.
KD: Theres a song on the new record called Fall Down or Fly. What I got from it was your whole ordeal with Interscope and your struggle to make it in the music business. Is that what that songs about?
LO: Yeah, I think its about my whole entire journey, which has not been an easy one. [Laughs] Its been quite a slow climb up the mountain. Im still climbing. Its a continuous thing. I guess that song was really just a tribute to people that have stuck by through it all and have continued to support me and have believed in me at times when it was difficult for me to believe in myself. It was a true appreciation of those people, but also to try and be a voice for other people who are going through similar experiences. It doesnt have to be music, but any experience where youre trying to make something of yourself and its difficult. [That song] is just trying to cheer them on, because Ive had people do that for me. So its me paying it forward through a song.
KD: I guess thats the real trick for a songwriter, to take something specific that happened to you and make it general enough that people can apply it to their own lives.
LO: I think even though experiences that we have are specific to who we are theres always something thats innately human about our emotions: the stuff that we go through. So I think as long as you tap into those things people can relate to that. Thats what I try to do with a lot of my music. Theres a lot of touching on a little bit of darkness, a little bit of loneliness is a running theme through a lot of the songs. A lot of people go through moments of loneliness and darkness. I try to walk through the line of, I get that and I feel your pain, but hopefully I can make you feel a bit better about it.
KD: Speaking of that darker side, another song I really like is All My Friends, which is kind of about self-medicating. How literal are you being in that song?
LO: Im being literal. Very literal. Ive gone through times in my life that have been very dark. Ive been depressed. Ive had to deal with therapy and psychologists about things. I dont think theres any need or necessity to hide that fact or pretend it didnt happen because I think a lot of us deal with those things, and I think talking about it helps other people who are going through it not feel so alone. And yeah, all that stuff [in that song] is... I was going through really difficult times and I was turning to the wine and the mary jane to get through. But you realize at the end of the day that even though these things bring you temporary comfort its not going to solve your problem and it might end up making things worse. Really worse. Depending on how bad you go with it. [Laughs] It depends on what kind of thing youre using to fix your issues. Thats why its called All My Friends. Theres a real irony there in all my friends are gonna kill me dead.
KD: How did it make you feel to have that deal with Interscope fall through? I mean, a lot of musicians have that dream of getting signed to a major label, and thats when youve made it.
LO: It was like a fairy tale when it happened because Id been working at this for a very long time, and I couldnt believe that I was actually able to get an American record deal on the same label as one of my favorite Canadian artists, Feist. I thought it would be a really good home for me because at the time that I signed with them they had a lot of eclectic acts like Noah & the Whale and [inaudible]. Then Lady GaGa signed to them too and there was a shifting of the label dynamic when [she] got huge. All of a sudden they started signing more and more of these dance-pop acts.
I saw a release date for my record come and go with no record coming out and I wasnt hearing from anybody and I started wondering what was going on. Then I realized that it probably wasnt going to happen. So it was really disappointing at first because I didnt know what I was going to do. I thought maybe that was it for me. I had a good long talk with my manager. Hes got this label called Last Gang Records and was nice enough to take me under his wing on his label. He said, Why dont we just release it through Last Gang? That way we can call the shots and do what we want to do and try to make it happen for you. Theyve been absolutely amazing.
So to me, I have no hard feelings for Interscope. Its almost like a blessing in disguise. I wouldnt have made the record that I made had that not have happened, and I wouldnt be on the label that Im on now, which I love, who are supportive of me and so great to me. Im happy where Im at now.
KD: And unless youre a huge multi-platinum artist like Lady GaGa, you can end up being in debt. I mean, not just not making money, but losing money on a major label.
LO: I guess I got lucky in a sense. It kind of all worked out in a good way. Friends of mine have gotten in horrible situations with stuff like that. I just managed to get out of it in a good way. Its been fine, awesome actually. Ive got nothing to complain about. [Laughs]
KD: Will you being a solo tour of the U.S. any time soon?
LO: Yeah! Its probably going to be with a full band. Im putting together a band. Im going to be living in Nashville for two months, from July 25th to September 25th. Ill be touring out of there setting lots of dates in the U.S. So theres going to be a lot happening, a lot of shows coming up. Im really, really looking forward to it. Its been fun touring with Brandon but I cant wait to get back and start promoting my record and playing my songs for everybody. Im really excited.
Lindi Ortegas official website is lindiortega.com
Keith Daniels: So youve had a bit of an adventure getting to your hotel today.
