Tavis Smiley Interviews Wendy & Lisa!!!

Radio and talk show host, Tavis Smiley, interviewed Wendy & Lisa as a part of his series on Emmy winners!  The ladies discuss their childhood musical education, their creative scoring/composing process, and how being in The Revolution helps/hinders their scoring opportunities.

The interview is great and very well conducted! Treat yourself and take a listen to the interview here: Tavis Smiley Interviews Wendy & Lisa

Congratulations to Wendy and Lisa for Making OUT’s 100!

The Dynamic Duo are members of The Class of 2009 OUT 100!  As you know, the ladies did a wonderful interview for OUT.com this year.  If you have not read the interview, it is a MUST read.  Even if you have read the interview, it is definitely worth the re-read. You can check out the article here: The Revolution Will Be Harmonized


Also check out the terrific picture below courtesy of OUT! Wendy is hardly recognizable! Along with Wendy and Lisa are fellow nominees, Pansy Division’s guitarist and lead singer Ginoli and singer Alber.

                              Photographed by Jason Bell in Los Angeles.  Courtesy of OUT.com

To see the complete write-up of this special nomination, click here: OUT 100 Class of 2009

Once again, I would like to congratulate Wendy and Lisa for their nomination. With the amazing amount of talent that they have, they more than deserve it!  It is great seeing them get a least a fraction of the recognition that they deserve! Thanks OUT!!!

Wendy & Lisa - Spectrasonics Super ‘Heroes’

In an ‘oldie but goodie’ short interview, Wendy & Lisa do something that you rarely hear/see them do: advertise! In this brief interview, the Dynamic Duo talk about using Spectrasonics instruments. Spectrasonic is a company that develops sampled sound libraries and software instruments.  Below is a quote from the interview where Wendy discusses how Spectrasonics impacts their Heroes score work:

Wendy Melvoin told us, “Spectrasonics has helped us create sonic landscapes that are mind bending and other-worldly. The score to Heroes is full of Atmosphere, Trilogy and Stylus RMX. Spectrasonics instruments are an integral part of the Heroes score. We trust and use them every week!”

To read the entire interview, click here: Spectrasonics - Wendy & Lisa

At the end of the article, there is a link to a video entitled ‘I Need Love’. According to the article, the following individuals play on the video (excluding Wendy and Lisa, of course):

(Chris Bruce - Guitar, Mike Elizondo - Bass, Joey Waronker - Drums, Susannah Melvoin - BG Vox, Cole Ynda - BG Vox, Greg Liesz - Pedal Steel Guitar)

Unfortunately, the link is no longer active (this interview took place in the year 2007). However, the video can now be found on YouTube and can bee seen below:
 

Lisa Coleman Writes About Being on Peter Himmelman's Furious World!

Lisa Coleman was nice enough to take the time out to write about her (and Wendy's) experience being on Peter Himmelman's Furious World (June 2nd). If you do not remember (or missed the interview completely), Peter Himmelman has a web show where he interviews stars (i.e. Wendy & Lisa) and performs some pretty funny sketches. During the interview, the ladies spoke about the music business and even performed live, acoustic versions of Balloon and Mother of Pearl!

Below, is an excerpt of Lisa's reflections on what it was like to be on the show. Following the excerpt (and link to the actual article), you will find the video of the show... in case you missed it.

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The Furious World as Told by Me, Lisa (on behalf of Wendy and Lisa)
Wendy and Me (Lisa), Wendy Melvoin and me (Lisa Coleman), aka Wendy and Lisa (me), had the fabulously VIBRANT honor to appear on and around Peter Himmelman’s “Furious World” last month and it was an experience I/we won’t soon forget.

We did not know what to expect. We had seen the show a few times on the interwebz and knew that Peter was genuinely funny, and very talented. We thought there would be a casual hangout kind of attitude about the whole thing, and… well… we were wrong! I mean, we couldn’t have been more RIGHT, or should I say, it was more like there was an INSISTENCE of casualness that was thrust upon us the moment we walked in the door.

