{"id":7468,"date":"2014-03-02T20:26:03","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T01:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/?p=7468"},"modified":"2014-03-02T20:28:47","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T01:28:47","slug":"q-a-with-nerissa-and-katryna-nields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/2014\/03\/02\/q-a-with-nerissa-and-katryna-nields\/","title":{"rendered":"Q & A with Nerissa and Katryna Nields"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kathy Sands-Boehmer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: Nerissa and Katryna Nields have been making, performing and recording their special brand of music and quirky and emotive songs for more than two decades. Kathy Sands-Boehmer recently spoke with them about their latest album, The Full Catastrophe<\/em>, and more. <\/p>\n

\"Nerissa<\/a>
Nerissa and Katryna Neilds (Photo: Kris McCue)<\/figcaption><\/figure>It\u2019s hard to believe that The Nields have been making music and recording their special brand of music for more than 20 years. What was once a five-piece indie folk-rock band has been streamlined into a duo comprising Nerissa and Katryna. Sister harmonies are something special, but when it comes to those of Nerissa and Katryna \u2014 we\u2019re talking a sound that is organic, crystal clear and possesses a magic like no other.<\/p>\n

The Full Catastrophe<\/em> is their sixteenth album. As you\u2019ll read below, this album may have taken a bit longer than previous ones to produce and release, but it\u2019s been well worth the wait. These two sisters are in it for the long haul \u2014 their obvious love for one another and for what they do is unmistakable. And while they admit that their current world is difficult to navigate at times, it\u2019s clear that the folk world continues to clamor for more of their music.<\/p>\n

I was just thinking about how long you two sisters have been singing together and, of course, how long you\u2019ve been a part of each other\u2019s lives. What\u2019s the longest period of time you\u2019ve ever spent apart?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nerissa<\/strong>: I think the longest we ever spent apart was when Katryna went to Nepal for 3.5 months, and I was just out of college and living in Virginia. Not only were we halfway around the world from each other \u2014 and this was years before the internet, so we communicated by airmail which took three weeks! \u2014 but we were also in completely different worlds. She was in a learning environment, and I was in my first (and only) job out of college. But it was during this amazing period that Katryna decided she wanted to be a singer, and that she wanted to sing with me. She was having a conversation with a Nepalese teacher who asked her, in Nepali, what she was going to be when she grew up. She said, \u201cHow do you say \u2018lawyer\u2019 in Nepali?\u201d He looked at her, confused. \u201cBut aren\u2019t you going to be a musician?\u201d She realized, \u201cOh, yes. I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nerissa, tell us about FAWM (February Album Writing Month). You\u2019ve been dedicated to this practice for a while now \u2014 how do you get yourself psyched up to write so many songs in one month\u2019s time? How did it go this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nerissa<\/strong>: I first did FAWM in 2009, I believe. I hadn\u2019t heard of it until a HooteNanny mom posted on Facebook that she and her family were doing it. I thought, \u201cIf they can do it, surely I can!\u201d I set the bar very low for myself. I don\u2019t do it officially (there is a website: FAWM.org). I just try to write 14 songs in 28 days. Some of the songs that first year were extremely simple and short. To wit:<\/p>\n

I want you to appreciate the boo
\nI want you to appreciate the boo
\nI want you to appreciate the boo
\nAnd while you\u2019re at it, appreciate the view.<\/em>
\n(My then two-year old Lila would shout \u201cBoo!\u201d after each \u201cboo.\u201d)<\/p>\n

But this silly song turned into a much better song, \u201cBetween Friends,\u201d which we put on our CD The Full Catastrophe<\/em>. That idea of appreciating the view turned into the second verse of that song:<\/p>\n

I have a friend who has
\nA view of the Hudson River
\nHe works all week just to enjoy his little sliver of view
\nSometimes he forgets to look<\/em><\/p>\n

I wrote several songs that ended up on The Full Catastrophe<\/em>, both that year and the next (2009\u20132010) including \u201cGood Times are Here,\u201d \u201cI Am Half my Mother\u2019s Age,\u201d \u201cThe Full Catastrophe,\u201d and \u201cTen Year Tin.\u201d In 2011, I wrote a bunch of very silly songs. I think I didn\u2019t even try in 2012.<\/p>\n