Lindi Ortega: Yeah. There was a medical emergency on our ferry and we had to turn around. This three hour ride became an all day journey.
KD: What happened?LO: I dunno! They didnt say. But they were calling for a doctor on board the whole time and I guess there was none so they had to turn around and go back to port.
KD: Its weird when that happens because you always think of that only happening in old plays, Is there a doctor in the house? LO: Yeah! I was thinking about pretending I was a doctor but then I thought that would be bad so I didnt do it.
KD: [Laughs] So is this your first time in Ireland?
LO: No! My moms from Ireland, so Ive been to Ireland a number of times. This is my second time at this particular hotel. I like Ireland. Its a beautiful country.
KD: They have a weird love of country music there, too. I mean, Garth Brooks was huge there.
LO: Yeah! Its cool. Its so rad that these parts of the world are into country music that you never really expected. I guess maybe because its just so different and so foreign to them that they latch onto it for being such a different thing to what they would normally listen to.
KD: There might be a little of Celtic influence in the way you sing, too. When I played your music for a friend she thought at first that it was Celtic music.
LO: Ive heard that before. I think some of my melody lines might be inspired by Celtic music, because of my mom.
KD: When did you first realize that your singing voice was something special?
LO: [Laughs] I dont really know. I cant really gauge what I sound like. Its kind of like when someone records and then listens to themselves talk, Wow. Is that really what I sound like? Is that good, or bad? I dont really know. But I had a friend in high school who heard me singing. I was at my locker and I had headphones on and I was singing along to the music in my headphones. She tapped me on the shoulder and said, Is that you? I turned around and thought maybe she was annoyed by my singing, but she said it was really good and encouraged me to do some of the assemblies and stuff at school.
The first assembly that I did at school and the reaction to my performance is what gave me the bug to want to keep doing it.
KD: Is there a part of you that still has doubts about your ability?
LO: Its just hard for me to gauge it. Its weird for me. I dont really know what I sound like. [Laughs] I dont know how else to describe it. But I do know that I absolutely love to sing. I probably would whether I was bad or good anyway, because I get so much pleasure from doing it. [Laughs] Thats where I come from.
KD: Your dad was in a latin band, right?
LO: Yep!
KD: So how does the Canadian daughter of an Irish mother and a latin musician father end up getting into hardcore country music?
LO: I dunno if its really hardcore country but more like I love a lot of the old country, and I think a lot of that comes from my mom growing up. She had Willy Nelson records and Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. We used to watch The Dolly Parton Show together and all that stuff, so I think my initial gravitation toward country stemmed from my moms love of country. My mom was also really into folk music too, so we were also listening to Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel and stuff like that. As I progressed.... In high school I was listening to everything but the older I got the more I gravitated and felt like I could relate to what some of the old school outlaw country singers and crooners were talking about in their songs. That resonated with me. So I gravitated a lot more towards it as I grew up.
KD: Your new record starts out with this rhythm thats straight out of Sun records, like Carl Perkins or something. You reference Elvis and James Dean. Do you have a particular love of the 50s?
LO: Im an old-school gal. I like everything from those eras. I just think those old movie icons were awesome. I just have a propensity toward the old times. [Laughs] I thought James Dean was kind of fitting. I was really trying to reference the old school country outlaws that I loved. I just finished reading a James Dean biography, and it kind of fit with what I was going for, because he was the rebel without a cause. I just thought his story, what I was reading, was kind of fitting with the vibe I was going for with the record. But yeah, Im definitely a lover of the old school.
KD: What about, Im No Elvis Presley? What inspired that song?
LO: [Laughs] I did a showcase and got a comment back from somebody saying, Oh, shes good, but we dont really know if she has it, that thing would make her legendary, or whatever. I thought that was a preposterous expectation, like I dont think you should expect anybody to be the next Elvis or the next Dylan or the next, yknow, Michael Jackson, because what made those artists so special was that they were truly themselves, truly individuals. I think people in the industry just want to get in on the next thing, yknow, in comparison to a legend. I think thats really unfair. I guess that that [song] was my way of politely telling them that I thought that was unfair to place upon me.
KD: I was reading your blog this morning, and I thought it was interesting what you were saying about what the little red boots symbolize to you. Would you mind talking about that a little bit?
