#shainataub

A big thank you to Shaina Taub of the Shaina Taub Trio for answering our SubCulture Take 5 Questions. Shaina is a muscian, singer, songwriter, actress and all around talented young artist with a lot for us to learn from. The Shaina Taub Trio is Shaina Taub, Mike Brun and Jacob Colin Cohen--don't miss their inventive, whimsical sound on 11/18 at Subculture. Tickets are still available for what's going to be a very special evening: http://ticketf.ly/1cg7kf9 

We are just "beside ourselves" with this catchy tune below.

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SubCulture: Who are you major musical influences?

Shaina Taub: Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, and Stephen Sondheim  are my main gods. Lately, Krystle Warren and Jamie Cullum have been big influences as well. I’m most regularly inspired by the incredible community of singer/songwriters I’ve encountered here in New York - there’s truly amazing music being written and shared nightly in this city.

SC: Describe your first live performance- (was it a school talent show?  local battle of the bands? open mic at a coffeehouse?).    

ST: I’ve been performing as a singer since I was very young, but my first performance of my original songs was at a college open mic night. I had finally finished two whole songs and I got to play them for a very supportive and lovely crowd of friends and classmates in the common room of our arts building. It was a great way to kick it all off.                       

SC: What is your favorite song to perform?

ST: A friend of mine asked to me write a song about animals for a fundraiser concert she was producing to benefit a farm sanctuary upstate. At first I wasn’t too jazzed by the idea, but I ended up writing a story song about a bear and an otter that has become a very meaningful piece to me. I love to perform it because it’s so intimate and conversational, and hopefully takes the listener on a miniature yet epic journey through these animals‘ lives. I haven’t performed it in over a year, but I plan to bring it back for my SubCulture show on the 18th!

SC: That's great--we can't wait to hear it! If you could perform with one artist (dead or alive) who would it be?  

ST: It’s a tie for Carole King or Barbra Streisand. Third place goes to Cole Porter.

SC: What is your process when writing a song?

ST: I almost always start with lyrics. Recently, I’ve found creating melody for the words away from the piano to be very fruitful. Then I bring it back to the keyboard to arrange it. I'm an obsessive re-writer - all of my songs go through many drafts. I’m always writing down lyric snippets in my journal and recording short voice memos on my phone. I like to keep a running ‘bank’ of these mini, unformed ideas to trigger me when I sit down to write.

A big part of my writing process is cultivating a regular, daily practice, not just random, sporadic occurrences when inspiration happens to strike. Twyla Tharp wrote a wonderful book called The Creative Habit that opened my mind to the importance of routine to craft.

Another significant element of my process is taking in other people’s work. Listening to albums, seeing live shows. To me, making art is two parts intake, one part output. I think there’s this myth that we create art in a void and that listening to one another is stealing, or being derivative. I think listening is inheriting, and our responsibility as creative people. Music is one big game of telephone, a creative conversation evolving over generations. I think that good songwriting is just good listening, then good editing, then good arranging. As Pete Seeger said, all songwriters are ‘links in a chain.’ Picasso said great artists steal - I say great artists listen and arrange.

SC: That's a really great way to think of creating in general--on that note,  what is your favorite album of all time?

ST: The album I’ve listened to most consistently since I was little is The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It continues to speak to me every single time, and was somehow equally relevant to me as a ten year old as it is now as a twenty-five year old.

SC: On a typical Friday night I am....

ST: Performing in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812! It’s an incredibly beautiful electro-pop opera currently running on 45th Street in the Theater District at Kazino, a pop-up Russian supper club built especially for the show. I play the role of Princess Mary eight performances a week. I learned accordion for this production, which has been a blast.

SC: What advice would you give young, aspiring musicians?

Sure we've had a couple laughs over funny videos today, but Shaina Taub's pipes are no joke. Just listening to her sing, you're probably thinking to yourself "man, would I love to here her belt one out in the bathroom!" Which is weird because that's exactly what she does in the DIGS show Porcelain Thrones.