AMZ: It has been about three years between the release of the first scoldees' CD, "BIG ORANGE MARBLE" and the new CD, "MY PATHETIC LIFE." You also allude in your liner notes to the fact that it took two years to record "MY PATHETIC LIFE." Can you give us a step-by-step account of the evolution of "MY PATHETIC LIFE?"

Nancy: Actually, there is a misconception here. "Big Orange Marble" was the name of my and my partner Jack Hoffmann's previous band and self-titled CD, it was not a scoldees CD. But I do think that self-producing the BOM CD convinced us that we wanted a pro to produce the next one. Jack and I have been together for 10 years, through 3 or 4 different band configurations. We started out as All Folked Up, changed to Big Orange Marble when we added Bill Mignoli to the mix, but BOM was defunct (for a variety of reasons) before the CD was completed. Jack and I then played a few gigs as Sirianni & Hoffmann until, always in search of true harmony (can't we all just get along?), we decided to form a band with two of our best buds. Ted Ryzweski was our bass player for a time in AFU, and John Collis had been a close friend of ours for many years. The four of us literally came together to make this CD, and so we set out to find a producer.

This is how it went: A very talented producer named Luke DeLalio agreed to produce the record (he was a teacher at Five Towns College where I was attending classes, and he had brought us in to make a live demo). We made plans to start recording right after he finished his next project, so we waited for him for two months. After his project was done, he said he needed a little time to rest his ears (the project was a hard rock band) as he was suffering from a bit of tinnitus. We waited another month, and started recording on May 8th, 1998. One month into the sessions, which were more about arrangementing than recording, Luke could take the ringing in his ears no longer, and he dropped out. In the interim, though, he brought in his then student, Chris Fasulo, to run the board. Chris continued on in his absence with us producing ourselves (Chris had some great production ideas during the recording of the title cut, "My Pathetic Life" on which he has a production credit), and we did a total of 6 tunes at Chris' studio, East Coast Recording.

The "record" so far was good, but not great. We sent the 6 tunes around to some record companies, got turned down by all. Much of the feedback we got was about the (lack of) production value. I think we knew all along that we needed an outside ear, an experienced professional, because feedback to the songs themselves had always been good. Getting the songs on tape the way we played them live and beyond, is just another animal. So, we set out once more to find a great producer, now using our 6 songs as a better "demo." In early February, 1999, I made an appointment with my old friend Richie Cannata, owner of Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove and original sax player for the Billy Joel Band. I played him the new "demo" and he really liked it. I told him we were looking for a producer and a drummer for our record, and he said, "I got the perfect guy for you, a producer/drummer...his name is John Michel".

So he called John on his cell phone in Aspen, where John plays with the John Oates band several months every year, and we spoke. Well, just because we hadn't waited quite long enough with this whole project already, John Michel wasn't due back in town until March. So we exchanged music and ideas and information and made tentative plans to record this record. IN THE MEANTIME we hooked up with Shane Faber (who produced the Grammy Award-winning Digable Planets CD) through our manager's relationship with Shane's manager, and we did end up having one song on the album ("Cellophane Man") produced by him. So, John Michel doesn't actually get back into town until April, we can't secure recording time at Richie's place until early June (he gave us a really sweet deal), and the recording of the CD, as it was finally produced, commenced the first week of June, 1999. We finished the last mix in mid-October, and had our fabulous (by all accounts) cyber-release party on November 17, 1999. Fuckin' phew! Next question, only short answers from now on, I promise...

AMZ: You and Jack (Hoffman) are responsible for most of the songs on "MY PATHETIC LIFE." Can you describe for us what goes occurs during the process of writing your songs? It sounds to me as if you writes most of the lyrics, and Jack writes most of the music, but, as with most things, I am sure that the process is more complicated than that.

Nancy: For the most part, Jack writes the songs he sings, and I write the songs I sing, words and music. We'll come together after it's basically been written, and changes do happen, but we both write both. If you listen to the lyrics, you'll find that my partner Jack is a true poet, while I tend to be more of a storyteller. The songs we write with JC are more true collaborations from the start.

AMZ: Who have been each of the scoldees' band members' major influences, both musically and non-musically?

Nancy: Nan: James Taylor, Joni Mitchel, Lyle Lovett, Neil Young, Clay Hutchinson, my Mom. Jack: Dan Fogelberg, Neil Young, his Dad. JC: The Beatles, CSN, Yes. Ted: The Beatles, Jaco Pastorius, Yes, Charlie Parker, John Coltrain.

AMZ: The scoldees played Woodstock '99. I would be interested in knowing a high-point and a low-point of this experience from the perspective of each band member.

Nancy: High Point: playing our set...Low Point: getting lost on the way there. Jack: High Point: lacing into Cellophane Man, first song of our set...Low Point: not knowing what to say to our manager Rob (who was driving) after almost running out of gas on the way there. JC: High Point: I didn't GET high...Low Point: 100 degrees Ted: High Point: playing our set...Low Point: arriving Saturday to find out we were bumped to Sunday.

AMZ: the scoldees' in support of "MY PATHETIC LIFE" has been confined primarily to the East and West Coasts. Do you have any plans presently for concerts in other areas this summer?

Nancy: We are doing Springfest in Lake Placid in May, quite possibly The Grassroots Festival in Ithaca in July, and Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA in August. We are working on the tour, based largely on where the CD is being played the most, as I write...

AMZ: I was particularly impressed with the arrangements on many of the songs on "MY PATHETIC LIFE." Were these worked out in the studio, or elements that the band members came up with while stuck in traffic, or none of the above?

Nancy: Thank you. Arrangements are worked on from the beginning, as a very important part of the songwriting process, but Luke DeLalio made some very important arrangement adjustments to both "Inside" and "I Go Crazy," John Michel did some minor fat-cutting on both "Masks" and "One Stone," and Shane changed the ending of "Cellophane Man."

AMZ: How do you work out creative differences within the band?

Nancy: We yell and walk out of the room.

AMZ: What tunes can someone attending a scoldees concert this summer expect to hear?

Nancy: Everything off the CD and more. We have tons of original material.

(Editor's note: see our review of the Scoldees in concert in the March, 2000 issue).

AMZ: Are there any scoldees' videos in the works?

Nancy: We are planning a shoot for while we're in LA. There's an indie film called "URBAN MYTHOLOGY" that includes the song "My Pathetic Life" in it's soundtrack. The writer/producer of the film wants to shoot us lip-synching MPL so that he can cut it in with scenes from the film. I think other actors from the film might join in as well.

AMZ: Are you presently working on any new songs?

Nancy: Yes, of course.

AMZ: Most of the songs on "MY PATHETIC LIFE" are very -- almost painfully -- personal. Obviously your personal lives are going to affect what is created artistically. What occurs when the converse happens, when the subject of one of your songs hears it for the first -- or fourth -- time?

Nancy: I think the songs are at once extremely personal and reflect true experiences, and are, conversely, simply triggers, sort of anthems of emotion. None of my songs are that simple, that specific, and so there is no simple "subject" of any particular song. And I asked Jack and he said, "Ditto." How'd we do? Thanks for the opportunity to tell our stupid little story.