Aimee Mann - Interview

by Tina Whelski

Aimee Mann celebrates the yuletide with her second annual holiday tour. The festive variety show features Christmas classics from her album One More Drifter in the Snow and a new line-up of guests, including comedians Paul F. Thompkins and Fred Armisen, and musicians Josh Ritter, Ben Lee and Morgan Murphy. Mann talks about sound-tracking the season and spreading good cheer.

You wanted to make a record that reflected “the range of emotions that people have at Christmastime.”

When I started talking to producer Paul Bryan about the record and the kind of things that we could do, you know, first of all it’s mostly about the songs. So we listened to Christmas songs to see what songs were out there that we felt were good enough just as songs. There are lots of Christmas songs that are really annoying and not really good songs, not pretty melodies or anything. And the other thing that we talked about was the tone of the record. To me the nicest Christmas moments growing up were listening to certain records that my parents played. Johnny Mathis is one that I remember distinctly. Dean Martin, Julie London, people like that. That tone. Having that kind of approach to a Christmas record. Rather than trying to modernize it or make it groovy or whatever. I never really was a fan of that. Christmas was always about nostalgia to me. And I think it is for most people. And then thinking about the feeling you have when you’re a little kid. It’s very exciting, but it’s also a weird, mysterious holiday because a strange man comes into your home. It’s almost supernatural. So I wanted to try to capture that feeling, as well as that mellow, sitting-by-the-fire-drinking-egg nog-kind-of cozy feeling.

You perform mostly covers on the album. How did you capture the nostalgia of the songs but still make them your own?

It’s all about choosing the band and working with the players and getting the beautiful things that happen between musicians when they play live together in the studio and are listening to each other. Cool little unexpected moments happen. With these particular players, it’s really just about the personalities involved.

How does your original tune “Calling On Mary” fit into the collection?

I thought if you have a Christmas record there has to be at least one original song and I wrote that with Paul Bryan. We just sat down and started playing around with some music. It sort of has a traditional theme. Like It’s a Wonderful Life kind of stuff. Where this person is walking around town feeling depressed and awful and then has sort of a revelatory Christmas spirit moment.

What is one of your first Christmas memories?

I would always wake up in the middle of the night, because you’re excited as a little kid, and look out the window and up at the stars to see if I could see the Christmas star. That happened almost every year. And that’s why Christmas to me had this really mysterious kind of beautiful quiet to it, because I had those moments.

When you put a bunch of people together and that holiday spirit fills the room I’m sure it’s amazing to see.

Yeah. Absolutely. The tour last year and this year, it’s a very old-fashioned idea, to have this variety show with a bunch of different people. I love playing shows like that because I love the ensemble feeling. I love people interacting with each other and having a bunch of different things happening, rather than just one person playing for the whole night. It really imparts a Christmas spirit to everybody.

Aimee Mann's Holiday Tour warms the Grand Ballroom in NYC on December 14.


Here is a sampling from Aimee's holiday album.



And even though this report is about Aimee's holiday show, I couldn't resist posting the video for "Save Me" from her classic Magnolia soundtrack.



And from the Forgotten Arm album, "She Really Wants You."




Interview originally published in The Aquarian Weekly.