Interview with betty donelly [bettydonelly] on Whohub

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What do you do? What is your musical specialty?

hello...

i consider myself to be an indie musician in the band betty donelly ..which is funny because i am a solo artist

as i can make up from the feedback and testimonials i am getting from listeners, other musicians as well as industry folks, my forte seems to be songwriting, and i would add that playing all the instruments you hear on my post 2004 recordings was certainly a thrill .. i acquired basic recording skills such as how to place microphones in front of speaker cabinets and such...also i finally learned to use my old FOSTEX X-26 the proper way (still learning though) ... i taught myself how to use basic (free) audio sequencer software with just the elementary features ...i decided that i will never be a sound engineer or a MIDI programmer so i just use an audio seq ..

and then there's my online presence ..since 2004 but mainly as of 2005 i worked hard to get me some decent interweb presence ..just google betty donelly and you'll know what i mean...

of course i could do better but here i mostly own the first 15 results pages in google...

i am good at online promotions but i believe i am not very well equipped to sell my music online the right way ...it does require a budget for monthly overhead to put your sales system in place ...but for now i am relying on third-party online music and merchandise stores which will create widget codes or music communities that let you sell your music...

my main promotions activities are on myspace ... ..i did invest a small amount of dollars to buy some myspace strategy & tactics ebooks but i am mostly proud that my operations have no overhead at all, for now..TWITTER is becoming of more importance for me as i am getting more and more friend requests on there..

so all in all, what i am trying to say is that when you're at it all by yourself, you are forced to do everything yourself!..from the start in 2004...until the beginning of 2009 ..i did everything myself ..i created songs with arrangements for three to four instruments ..i could play the drums too but then i'd have to buy an electronic drum kit ..because i can't program MIDI .. and i did take up drumming lessons for two years, and singing lessons for two years .. but realising that you can always evolve and do better with each new recording is very rewarding and uplifting for me ..

strictly musically speaking, .. i am very good at joining the dots when it comes to solving that big jigsaw that makes up a song ...i regularly play my main instruments, the ones i'd be playing live when in a band .., guitars and vocals..,..i can tell myself first thing in the morning, when i am still overtaken by vivid dreamy imagery, to sit down with a kitchen timer set to ten minutes, and jot down sensory and kinesthetic proze about a chosen object (object writing), ...usually when i do this, .. i put myself in the right mood for a day of lyric writing, or at least jot down initial lines of words..

planning a tour is not yet on the drawing board ..but currently (Q1 of 2009) ...

i am also quite good in overlooking the battlefield and find my way in somehow ..

i have the ability to be able to work long hours nearly each day...but as the people in the industry taught me, becoming a professional musician/songwriter, and whatnot, ..takes 20% out of your schedule for real music related activities, and 80% is promotion ..

at this point, i could certainly use some help with my promotions activities, so i can concentrate on what i do best and what i really really want to do most ...making music for music lovers!

Do you work alone or in a group? If in a group, who are the others you work with?

the strangest things keep happening to me ..

i started my volunteer job as a dancer in a contemporary dance project, under the umbrella of a local cultural center in somewhere in Q1 of 2008 ...

unknowingly of what might happen to me ..i went to the choreographer's workshops without much vision or insight into the project ..

now, i believe that when you are most in need of help ..help lurks from right behind the corner!

now, the choreographer had asked me if i'd be willing to let the project use some of my music for the dance show ..

so when i said yes ..i promptly got an invitation make decent professional recordings of four to five of my songs ...

but it wasn't until he had found the time to truly listen to my music and just recently (Q1 of 2009), .. he asked me if i wanted to record my complete repertoire, which now consists of 22 songs, some still unpublished ...and more under way..

so currently we are gathering a team around me ..

our team so far consists of

betty donelly (do-it-all)
a recording/sound engineer
an agent (for shopping the demo to venues, in the theaters', clubs and cultural centers' circuits ...we'll use that as a springboard to jump start my career

what we need most now would be a computer savvy, social networks adept/ promotions manager ..

because i just can't do it on my own anymore o:)

Is there a web address where one can listen, see, or read some of your work?

like i said , my name is scattered on music community profiles allover the place and so is my music and videos...

soon my main websites will undergo a humongeous make-over ..but i'm still waiting for my first EP (physical product) to be released ...then an album CD ..i also would like to sell my complete works on small USB sticks as a easy to distribute medium ..

online you can listen to my songs on :

betty donelly home
betty donelly myspace

for a look at my main stores please visit

betty donelly music and merchandise

Please list any awards, competitions, or other acknowledgments you would like to mention.

well...

on my myspace page and elsewhere on the worldwide interweb there are lotsa testimonials about me!...also be sure to check out the comments on my myspace over at www.myspace.com/bettydonelly!

i just recently won a free review recorded on a audio CD by a soon to be released international music band magazine called Bandcoach for a belgian and dutch audience) ...the CD will be included in the first issue of the magazine ..currently the magazine hasn't arrived yet (you know...snail mail :o)

i've participated in the 2007 edition of the International Songwriting Competition but didn't make it into the finals ...(with Tom Waits, Robert Smith from The Cure, and Frank black from Pixies as judges...amongst others..)