************************************************************************************

My favorite quote from Lisa's memoir: "Peter would stop them [his band] and say with great authority that they knew that one enough and he didn’t want it to be over rehearsed! Like a good lover, he didn’t want to rush to the summit. . . so to speak."

Ha... that is definitely Lisa! You can read her reflections, in their entirety, here: The Furious World As Told By Lisa

Below, you can view the episode of Furious World that featured Wendy & Lisa as guests.



PS: Thanks to Wonderfaller for submitting Lisa's article!

Wendy & Lisa: From Girl Bros A Go-Go to Girl Bros a Gabba-Gabba?

During Record Store Day (April '09) at Amoeba Music, in Hollywood, the dynamic duo, Wendy & Lisa, were interviewed by DJ Lance Rock of Yo Gabba Gabba fame!

The ladies discussed their work on Dangerous Minds, Carnival, and Crossing Jordan as well as the making of White Flags of Winter Chimneys and working with Grace Jones. The interview is very funny and is definitely worth checking out!

To see the video interview, please click here: Wendy & Lisa Live At Amoeba Music

(site last visited: June 18, 2009)

Catherine Plato CATCHES UP WITH WENDY & LISA!

Earlier this year, Wendy & Lisa did an amazing interview with Jane And Jane Magazine's Catherine Plato. In the interview, the ladies get personal and talk about homosexuality, their 20 year relationship, and the making of White Flags of Winter Chimneys.

Below is a brief excerpt to the interview.

CATCHING UP WITH WENDY AND LISA

During the 10 years between the release of their fourth album, Girl Bros., and their most recent, White Flags of Winter Chimneys, released in February, Wendy and Lisa ended their 20-year marriage. And though they have settled into new relationships (Wendy with High Art film director Lisa Cholodenko and Lisa with the band’s manager Renata Kanclerz) and both have had children in recent years, the women continue to work together as perhaps the most functional and respectful exes in history. The new album is available through iTunes, Amazon.com and WendyandLisa.com.

J&J: How did you come up with the album title?

Lisa: The title is from a Joni Mitchell record called Hejira, and it came from that specific song. There’s a lyric in the very last verse that says “white flags of winter chimneys waving truce against the moon,” and it’s written in the form of a breakup song, actually. So she’s sitting in a café, she’s reflecting on this relationship and all relationships that she’s had and sort of lamenting but coming off strong—which is so Joni Mitchell—and so we felt like it kind of fits what we’ve been through over the past 400 years. And being a couple, you know, Wendy and I were married for 20 years, and we survived the deaths of both of our brothers, we survived a career in the music business playing with Prince, scoring films, being women, being gay, and we’ve had all these battles and skirmishes and it’s been 10 years since our last actual CD. We’ve been scoring and we went through the breakup of our marriage and there was something about this collection of songs that seemed to sum up all of these feelings.

To read the rest of the interview, please click here: Jane And Jane Interview

(site last visited: 06-16-09)

Inside the .orgers Studio Presents: WENDY & LISA (Part One)

The dynamic duo has just conducted their long-awaited interview with Prince.org!

Prince.org was kind enough to ask fans to provide questions for the ladies. The initial result is 'Part One': A series of YouTube videos in which Wendy & Lisa answer questions 1-13 (of 26) provided by the fans.

In Part 1, the ladies answer a variety of questions ranging from album favorites to working with Grace Jones to flying on the concord! The questions and answers were great, and Part 2 can be seen LIVE (via Ustream), on Wednesday, June 10th at 3pm Pacific Time!

You can watch Part 1 of the interview (via YouTube) on WendyandLisa.com or Prince.org

Stay tuned for Part 2 on Wednesday, June 10th!

(sites last visited 5-6-09)

Wendy & Lisa on Peter Himmelman’s Furious World... In Case You Missed It!

If you missed Wendy & Lisa’s appearance on Peter Himmelman’s Furious World, then you missed out on a couple of great performances! During the interview, the dynamic duo performed acoustic versions of Balloon and Mother of Pearl that were absolutely beautiful!

