Imagine being brought up in a rustic world where you could skip school to stay at home to learn music, graduating to session musician before you’re age 10. Think about how practical math class would seem from the seat of a Toyota Corolla wagon as your lessons call for you to calculate the distance your free-spirited family has traveled from town to town across Australia’s golden outback. What romantic notions would literature conjure up if it were taught by poets and painters in their habitat—a commune-style rural setting? Best yet, how great would gym class be if the lesson plan included tree climbing and then jamming out with your own band, calling on your six other sisters to fill the parts?
Welcome to the land of
Butterfly Boucher. A product of 80’s pop music and a rich arts curriculum, courtesy of home-schooling and communal living, Butterfly Boucher gathers her unique experiences and accumulated talent and pours them into her debut solo CD,
Flutterby, released on A&M Records.
While Boucher’s co-producers, Brad Jones and Robin Eaton served as trusted ears on “Flutterby,” the final stamp came from Boucher on each song, including the radio-friendly, “Another White Dash,” and “I Can’t Make Me.” Aside from Cello and a few drum tracks, Boucher also played every instrument on the record.
After a tour with The Barenaked Ladies and a round on in-store appearances, Boucher has lots of new things on the boil, including a highly anticipated tour with Sarah McLachlan starting this month. I was fortunate to see Boucher perform a New York City showcase at Mercury Lounge before she left.
Womanrock: You just finished opening for The Barenaked Ladies and you have dates lined up in July with Sarah McLachlan. How do you feel about the tours?Butterfly Boucher: The Barenaked Ladies tour was fabulous. It was a real confidence builder because I didn’t have a band with me…I just had a guitar and songs…It’s nice to know that I can get away with that if I have to…I’m really excited about doing the tour with Sarah…I’m looking forward to seeing how her audience responds to my stuff.
Womanrock: It seems logical that you’d be most comfortable on the road. You led a nomadic lifestyle spending a good deal of your childhood traveling across Australia with your family after your dad’s music publishing deal fell through. In fact, you practically learned how to read by watching road signs. What were some of the first words you recognized?Boucher: I’m trying to remember…Mom would occasionally just go, “What does that say?” and I’d have to try to figure it out. Then she’d get tricky ones, “What does that say?” and I’d be like, “Ahh, ‘rest stop.’” …Another thing is I’d have to figure out how far we were from the city we were going to. So I learned math as well. I love that stuff. And it was practical. You could see that you were learning it for a reason.
Womanrock: When your family did settle, you enjoyed a commune-style upbringing amongst dancers, like your mom, painters, and other musicians. How has that community left its imprint with you?Boucher: I lived with a lot of people where what I’m attempting to do now isn’t anything new. My dad was signed to a major label and got so far, as well as other people that I grew up with. Being amongst it all I saw the failures and the things that worked. So in a way, I feel like I’m doing it for everybody that brought me up, which makes it not so much about me. It’s what I can give back to people. I just want to inspire people. In the community context you do grow up having that. When you’re living with adults and they respect you even though you’re a kid and vice versa, there’s just a maturity you get a little bit younger, as well as respect towards elders. I hope it all intertwines with what I do and how I speak and the values I have on life.
Womanrock: You started using a 4-track recorder when you were only 10 years old. You also play various instruments, which we hear all over Flutterby. Did you have training?Boucher: No, I haven’t had a lesson in my life, but my childhood was really just like a great big lesson. I grew up, like I said, around other musicians and I would sit on the piano stool and watch one of my dads friends play piano for hours and hours and that’s how I learned. I would just watch and listen. So by the time I was about 10, I was in the studio with those guys being a session musician and learning the ropes. Even before I learned how to use the four-track I had been playing in different bands.
Womanrock: Including your sister Sunshine’s band?
Boucher: Yeah. Having so many kids, we were always trying to make kid bands. We were always making up a new lineup.
Womanrock: You wrote the song “Another White Dash” with your sister for her band Mercy Bell?Boucher: I wrote it when I was in her band…I wrote it with the guitarist.
Womanrock: One of the lines I found interesting was, “There is something exciting about leaving everything behind.” I wondered if this was written at a time when you were in motion.Boucher: It was very literal at the time. Actually I wrote it a couple of years ago, but I was actually thinking back like three years beforehand…In that band (Mercy Bell) we toured our butts off for about 3 or 4 years all over Australia. It’s kind of the story of my life. It’s just continually going to new places, which is exciting, and meeting new people…The sad bit is that you are also leaving places…I wanted to find a line that was perfect to explain that feeling.
