I recently had the chance to celebrate her birthday with 1 of Ska’s favorite ladies Monique Powell of Save Ferris. Put on those checkered shirts and enjoy a stroll through the journey of this amazing artist.
Happy Birthday!
Did the booking of Nashville coincide with where you wanted to throw your birthday bash, or is this just where the tour was booked?
It just happened that way. I feel so lucky that it’s happening here. Nashville is great, I love it and have so many friends here. I remember in the 83″s and 90’s so many artists moved from New York to LA due to the cost and now that exodus has really started again with artists moving to Nashville and other places due to the cost of living in LA. I recently moved from LA to OC in the house I grew up in and I love being able to garden.
Save Ferris has been categorized as a defining act of ska’s 3rd wave, who were your influences?
Definitely The Specials and The Selector, I was also influenced by bands that had nothing to do with Ska. I was a child when KROQ was at the forefront, and Rodney on the Roq was bringing all these new bands out. I remember being like 7 or 8 and listening with my big sister.
Since you brought him up, what was it like to hear Rodney play the band for the first time?
That was huge! I was like WOW! He was really a champion of artists in LA. Then being played in like the middle of the day on KROQ was a defining moment. Even as a child I would’ve never dreamed this could happen.
Bringing up The Specials, how exciting was it for you to have Neville Staple (Specials) on the single “New Sound” and the album “Chekered Past” produced by John Avila (Oingo Boingo)?
Very exciting, Neville and I have become friends over the years. When I lived in England, we lived close to each other and would visit each other. John Avila and I worked together when I was 19 years old and sang on the Reel Big Fish album that he produced. Fast forward 20 years and here we are again with Checkered Past which right now this is my favorite Save Ferris album. I really had the opportunity to flex my writing skills, which I was not really permitted to do with the former members but with the new band we collaborated together. I love it!
Did the Reel Big Fish song “She has a Girlfriend” help labels take notice of you?
Not really, Save Ferris got signed before Reel Big Fish. We were the first major label signing in the scene at that time after our predecessors No Doubt and Sublime. Those guys were my friends from high school, so for me it was something I was very happy to do, also because they were 1 of my favorite bands in the scene.
“It Means Everything “ launched you and the band into the mainstream, what song means the most to you from the album?
Uh, “Everything I Want to Be” has some very special lyrics for me because it’s about becoming the person I want to be. “Lies” is my favorite song to perform from that album.
I witnessed so many up and comers come through diPiazza’s and cover “Goodbye” and every time I heard it, I thought back to your cover of “Come on Eileen”. How does it make you feel to now be a band that is being covered?
It feels so weird, because we cover bands like Operation Ivy and Dead Kennedys so it like nah dude you should be covering them, not us. That’s who you should be covering, not us. I’m not offended and it’s definately an honor.
Chain Reaction closing really signified a change in the scene in OC. Did “Under 21″ come from living that life and trying to get into shows that were over 21?
Well, I didn’t write that song, but what I can say is I was living that reality. The reason why we had the scene we had is that all these places started popping up in coffee shops, warehouses, wherever and we could see bands play. It saddens me now because we are losing those all over the country now. I remember playing in places when we were under 21 and they would make us leave right after and sitting on the curb waiting to be paid our $50 for the door. It’s just sad that there are no places for the next wave to go. Now at 51 this song means something way different for me than it once did.
“The World in New” has been featured on so many tv shows, and also launched into the movie 10 things I hate about you, how did all that happen?
Sony, being on major just makes things happen. Being in 10 things was just phenomenal, such an interesting experience. People all around the world know that movie knows us from that movie. Even though we were just in it for a moment, I love it and it’s cute.
What was it like performing at the Olympics?
It was so cold and stressful because I had forgotten the words to 1 of the songs and so I had to improvise and so embarrassed, but I don’t think that part got on tv. It was cool though because the Olympics is like its own planet. The village is like a city inside and city.
Checkered Past also features “Anything” a love letter of sorts to your husband, I won’t ask about him but how is your health now?
My husband is now my ex-husband, but we are still cool, Health wise I’m better and I wouldn’t have got the band together again if it was not. The surgery was scary, but I made a promise to my dad that if I wake up from this, I will bring the band back and here we are. Then we finished “Checkered Past” and he died and 10 days later I went out on the road and have been since. I know my dad would be happy to see me performing again.
Since this is for a LA/OC publication, what are your favorite memories of the scene back when you started?
I remember everything being so new and I was so young. To this day I really try and approach who I am as an artist with the knowledge, with the joy that I had just as a fan and an audience member. So many of the places I remember I wonder if they were legal places or just pop-up shows. When I was 13, I was a Cloud 9 goth and my mom would drop me off every weekend. That was my spot.
Last question, what are you listening to now?
To be honest, I’m not listening to anything new, right now mostly what I call my roller skate jams. 80″s electronic, funk, freestyle jams. Bands like Nu Shooz, Atlantic Starr. It’s weird I go through phases, I need t go through a rotation, so it all stays fresh.