Fortunately for us, the interview and performances can be viewed online! To do so, visit the Wendy & Lisa Official site here: http://www.wendyandlisa.com/blog/furious-world

ScoreKeeper Chats With Wendy & Lisa About HEROES, Ron Moore's VIRTUALITY, Prince, And More!! With Audio!!

In a terrific interview from aintitcool.com, Wendy & Lisa speak about how they became involved with heroes, what a typical weekly schedule is like, and their favorite movie scores. Below is the intro to the intervew followed by a link to the entire interview (which includes audio).
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ScoreKeeper Chats With Wendy & Lisa About HEROES, Ron Moore's VIRTUALITY, Prince, And More!! With Audio!!

Greetings! ScoreKeeper here peddling a two-for-the-price-of-one conversation with a pair of rising stars in the scoring community.

Composers Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman have been exercising their superpowers for quite some time on both the large and small screen but with the success of their latest venture, HEROES (2006-2009), this dynamic musical duo find themselves in the best creative shape of their professional lives.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Wendy & Lisa about their work on this vaulted series and also dabbled a bit into earlier chapters of their lives. They’ve been in the business a long time and their tandem approach to scoring is truly one of the tightest and most enduring collaborative relationships in show business.

While you’re reading you’ll stumble upon several audio responses I’ve inserted into the text portion of the interview in order to enhance the experience. It was a pleasure talking with them. I hope you enjoy their time as much as I did.

…and don’t forget…
Save the cheerleader, save the world…

To read/hear the full interview, click here: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41227

(site last visited on May 29, 2009)

Exclusive! House Petrelli Wendy and Lisa interview, part 2

House Petrelli: What makes the themes for the different characters unique to them? Instrumentation, obviously, but are there certain keys or scales that you’ll use for certain characters?

Lisa: Yes.

HP: (laughs) Would you like to elaborate?

L: (laughs) Sorry, suddenly the finger pointed at me. There are different ways to establish those things. My favorite that I like to talk about in terms of that is, Hiro. Yatta! Because of his ability to move through space and time, the space/time continuum, and stop time, and it’s all pretty much about time and that sort of thing. We used a marimba for Hiro specifically and I’m sure you’re familiar with his “ticky-tocky ticky-tocky” kind of...

To read more, please click here: http://www.housepetrelli.com/default.asp?Display=90

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

Housewife in Hollywood Wendy & Lisa Interview

Like many teens in the 80’s I was a loyal Prince & The Revolution fan. I drew the eyes, lips and side swept hair picture from the Purple Rain album artwork onto every book cover and Pee Chee folder I could find. My zip up hoodie vest was adorned with Prince & The Revolution pins. My bedroom walls were decorated with Prince crawling out of his bathtub and riding his purple motorcycle.

Not only was I infatuated with Prince and the sounds of his music I was intrigued by the two woman in the group, Wendy & Lisa. They added a female vibe and contributed their own musical talent to The Revolution.I was inspired by their style, confidence and attitude.

In 1986, Wendy & Lisa became a musical duo creating their own albums, a few being Fruit at the Bottom, Eroica & Girl Bros. They also started scoring music for film and television shows such as Heroes, Nurse Jackie, Soul Food and Dangerous Minds.

When I heard Wendy & Lisa had a new album out called White Flags of Winter Chimneys I wanted to learn more about them. Here is my interview with Wendy & Lisa:

To read more, please click here: http://housewifeinhollywood.com/wendy-lisa/

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

Girl Bros. Network Exclusive Interview

It's been 10 years since the release of your last studio album Girl Bros., tell us about your latest album White Flags of Winter Chimneys and why it took 10 years? What was the inspiration?

Wendy:

It came at a time when the film and TV industry went into a tailspin from the writers strike. We decided to take that time and make this record. We had songs that were already written but decided to toss all of them to discover a new and vital sound.

If we could have made this record sooner I’m not sure it would have been as good. All the planets aligned for us on this record.

Lisa:

It took ten years because we play VERY SLOWLY. We record maybe one chord every few days. it has to be JUST RIGHT! And so it just took a really looooong time! OK. THAT IS NOT TRUE

Um... A lot of life happened in those ten years. After releasing Girl Bros. and traveling to promote that the best we could, without the support of a label or promoter, we started getting a lot of scoring offers. Crossing Jordan, Carnivale, and a few independent films... etc. We also had met Neil Finn during the mixing of Girl Bros. through Tchad Blake, and traveled to New Zealand and subsequently all over the world playing and recording with him.

