Kean, Sherry (Sherry Huffman) - I Want You Back // An Interview With Sherry Kean

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	I Want You Back

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	An interview between Greg Squill, Toronto Star and Sherry Kean recorded 1983	09:21

Photos

Videos

No Video

Information/Write-up

An interview between Greg Squill, Toronto Star and Sherry Kean recorded 1983:

Hi, I'm Greg Quill, and we're in the studio talking with Sherry Keane about her new mini LP, Mixed Emotions, and about her career. Sherry was, of course, lead singer for a while in The Sharks, one of Toronto's most popular new groups for a while. And when The Sharks split up, she and husband, guitarist David Baxter, moved to New York.

More or less on a whim, I gather. Well, uh, yeah, we went to New York for, um, a weekend. And, uh, while we were there we just really fell in love with it and decided that we wanted to stay there for a while. So you just rented a place and stayed on? Yeah, we got an apartment that weekend and we went back and got our, got all our belongings and my son and our dog and went to New York.

Is there any, anything about New York particularly that, uh, that endeared you? No. Yeah, it was, there was a certain energy, definitely. There's a certain energy in New York that's um, if you're, if you're a person that's involved in the arts, You find it easy to work there and, um, there's a lot of people who are doing the same thing you're doing.

So you can, you know, really find a lot of, um, teaching facilities. I studied dance and I studied vocal training when I was in New York. And you were there for 10 months. Yes. And in that time you met up with a number of producers and finally with Mike Thorn, who ended up producing Mixed Emotions. How did you actually make the connection with Mike?

Well, um, yes, we were talking to a lot of other producers and, um, They were all good, but none of them really, like David, David or I just didn't really feel comfortable with any of them until we met Mike. And then we knew as soon as we met him, we both, you know, sort of looked at each other and said, okay, that's the one let's go make the music.

And what was it about him that, that appealed to you? Uh, I guess what was it that he was the most like us? He was, he, he was, um, seemed to me to be a young, modern person and, um, he wasn't into, you know, going into the studio and staying there, you know, 24 hours and getting really burnt out and doing drugs and, you know, carrying on this sort of rock and roll lifestyle.

He wasn't into that at all and we're not into that. So it was, you know, it worked out really well for us. In what ways did he, do you feel he contributed to the, to the songs? Well, he's got really good ears. That's the main thing about Mike, is he's got great ears. And he allowed us to be ourselves. And of course you used New York Session players on the album, and he had a hand in selecting them.

But I believe you actually went out and saw some of them yourselves. Yeah, um, Fernando Sanders was playing with Lou Reed and we went and saw him, so we hired him and then he brought the drummer to us. And then, um, we went to see missing persons and a band opened for them called the Ray Beats. And as soon as we saw Pat Irwin, who's a guitar player and a keyboard player and a saxophone player, we spent the rest of the night finding him and we hired him.

The work you did in dance and voice training in New York was actually, you described it as a period of growth. Will it make much of a difference, do you think, now that you're planning to get back on the road? Oh yeah, it's made a lot of difference. I really feel like my endurance is up a lot. It's, you know, it's a very physical thing being on stage and, you know, you do get tired and I like to have a lot of energy.

I think the dancing and the vocal training has helped me. Um, Be able to sing with and dance with the kind of energy that I want to, and be able to not get tired by the end of the, by the end of the set. Right. Now the material on, on this album covers a fairly broad spectrum, but it, but it, it all has a very good pop feel, um, to it.

A lot of references to old and new styles of music. What's your favorite song on the mini album? My favorite song is I Want You Back. That's mine too. It actually reminds me of, because it has a kind of percussive rhythm feel, it reminds me of something older. Um, something very basic in rock and roll. Do you agree with that?

Yeah, I do agree with that, and it was, it's always been one of our favorite songs to do live, and it also was, our fans always requested that song. So it was fun for us to put it down, and I think it turned out the best. Yeah, it's great. We mentioned earlier that, uh, the material in the album covers a wide range of, uh, styles, up to and including country music.

