Old Grey Cat - Contents - OGC Log/What's New

Lucy Lee's Roger Clark

by Diane Wilkes

Roger Clark is the primary songwriter, guitarist and producer of the Lucy Lee debut, How Else Can This Story Go?, a very cool CD that instantly caught the Old Grey Cat's ear.....

Old Grey Cat: Do you have a release date for the Island CD? If not, how can someone order the CD?

Roger: Island continues to drag their feet on a release date despite decent radio play on the first single. If they decide to pass on releasing it, it seems we can take the record back since there is a release clause in the deal. Copies of the indie CD are available through a number of music sites, including CDnow and Amazon.com.

Old Grey Cat: Who IS Lucy Lee? The list of musicians on the CD sleeve is probably not the touring roster...

Roger: Lucy Lee is an old-fashioned girl, never been in a rock band, grew up in small towns all over the East Coast. She came West when inspired by Pee Wee's Great Adventure. Her first professional singing job was singing telegrams! The band is me on guitar, and an expandable band including former members of Rubinoos, Pearl Harbour & The Explosions, Durocs and other Bay Area bands.

Old Grey Cat: The tone of Lucy Lee is that of a feisty feminist with a teen dream heart. As the primary songwriter, where does that come from?

Roger: I'm just a sensitive guy, I guess. My wife says I'm gay except when it comes to sex.

Old Grey Cat: I hear a lot of Brill Building echoes in "How Else..." What are your musical influences?

Roger: I do admire the pop process as commercial art--the songwriter and producer careers in record making seem to play out pop history more clearly than performers' careers. Old stuff--I love Neil Young's first solo album, "The Loner," etc., the Isley Brothers, XTC, Beach Boys, Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks." New stuff I like--Elliot Smith's records but not him, Rufus Wainwright's "April Fools," John Wesley Harding, Army of Lovers, and MOX.

Old Grey Cat: What does Lucy Lee (the singer) bring to the songs (besides the vocals)? What are the other musical influences on her and the band?

Roger: She is truly inspiring to me as a songwriter, with the way she looks at the world and at showbiz. She's not polluted by cheap pop culture cynicism and flip irony. She loves traditional showbiz and is inspired by classic singers like Ella Fitzgerald, k.d. lang, and Patsy Cline. She also does a rope trick on stage and has threatened to tap dance if I don't watch out.

Old Grey Cat: Could you tell me a bit about your live shows? Tour plans and so forth?

Roger: We do a lot of local opening act gigs for touring club bands like Junior Brown, Frente, Todd Rundgren, and The Derailers. We do regional large civic and charity events in the San Francisco area with a full band. We also do a lot of duo and trio gigs at coffee houses, busking and the like. We play in Hollywood every couple of months. They think Lucy can't be the real thing--just a big put-on. How wrong they are!

Old Grey Cat: The "new" album was originally released in 1996. What can fans expect in terms of new songs or--dare I say it?--a new album?

Roger: We actually put it out in February of '97, got signed to Polydor in August '97, and moved to Island in February of 1998. Then we got stuck in the corporate system while one big fish gobbled up another. This same record has never really seen the light of day except for our modest efforts. We have half of a new record recorded and enough new songs for two more!! We do a number of new songs live and needless to say we are looking forward to getting a new one out.

Old Grey Cat: You mentioned there would be a web page soon for Lucy Lee. When do you think that will be available and what is/will be the URL?

Roger: We will have www.lucylee.net, since a real estate speculator has .com. I expect within 30 days or so we will have something, if not everything, up. In the meantime, the current issue of Billboard online's Weather Bureau feature has a great essay by the editor, Timothy White, which is entitled, "Eye of the Storm," which gives a capsule of our experience in the alleged big-time record biz.

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