Map the Music
by Drew Kolar
It's hard to find the time and money - and a good reason - to follow a musician on tour. It's even harder convince your boss that you need six weeks off to pursue the dream. But for Samantha Hale - who was in charge of doing interviews for the tour - things seemed to work out perfectly.
"I wait tables right now, like most struggling actors," she explained after her November 12 stop in New York, "so it's not hard to get time off from a restaurant. My general manager is actually a big Imogen Heap fan, and he completely supports it."
Hale, a 23-year-old improv comedienne from Los Angeles, and 23-year-old Lisa Tsaur, an editor from Massachusetts - and camerawoman during the tour -, decided to follow the British musician Imogen Heap on tour to film a documentary on the effect of Heap's music on her listeners. The songs vary from catchy electronic pop hooks to dark piano ballads and the fans fit into equally diverse categories.
"The idea," Hale said, "is exploring the psychology of what music means to people-how people use it to get through whatever they're going through at the time, whether it be depression, a break up, someone passing away. I'd like to know how other people are using it, because I know with me, I'd be under a rock somewhere without it."
Some music documentaries act as career retrospectives, like this past October's "Shut Up and Sing," which followed the Dixie Chicks up to their anti-Bush protests. Others, such as Matchbox Twenty's "Show" and Alanis Morissette's "Feast on Scraps," are tour diaries, featuring performances from one or more concerts. "Map the Music," however, is not centrally focused on the artist, but on the fans. While Hale and Tsaur still plan on having a diary-like feel to it, the film will feature interviews with fans and musicians, and questions based off of music-related quotes.
"The quiet people are usually the ones who give the most thoughtful answers," said Tsaur. "I find that interesting, and I love hearing what they have to say."
Hale explained that an important person in her life recently died. This is one of her main reasons for taking on the project.
"I recently lost my dad," she revealed. "This is what's driving me. I'm doing this for my dad, even though I know he would completely yell at me. I know that he sees everything that I'm doing, and that's what's pushing me."
She said that music helped her deal with her father's death last year - a much healthier outlet than what some people turn to!
"Music is pretty much my therapy at the moment," she explained. "Life just gets too hard at times, and you don't want to deal with it anymore. You need a break, otherwise your brain will just collide in on itself. For me, it's an escape. It takes me somewhere, and it gets me away from a lot of the pain that I'm going through right now."
One song that helped her through her father's death was cellist Zoë Keating's "Walking Man." She met Keating and told her this, and Keating rehearsed the song and played it during a concert that Hale attended. Hale later interviewed Keating for the documentary at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles.
"I was a little nervous because it was my first interview," she said, "and I didn't quite know if I was going to get into the groove or whatnot, but it was a wonderful experience. It was like being on the other side of it, because I got to be with her backstage right before she went on and after she played her set, so that was fascinating for me."
While Hale is the driving force, Tsaur gives her input from behind the camera. A graduate of California State University in Fullerton, Tsaur explained that her main focus is on film editing.
"I'm coming up with all the technical stuff," Tsaur said. "How to do shots and everything, and just the logistics of doing a documentary. But [Hale] has done more of the creative stuff regarding it."
Amy Gamm, a 29-year-old grad student at the University of Arkansas, knows Hale and Tsaur through iBabble, Imogen Heap's online message board. She has also lent Hale and Tsaur a hand by maintaining their MySpace page during the tour.
"It's been steady," she said of site traffic. "It seems like after every show, we have this big spike of activity. But other than that, it has just been generally very welcoming. Everyone is excited about the project."
The trio met up in Nashville and continued through the Texas gigs, also picking up other acquaintances, including Tiffany Le, Heap's MySpace housekeeper. During her stint, Le, 23, got help from them with her own interview with Heap for her pod cast, TiFFcast, and in exchange, Le was in charge of the release forms for the documentary interviews.
"I've known Sam and Lisa for a little while," she said. "First they told me they were going to follow [Imogen Heap] on all of her shows, and I told them they were a little crazy. But they're doing it for a good cause, and I know that they're very passionate about what they're doing. This project means the world to Sam."
Most of the musicians in the documentary so far are connected to each other in a fairly tight knit, under the radar group - except Heap, who is nudging into the American mainstream. Hale said that she has been asked many times why they chose to follow Heap.
"We did because she's so independent herself," she responded, "and decided she had this album she wanted to do and went out and did it. She bought the equipment herself and pushed herself to do it in a year, and we figured that's the frame of mind we were in."
The tour is now over, but Hale and Tsaur are nowhere near finished with the project. Hale has been landing interviews and catching gigs in California.
"Since the tour I have met up with Charlotte Martin a few times," she explained in a recent e-mail update, "with Terami Hirsch; with Carmen Rizzo, who is trying to help us out with a few connections; Guy Sigsworth, who is just lovely; and Nic Harcourt of KCRW, who was one of the first DJs ever to play Kate [Havnevik] and Immi."
She has also had the opportunity to and interview Havnevik on her latest U.S. tour supporting the French group Air. Hale also went on tour with Havnevik for a week and attended the final gig at Madison Square Garden in New York. Tsaur, meanwhile, has been home in Boston editing the video together. She also recently created a promo trailer for their MySpace page.
"Lisa is back in Boston permanently," said Hale, "so we pretty much talk online and on the phone all the time. Plus I am constantly going back and forth to UPS sending her the new footage I have been getting here in LA."
Though the project is not finished, the ladies seem optimistic and are still genuinely excited about the ongoing work. Even Gamm, who has helped out at a distance, said she's excited to be a part of it, as music is also an important part of her life.
"Music is music," said Gamm. "We don't have to dissect it and contemplate it too much - the majority of it for me is just, 'Shut up and let the music take over and do its thing.' It's a release for me, because it's a moment to step back from an otherwise pretty complicated existence."
