Drea Smith
By Ferrari Sheppard
Chicago-based electro duo, He Say, She Say, has a lot to be excited about. They’re signed to Lupe Fiasco's 1st and 15th Entertainment label, slated to perform at the 2009 Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, and the buzz surrounding the pair is peaking. Last year, Drea Smith─the singing half of He Say, She Say─along with partner and DJ/producer Million Dollar Mano, crisscrossed the globe with Lupe as part of the Glow in the Dark Tour put on by Kanye West. Today, we find the two readying their debut album and bracing themselves for worldwide exposure. I caught up with Drea to find out a bit about her, and this is what was said:
StopBeingFamous: I understand you studied sociology in college, how did you get into music? Drea Smith: It was kind of an accident. I was a writer first─I wrote short stories and poems─and then I decided I wanted to play guitar. After I learned guitar, the next step was writing lyrics. SBF: How do you prepare for a show? Is there a place you have to be mentally in order to perform? DS: Um...I... am such a lame. I listen to X-Ray Spex and Blondie before I go on stage. Oh, and I listen to all of my old songs too. Sometimes, when you get on stage, you forget the words [Laughing]. SBF: Has that ever happened? DS: Oh God, yes! [Laughing] SBF: Who are some of your musical inspirations? DS: Debbie Harry. Chrissie Hynde. Billie Holiday. Those are my big, big ones. And I like Siouxsie Sioux, from Siouxsie and the Banshees. SBF: Has becoming an up-and-coming artist been good? Is it everything you imagined?
DS: No, it's not what I imagined it would be, mainly because I'm coming up in a scene of music that is nothing like [the music] I do. It's harder for people to see me as an individual rather than me as part of a whole collective of kids coming out of Chicago.
SBF: What is your take on the recent emergence of Chicago acts like The Cool Kids, Kid Sister and Hollywood Holt? Do you feel that there is added pressure to produce on your part?
DS: There is pressure. There's pressure to be exactly like them. There isn't really pressure─it's just expectations. I don't feel pressure, because if I did, I'd probably be influenced to do that. I'm not a rapper. I dig the things that all of those people you named do. I respect them and I know all of them personally.
SBF: What is the He Say, She Say song "Crash Dummie" about?
DS: “Crash Dummie” is about being mentally and emotionally abused. Sometimes women use sex to get their way─if they deny it, they're a fucking liar. “Crash Dummie” is about a girl who knows that she's just this guy's play thing. She’s wise to what he's doing, but she lets him get away with it.
SBF: What would you say is the dynamic of He Say She Say? What makes the duo work?
DS: Mano and I bring our individual outlooks on music to the table, and when combined, you get something different. I'm a writer primarily, and Mano is a DJ primarily, but he's an amazing producer.
SBF: Is there a set practice schedule?
DS: Yeah, we practice, but we're not super-regimented or Nazis about it. It happens when it happens. If we pressure ourselves like, "Hey, let's do a song today!" it won’t happen usually. More often than not, we're in the mood to make music; it comes out very natural. Mano and I are not in the room together making music most of the time. He'll makes some tracks and ask me what I think. I'll pick something, write to it, let him hear what I have, and we'll go record it.
SBF: If you had to have one piece of music playing softly in your head for the rest of your life, what would it be?
DS: One is "Interlude" by Sarah Vaughan. Or anything by Radiohead.
SBF: Leave us with a secret truth about yourself.
DS: I'm horribly socially awkward. I'm more at home in front of people on the stage. End of Interview
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Photo: Dakota BlueMillion Dollar Mano and Drea of He Say, She Say Photo: Clayton Hauck
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