by Jennifer Matos

Sheri Lynne and Melissa Etheridge: More than Just "Similar Features" PART 2

JM: How would you describe your music style? I know that you did the Melissa covers, but for Sheri Lynne, if you had to tell fans or prospective fans what your style was, how would you describe it?

SL: I’d say I have a country-rock edge. …But I like a lot of kinds of music.

JM: And I think most musicians do because you have to be open if you’re going to expand as an artist and be creative.

SL: Yeah, exactly.

JM: Speaking of lyrics, I was listening to samples from the CD and I listened to the song “Wanna Be Used”.

SL: Ha, ha, ha. The dirty song.

JM: I know! I know, but without giving too much away, I know you draw from personal experiences, but is this one of your own creations or is this co-written?

SL: No, I wrote that all on my lonesome. I think that comes from being in the bar scene and being in that, you know, that rock-n-roll groupie environment, it’s kind of exposing that whole side of what people are so willing to do anything with you or for you or…it can be distorted, you know? So that kind of came from that. That you can be as dirty as you want to be and get away with it, you know what I mean?

JM: So, stories from being on the road?

SL: Yeah, exactly. And not that I had, not that I had those experiences. But you have stuff put in your face, and it’s like, “Well why would you go that far for somebody you don’t even know?” So it’s just people pushing, pushing that envelope, you know, because, because you’re playing rock-n-roll.

JM: So do you get a lot of groupies?

SL: Different periods in my career I have had my fair share of groupies. I tell everybody “No” now because I’m married now. (laughs)

JM: So, I went under the “Bookings” section on your website and it says that you have three different kinds of shows the “Similar Features” and the “Where’s Willy”. Can you talk a little bit about “Where’s Willy”?

SL: You know, “Where’s Willy” is an 80’s chick rock band. We do, my goodness, the gamut, Blondie, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett, Suzy Quattro, you name it. The Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, all the stuff form the 80’s chick rockers. And it’s fun and it’s a five-piece band and it’s got the keyboards in it and everything, all those effective 80’s sounds…

JM: Synthesizer?

SL: Yeah, exactly. Some of them have a Hannon B3 organ sound in them, do you know what I mean? So it’s got all of that fun stuff. It’s actually, [whispers] how many of us are there? 5? Or 6? 2, 3, yeah 4 women and a guy in that band. The lead guitar player is a guy. He’s great.

JM: Do you find that you have the same following at the “Where’s Willy” show that you do with the “Similar Features” crowd?

SL: No, I think that all three different types of shows that we do have, I mean there’s a lot of crossover audience, people who just come to see me because they’re loyal to my shows whatever I’m doing. But each different show, like between the “Similar Features” band and the “Where’s Willy” band and even my Stillwater band. Kind of the idea of having the three different styles is to appeal to a broader spectrum of people. So, for example, I don’t do the “Similar Features” show in a little small club down here in the mid-Cape. I do more the “Stillwater” type of thing with country and rock and blues. And the same for the “Where’s Willy” show. The “Where’s Willy” show is really a production, just like “Similar Features” is a production, specific thing. You know, it’s good for parties, it’s good for big rooms, it’s good for like a larger venue.

JM: If someone wanted to identify you as just a Melissa Etheridge cover band, what are the differences between your music and Melissa’s music?

SL: My personal music and Melissa’s music?

JM: Yeah.

SL: I don’t think we write at all alike. She’s got her own unique style and it’s completely different and I am still finding my writing style. So I still dabble in a lot of different areas like the countryish rockish side, so when I am obviously doing the “Similar Features” show I am essentially impersonating her. So that the point is to sound like her, move like her and talk like her and act like her. Not so much act like her, just convey that you know, that you’re there at a Melissa concert. Although the drag boys are better at it than I am. (laughs) They get the makeup and the wigs and everything and I’m not quite that into it. I do a lot of covers is my point, more covers than originals. That’s supposed to change. (laughs) That’s the goal—to slowly introduce more originals and start to break away from the covers. And that’s a slow process.

JM: Well I like how you said that you were still finding your style because I think that allows you to grow as a musician.

SL: Oh absolutely. Yeah. I’d, I’d like to find a style that I could settle on and write comfortably in. I haven’t quite gotten there yet, but I’m workin’ on it. (laughs) Baby steps. I’ve only been doing this my whole life and I still haven’t found a style.

JM: You cover a lot of musicians, is there a reason that you settled on Melissa? Is there something about her music?

SL: Oh, I guess in picking songs to do a tribute show, a rock-n-roll lesbian icon suits me. It was easiest to step into her, her character and plus her music suits me. It happens to be natural to play that. It was easy to just walk into, you know?

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