Lydia Loveless sings on “Can’t Change Me”: “My mouth is like a sinking boat/I keep throwing words out hoping I can keep afloat/But the more I dry out the more I get soaked.”
The words tossed out by the 21-year-old Rust Belt singer/songwriter on the jerking rock ‘n’ roll of the second tune from her Bloodshot Records debut Indestructible Machine discuss passing out on the floor, God, hell, white trash, hangovers, whiskey, Jesus and guiding lights among other subjects. Throughout it all, Loveless maintains her rowdy image, promising her actions will change how others feel about her, including Jesus, but it won’t change her. Defiant, in a word, is the terse track.
Elsewhere on the nine-track album, Loveless, playing a kind of music that crosses classic, honky-tonk country (real classic, like Hank Williams and Kitty Wells) with sneering but literary punk rock that creates a brawny rock ‘n’ roll sound, sings about the morning after, Jesus (a few more times), preachers, other women stealing men, Steve Earle (not the real Earle) and drinking alone. It’s gritty tales and grittier music, with Loveless’ powerful voice booming above the loud tunes and sinking into sadness on the lower ones.
It’s all part of Loveless’ devil-may-care attitude. Oh, she’s not a complete hellion. Just a little. Born in a small Ohio town, Loveless sings beyond her 21 years. Her dad owned a country honky tonk near the family farm in Coshocton so Loveless’ country music introduction came early. By the age of 14, she was playing in her older sisters’ band, the New Wave/pop-inspired Carson Drew, and soon moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she discovered punk rock via the Richard Hell-led Television, the works of Charles Bukowski and the rowdier side of the Williams family with Hank Williams III.
Her first album was the independent release The Only Man, but with Indestructible Machine, Loveless has created a sound that mirrors her live show: heartbreaking and fiery, loud and tender, raw and bold, and charged with a firecracker country sound.
Seemingly constantly on tour, Loveless called from Atlanta and chatted about her influences, career path and the sound of Indestructible Machine:
On what drew her to her sound:
“I started writing after I left the country — I grew up on a farm — and I started hanging out with punk rock people at the time, and particularly my boyfriend at the time was into punk rock but also country — like he introduced me to Merle Haggard and Hank Williams and Hank the Third — and that really inspired me and it seemed like something I could do to express my rage. [Laughs] And it seemed like fun.”
On some of her other influences:
“This was when I was younger, and I’ve been listening to a lot of this stuff lately, but Fiona Apple and Tori Amos were inspiring to me when I was really young and practicing my vocal work. As I got older, listening to punk really inspired me, and I was particularly inspired by Richard Hell lyrically and reading his poems. It just all made sense to me.”
On what she learned while playing in Carson Drew:
“It was good for preparing to play in bars. And it was nice being in a band where I didn’t have to take control and everything. It definitely prepared me for playing out live and working with other people. It’s probably important to be in a band before you decide on doing anything solo, I think, just so you can figure out how to work with people and not lose your mind.”
On her early decision to become a performer:
“When I decided to become a singer, I started taking dance lessons so I could sort of be a pop star/dancer/singer type when I was older. I did that for a long time, and I did just want to become a dancer after a while, but then I started playing in bands and started telling my dance teacher that I wasn’t going to make rehearsal and seeing her eyes ignite with rage I just had to pick music eventually and not worry about that anymore.”
On the inspiration behind “Can’t Change Me”:
“I guess it’s sort of a feminist rant in a way. It’s sort of being a woman who maybe grew up religious and kind of staying with somebody for religious reasons because it’s simple. It was kind of a take on that, and then maybe waking up one day and realizing this is who I am so why try to fit into this world.”
On the sound of Indestructible Machine:
“I just really wanted to make an old-time-y record that is rock ‘n’ roll, but if you listen to old country music I just like the way it was kind of a mess. I just wanted to make something like that where you want it to sound good, but you wanted it to sound good in one take and didn’t have to polish it up too much. So I tried to keep it as simple and in a few takes as possible.”
SEE THE SHOW
Lydia Loveless plays Stickyz on Thursday with a $6 cover for the 18-and-up show. The opening band is to be announced, but expect the music at 8:30 p.m.