Here's an interview with Dear Nora, one of best pop bands of the moment. Dear Nora is a three piece from Portland, Oregon. They perform wonderful pop songs about love and loss, with shimmery melodies, cool harmonies, and heartfelt lyrics. They have a couple of releases on the fine Portland indie pop label, Magic Marker Records: a self-titled 7"(1999), 8-song acoustic "Dreaming Outloud" 7"(2000), and one of my favorite albums last year,"We'll Have a Time"(2001). Definitely check them out when they play your town! I conducted this interview with Katy Davidson via email, and she was cool enough to answer some questions about Dear Nora that everyone was burning to know!

interview conducted February 19, 2002
by jenny song

How long has Dear Nora been together as a band? Have you been in any other bands before this one?
I started Dear Nora with my friends Marianna and Ryan during the summer of 1999. We had all previously gone to college together and played in other bands together, bands called The Navins, Ring of Seventeen, and Junction City.

I read that your band name is named after a professor you liked in college. Could you tell us a little bit about why she is special to you? Has she heard any of your music?
True, the band is named after an amazing music professor named Nora. She is an inspiration to us because she is smart, introspective, whimsical and spontaneous, among other favorable traits. She ran out and bought our last CD before I could even get a chance to give her one!

How does the music writing/creating process between Ryan Wise, Marianna Ritchey, and yourself, work? Do you come in with a song pretty much completed or does everyone collaborate?
I write the songs, then Ritchey (that's what we call her) and Ryan make up some cool drum and bass parts. Simple like that.

What prompted the move to San Francisco?
I have a lot of good friends in San Francisco. Also, I wanted to move in with my girlfriend. Also, I was ready for a change.

How was your tour with Mirah and Calvin Johnson? Any favorite show memories you'd like to share?
I love touring with Mirah. We became great friends and travel partners over the past year. The greatest thing about touring with her is that we laugh so much. Last October, we were driving through Salt Lake City and something struck us so funny, we laughed until we started crying, so we had to pull over.

You have an new album coming out in may, what's it called? "We'll Have a Time" LP to me had a few poppier songs like the first 7" and a lot of mellower stuff like the "Dreaming Out Loud" 7". Where do you think your music is progressing? How do you think the new album is different from the previous ones?
The new release will actually be an EP, and it is called "The New Year." It is definitely weirder than all the other releases, but the melodies prevail. I've been trying to write longer songs, and songs about things other than relationships.

How was working with Amy Linton? She seems to like your music a lot.
It was fun recording with Amy. She's great. She played trumpet on "A Lullaby."

I think a lot of people describe your music as being upbeat and very poppy, but often I feel that the songs are kind of yearning and a bit sad. What are you trying to say through your music?
Good observation skills. Happy songs, melancholy lyrics. I'm not trying to say anything through my songs, I just write what comes to me at the moment.

You seem to write a lot of songs about being in your room. Do you enjoy having alone time and making up with songs?
I kind of like it, but it also kinda makes me crazy. I have this beautiful vision of not writing music for a really long time. But I won't be able to ever achieve it. The songs keep coming out.

Favorite things to do outside of Dear Nora?
Cook, garden, ride bike, read & write, travel.

Any tours planned soon? Who would you like to tour with? Any chance that you'll be coming down to southern California again? ;-)
I'm playing with the band in Santa Barbara (actually in Goleta) at the Living Room on March 31st. I'm also planning a national tour for the fall/winter of this year. I wanna play in San Diego; I've never played there!

Current bands/books/anything you would recommend to others?
Infinite Xs record on Chainsaw Records, anything by Neil Young. I'm reading Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

website: www.magicmarkerrecords.com