To read more, please click here: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=100695480&blogId=485783140

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

The Revolution Will be Harmonized By Barry Walters (OUT.COM Interview)

Keyboardist Lisa Coleman was 19 when she started working with Prince on his 1980 album Dirty Mind. Her childhood friend, guitarist Wendy Melvoin, was also 19 when she joined Prince in 1983 for Purple Rain. Known from that point on as Wendy & Lisa, Melvoin and Coleman became key members of the Revolution, Prince’s band at the peak of his musical powers and multi-platinum popularity. After they left the group in ‘86, the pair continued as a recording duo and as composers for such hit TV shows as Heroes. Shimmering with bright surfaces that compliment its complex depths, their latest album, White Flags of Winter Chimneys, showcases sophisticated strains of rock and jazz that definitively assert their serious chops. To celebrate that achievement, Melvoin and Coleman cast aside their usual privacy and gave Out their most candid interview ever.

To read more, please click here: http://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=25083

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

Exclusive! House Petrelli: Wendy and Lisa interview part 1!

House Petrelli: In the scoring process, how much is recycled and how much is custom-composed for the episode?

Wendy: Well, that’s an easy answer. We have not reused one cue in the three seasons that we’ve done. We can’t, because each scene is so specifically composed that if you reuse anything you won’t be hitting the right spots on the characters. So when we go in and listen to the cues when we’re trying to spot the episode, they’ve inevitably thrown a cue in there that works but it’s for the wrong character. So we haven’t reused, and we’ve never wanted to. On Crossing Jordan we were able to repurpose some romantic cues, but again, on this show we don’t, and also I think it helps keep the integrity of the feeling we had from the first season.

To read more, please click here: http://www.housepetrelli.com/default.asp?Display=82

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

What Had Happened Was: Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin by Vibe Interview Keith Murphy

When talking to keyboardist Lisa Coleman and guitarist Wendy Melvoin about their experiences working with mercurial funk-rock God Prince, the stories are seemingly endless. So much so, that we couldn’t fit the bulk of the duo’s interview into our 51 Best Albums That Never Were package, which highlighted Prince’s now mythical 1986 unreleased project Dream Factory (Paisley Park). These days Wendy and Lisa—the most celebrated members of the Purple One’s classic ‘80s backing band The Revolution—are still making uncompromising music with the release of the latest album White Flags of Winter Chimneys (wendyandlisa.com).

As for Prince, the 50-year-old music icon is as prolific as ever. The superstar is releasing a three-disc CD set, LOtUSFLOW3R, MPLSoUND and third album from protégé Bria Valente through an exclusive deal with retail chain Target on March 29. So what’s it like recording with a prodigious talent who can write a song as easy as “brushing his teeth” as Coleman muses? Read on.

To read more, please click here: http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2009/03/what_had_happened_was_lisa_coleman_and_wendy_melvoin/

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

Rock the dub Interview: Wendy & Lisa

I don't know about you, but when I was in high school, I was a huge fan of Prince & The Revolution. For those of you who know the score, you should know who Wendy & Lisa are. Childhood friends, and talented artists, they've been through a lot - they were active in music before The Revolution, arguably made their most famous mark with Prince, helping usher in the "blue eyed soul" sound in the 80s, and when they eventually left his fold, something was definitely missing. They weren't, though, making their own music, as well as collaborating with artists like Seal, Eric Clapton, Liz Phair, Sheryl Crow, among others. In December, the digital release of their latest album, White Flags of Winter Chimneys, was self-released through their website, and I got a chance to speak with them about this, their song-writing and other points of interest...

