If you buy Genevieve Maynard's CD Ghost Notes, you don't get the
lyrics with it.
You need to go to her website for that - where you can download a full colour,
six-page booklet that can slip right into the CD case. It even has lyrics.
So why not just put the booklet in the CD?
"Anthony (Nicolas) at Wow Records is a one-man record company," Maynard says.
"Putting out a record is really, really expensive and we do everything on as
much of a shoestring as we can, while we try to maintain really good standards.
"I wanted to get all my lyrics out. That would have necessitated having a six-page
lyric booklet which would have pushed up the cost so much we couldn't afford
to do (the record)." While she likes having CDs with lyrics she knows some people
don't want to know. "I think my enunciation's fairly clear but some of the artists
I like, for example, Tori Amos , I find I have absolutely no idea of what the
hell she's saying," Maynard says.
"That can be a really good thing because you can bring your own (ideas) into
it. I think music should be a very personal experience.
"I thought it was important that I had them (the lyrics) there so people could
access them if they wanted to."
Maynard also serves time in the band Stella One Eleven - which she describes
as a side project that took up three years of her life.
Having finished Stella's third album, Maynard says it was an easier process
working on her solo CD because she didn't have to try and communicate her ideas
with bandmates.
As well as writing the songs, Maynard also engineered, produced and mixed Ghost
Notes.
"I did it because I can and I felt that I had a certain point to prove to myself," she
says.
"It's taken me a while to build up my knowledge to the point where I felt that
I could do it. I wanted to do it so I could say to myself: 'You did it. You created
something from scratch and took it to fruition'."
There's also the hope that, maybe, it will mean that other women will realise
they can do it too.
"I think for a lot of girls in the industry, it's not necessarily a thought that
they might do that kind of thing," she says.
"There are a few female engineers and producers around now but there's still
not nearly enough."
Genevieve Maynard performs a lunchtime gig at Wollongong University
on March 5. |
