Before interviewing Priscilla Ahn I had the privilege of watching her perform. Her voice was crystal clear in the sea of people. Her charming personality was as crystal as her voice, and came across so clearly between her songs; she kindly brought it to the interview. With one of the most infectious giggles, it was hard not to instantly warm to Priscilla Ahn.
R13: For those reading this interview and who don't know who you are yet; can we have an introduction to Priscilla Ahn?
PA: I'm so bad at answering that question. I would say that I'm a girl, I love to sing, I play the guitar and I feel like most of my tunes are really mellow and folk based.
R13: Is Folk a big influence then?
PA: Yeah I think so. Not like old school folk songs you know, but people like Neil Young and Bob Dylan; not their rocking stuff but some of their softer songs.
R13: Your mum was musical; do you think it was nature or nurture that lead you to becoming a musician?
PA: I guess a little bit of both. I feel like I had a natural ear for singing, since a really young age, but then it was my mum who got me to start singing and performing in church. I sort of had a knack for it and I really enjoyed doing it. I was never the centre of attention and like, "Hey everybody, listen to me sing", but I wasn't scared to sing in front of people when I had to. Then my dad got me into listening to the classic folk stuff and my mum tried to give me piano lessons. I was the kid that was like, "Don't tell me what to do", which was stupid cause she was teaching me, and then a couple years later I sat down at the piano and taught myself how to play and to read music. Then my dad was trying to get me to play guitar and I was like, "No I don't want to play guitar", and it wasn't until there was a guy in high school that I really liked. He played and then I thought, I really need to learn how to play guitar now.
R13: You packed up your life and moved to LA to pursue a career in music. Was it hard to take that leap of faith?
PA: Sort of yeah. I didn't really know a lot of people out there. I knew this one producer that I met in Philadelphia, but it wasn't like I could stay with him. My mum had some distant Korean cousins who live in LA and I had never met them. They didn't speak any English and I don't really speak Korean, so I was going into that. Also I had never driven across the country before so it was all new stuff. I feel that I was really inspired by reading books by Jack Keroack. His books are all about the open road and going out and travelling. I just dove into it and never looked back. When I look back now, I'm like, "How did I do that?". I think would I do that today? I dunno.
R13: 2009 has seen you support Ray LaMontagne and Jason Mraz; you're also headlining your own tour next month. What kind of reception have you been getting from audiences here?
PA: Really great actually, especially with Ray's shows. We played all these beautiful theatres. I seem to do really well when it's seated venues, especially when I'm playing by myself, cause I feel like they listen more when they're sitting down. Ray's audiences I feel are really sort of trained to not talk (laughs) which worked out really well for me. I was totally surprised by the amount of support that I got after the shows, cause of course at first I was nervous like, "What are they thinking?", "Do they think I'm cheesy or what?", you just don't know. I've realised though that the UK audience are just music lovers and they come to hear good music.
R13: You're travelled a lot with your music - has that been tough to deal with?
PA: It's difficult but at the same time it's ok. Just travelling to a new city every day is exhausting. Then there's the jet lag and flying everywhere, but at the same time I love travelling. So when I'm lucky, I have my day free before the show and I love to just walk and look around the city and take in all the new sights.
R13: I've noticed in your blogs that there seems to be a new adventure in every new town that you visit.
PA: Yeah I try to explore as much as possible. When I got to the UK this year I was really sad cause when we first came over, we were in Dublin and the weather was just terrible. It was snowing which was nice but I ended up getting sick for like the first two weeks. I finally got my health back and I was like walk walk walk.
R13: So what's the first thing that you do when you get home off tour?
PA: I try to unpack as much as I can and hide the suitcase so it's like I have a normal life. I like to go and get a massage and go to the spas, sort of like clean myself off from the tour world and then sleep.
R13: Is it difficult to re-adjust from tour life?
PA: A little bit. There's a couple days that you just need to de-compress. There are sometimes when I go home and I'll feel like I'm still on the road and I'll be asking my boyfriend, "Can you do this?", "Can you get that?" and he's like, "Hey man I'm not like your roadie". I'm not being like a bitch or anything, but you're just so used to it. Just feeling close to someone again too, cause on the road you have your boundaries. Then going home you have to chip away at that and become loose again.
R13: Having been a part of the Hotel Cafe scene, you've been able to enjoy the community that it's created. What's it been like?
PA: The community is actually really sweet. Everyone is really talented and really nice. It's really cute cause there's a lot of collaborating and when you get to the Hotel you see all the familiar faces. But at the same time there's a couple circles of musicians in Los Angeles and in New York that I'm friends with. I sort of like to not be exclusive to one, and whenever I can I really like to just hang out by myself. I don't really go out much when I'm back home. But I love being a part of the Hotel Cafe tour and knowing all those great people.
R13: Were you a part of the female Hotel Cafe tour late 2008?
PA: Yeah I was, just for like 5 dates though.
R13: How did you find it being with only girls?
PA: You know it was really easy actually, because they're all really mellow. None of them are like, 'Party!', you know or backstabbing. Everyone was going to bed early and everyone was just really sweet. At first I was a little like, "oh man what's this going to be like?", not used to hanging out with so many girls.
R13: Has it been hard to keep your artistic integrity in a industry that can be very cutthroat?
PA: I have to say not really yet. I'm lucky because I'm with a label that I feel has a lot of integrity, and they sign career artists, not lets make a quick buck artists. So especially with making the record, I pretty much had complete freedom to do what we wanted. The label had asked that I do a couple of cover songs on the album just to mix things up. But I could do that however I wanted and pick whichever songs I wanted. Also I don't put myself out as something that is accessable for that stuff.
R13: You seem to have a very laid back approach to life. There`s a sense of whatever will happen will happen. Do you think that's opened you up to more opportunities?
PA: I think so. If you're so controlling over your life and are like it has to be like this or that, I think you miss out on the day where you might not have gotten what you wanted. Something else comes along thats totally unsuspected and beautiful. I realise that I can't control any of it, it's so crazy right now especially. Instead of going crazy over it I'm just trying to go with the flow.
R13: So what's next for you?
PA: I'm supposed to come back to Europe in a couple weeks and do my first headlining tour, which I'm really excited and also a little nervous about. I'm hoping people will come to the shows. So more shows and I'm doing promotion for my album that's just come out. In July I'm coming back to the UK to do a bunch of festivals. Then a US tour after that and then at the end of the year I'm supposed to start recording the next album, so it's all exciting.