To read more, please click here: http://www.rockthedub.com/2009/02/rock-dub-interview-wendy-lisa.html

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

B-Sides in the Bins #41 - Wendy & Lisa Interview

Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman– collectively known as Wendy & Lisa are probably best known as the creative songwriting force in Prince’s 80’s backing band The Revolution. It’s my opinion as well as others that it was Wendy & Lisa who were a strong (and necessary) compliment to Prince and that relationship fostered the creative energy of the three that spawned music that was more than the three could have achieved individually. After Prince dissolved The Revolution Wendy & Lisa stuck together and continued to work through the 90’s on their career as a songwriting duo. While the four albums released through 1998 had been received well critically, none of the albums really took off for them– quite a bit of it due to label switching that was outside their control and it was this experience that formed their approach to their new album...

I had an opportunity to talk to Wendy & Lisa during a short break in their busy schedules last week to talk about their new album, the promise of an upcoming tour, and their unique distribution model. They were very cool to talk to– funny and excited to talk about their new work. They had me on speakerphone and it was a lot of fun talking to them. They are kindred spirits with me in a lot of respects, their tastes in music are as varied as mine and their passion for their work is infectious as I found myself re-energized to focus on this blog!

To read more, please click here: http://www.playbsides.com/?p=881

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

Biggest regret in 2008: Not publishing this Wendy and Lisa interview by Eric Deggans

For a serious Prince fan like me, it was the perfect interview.

I had secured some talk time with Lisa Coleman, the keyboard-playing half of the songwriting and performing duo Wendy and Lisa -- two proteges of the Purple Genius himself.
I was such a fan that back in college, when I was playing drums in a band that had a record deal with Motown, I wrote them a letter offering to be their drummer -- like a kid asking for Santa Claus to swing by his house for milk and cookies (I got back a publicity photo with a hastily scribbled signature).

I got Stuck in the '80s guru Steve Spears to let me conduct the interview in the podcast studio, so we had an excellent recording of it and it went amazingly well. Turns out, she and partner Wendy Melvoin, who joined the conversation from afar, washing dishes or something in the background, had done some studio work with a friend who was the guitarist in that Motown band I talked about, and Coleman talked candidly about everything from the breakup of her and Melvoin's 20-year romantic relationship to their work scoring TV shows such as Heroes and Crossing Jordan (the one question she wouldn't answer: Who's crazier -- Prince or Me'shell Ndege Ocello?)

To read more, please click here: http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2008/12/my-biggest-regr.html

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

Purple Reign

You may know them as 'the black chicks in Prince's band', says Priya Elan. But Wendy & Lisa have a secret B-movie past, provide the spooky music to Heroes and may yet write I Kissed a Girl: The Musical WEN-DEEEEEE!" chant Pharrell and Madonna before Wendy Melvoin's funky breakdown kicks in on She's Not Me, the standout track from Madge's recent album. It's an echo of Prince's call for "Little girl Wendy's parade!" as she riffed into action more than 20 years earlier on His Royal Purpleness's anthem Kiss. From inspiring Prince to make the best music of his career to scoring the TV series Heroes, Wendy and her musical (and former life) partner Lisa Coleman have been darting about the pop culture zeitgeist for three decades. Not that anyone would know.

To read more, please click here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/20/1?gusrc=rss&feed=fromtheguardian

(site last visited May 17, 2009)

BEEMAN’S BLOG – SEASON 2, EPISODE 11 "POWERLESS"WARNING SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN

BEEMAN’S BLOG – SEASON 2, EPISODE 11"POWERLESS"WARNING SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN

Sorry for getting the blog up a little late this week. Sadly, here at the HEROES offices we’ve dropped below a skeleton crew to a nobody crew, and I got stuck doing all the computer uploading, research and spell/fact checking alone. If there are more mispellings and fact mistakes than usual, forgive me!

So… Tonight our eleventh episode aired. It was written by Jeph Loeb and directed by Allan Arkush, both of who did their usual outstanding job! And I hope you all agree it is a fitting end to this segment of the season.This time I thought I would do something a little different. I’ve been meaning to interview our composers Wendy Melovin and Lisa Coleman since way back since last season. I’ve actually tried to do it several times, but our schedules have been notoriously out of sync with each other. Now we finally hooked up.

To read more, please click here: http://gregbeeman.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

(site last visited May 17, 2009)