LO: Yeah! When I first got my little red boots they kind of became this thing that I wasnt expecting them to become. Red is my favorite color, and so I just wanted a pair of red boots. So I went to [inaudible] in Nashville and got them, but somehow those boots inspired so much for some reason. In that blog I talk about walking a mile in somebody shoes, and I thought it would be interesting for somebody to walk a mile in my red boots to see what the Land of Little Red Boots is like. I wrote that song because I was on tour with Kevin Costner. The first few shows I was wearing those red boots onstage and after the shows people would be very appreciative of the music, but they would always comment on my boots. I guess they really kind of stuck out when I was performing. So I figured I should write a little song about them.
My step-dad and I were traveling around following Kevin Costner around in a little hatchback and I just started writing a song about my little red boots kind of like how I envisioned myself as a comic book character or something. [Laughs] So I wrote the song, and then when it came time to name the album I was still wearing the boots, and I had a song, and I just felt like they defined me in a lot of ways. I just thought it was really appropriate to name the record that as well. And Im still wearing them at the moment. Theyre being held together with duct-tape on the soles right now to keep them going until I can get to a shoe repair shop.
KD: Any good anecdotes about being on tour with Kevin Costner?
LO: You know, it was cool. It was pretty surreal, I thought, because Id seen his movies, so I couldnt stop thinking of him as Mr. Dances With Wolves or Field of Dreams. It was kind of weird seeing him out of that character, just a normal guy, just like all actors. I think we forget hat when we see them in movies that we like. We just envision them as those characters. It was super fun, a really great tour. The creation of my album was sort of born on that tour so I have nothing but fond memories of it.
KD: We talked about the little red boots, what about birds? Theres a bird in your logo, you reference them in a couple of songs on the album, youve done some charity work for wild birds... What do they mean to you?
LO: We used to get little birds that would fall into our chimney when I was a kid and I used to rescue them. Im just fascinated by the fact that birds fly. Just the image of a bird flying is just an amazing image in my head. For some reason it just resonated with me. I did volunteer for a wild life sanctuary where I grew up and there were birds there. I just always liked birds. And then I ended up owning a bird, and owning a parrot is what got me interested in learning all about parrots. It started off as just sort of an interest in parrots and learning about parrots and then it just evolved into learning about birds and then birds of prey and owls and all this stuff. I have a bird song anthology at home. Im super into them for some reason or another. I have a tattoo of a bird on my wrist, and on my other wrist I have a Leonard Cohen song, Bird On a Wire, written. Ive just got this thing for birds. I just love them. [Laughs] I cant really explain it, its kind of weird. Maybe its my own little quirky thing.
KD: What I like about birds is that theyre so different from mammals. You look in their eyes and you cant figure out what theyre thinking.
LO: Theyre like super-duper ancient, right? Because theyve evolved... theyre the closest species to the dinosaurs, right? Dinosaurs evolved into birds. Theyre really freaking cool looking. When you look at dinosaurs and birds closely you can really see the transition, especially birds feet. If you take a good look at any birds foot its very, very reptilian, like some kind of dinosaur. Just the way they move, the way their heads move, theyre very dinosaur like. I think its really cool. Theres this ancient thing attached to them which is really interesting, as well as just the awesome fact that they fly.
KD: Have you ever read any Darwin? On the Origin of Species was inspired by finches.
LO: I read a little bit about that. Thats really cool. I actually just saw a documentary all about just that, all about the evolution of species. I think its really cool. [Laughs] I think all that stuff is awesome. We live on a crazy planet.
KD: What did you learn from being on tour [as a backup singer] with Brandon Flowers?
LO: Ive learned a lot. I learned how to survive being on a bus with a bunch of boys and not lose my sanity. [Laughs] Ive learned from taking a backseat and watching how a frontman does his thing. Its interesting to see how somebody conducts themselves at that level. I take away from that. Being on the road, especially on this tour... Were doing a festival run right now, which is different from the bus/hotel kind of stuff. We haul butt and then festival, festival, festival. Its really interesting to see how that operates and how that whole world comes together. Its a constant learning experience every day and its really cool. The more that I see it... Ill be at these festivals and Ill think to myself, Man, I hope someday I can play my music for all these people. It just looks like so much fun. It would be so cool to come back and do it with my own stuff someday.
KD: Is it hard to go from playing in front of a thousand people to playing for a hundred in your own shows?
LO: Its not hard. I love playing my songs. Its just a very different thing. Its a whole different thing altogether. I love playing shows of my own music [even if] its in a bar of like, twenty people. If theyre listening and paying attention and are an appreciative audience who are into the music it doesnt matter to me if its 2,000 people. I love doing what I do. Its just cool to have anybody show up and want to listen to it and enjoy the show.
