INTERVIEW: Bic Runga
- Bob Gajarsky
At the tender age of 19, she was signed to her first recording contract. By the time she had turned 21, she had three top 10 hits in her native New Zealand and had written every song, played an assortment of instruments and produced her debut album Drive (Columbia). Yet through it all, Bic Runga manages to keep an even spin on things.
"When I had my first top 10 single ("Drive"), I was still working in a shoe shop," recalls Runga. "The public in New Zealand didn't realise how little money there was in music; when they saw me on the bus (and in the shop), there was some confusion about me. However, the humble start is good for the soul and ego."
It's from those simple beginnings that Runga's debut album rings true. In an era of overblown productions, the simplicity of the song "Drive" is truly a welcome delight. Other key tracks such as the lilting first single "Sway", "Suddenly Strange" and "Bursting Through" are nearly acoustic - thus her placing on that set during this summer's Lilith Fair tour - choosing to highlight Runga's voice instead of letting the instruments do the talking.
"My instincts told me this album had to be about songwriting," remembers Runga, who confesses that she writes much of her music in the car, "and to achieve that, everything else had to be sparse."
A list of her favorite artists - including Radiohead, Portishead, Depeche Mode, the Smiths and Grant Lee Buffalo - isn't too much like Runga's music (except for the Radiohead-influenced "Hey"), which is sort of a Julee Cruise meets Jewel vocals tested to its limits. But there is one common thread from these artists, which Runga herself hopes to emulate - "all those groups have strong songwriters behind them".
One of the songs which wasn't a single in New Zealand is "Sorry". Runga comes off as a Michelle Shocked fronting R.E.M. on this surprising upbeat rocker about people who apologise for all their mistakes.
"The word sorry is not one that I have mastered; it was not a word I often heard in my household," states Runga in a matter-of-fact fashion. "My mother is of the attitude that the word doesn't make things better. If you do something you have to apologise for, why did you do it in the first place?"
Runga's spot on the Lilith Fair could offer her the chance to make some kind of political sentiments. But she shows an attitude far beyond her years, and wisely chooses to leave this bantering to others: "My music is not in the slightest bit political. It is personal and sincere; simple almost to the point of naivete. I have a lot of growing up to do before I start preaching to others about what they should do."
And though Runga is sharing the dressing rooms with some of today's top women of rock, Runga is hopeful that the mix which forms today's Lilith Fair can be taken further. "It's brilliant that women are coming to the forefront of music," she notes, "The next step is for these women to be recognized as individuals, and not be lumped together. After all, Eryakh Badu is nothing like Jewel."
With an impressive debut record such as Drive and a fair full of fans to whom she can speak, Bic Runga has an opportunity to duplicate the success of her native New Zealand here in the U.S. And with a little luck, those days in the shoe shop can linger as memories of days long gone by...
