Interview with Jennifer Parkin

Audio Cantrips: We have something truly epic for you, today. Today, we get to hear from the "Razor-Sharp Beauty Queen", Jennifer Parkin of Ayria! When I think of cybergoth, Ayria immediately pops into my mind very first thing, and I know it's that way for other people, too. What is it like being a cybergoth icon? When you first broke into the scene and as time went on, did you try to make your music and style fit this mold or was it just something that kind of happened?

(Property of Jennifer Parkin, taken by Jeff Turner Photo)

Jenn: I’m not really sure what the term cybergoth means outside of purely fashion.  I do wear a lot of different styles of futuristic clothing, or what can be considered “cyber” from companies I love to support like Plastik Wrap, Future State, Artifice.  Most of them Toronto companies from my hometown area.  Companies like Plastik Wrap make these high quality, unique  fabric and designs and styles that are really comfortable to wear on stage while still looking amazing.  I like the whole look combined with some punkier clothing, stompy boots, and a lot of fusion with 80’s like lace gloves, big black hair bows, hearts and stars.  I never considered myself an icon, since I take existing popular designs, and blend it all into my own stylings.  But I’m flattered if anyone thinks I’m an icon. For my music, which I more considered, electro-industrial-dance. Then I’m very flattered to be considered an icon. I’ve been working my butt off in this underground scene for a decade now though, so it didn’t come out of nowhere! ;)

Audio Cantrips: You have some projects that have just been completed, and you have more music on the horizon. You put out the Hunger single back in June of last year, and you just released the Plastic And Broken EP on Valentine's Day. Your upcoming full album, Plastic Makes Perfect, is coming sometime soon. First things first, when can we expect to see Plastic Makes Perfect? Are you going to give us any tidbits to listen to between now and release date? What should our ears expect from the full release? Also, do you intend to make any more music videos anytime soon? Unless I'm mistaken, the last time you did a music video was for "My Device".

Jenn: Woah, a lot of questions in there.. ;) First off, “Plastic Makes Perfect” is scheduled to be released on May 24th, 2013.  There are audio snippets of all of the tracks on my webshop where you can already pre-order (ayria.com/shop).  I’m also going to post a sampler online soon, closer to the release. So far there’s actually been 4 tracks released and available from the upcoming 12 track release: “Hunger”, “Missed The Mark” and “Plastic Makes Perfect” from the EP that was released on Valentines, and now “Friends And Enemies” that was given to anyone who pre-ordered the upcoming release from my Bandcamp site.  So, these songs can start to shape what listeners can expect from the upcoming release, a mix of aggression and delicate electro pop melodies, but again, like every Ayria release, some of these don’t even scratch the surface of the other diverse tracks that are still to be heard. I’ve included many different styles and genres on this release. Some typical dance club songs, but more ballads, mid-tempo songs. I explained it before, as human beings, we have so many dimensions, and moods, I could never write a 100% stompy aggressive album, that’s only one dimension of me ;)  As for another video, I’d love to shoot another one this summer. My friend who did the “My Device” video wants to work together again. We’ve both grown so much since then. It will be cool to come back together.. hoping I can raise enough funds to pay for a video shoot with the upcoming release!  So, we’ll have to see first if we can make it a reality.

Audio Cantrips: So, you just put out the Plastic and Broken EP. Pretend I'm someone who is on the fence about whether or not I want to buy it. I'm being wishy-washy, scratching my head, twiddling my thumbs, and showing off every other painfully indecisive signal imaginable, and you need to do a sales pitch to tell me definitively why I should buy your EP. This is your chance to really sell it to me. Why should I buy your latest release?

Jenn:  oh god, I don’t know. I’m terrible at hyping myself up like what you’re asking me to do.  Honestly, if you like my voice and what I do with it, you’ll love this album. I’ve put countless hours into coming up with what I feel are some of my best hooks, vocal melodies and harmonies.  If you don’t like my voice, don’t bother.. well, you probably wouldn’t have anyways!  This release contains a lot of diversity so you won’t get bored if you don’t like a particular genre or song style.  I’ve gone back to doing more ballads, and experimental type songs like I did on Flicker I guess... but it’s really nothing like Flicker.. you have to hear it in it’s entirety I think. Let it sink in. It’s not as obvious a release as “Hearts For Bullets” either. I’ll let others do the selling for me if they like it, hopefully they’ll share it with their friends who might like it too. You should also “buy” it to support independent musicians who use up all of their free time when they aren’t working their normal day job to create this music, and who use any possible vacation time and beyond to tour and meet you all! ;)

Audio Cantrips: As of right now, you have a twenty-three stop tour planned for May and June in which you support Project Pitchfork. What's it like to tour with Project Pitchfork? You toured with them before, and based on what I could tell from your blog posts about it, you had a magnificent time. What will be the same and what will be different about this tour? What hopes and expectations do you have for it?

