Aquarium Drunkard caught up with Lissie, the best pipes at SXSW, before her set at Mess With Texas in the midst of her whirlwind week in Austin. The following discussion veers from Throat Coat tea to Hulu faves...with a little music talk thrown in for the hell of it. Lissie is set to embark on a European tour this Spring. Don't miss her live.
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AD: You’ve played five shows already, you’re about to play to five more — how are you saving your voice?
Lissie: Well, the first night, Wednesday, we played two shows and around the second one I was beginning to feel a strain so afterwards I went back to the house we’re renting, drank a bunch of Throat-Coat Tea with honey and lemon, watched some Hulu, got in my pajamas and stayed in, even though I wanted to go out and see bands. I came here to work, not to party. So Wednesday night I took it easy, went to bed early. I played two shows yesterday and surprisingly, my voice didn’t feel that good talking but once I started singing it was fine. And this morning, I was surprised again, I feel hoarse, but once I started singing it was doing what I wanted it to do. I smoke and I drink too much — the best things for my voice are sleep, tea and just being able to rest it — but I haven’t had the luxury to rest it. I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best — I should probably get some tea in a bit here. I don’t know when we’re playing, our shows been pushed back, so I might go back to the house and make some tea and clean my contacts cause they hurt my eyes, change my clothes — just get comfortable. I warm up and I warm down, I’m just hoping I make it through the next two days. I just did this radio thing where I had to sing, I’m talking a lot doing interviews, doing filming.
There was one time when I was in London when I had to sing on the radio after five days of doing show, show, show, show show. I woke up and I couldn’t talk - opened my mouth and nothing came out. I ended up getting injected with cortisone — it felt illegal. It felt self-serving, to have a doctor show up in your hotel and take this big needle and inject you in the butt. “Give me your butt!” and he gave me a cortisone shot and a B-12 shot which was supposed to give me energy. It was amazing how quickly my voice came back and how good it sounded. But, it also makes you fat and I don’t want to get fat. I also had to take Prednisone, cause I get allergy induced asthma…
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