Womanrock: How long has Flutterby been in the making?Boucher: I finished it about a year and a half ago…Some of the songs on
Flutterby were brand new and I wrote them in amongst recording which took about 10 months on and off. In studio time, we were in about three months, but we spread it out because I didn’t have money to pay for it at the time…The producers I worked with just believed in it. Every time there was a gap in their studio schedule I would go in for two or three days…I didn’t have pressure from the label. I wasn’t signed at that point. It was a really good time…“Another White Dash” was the only song that I really took from a past project.
Womanrock: Do you have a favorite song on Flutterby?Boucher: I don’t know about a favorite, but I was very proud of the song “A Walk Outside.” I liked them all, but that was the first one where I went, “That’s my sound.” There was a good mix of dirty sounds and clean sounds and little hooks and melodies. I felt really comfortable in that.
Womanrock: Can you talk about your thinking going into the album?Boucher: I really did go into it with the plan of just wanting to have an album that could be competitive on radio. I wanted it to get out. I didn’t want to make an album that would just sit on a few people’s shelves. I was sick of making music that did that…So I aimed to write a pop album and I wanted it to be really hooky and I wanted every song to be something you wanted to sing along to…I was being true to myself by doing that. I love music like that. I grew up on 80’s music, which has major hooks. I just wanted to write an album also that was honest and vulnerable and of the moment.
Womanrock: Are there particular subjects or experiences you tend to draw influence from in your writing?Boucher: It’s all pretty personal. Some of it’s fictional and elaborated, but mostly it stems from personal experiences. If you read the lyrics, they are pretty raw in parts. They’re about past relationships and also about the whole struggle of being an artist and wanting to still keep it innocent and creative, but realizing at some point it is a job…There’s always the balance. You want to know how far you have to go and how much you have to compromise. It’s all a big kind of game.
Womanrock: How did you cross paths with A&M?Boucher: I met a guy named Mike Dixon who basically just travels the world and has amazing contacts with producers and artists and labels. His talent is getting people together. Eventually I hooked up with Brad Jones and Robin Eaton and they co-produced this album with me…When it came to getting the recordings out, Mike Dixon once again stepped in. He introduced me to a bunch of labels…I eventually met with A&M, which is on Interscope. Strangely enough I had been signed to Interscope before with my sister’s band. So I’ve been signed and dropped and ended up on the same label.
Womanrock: Did the fact that your father’s previous publishing deal fell through set you up to mistrust the music industry or are you just wiser because of it?Boucher: It’s actually a positive thing to realize you can’t trust that many people. It’s sad and when you realize that your little world does get a bit shattered. But it’s also part of growing up. Even with yourself, you can’t always know how you’re going to react. Essentially you’ve got to go with your gut feeling at the time and that’s why it’s important to take it a day at a time. You never know how things are going to change. It certainly wizened me up. It takes a lot of bruises and falls to get calluses to just deal with the industry. I was surprised that after everything that I’ve seen and been through that I still came back. I’m a sucker. But I really feel that this is important…I just need to give it my best shot. If it doesn’t work for my solo thing, it’s not the end of the world…Out of anything I’ve been involved in this is just amazing the way it has unfolded. I don’t know what I did differently this time. Sometimes things just click. I have great management and a great label. I still have the ups and downs, but somehow I can emotionally remove myself from things. I don’t get as excited until things are happening in front of me.
Womanrock: Your mom is a very spiritual woman and chose your name based on signs she felt were divinely inspired. Your dad packed up the family to move you all away when you were kids, again, based on faith. How does a higher power play into your life today now that you’re an adult?Boucher: My faith plays a huge part in everything. It’s how I make decisions…You know how we were just talking about how you can’t really trust anybody, not even yourself. I truly do believe that you can trust God. Some people would think that I’m crazy, but it works for me. I trust that going with my gut feeling is ultimately listening to what’s in my heart as a human being.
Womanrock: Your family is obviously very artistic. Are they proud of what you’re doing?Boucher: Oh, very much. They’ll drop me emails every now and then and my Dad looks me up on the Internet all the time. He Google’s my name and he’ll write me a note letting me know, “Oh that was a nice article,” which is really sweet. It’s nice to know they’re all the way across the world and they’re still following. My youngest sister is still involved a lot. She does all my clothes for most of the photo shoots I’ve done…My family is still very much a part of what I do and they support me a lot.
Originally posted to WomanRock.com July '04.
Butterfly Boucher performing "I Can't Make Me Love Me."
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