KD: Theres a song on the new record called Fall Down or Fly. What I got from it was your whole ordeal with Interscope and your struggle to make it in the music business. Is that what that songs about?
LO: Yeah, I think its about my whole entire journey, which has not been an easy one. [Laughs] Its been quite a slow climb up the mountain. Im still climbing. Its a continuous thing. I guess that song was really just a tribute to people that have stuck by through it all and have continued to support me and have believed in me at times when it was difficult for me to believe in myself. It was a true appreciation of those people, but also to try and be a voice for other people who are going through similar experiences. It doesnt have to be music, but any experience where youre trying to make something of yourself and its difficult. [That song] is just trying to cheer them on, because Ive had people do that for me. So its me paying it forward through a song.
KD: I guess thats the real trick for a songwriter, to take something specific that happened to you and make it general enough that people can apply it to their own lives.
LO: I think even though experiences that we have are specific to who we are theres always something thats innately human about our emotions: the stuff that we go through. So I think as long as you tap into those things people can relate to that. Thats what I try to do with a lot of my music. Theres a lot of touching on a little bit of darkness, a little bit of loneliness is a running theme through a lot of the songs. A lot of people go through moments of loneliness and darkness. I try to walk through the line of, I get that and I feel your pain, but hopefully I can make you feel a bit better about it.
KD: Speaking of that darker side, another song I really like is All My Friends, which is kind of about self-medicating. How literal are you being in that song?
LO: Im being literal. Very literal. Ive gone through times in my life that have been very dark. Ive been depressed. Ive had to deal with therapy and psychologists about things. I dont think theres any need or necessity to hide that fact or pretend it didnt happen because I think a lot of us deal with those things, and I think talking about it helps other people who are going through it not feel so alone. And yeah, all that stuff [in that song] is... I was going through really difficult times and I was turning to the wine and the mary jane to get through. But you realize at the end of the day that even though these things bring you temporary comfort its not going to solve your problem and it might end up making things worse. Really worse. Depending on how bad you go with it. [Laughs] It depends on what kind of thing youre using to fix your issues. Thats why its called All My Friends. Theres a real irony there in all my friends are gonna kill me dead.
KD: How did it make you feel to have that deal with Interscope fall through? I mean, a lot of musicians have that dream of getting signed to a major label, and thats when youve made it.
LO: It was like a fairy tale when it happened because Id been working at this for a very long time, and I couldnt believe that I was actually able to get an American record deal on the same label as one of my favorite Canadian artists, Feist. I thought it would be a really good home for me because at the time that I signed with them they had a lot of eclectic acts like Noah & the Whale and [inaudible]. Then Lady GaGa signed to them too and there was a shifting of the label dynamic when [she] got huge. All of a sudden they started signing more and more of these dance-pop acts.
I saw a release date for my record come and go with no record coming out and I wasnt hearing from anybody and I started wondering what was going on. Then I realized that it probably wasnt going to happen. So it was really disappointing at first because I didnt know what I was going to do. I thought maybe that was it for me. I had a good long talk with my manager. Hes got this label called Last Gang Records and was nice enough to take me under his wing on his label. He said, Why dont we just release it through Last Gang? That way we can call the shots and do what we want to do and try to make it happen for you. Theyve been absolutely amazing.
So to me, I have no hard feelings for Interscope. Its almost like a blessing in disguise. I wouldnt have made the record that I made had that not have happened, and I wouldnt be on the label that Im on now, which I love, who are supportive of me and so great to me. Im happy where Im at now.
KD: And unless youre a huge multi-platinum artist like Lady GaGa, you can end up being in debt. I mean, not just not making money, but losing money on a major label.
LO: I guess I got lucky in a sense. It kind of all worked out in a good way. Friends of mine have gotten in horrible situations with stuff like that. I just managed to get out of it in a good way. Its been fine, awesome actually. Ive got nothing to complain about. [Laughs]
KD: Will you being a solo tour of the U.S. any time soon?
LO: Yeah! Its probably going to be with a full band. Im putting together a band. Im going to be living in Nashville for two months, from July 25th to September 25th. Ill be touring out of there setting lots of dates in the U.S. So theres going to be a lot happening, a lot of shows coming up. Im really, really looking forward to it. Its been fun touring with Brandon but I cant wait to get back and start promoting my record and playing my songs for everybody. Im really excited.
Lindi Ortegas official website is lindiortega.com