When she quit 10,000 Maniacs and sought asylum in a solo career, Natalie Merchant's career took full flight
by: Desmond Sampson
On the eve of her first Auckland performance, Natalie Merchant is praising the country. "People tell me New Zealand's a beautiful country. Actually, I used to think I'd live there one day, which is a strange feeling to have about a place you've never been to. I don't know if I'll figure out why in two days, but we're coming back to do the Lilith Fair in March, so maybe I'll get a chance to explore it then," she adds enthusiastically.
That gives New Zealanders two chances to explore Merchant's onstage theatrics in an extravaganza she's perfected over 17 years, first fronting the cult band 10,000 Maniacs, and latterly as a soloist touring her quadruple-platinum debut, Tigerlily, and its enigmatic successor, Ophelia.
"A lot of the fans don't realise I've been around that long. They think Ophelia's my first album. I don't mind that, because I don't think it's so great to tell people you're 35 and have been doing this for 17 years," she laughs. "But because I've been doing this a really long time I've grown up and changed a lot. When I started I used to be the shy, introspective ingenue and now I'm a pretty confident woman. Sometimes it's hard for other people to accept that, or that people change and grow."
Merchant cites this as one of the reasons why, after six albums and 13 years, she decided to quit 10,000 Maniacs to pursue a solo career. She also felt the band was stifling her creativity.
"I have a lot more fun and freedom now," she enthuses. "I can choose the musicians I work with, but in the Maniacs, if somebody wasn't fitting musically or personality-wise there wasn't anything that could be done.
"Also, I felt like my lyrics were representing everybody so I had to censure myself, and over the years comments were made that because my lyrics were too heavy or too inaccessible that was the reason we weren't achieving the level of success some people wanted."
Ironically, despite refusing to alter her lyrical style since going solo, Merchant has found the fortune that eluded 10,000 Maniacs. She continues to use her music as the canvases for her words to paint fantasies like Effigy and Life Is Sweet from Ophelia, or Carnival and Wonder from Tigerlily, propelling it to quadruple-platinum status, with sales of four million -- more than all 10,000 Maniacs' albums combined.
[webmaster's note: this is not true. if you add up sales of the all the albums made with 10kM, it's easily more than 4 million. In My Tribe, Our Time in Eden & MTV Unplugged are all at least double-platinum. That's 6 millions records right there. Blind Man's Zoo is platinum so that's 7 million, without even counting The Wishing Chair or Hope Chest.]
"That is ironic," she nods, "because it turns out I was writing the commercial songs. But I don't know exactly what caused the audience to double between 10,000 Maniacs and Tigerlily."
Watching her sublime live performance, the secret of her success is obvious. It's the combination of her mystical lyrics, haunting melodies, enchanting vocals and uninhibited presence, culminating in Merchant climbing atop her grand piano, during Life Is Sweet, for an unforgettable finale.
"I'd never done that before," she exclaims, "so if it was a person's first time seeing me live they may have been quite surprised. Albums are always more subdued than live performances. That's true of most artists, but it's even more so for me. I do perform some atmospheric, moody material, but I try to gear my material toward some of the more optimistic, upbeat songs in the set. That way I have the chance to dance and have a good time with the audience because I do enjoy performing."
That means there could very well be 10,000 maniacs in the Auckland audience cheering Merchant on this week. Will you be one of them?