Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, stage name of folk-rocker Aly Spaltro, began writing and recording alone in the back of the record store she worked at at age 18. She is now touring the country with folk collective Typhoon and a full band supporting her.
She sat down with The Eagle’s Tam Sackman to talk about her past in poetry, covering Cher songs and playing the banjo.
Eagle: Your lyrics have a certain element of poetry to them. Did you have a lot of writing experience before you started songwriting?
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper: Yeah, I did actually. That was kind of the reason I started making music, in a way. It was a vehicle for poetry, which I started doing in high school. My first experiences with performing were actually doing spoken word poetry slams in my sophomore and junior years of high school. The lyrics of a lot of my early songs were actually taken out of little snippets of spoken word pieces that I’ve written.
E: Does it ever feel strange playing such intimate music at large venues like the 9:30 Club?
LLB: Yeah. It has in the past, especially when I’m playing solo, and especially when I’m playing the opening slot of the show. But it’s not an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability, especially when I’m doing a support show in a big room. It’s more of a feeling of wanting to captivate people who may not have heard me in the past. That’s more what I’m thinking of, not how personal the songs are. And when I’m playing with a band it’s just much more fun.
E: Do you prefer playing with a band or doing solo shows?
LLB: At the moment I prefer playing with a band. I’ve gone back and forth over the years. Most of my experience, the past six years I’ve been doing this I’ve been playing solo. Although, I’ve gotten to a point now where, especially since my record is full band, it’s much more fun to collaborate with friends and really share that camaraderie with people and that’s what I prefer to do at the moment. Generally, I throw in a couple of solo songs in a set amidst all the band ones.
E: You started writing songs when you were only 18. What would your 18-year-old self think of the music you make now?
LLB: Right now I’m demoing songs for my next album and I’ve noticed lately that if anything I’ve progressed in terms of my voice maturing a little bit. I’m just older now. A lot of the songs I’m writing now are in certain ways throwbacks to early songs. I’m finding that I’m writing more hook-y melodies and stuff like that, which is what I was up to when I first started. A lot of the songs on my last album were written early, early on. Some of the songs are the earliest songs I’ve ever written when I was about 18 or 19. I think I would probably be proud of the progression, but still see that it’s pretty similar to what I’ve always been doing.
E: What’s an instrument that you like to incorporate into your music whenever you can?
LLB: It depends on the song, but there’s always going to be guitar. I lately really like throwing in some synths, and also occasionally, when the song calls for it, I really like playing the banjo. A couple of times with new songs there’ll be a little bit of banjo thrown in. It’s not the main instrument of the song, but I really love to play so I like adding it as a texture.
E: Can you tell me where your name came from?
LLB: When I was 18 I worked in a video store in my hometown. That also became my practice space, and I made all of my music there for a handful of years. When I had my first 12 songs I really wanted to share them with my hometown. Right next to the video store was a record store, so I wanted to put them on the counter for free, but I didn’t want to put my name on them because I didn’t want it to get traced back to me next door. I knew that I wanted a moniker. I was keeping a notebook, simultaneously around this time. I was keeping a notebook by my bed and I was writing down my dreams and writing lyrics in the middle of the night and “Lady Lamb the Beekeeper” was written in my notebook when I woke up one day. It was just really good timing. I had no recollection of where it came from, but I just slapped it on the CD and it ended up sticking.
E: What’s your favorite song to cover?
LLB: I don’t know! I rarely cover songs, but strangely enough I’ve covered a couple of Cher songs. Bands that I would love to cover but I’m trying to make that work would be like a Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac song, and I’d love to do a Bruce Springsteen song. I’ve gotten into him recently and I think it’d be really cool to do a really high energy band recording that’s pretty close to his arrangement but with my voice instead. Also, for some random reason (I don’t even own the song), the song that gets stuck in my head all of the time lately that I would love to do as a duet is that Rihanna song called “Stay”. I love that song! I just sing it around the house. I feel like I should just record it.
E: If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing now?
LLB: I would probably want to be working in film. And I’m really into interior design, so maybe actually something with set design.
E: What is the rest of 2014 looking like for you?
LLB: It’s definitely the year for working on the second record. Right now I have some time off before this tour in the spring, so I’m spending every single day demoing new songs and arranging them in pre-production. That’s just a lot of being in my room with headphones in and working stuff out. Then touring in the spring, which will be a really good way for my band and I to play a few of the new songs. Then coming back and hopefully starting to plan recording and getting the record underway.
See Lady Lamb the Beekeeper as she supports Typhoon with Wild Ones on March 19 at the 9:30 Club. Tickets are $18.
This interview has been edited for content and clarity.
