Tracy is one of those special people I’ve been lucky enough to meet along the way.

I was introduced by a friend one night at Maxwells in Hoboken. Later on I got to see her perform live with her band Dahlia Seed. She had this incredible stage presence that was almost unexplainable. To this day I remember the feeling of the hair on my arm standing on end when she performed their signature song “Milk”.

    One night in Maxwell’s we sat down for this interview. More than ten years later we were sitting in the same restaurant with our friends having dinner. She is one of the truly original people I have gotten to know. Through the years she has continued to keep music in her life. She is currently living  in Richmond, Virginia where she is still involved with music. She released her first solo record “Ringfinger” to rave reviews in early 2008. JD

Tracy: I saw the movie “Singles” and I just fell in love with the whole city. I found an apartment complex that I liked and I wanted to deliver flowers like Matt Dillon. (NOT) Actually, I had a job offered to me by C/Z Records and I had a bunch of friends out there that I was looking forward to spending time with.. I was also really fed up with things out here. I made a promise to the band that I would stick it out and I’d fly back or get back here somehow. I promised that we’d stick together. I’d live in Seattle and do what I had to do to keep the band going. 

James: What do you miss the most about not being here?

Tracy: Being that politically incorrect person that I am. I really miss Roast Beef and Cheese on hard roll with mayo and butter. Junk food and deli stuff.. I miss my family and my friends here. The familiarity is what I really miss the most.

James: I had heard there was a major that was looking to sign Dahlia Seed.

Tracy: Yes, there’s a label out of North Carolina called Mammoth records who have shown some interest. I don’t want to jinx things by saying it’s going to happen. I guess it’s in mid transaction. But it is a possibility.

James: if you do get the deal will you be moving back here?

Tracy: No, I would tour and I would record here but still live in Seattle. It’s a beautiful place to live and I really like it. I wouldn’t change it for the world. But I would do anything to keep the band together.  I know it’s really hard for people to understand why I live across

country and still keep my band here. It means everything to me. But to live here and still keep my sanity isn’t possible.

James: How long are you going to be here.

Tracy: Until Sunday.

James: How many shows have you played since you got back?

Tracy: We played New Brunswick, we played here at Maxwells with Archers of Loaf my favorite band. We played at Hiltz’s house. (John Hiltz was the drummer for Greyhouse at the time. He put on many shows at his house in New Jersey)We had to cancel a show in Long Island. We have a show tomorrow in New Jersey at a fire hall.

James: You were signing with a band called Broken Mouth. What was that like?

Tracy: Broken Mouth was sort of an accident. This band Dune Buggy which features our guitarist John. This guy Keith and Mike on Bass. At the time, Dune Buggy was two people who were looking to put out a 7 inch but didn’t have the money. They used to come to my shows and eventually they dared me to learn how to play guitar and maybe do a split record with them. My boyfriend at the time, Phil, (Earth Pig) taught me how to play guitar. We wrote a song together called “Shilo” which was the first song I ever really wrote. And that was one of the songs we did for the split record we did with Dune Buggy.

James: So Dune Buggy and Broken Mouth are pretty much the same band?

Tracy: Sort of... Dune Buggy is Keith and John. Broken Mouth is Phil and I and whoever we wanted to record with us. For the first record it’s the guys from

Dune Buggy and on the newest record it’s the guy from the Fiendz and a guy from Dune Buggy. So Broken Mouth is Phil and I although we broke up with each other last summer. Phil was the best teacher I’ve ever had. He really taught me to play guitar. That band is really broken up but we have some leftover songs that could make a new record. Now Dune Buggy is a totally separate band of John, Keith and Mike. I still do some vocals for them but it’s hard. I don’t do as much. I recorded a tape for them before I moved to Seattle with about five songs and John sings on three others. They are going to have a 7 inch coming out on Spin Art Records. There’s also a song coming out on a compilation that I am not on.

James: Are you working on any side projects in Seattle?

Tracy: No. I kind of wanted to because I wanted to do something to keep my voice going because coming here after three months without singing was kind of scary. I lost my voice almost immediately after coming back. I thought about doing a band with Greg and Jade from Engine Kid and maybe one of the guys from Sunny Day Real Estate. I don’t know. We talked about a number of people that we really wanted to be in the band. It’s really hard because the people in those bands really tour excessively. So it’s hard to do a side project. But I want to do something, not necessarily a band but something to keep my voice going .

James: Do you get any comparisons to Sarah from Velocity Girl?

Tracy: We used to get a lot of comparisons but not as much lately. I think it’s because a lot of our new stuff is a lot tougher.

In the beginning, definitely. I guess I get comparisons to her and I guess because the way I carry myself on stage, Bjork. But in most of our early reviews, Sarah and Velocity Girl were mentioned.

James: Are you into them?

Tracy: I love Velocity Girl but from what I’ve been told comes from a different background, vocally. I have heard she is trained in an operatic background. I certainly don’t have that background at all.

James: Do you have any vocal training?

Tracy: I used to be involved in school plays when I was a kid. I was in the Sound of Music when I was in grade school. I played the baronet and I was the witch in the Wizard of Oz. I was also the tree that needed watering if that counts. I was in chorus but that doesn’t really count for much.

James: One of the things that is so intriguing about you is you have somewhat of a playful, child like demeanor about you.. Where does that come from?