Jenn: It’s a full one month long tour. It’s a very grueling schedule with very few days off to rest (usually on those days, we are driving for 10 hours to get to the next stop). I’m excited to play for fans again, and touring with Project Pitchfork is always a blast.  I guess bands tend to like us! Every band we’ve toured with has taken us on the road with them at least twice! ;)  My hopes is that the new album is well received on the road, we see familiar fans and faces along the way, make some new ones, meet a lot of great people and sell a lot of merch and try not to get sick as we are usually prone too on  tour!  That’s really all I can hope for at this time ;)

Audio Cantrips: Your first album, Debris had probably the most raw, unprocessed sound of all of your albums. I think that's why it's my favorite, although I like all of your albums. Was this intentional when you made Debris? It felt like it had a little more EBM influence in it than the rest of your albums. Also, would you say Debris seemed to have a bit more angst in it than the rest? Why or why not? "DOS", "Had Something", and "Substance" are what lead me to ask about angst, in particular.

Jenn: Haha.. they were raw and unprocessed because I wasn’t yet skilled enough to pull off anything more!  I listen back to some of those songs and cringe at the vocals or the production. I mean, yes, still one of my babies, and I’m still incredibly proud of all my efforts.  I never thought Debris to be my angstiest release actually.  My harshest songs “My Revenge On The World”, “1000 Transmissions” are from Flicker and Hearts For Bullets respectively.  I did cover many topics on “Debris” though,  my favourite songs from that one is “Disease” since it’s so pretty yet sad.  I think it had more of an EBM influence since I collaborated with so many people on it, the main person being Shaun F. who was doing Glis at the time.  He was programming with the virus, so yeah, we had an instant built in EBM sound. Haha. Seriously though, I love all the songs from Debris, but I believe I’ve come very far from that first release a decade ago. I try to grow and expand with each new release. So if Debris is angstiest, then I’d say Flicker is the saddest and most artistic, Hearts for Bullets is the smack you in your face until you move, and “Plastic Makes Perfect” will perhaps combine all of the previous efforts, and add an element of happiness (gasp) with perhaps more wisdom as I’ve grown.

Audio Cantrips: Science and science fiction seem to be heavy influences for you, too. What would you say are your likes in that department? What inspires you in that regard? Also, I'd like to mention your "My Device" video, once again. You take on a 90s-style underground hacker theme in that video, and as anyone who pays attention to my site knows, I'm a huge sucker for that kind of thing. Were you ever a fan of stuff that was part of that culture, like The Matrix, ReBoot, or Hackers?

Jenn: Totally a fan of the Matrix, Hackers... don’t know much about reboot.  Favourite movies include Alien, Aliens, Blade runner, etc. but I think many people in our genre are heavily into all of this genre?  I also combine it with Fantasy like Legend, and 80’s... I can’t take credit for the My Device video story line.  It was all my friend Grahams vision. I just went along for the ride, and learned Irish stick fighting from a real expert.. and suffered sore legs and arms for a week! 

Audio Cantrips: Considering I've talked about your old stuff, I guess it's fair to ask how you feel like you've changed as an artist and a person over time. What influences you now that didn't matter as much in the past? What would you say you do now that you didn't do back in the earlier part of your career? Do you feel like you're a better musician now than you used to be? Why or why not?

Jenn: I’ve changed a lot.  I wouldn’t continue doing music if I didn’t feel I was progressing, perfecting myself through music development. I write better melodies, I now think I’m great at song structure and writing hooks, I work hard on harmonies.  I’d like to say I improve with every release. My newest element in this new CD is happiness.. I joke I have a song that’s dainty and happy this time.  You can’t stay angsty (100%) for your whole life.  Other emotions will emerge! ;)  I have lots more confidence about what I’m doing and know that there’s people that do truly connect with what I do and want to hear more!  That’s the most amazing part of this all!  It keeps me going that I’ve reached fans on a level like that.  I now also try to step back and enjoy it.. something I would never have done in the past.

Audio Cantrips: Finally, what do you see in the future for Ayria? What are your short-term and long-term goals? Do you see continuous evolution in your sound, or are you pretty happy with how things are now? Are there things you'd like to do that you haven't, yet? Are there musicians you'd like to collaborate with who you haven't, so far?

Jenn: You want the honest truth? I have no idea what I’ll do next.  After “Hearts For Bullets” I said I wouldn’t write another album.  I didn’t have the energy and I felt like there was nothing left in me.. It’s a weird exhaustive and drained feeling I get after writing an album, yet on the other hand, it’s always been a temporary feeling and I can’t imagine NOT writing still. we’ll see how I feel after the tour. I’ll probably come home with new inspiration.  One thing I’ve been wanting lately is to be part of a real band!  I’d love to work with other inspired people who have the talents and where I could focus solely on writing vocals and singing and collaborating instead of doing everything.. Maybe I’ve come full circle. I miss collaboration, it gets lonely as a solo artist!  We’ll see! ;) I still want to do music in the future, that’s all I know for sure! ;)