Please list discography in which you have participated.

1988 : 'This Time', single by my former band THE FEAR on a compilation vinyl
colour disc

2007-2008 : 'Alone', seven song online album (available on AMIESTREET

'no title' EP, a five song online EP performed live by THE ELEPHANTS
..another former band of mine ...also available on AMIESTREET

How did you begin making music? Who introduced you?

in fact, it was my father who introduced me to music, being a violin player himself..

so he sent me to music academy to learn to read music (something i'm still not very good at), music theory and the violin ...

then at age 16 or so ..it happened..i was struck by lightning bolts all of a sudden when i heard Robert smith's voice for the first time...i never had felt such a connectedness with someone like that before ..it was amazing ..from that point on, i knew what i was going to be doing for the rest of my life ..

so, you could say that my father fueled the musical spark in me but it was Robert Smith who really got me going!

What was your musical education?

- childhood: music academy : reading and writing, music theory,
instrument: the violin (age 7 until age 14)

- early nineties: drum lessons in Agostini school (PARIS, FR)
but from a delegation teaching in Brussels, BE)
instrument: the drums

- 1991-1993 : ROCK SCHOOL (music theory, basic harmony,
instrument: the guitar)

- 2004-2005 : music academy : reading and writing, music theory,
instrument: singing

- all my life since i discovered The Cure, i followed their every step
and went to see them as much as i could..in the front row!

- music has always been in my blood it seems ..

When did you realise that making music could be a way of life for you?

i believe it was when we started playing live back in the eighties through the early nineties ..

but having to work day jobs and study in different schools at the same time was wasn't really doing me any good..

in the band THE ELEPHANTS is where i matured musically, having to write the songs by myself and even teaching the other's instruments parts to the other band members ..

but the day i realised my dream could really become a reality is when i got involved in the dance project where i am a dancer ...by asking me to record my complete repertoire ..not only will i have that long awaited demo EP to shop to venues and in a later phase maybe to A&R, i don't know yet ..

also, my agent (who is also my choreographer) will be the one to book my first noticeable tour ...

but not until i found myself surrounded by a team did i ever felt or believe things could work out so nice ...i can see a more global picture in my head now of what i am doing ...all the dots seem to join together now....and it's only since the start of 2009 that i really started to believe in myself, on the practical side you know...logistics and such ..

but i have always found, even in puberty, that making music could be the best way of life for me ..

What is your creative process?

well, since you're asking about my creative process, i want you to know that i don't believe one can only write when inspired by someone or something ..

if that were to be true, songwriters wouldn't be able to write that many songs in a short period of time ...

for me, it almost always starts with the lyrics on one hand ...and a new guitar riff or two that don't seem to have anything in common and that i invent in total independence of each other .. what i am saying is that the guitar parts i am working on and inventing by the time my lyrics are finished, are also the parts that will end up in the song, but they weren't made for each other persé

i spend a lot of time rewriting my lyrics, until every word that's in there is enough, and necessary at the same time ...i always use a online thesaurus, dictionary and online rhyming dictionary..(i own this cool program called Masterwriter), and when i start a lyric, i put the first drafts away for a couple weeks or months, ad then i'll review them and make nessessary changes where needed ...

in 2005-2006 i wrote the bulk of my songs and now i go more slowly in writing lyrics, but do it on a regular basis ...

i tend to work on something for long hours or days at once sometimes ...always on the same thing ..that's a real formula for success..."see your target, keep it in your sights, hit it until you hit it..!"

so for instance, these days we are working on my recordings until certainly in June somwhere .. in the mean time ..i have three to four unfinished songs in the pipeline ...

and also on the online promotions aspects of my music business, creativity plays a huge and important part!...

and i enjoy planning my days away but less so for writing music ...writing is still too much of a "i'll write when i am inspired" kind of thing, whereas it is common to put yourself in front of a deadline and work towards your deadline ...

improvisation ...i just love to play with others and improvise, specifically on the bass guitar, because it is a melodic instrument to me, rather then a mere support for the drums..i love to play along to rock music, classical (what a source of inspiration these are for me!), ..and you know what?..one of my dreams is to get involved in a electronic music project, but playing guitars or bass guitar

all in all i tend not to structure my creative process too much, .. but i do practice a lot for when the time comes to start playing live, or as in our current situation, practice to record my songs, which will usually bring forth new ideas for possible enhancements that could improve the song ..

oh yes, and i don't believe a song is really finished, ever ..you can always twist and turn it over and inside out over and over again, ...although some songs should stay the way they are while others lend themselves more to live improvisation, which makes it an unpredictable song when you are playing it live and every time a bit different...also songs can evolve or mature, ...so the creative process to writing a song never stops i believe

When do you have your most lucid moments, in the morning or night?

when i decide to do some object writing, it is always when i get straight out of bed, with my dream images still vivid in my mind and mainly when i get up in the early morning...

on normal days, when i go to bed early, i tend to get up (without an alarm) very early (between 4 and 6 AM)..and i think that's the best way to jot gown new ideas and maybe some verses, when i really put my heart into it...

but as i live in an apartment, i can't play music at night so mostly i tend to rehearse and record during the day, while writing lyrics quietly in the early morning or at night....

i also tend to do my online promotions at night, because the bulk of my fanbase is situated in the USA, so at midnight here in my place, people are just getting home from work in the US ..and because it is also a silent activity, so i'd better do it at night and reserve the day for playing my music

Have you ever awoken with a melody created from your dreams?

i don't think so..

but i tend to dream very vividly and this is always a good inspirational source for song or lyric ideas..

but melodies?...i sure can't remember any..!