Tracy: (laughing) I don’t know, it’s strange but ever since I was in 6th grade everybody thought I was old and grown up. I used to have scary men follow me when I was going places. Literally, since I was in 5th or 6th grade I dressed like I was twenty. It’s strange, people always thought I was a lot older. I really didn’t feel or act like I was a little girl until I was in High School. I took an acting class and we had to pretend we were somebody else. This beautiful senior chose to pretend she was me, I was so excited. I did my best to imitate her. When she tried to act like me she acted like a little kid. And it never passed my mind in a million years that I was this silly little kid. That was my first thought “God, could I be like that?” I never wanted to be this cute, funny, little thing. I guess that’s how I come across.

James: I can sit here and have a mature, intelligent conversation with you but you have this very playful demeanor and you’re a lot of fun to be around. You kind of radiate.

Tracy: I really don’t know where that comes from. It’s an accident.

James:  The last couple of times I’ve seen the band perform, you weren’t playing guitar. Do you miss it?

I listen to them on the stereo and try to come up with lyrics. I record them and I either play it over the phone or send it to them here. And if I write music, I do pretty much the same thing and send it to them.

James: If someone were to just look at your lyrics and take them at face value they would think that you are pretty strange.

Tracy: Hmmm, I’m really not good with writing lyrics about something I know nothing about. So it’s all pretty personal. Most of it is poetry that I recycled into lyrics. It’s all personal. I guess it’s about as emotional as you can get. Kind of  Rites of Spring meets Embrace. So most of my lyrics are deadly personal.

James: One of the songs I was particularly interested in was “Shake a Tower”.

Tracy: “Shake a Tower” is about my mom. She has MS. Sometimes she had no will to live. The song is about what it’s like to have someone twice your age have no will to live and try to convince them that for someone half their age, life is an okay thing. It just deals with my frustrations. It’s hard because it’s not terribly eloquent in that idea, at all. But I guess that gives you a general idea what that is about.

James: I can imagine this has had an immense influence on your relationship with each other. Do you feel it has strengthened the bond between the two of you or has it weakened it?

Tracy: It’s really hard. I found out sophomore year of high school. And when I first found out about it my family talked about it very improperly. I came home and my Dad answered the door crying. I knew right away because my Mom had all these crazy symptoms. She had been going to the doctor. I really didn’t understand what it was all about. Instead of coming out and saying “look, your mom has this disease. It’s like this.” Instead he just looked at me and said “your mom is dying.” with this hopeless face. It really scared me. Of course I didn’t know anything about this disease. After he told me that I just took off and I couldn’t even face my mother for days. It was facing death and it scared the shit out of me. In about a week it was talked over and I educated myself on it and I understood that couldn’t necessary  take her life before she was older. But it was a scary time. So the song kind of summed up that strange fear I had. It’s also a phrase my parents used to use. Instead of  “take a shower.” they would say “shake a tower.” it’s something that really reminds me of my parents.

James: The song “MILK”. To see what it does to you emotionally whenever you perform it.

Tracy: When we first started performing the song “Milk” I would make myself bleed. When I was a kid I was a tom boy and because of that fact I wasn’t terribly popular. At the time I dated this boy. He was my first true love from the 2nd grade till the 6th grade. His mom thought I was terribly lame because I wasn’t this prim and proper girl. Having this adult woman telling you you’re an insignificant terrible person when you’re in the 2nd grade is pretty strange. So for the first half of my life I was told I was a terrible excuse for a woman. I was just this little tom boy who was into kick ball and wearing overalls. It made me feel really small. It’s hard enough when you’re growing up. You already feel like shit and you already feel insecure and all the things that go on when you’re growing up, trying to find out who you are. Having this adult telling you you’re lame and having her son believe it was frustrating. So he was embarrassed. That is what the song is all about.

James: And it’s damaged you for this long?

Tracy: oh yeah, you don’t get over these things. That stuff stays with you forever.

James: And even though it hurts that much you find the strength to play the song?

Tracy: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s something a lot of women can relate to. There are so many women I have spoken to that grew up being told they weren’t right. They just weren’t typical girls. I think the frustrated feeling that you’re not a normal girl still happens with me today. There’s not a day where I don’t walk down the street and I am amazed at how many women I see that are in the line in front of me or at the bank who talk about things that are so foreign to me. It’s a whole different world to me. It’s not that I am better. It’s just a whole different way. I’m not concerned with the same things so it’s really scary. I just don’t feel that I am a part of it.

James: I was kind of disappointed when you didn’t record that song for the record.

Tracy: that record was recorded over a year ago. The woman who had those demos had them forever, it just never came out. It’s been recorded but it is going to be out on a split record with Greyhouse. It should be coming out in the next couple of months. It is definitely going to happen.

I’m real happy because it’s a song that means a lot to me. I can’t wait for it to come out myself.

(Interview and images  James Damion. Interview was to appear in the fourth issue of Unite.)

Foreword: Since Dahlia Seed called it quits in 1996 Tracy has relocated to Richmond where music is still the glue to her life. She released her first solo album “Ringfinger” in 2008. Has a record label “Little Black Cloud Records”. DJ’s and has her own radio show.

You can follow her on her blog http://www.lightningsgirl.com/

http://www.littleblackcloudrecords.com/

www.dahliaseed.com

www.myspace.com/ringfinger