This video <\/a>for \u201cTen Year Tin\u201d celebrates Nerissa and Katryna\u2019s time together as a duo.<\/p>\n

Last year (2013) I did try, and it was a disaster. I\u2019d been working hard on a novel I\u2019m writing called The Big Idea<\/em>, and it was as if I\u2019d forgotten how to write songs. This really scared me. I realized I needed an overhaul in my musical life, and I began listening again. I instituted a \u201cmusic zone\u201d into my daily life. Sometimes this would entail just playing a song someone else wrote, or figuring something out on my guitar. Sometimes just listening. Sometimes trying to write. Eventually this morphed into my taking piano lessons, which I am loving. So when this year\u2019s FAWM rolled around, I was ready. I was poised! And it\u2019s been the most productive and most fun FAWM ever. I have my 14 songs, and it\u2019s not even March 1! Some are silly, but they are all substantial and useful.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s great for songwriters to write songs, at least sometimes, just to work those songwriting muscles. I have put in my 10,000 hours of practice. I have probably averaged one song a month since about 1988. That\u2019s over 300 songs. And of those, we\u2019ve recorded around half of those (16 CDs, at least 10 originals per disk. . .). So I know how to write a song. Still, sometimes, when I am sitting with my guitar or at the piano, it\u2019s as if I am a pure beginner again. That first phrase is the hardest.<\/p>\n

One last thing I\u2019ll say, and this goes for any kind of writing, too: it helps to give yourself permission to write a really bad song. Or to say to yourself, \u201cI\u2019m going to do what Phillip Price (from the Winterpills) does, which is to write five versions of this song.\u201d That takes the pressure off!<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not just a songwriter but you\u2019ve also written a young adult novel, Plastic Ange<\/em>l, and a how-to book, How to Be an Adult. How would you compare the writing process for books to songwriting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nerissa<\/strong>: It\u2019s not that different; in both cases, you just have to sit down and do the work. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable with doing nothing. You have to be willing to write badly, or write what you don\u2019t love. To sit with the yuck factor and have faith in yourself is not really as bad as you think; there is such a thing as a second draft, that you\u2019ve done this before and you can do it again.<\/p>\n

That being said, I vastly prefer songwriting! Mostly because once the song is done, you can sing it and get immediate feedback. With a book (fiction anyway), you have to wait a very, very long time for a response from the world. That\u2019s why I run writing groups. I love to get feedback, and when one writes with a group (the kind of group I run, anyway), you get that immediate feedback on your work. I also like writing blog posts for the same reason I like writing songs. You work, you polish, and then it\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also a trained life coach. Do you find this kind of work rewarding? Does it teach you as many things about yourself as you teach your clients?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nerissa<\/strong>: Yes, I love working as a life coach. I am from the school of thought that we don\u2019t get to keep any of our hard-won wisdom unless we give it away. It\u2019s in the sharing of the stories and struggles, the willingness to be vulnerable, that we ourselves learn. We see things so much more clearly in another person. And, of course, I learn from my clients. Coaching is a reciprocal process.<\/p>\n

Katryna\u2019s daughter, Amelia, is now making music as part of a group called Belle Amie. Do any of the other Nields children have musical aspirations?<\/p>\n

Nerissa: My kids, Lila and Johnny, are both Suzuki violinists. They also play the piano whenever they can, and they both want to play guitar. Of course, they both sing and compose. William is extremely musical too. I won\u2019t be at all surprised if they form a band one day. It\u2019s an absolute joy to play with Amelia. She astounds me. I wish I could play bass the way she can.<\/p>\n

The Full Catastrophe<\/em> is your 16th CD. What have you learned about recording since you first entered the studio? Has the process changed for you at all since you recorded your very first album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Katryna<\/strong>: When we started recording, it was a huge revelation to even hear ourselves on tape. Before we set foot in a studio, the closest we had ever come to recording was on a Dictaphone tape recorder in our basement. Nowadays, we can make pretty good quality videos or even audio recordings right in our living room on our computers. So the mystery of the recording process has really changed during our lifetimes.\"Nields<\/a><\/p>\n

