INTERVIEW WITH ONE HALF OF HOLIDAY FOR TWO: It's clear from your familial history why you got interested in movies at a young age (Cavallo's father is a cinematographer and her mother is an actress), but I am curious as to what has drawn you to the world of music. Were there experiences in your childhood that pushed you towards a potential career in music?
Bettie Cavallo: I have always loved music, ever since I was really little. I just loved to sing. I can't really explain it, except maybe--and this is going to sound really stupid-- when I would listen to a song it would make me more excited than anything else could. It would fill me with every amazing, wonderful feeling. It gave me so much joy to be able to listen to music. When I got a little bit older I wanted to play piano-- that's all I wanted to do. I remember learning how to play a blues progression on the xylophone in music class and thinking "This is the greatest thing I've ever learned." [laughs]
Rolling Stone: Obviously, you became a well-respected actress. Why the desire now to become a musician? Is there a balance-- or perhaps even a tension-- between the ways you approach these two crafts?
BC: Writing music is really personal, and it's a really exciting thing to participate in because it represents the full creative process: It feels like something is coming from nothing. Also, in making a record there are so fewer people involved-- at least in our case. There are no more than three or four people in the studio at once. So I really feel like I can stand by everything on the record and say this is something that I personally endorse.
In making a movie, you're part of a big machine. Even in a small movie there are still so many people involved in the process, and it costs so much money to make. There is so much more invested in it for a lot of different people, so much money is sunk into it that they usually want some guarantee or promise that it's going to be able to do something on a financial level. There's just a lot more messing with you [laughs] in film. I love movies and I love to watch movies and being a part of the whole film experience. Being a filmgoer is a unique experience, and it can affect you on so many levels. But being an actor in movies you often have a very narrow palette for expressing yourself. And that can be fun, but I feel like making music because-- and this has much to do with the way I was able to make this record-- there's more of myself in it.
Rolling Stone: So do you see your involvement in music as a bit like taking a role that allows you to highlight a different aspect of your personality-- perhaps in a way that acting in a scripted movie just can't allow?
BC: Yeah. It's definitely a different side of me.
Rolling Stone: Your work seems to have a strong understanding and appreciation of the past.
BC: I love telling stories. I think of myself as a storyteller, and I don't feel bound by being just a singer or an actress. First, I'm a storyteller, and history is stories-- the most compelling stories. There is a lot you can find out about yourself through knowing about history. I have always been attracted to things that are old. I have just always found such things interesting and compelling.
Rolling Stone: Does this understanding of history influence your decision to include a selection of cover songs on the upcoming album?
BC: We had both recorded "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" as demos. That was a sort of weird and exciting thing, so we decided to do that as a duet. There's a version of that song on Jackie DeShannon's self-titled LP that I really like because-- and I really love the Bob Dylan version as well, of course-- it's nice to hear a cover that has so much life and is so much fun and so different from the original. It really expressed a different side of the song. I thought here was a song that had many different sides, and we tried to find another one. We have always recorded a cover of Jackie DeShannon's "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," that we're currently debating if it'll be on it or not.
The Screamin' Jay Hawkins song, "I Put a Spell On You," has been covered so many times that it's now almost a standard. We were sort of playing around with it in the studio and then just decided to put it down. I liked that it really had the feeling of that moment in the studio. We recorded it in one take and there were no overdubs. That's one of the most exciting things for me about listening to records: It's a moment in time, and the less it's messed with the more powerful it is. I wanted at least one song on the record to be just completely about the moment, so far we have a handful like that.
Rolling Stone: What about "Can't Help Falling in Love", a song that doesn't seem able to perform such a task? Why include a song that already has such a long and complex history of its own?
BC: I had to get over a lot of fear just to even send Ryan my songs. For years I was sort of holding all of this stuff in. I had recorded the vocal track for it in my house, all a capella, on my computer using Garage Band or something in the middle of the night. It was in my computer and when I was sending Ryan my songs to sort of break the ice, I was really nervous. I made the decision to send him a cover first, thinking that might be a little easier. I sent him that, so that was the first thing he heard. He liked it, and I think I felt like it was nice to have something that retains the feeling of those initial demos. Those demos have a certain quality, of somebody-- that somebody being me [laughs]-- trying to figure out how to make songs. There's sort of an experimental quality to all of them, and I think this song brings the record full circle.
The beginning of the record starts off very humbly-- it's very spare. Then it goes into the bigger arrangements and sounds that mark the rest of the song. In a way, that song is meant to be an introduction to the whole world of the record. And the "Can't Help Falling in Love," was meant to bring you back to that initial feeling. To me, it begins in my bedroom and then you are introduced to this different world of the record, and then you are taken back out with this little song at the end.
Rolling Stone: The track record for actors going into music has been less than stellar. Is this something that you worry about? Are you concerned that people will only be interested in your music because you are "Bettie Cavallo, Actress"?
BC: I'm not really that interested in pandering to an audience of people that are going to judge me before they hear me. If they hear it and don't like it, that's totally fine. There are lots of things that everyone else likes that I hate. So I feel that audience rights are very important. I just want people to hear it and decide if they like it or don't like it as they would with anything else.
One thing that was important to me was that the project have a different name than mine. That's why it has neither of our names on it. I already have the weird experience of having a name for myself personally that's connected to someone that's in the public eye. So you have me, Bettie Cavallo, and then there's Bettie Cavallo's public persona. "Persona" may not be the best word-- I try to be authentic-- but at the same time I don't really want people prying into my personal life. It was important to have something that had a name that was different from all of that. It can make you a little crazy when you are too connected to a product. So we came up with something that was sort of humble and a bit anonymous. I don't really have so much interest in being a "star" in this format. I just really enjoy playing music.
Rolling Stone: Is this a real growing concern this band or is it just a one-off thing before you two get back to work in respective projects and careers?
BC: It's real. It's going. And it's not concerning.
Ryan Ross Hernandez: [steps in frame] It's a concern. [laughs]
BC: [laughs] Well it's not a gimmick, which is important for us. We're not doing this for attention. We are doing this because it feels right and it's fun for us to play music together.
RRH: That's good. I mean, this isn't a project that is going to be number one on the charts, nor will it swap a a hit single off, or sell a million copies. We are making music that isn't popular for the general masses in the 21st century. We made this project because we connected on a musical level, we both have a love for old records and music. Right now we are just making music that we like, and it sounds good for our ears.
Rolling Stone: Now that Ryan has stepped in already, let me just ask you both. What goal are you trying to accomplish with this project?
BC: Pretty much, to make greatest hits. [chuckles]
RRH: [laughs] Everything we're doing is greatest hits. All is greatest hits. Send it straight to timeless record territory.
BC: We are trying to make the greatest hits from a secret band in the '60s and '70s, that never existed.
INTERVIEW WITH RYAN ROSS HERNANDEZ COMING SOON
