Womanrock Magazine.com (Click here to go to the website) WOMANROCK: How did you get your song "Shine" placed in a commercial for Kodak? Bibi: It was through the licensing company Pump Audio. I had sent them My first CD Firepop and they actually placed one of my songs "Caroline's Waiting" in a World Wrestling Federation video! Then they called last May and told me I was selected for the Kodak spot. It was the most welcome break ever! WOMANROCK: Can you tell me a bit about the contract you had with them? Bibi: The way they work is all the licensing arrangements are non-exclusive. So, I still retain all rights to the song. I can turn around and sell it to anyone except another camera manufacturer. They set a fee and I got 75% of it, which came to $10,500. WOMANROCK: Do you receive royalties? Bibi: Not in the classic sense as if the commercial were done under union auspices. In that situation you would earn separate monies being the singer, the songwriter, the arranger, etc. But you probably would not retain all the exclusive rights. This was licensed, not created from the ground up for the ad agency. I do get some money from BMI trickling in from it, as the writer. WOMANROCK: How was "Shine" edited for the Kodak commercial? (What did they cut to take it from 4:33 to :30?) Bibi: They took the intro and cut to the end of the chorus. It really works! And they used the original mix! WOMANROCK: When did the commercial run and for how long? Bibi: It ran from May until the end of 2003. I never actually saw it on TV but it ran on MTV during The Osbournes among other things! I received plenty of excited E-mails when anyone I knew saw it. The first came from the drummer Ira Elliot who played on it. WOMANROCK: What made you decide to study classical piano at Julliard? Bibi: I have always been fascinated with the piano and really, I wish more than anything that I had lessons as a kid. But instead I was into rock guitar playing and it was just easier to front bands and sing while playing guitar. When I got my Kodak check I wanted to indulge in studying music, specifically the skills that lead to arranging and orchestrating. I have no classical background at all, I don't read music, but I had some piano classes in college and I played keyboards in a great rock and roll band called The Ventilators in the 90's. I have always written about half my songs at the keyboard. WOMANROCK: How has that impacted your life and your music now? Bibi: I pretty much want to sit at the piano all day long and do nothing else! I plan to get good at playing my own songs and begin to present at least half my live set on piano. I have a real Steinway upright in my life right now, on loan to me, and it resonates like no other instrument I've ever been involved with! I can deliver the songs with so much more depth and dynamics even with a basic keyboard, than with a guitar. So now I'm excited about doing solo shows, where it's not just skeletal versions with a guitar, now there are bass lines, melodies, more drama! There is so much more of a sonic spectrum available. WOMANROCK: Are you working on a new album? Bibi: It is really almost ready to go to pressing. Titled Second Kiss, it's 12 original songs. Some of the production is contemporary, drum samples and such, and some is totally analog, full band, even using vintage instruments like a mellotron. It will be here in a few weeks! WOMANROCK: Who is playing on the album? Bibi: Pianist Andy Burton did almost all the keyboard, organ and synth stuff, my favorite rhythm section, also heard on Firepop, consists of Peter Stuart on bass and Ira Elliot (of Nada Surf) on drums. On violin I had Deni Bonet. I played all the guitar myself. Most of it was produced by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr, Son Volt, etc.) WOMANROCK: What inspired the song "Seeds of Anger"? Bibi: It's about being psychologically trapped with someone with Borderline Personality Disorder. About how difficult it is to maintain your sense of clarity and your sense of who you are when the other person’s world is superimposed on you, maybe as a child, and you are dealing with a seemingly hopeless uphill battle of trying to create your own truth. It could extend to being about any situation where you are dealing with strong, irrational forces. Or any mental illness in general. WOMANROCK: What was the songwriting process? Did you start with music or lyrics? Bibi: That's a song I started on keyboards. The music usually comes first but the feeling of the chords and melodies lead to words that become the lyrics. WOMANROCK: Was it a long process with many changes or short? Bibi: I went through a few re-writes. When I showed it to Richard Lloyd, we edited out a section and extended the solo - which by the way is my favorite recorded solo of his anywhere. I was thrilled that I had his fierce, explosive, yet elegant guitar wizardry to contribute to the song, which is inherently about frustration, and yes, anger. His solo says it all. WOMANROCK: Where were you when you wrote it, and when? Bibi: I was in the East Village late at night in my apartment in the mid 90's and I kept playing the chorus over and over, in a hypnotic state. That's how I knew it was going to be good, even though it's an unusual song for me, not pop at all. WOMANROCK: Did the end result meet your original idea? Bibi: Yes, it blew me away how incredible that song came out. I feel that song is as high caliber as any powerful rock song, by The Who or anybody! We achieved something majestic and grand on "Seeds of Anger". WOMANROCK: What's next for Bibi? Bibi: I would really like to go on the road throughout the spring and summer and open for, or do double bills with lots of different people. I want to get out and play as much as possible. My songs are available on I-Tunes now and I actually look forward to the "demise" of the CD format. I want songs to have their own individual life on the Net, each one being a potential "single" for some group of people! I want to pursue music directors and get a song in a movie or TV show. In general, this year for me is about pursuing any and all avenues for delivering my music to new audiences. I look forward to expanding beyond the indie rock, or singer/songwriter audience. In the past when I've played in the subway I learned that all kinds of people respond to these songs - people of all ages, colors, walks of life. I just have to figure out how to reach them. Tomorrow I'm playing at an old age home and last week I played for kids in a hospital. Music needs to be everywhere!