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  Photos courtesy of Ryko Disc

By Anthony Bromberg

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

When one rock star learns to share, that’s a big deal. So, how likely is it that four female songwriters could come together and tour as a collective, alternating songs, and – get this – work together? Take notes Axl.

“Everyone always asks us if we’re going to tear each other’s hair out or get in a cat fight, but it’s like yeah we all have egos, and we’re all artists and that’s part of the mix,” said Jess Klein, one of the voices, during a telephone interview. “But that’s also why we can make music and go to wherever songs are going and take audiences places and have a good time and let it all fly.”

Klein shares the “Voices” stage with her peers, Erin McKeown, Rose Polenzani, and Beth Amsel. The four voices are getting their 2002 national tour underway, which Amsel describes as a three-month, 2002 extravaganza. On the list of stops is a show at the Mint this Saturday.

The four members of the “Voices” project are quick to stress that “Voices” is just that, a project and not a band. There is no intention to ever make a studio album together, or even write songs together. Instead, they view “Voices” as a chance to go on tour and hone their crafts while expanding their respective audiences as a complement to their solo careers.

“In theory the idea behind ‘Voices’ was that we would combine all of our audiences. So there would be a little cheering section for me, and one for Beth, one for (each of us), but I don’t think that it’s turned out that way,” McKeown said. “I don’t think it’s been as predictable, and I think there are some people who are just fans of ‘Voices’ and not just us individually.”

Regardless of where they’re coming from, music fans are turning out to see the on-stage dynamic of these four musically empowered women. The interest that “Voices” has generated in the past four years in which they’ve toured together, sporadically, is a product of their live show.

On any given night at a “Voices” concert, the audience might get to see McKeown play accordion or piano, or Klein bring out a sampler, or Polenzani play a drum solo on one box. These are instruments which the women get to play for fun, and which they are amateurs on.

“It’s amazing, I think, anytime you get to step out of the normal bounds of what you do,” Amsel said. “Whether it’s even a little bit uncomfortable, we get to do things in ‘Voices’ that we never get to do in our solo careers. Jess plays clarinet, and I get to play cello and I could never do that and play guitar and sing at the same time.”

Other highlights of the show include a chance for the audience to shout out requests, and hear the “Voices” put together an a cappella arrangement of the song right there.

The sound of the “Voices” live show, which is for the most part based around vocals and acoustic guitars, maintains a primarily folk feel with splashes of other genres of American roots music adding texture. Since their first shows together, many of them have begun playing much bigger music in their solo careers, but have kept that outside of the “Voices” experience, according to McKeown.

The simple instrumentation, however, does not necessarily make for a straight ahead show. According to Polenzani, at least 50 percent of what they bring to the stage is improvised.

“We’ve got a bunch of songs that we haven’t rehearsed very much, a bunch of songs that are new that we’re working on, or cover songs,” Polenzani said.

The women embrace the loose trial and error atmosphere with the “Voices” project. The live show is not scripted. They don’t have any songs that are permanently in the setlist, and the fact that they know they’ll be improvising adds to the comfort level of the shows for Polenzani. The openness yields a show that can be spontaneous, bawdy and raucous.

“Sometimes the show is hilarious and we’re all talking and it’s perfect timing, and other times, it’s more artistic and less clever,” Polenzani said. “It’s such an organic show. Sometimes it is theatrical, we used to talk about what hams we are sometimes, but we can’t even count on that. We’re just a pretty honest group of people when it comes to being ourselves on stage.”

“Voices on the Verge” originated in the fall of 1998 when the four women were all booked to play the Iron Horse. They decided to go on together, instead of doing four individual showcases. The success of that show spawned them to continue and record the “Live in Philadelphia” album.

The success of “Voices” is at least partially dependent on the undercurrent of tension and individuality of four very different songwriters sharing one stage. Amsel loves William Faulkner, Tom Petty and singer-songwriters from her hometown of Boulder, Colorado. McKeown is an educated musician who just graduated from Brown University last year. Polenzani and Klein are from Chicago and Rochester, New York, respectively.

“I think it’s very important that Voices has always been seen as four different songwriters who come together to support each other by, you know, singing harmony, working on arrangements with each other,” Polenzani said. “Part of the thing that’s so special about it is that we’re all honing our own voices; we’re all in our own careers.”

They provide each other with a community where constructive criticism is available, that might otherwise be hard to find in the music business. They also work hard to make sure it’s fun for each other, because it’s often easy to get freaked out, according to Polenzani.

Despite their mutual support and respect for each other, they aren’t necessarily best friends like many bands claim to be. Their interactions with each other are an integral part of the project that is “Voices.”

“When we’re not doing ‘Voices on the Verge,’ if we don’t talk to each other, it’s not because we hate each other; it’s probably because we’re really busy,” said McKeown. “We all lead the kind of lives where we’ve got friends we see at home, and friends we see on the road and never the twain shall meet.”

When they get together they are, like the name suggests, on the verge of something. What they’re on the verge of though is subject to interpretation by the voices themselves. With true existential wisdom and a laugh, Amsel declared that it’s the 2002 tour. Where for Klein, it refers to the brink of larger success and their attempts to push things musically. McKeown wants the project to collect an audience that is more interested in an artist’s growth than their backside. According to Polenzani their verge is a very good jumping off point and a door opener for their solo careers.

Their opinions don’t quite match nor do their personalities, but when put on stage together, something works out right.

“If someone was going to put a choir together they would never put the four of us together, I think,” Polenzani said. “The fact that we blend together at all is sort of a miracle.”

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