How do you know when a song is finished or needs no more changes?

i never know really because some songs have changed from the time i declared them as finished!

How did you discover your creative territory? How would you describe it?

all aspects of my entire life are geared towards my creative territory ...

i discovered creativity as a child, playing with toy soldiers...i had hundreds of those tiny critters, with airplanes, bunkers, landscapes and such ..

i invented a game where my friends and myself would spend hours setting up the battlefield, and then take turns in throwing an object at the battlefield to punch over soldiers and self made bunkers...the game eneded when the chief commander was overthrown ...

it was games like this that sparked and fueled my creative processes that would be so significant to my music career (which is still in its start up phase)

in trying to describe my creative process, i would say that i am always trying to imitate a diver diving for gemstones in the blue lagoon ...where the lagoon represents my soul and memories..when i dive really deep into my soul there's lots of treasures to unlock ... i do this by means of object writing, ..where i will set a timer to 10 minutes, pick an object (or something more abstract, like an emotion or feeling), and let the ink flow out of my pen non stop until the timer rings ...at minute six, i will have arrived at that special place where all the gems are to be found ...i keep those writings and distill lyrics from them ...

concerning my instruments ... finding a decent rhythm guitar part is the first step also (together with writing the words) ..but it's not that easy ..

mostly the lyrics are finished before i finish the guitar part ...

then finally, the bass lines and solo guitar parts are quickly invented on the spot on the day of my home recording ...(please note that i do this only for home recordings) ..when recording "for real" it is evident that all parts should be in place and well rehearsed ...!

What part of your job is your least favourite?

my least favourite parts of my job are those tedious jobs on the computer that i realise i can't do those tasks all by myself any longer!

i am talking about adding friends and followers on myspace and twitter mainly...

but when people start reacting and sending me comments and messages i knew it was all worthwile ...

but i am talking statistics here ...i shouldn't be my job to handle the stats if you know what i mean ... i am just a person on my own and can only go so far...here where i live no one seems interested in online promotion or marketing and it's becoming a huge burden on my time ..i would like to spend more time making music and less time sitting in front of a puter monitor

How often do you practice?

rarely do i get to do regular ecercises ...

i know this is somewhat of a mistake of mine but that's maybe because i am too lazy or something ...i dunno

i do play my songs a couple times every week (just the rhythm guitar and vocals)

currently we are practicing to record in order to know what we'll be doing when we hit the studio...

one advantage of not doing "book exercises" is that in fact i am carving out more of a personal niche ...because i tend to make music with the skills i already possess ...it's like milking a cow ...only when the first cow is totally empty of milk, i will settle for another cow!

How do you feel right before going out on stage?

i played a mini local tour for charities in 2008

the first times i was quite nervous and it showed ...

i believe that with a full band i will feel more at ease ..

What time did you get up this morning?

aahh...it was 11:30 AM i think

How do you sell yourself? What has been your experience with record companies and representatives?

i just recently created my own label ...

betty donelly productions

getting signed to a major label is not really what i am looking for at this point ...

i just want to prove to myself that i can make a decent living out of my own music business ...

i don't have much experience when it comes to record companies and their representatives...i can say this though...always be careful when choosing your words when talking to a major label rep because your words go round faster than lightning and you can shoot your own reputation very quickly before your career has even begun!

Who would you play with, without a doubt?

betty donelly, Robert Smith, David Bowie, Sir Paul

and i'll be very happy when i will have a full band to play in...

currently my agent is on the lookout for musicians, so stay tuned..!

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the business?

i would give the following advice to someone just starting out in the music business ...

1. get a team together ...a full band,a sound engineer, an agent and a promotions manager ...for starters..

get in touch with you local community and try to volunteer in a cultural center of sorts ..for me volunteering as a dancer in a cultural center turns out to be a springboard that could lift off my career ..

2. don't be a day job snob!...working 10-13+ hours per day on your music career isn't too much ..in fact, it's the only way to success ..

3. do your research and gather the necessary resources (books, ebooks) with regard to your music business

4.if you can, get coaching!

5. NO JAM WITHOUT PLAN! ...plan ahead, create a long term vision, a LIFE MASTERPLAN, a MUSIC BUSINESS PLAN, and such ..create GOALS for your PROJECTS, and break them down into STEPS in your ACTION PLANS

6. network, network, network! ..finding the right person to work with can be a daunting task ...if you're on professional online social networks, ask your contacts if they know of such a person who you are looking for ...also, network offline ...

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