We have gone through many different recording styles. There were times when we were paying by the hour at fancy, expensive, well equipped recording studios. Then we built our own studio and had a producer {band mate and husband of Katryna], Dave Chalfant, whom we trusted completely. The last studio CD we recorded as a five-piece band was If You Lived Here You\u2019d Be Home Now<\/em>. We made the conscious decision to dedicate ourselves to the making of the CD for as long as it took to finish. We had no limits, timing or financial. We decided to let each song speak for itself. There was not an overarching idea of how the whole CD had to sound. We just addressed each song individually and trusted that the whole recording would work together in the end. It was a great way to make a CD and it set the tone for how we would record for years. The difference between that CD and The Full Catastrophe<\/em> was, well, the full catastrophe that our lives had become! When we recorded in the 90s, our only other obligation was to play shows together. By the time we were recording The Full Catastrophe<\/em>, we had children, husbands, music classes we were teaching, writing groups we were leading, volunteering in our communities, gardens, laundry, dishes, carpooling, etc. It took months to record If You Lived Here You\u2019d Be Home Now<\/em>. It took years to record The Full Catastrophe<\/em>. What was the same with both projects was that we continued to let each song speak for itself and that we gave ourselves the time and space to create, make mistakes and fix the mistakes. Dave Chalfant gave us the same environment he always has, one that was supportive and challenging, without being pressured or stressful.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say that the theme of this particular record is as you you refer to it \u2014 the Great Juggling Act. You\u2019re both musicians, mothers, wives, active community members and creative spirits. How do you manage to juggle all those parts of your lives?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Katryna<\/strong>: Well, mostly we accept that we will not really manage it all. We drop balls a lot. And we try hard to take joy in the things we do well in any given moment. We have messy houses, excellent supportive spouses and amazing communities. We definitely tour less than we used to. We have lots of ideas that we just have to write down and hope that we get time in the future to act on them. We consider ourselves very lucky. Life is wide and rich and busy and exasperating sometimes, but we really would not want it any other way. It feels like some kind of a miracle that we have been able to find work that dovetails so beautifully with our lives as touring musicians. We created a host of classes we call HooteNanny. We teach classes for kids age 0\u20135 with their grown ups, classes for kids ages 4\u20139, guitar to parents who want a little more music in their family life, and run monthly whole family sing-a longs. Nerissa leads writing groups and retreats. We have both written books. I run a chorus and a cappella group at a local school and we both volunteer in our own children\u2019s schools to bring a little more music to their elementary schools. We drive and walk our children to their various activities. For us, it feels like a full and complete life. We asked for all this craziness. We really wanted the full catastrophe. We wanted to get to keep playing music for people. So we had to create lives that would allow for that. So far, so good.<\/p>\n

More information on Nerissa and Katryna may be found online at www.nields.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Kathy<\/a>Like many of us, Kathy Sands-Boehmer<\/strong> wears many hats. An editor by profession, she also operates Harbortown Music, books artists for the Me and Thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead, Massachusetts, serves as vice president of the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association (BACHA) and is on the board of directors of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA). In her spare time, Kathy can be found at local music haunts all over New England. This and many previous Q & A interviews are archived at www.meandthee.org\/blog <\/a>and www.everythingsundry.wordpress.com<\/a>, as well as in the Features section of AcousticMusicScene.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nerissa and Katryna Nields have been making, performing and recording their special brand of music and quirky and emotive songs for more than two decades. Kathy Sands-Boehmer recently spoke with them about their latest album, The Full Catastrophe, and more. <\/p>\n

[To read Kathy\u2019s Q & A with the sisters, click on the headline.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4198,4199,1570,1839,4197,3155],"class_list":["post-7468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-articles","tag-belle-amie","tag-dave-chalfant","tag-kathy-sands-boehmer","tag-me-and-thee-coffeehouse","tag-nerissa-and-katryna-nields","tag-the-nields","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7468"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7478,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468\/revisions\/7478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}