There's a, there's quite a country element in Universe of Two. Oh, thank you. Yeah, I think so. Um, a lot of people give us a hard time about that because it's either you are a country, or you're not a country writer. And if that influences in your music, you want to put it there, but that's not saying I want to go and play country music, you know, for the rest of my career, but it definitely is an influence that David Baxter and I both have.

Um, and I believe there was a special slant to the lyrics of university. Uh, university was written for Yoko Ono and John Lennon. And in what way, how did, how did that come about? What were you trying to get at? Uh, well, I guess I was, I was really thinking about them one day and I was thinking about the fact that they were so close and they were so in love, even though, I mean, they were always saying we are, we are a universe of two and other people really doubted it and was really, you know, down on her for a while and then down on him for his relationship with her.

And I can imagine how hard it would be for them to stay that close to each other and go through that. And then. Yeah. As it ended up, they won. You and David write the songs together. Um, Does one write lyrics and one write music? No, we both collaborate. You know, and sometimes I write the music and he writes the words and the opposite.

And sometimes we both totally collaborate. Because now you've done all this work in New York and Capitol has the album out. You've moved back to Ontario, to Burlington. Yes, I bought a house in Burlington. It's a long way from New York. Yes, it is. I plan to go there as often as possible. To New York? Yes. Of course, you'll be based here for a while, and I believe you have a band in rehearsal, and there are some tour plans.

Um, it's been some time since you've played. Are you looking forward to getting back on the road? Oh yeah, I miss it. You know, that's the most thing I miss when I was away, and when I don't play, I really miss it. David does too. We both get really, you know, Friday night comes around and, you know, what do you want to do?

Well, we want to play. It's what we want, really want to do. Yeah. Both really miss it. You had, you had a fairly solid following, uh, locally, uh, a couple of years ago. Um, I, I wonder whether you have any contact with you, with your fans still, now that you haven't been playing for a while. I hope so. I mean, I hope they will stay supportive of me.

It's a hard thing when you change, when you move on musically, and you, you know, you dissolve a band, and they move on musically, and you move on musically. It's easy for the band members, and it's easy for you, and it's hard for the fans. I mean, they were used to seeing you with these certain people, and they liked your songs, they liked your music, and I think sometimes they're a little resentful when, you know, you have to move on.

It takes him a while to come around, I guess. Yeah. Talking about moving on, you have a little boy who's been through all this, uh, great turmoil in the last little while. He's been to New York for ten months and back again and, uh, I'm just wondering how he's adapted to all this. Yeah, I think it's hard for, for Sergei.

Um, we're very close and I know that he prefers to be with me but it's, it's a harder life for him because I go places. where it's very adult oriented. I mean, New York City is a very adult city. Um, it's not set up for children anywhere. I mean, you can't let your child go out unless you're with them. So for a child who likes to ride his bicycle around and, and be outside a lot, it's, it's very hard for them.

And also being, you know, having a band and, and being in the business that I'm in, it takes up a lot of my time and a lot of my energy. And sometimes Sergei just has to wait. Like when we were He was with us and sometimes he would come in and we, you know, he'd go to ask me a question and I'd have to tell him to be quiet.

So he got to the point where every time he'd come in, he'd talk, he'd go, Oh no, was it a take? Like he wouldn't, he just, you know, he just would be afraid as soon as he got in the studio that he was going to say something wrong. But, um, I know that he still prefers to, And he's also very proud of me. Like if he's having a down time and I'll, I'll be talking to him.

I'll say, Sergei, do you want me to, do you want me to stop? You know, would you like it better if I stopped? He'd say, no, no. You know, he, he likes to tell his friends that his mom, you know, is a singer and, you know, show him the album cover and things like he, he really likes that part of it, but he, you know, he has to give.

And I think he has had to, and he's done a good job of it. Now you've done so many things in your life, what is your main ambition? I want to be a pop star. I want to have the chance to make the kind of music that I want to make, and I want to be able to play music in front of people, in front of large numbers of people.

A pop star? Yes. Great, that's fairly honest. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Comments