Juliana Hatfield
Juliana Hatfield
Juliana Hatfieldis an American musician and singer-songwriter from the Boston area. She was formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies and Some Girls and now performs as a solo artist, and as one half of Minor Alps, alongside Matthew Caws of Nada Surf. In December 2014, Paste Magazine named her cover of the "Needle in the Hay", a song by Elliott Smith, as No. 10 one of the "20 Best Cover Songs of 2014."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth27 July 1967
CityWiscosset, ME
CountryUnited States of America
It makes me feel good to have some comforting effect on someone that needs comfort.
I never felt happy with the idea that part of what I do is to be an object to be looked at. I thought of my public persona as an entity separate to myself.
Songwriting is like going to church. I'm connecting to something, and it's rewarding in really important ways. I don't need to share it with anyone to feel good about it.
I could make a whole album with no one else involved at all. It would be a total, unadulterated expression of myself. Because whenever you have others playing on a project, their influence becomes a part of it.
It may seem strange, but the most grateful I've ever felt was when I was held up at gunpoint. After I handed over my wallet and the mugger ran off into the woods, I thought, 'Thank you for not shooting me.' I was overwhelmingly glad to be alive and unharmed.
I don't make money on the road, and so there's less and less incentive for me to do it when I don't have that adolescent desire for whatever it is, glory or fame.
My guitar playing has not developed as much as I think it could because I never practice. I only play when I'm writing or recording or when I'm playing on tour. When I'm sitting around at home, I never play.
When I start writing, I'll have a vague concept or I'll just have a title, and the song just goes on its own direction. Usually it goes in many directions within each song. They get really convoluted sometimes.
Songwriting is like editing. You write down all this stuff - all this bad, stupid stuff - and then you have to get rid of everything except the very best.
How can I shield myself from the things that I hear?
If you want to achieve things in life, you've just got to do them, and if you're talented and smart, you'll succeed.
I'd just like to inspire people to be themselves and do what they want and not conform to the rigid guidelines of the music or entertainment business.
I've always been in this sort of perpetual state of existential longing. I feel like something's missing.
I don't buy a lot when I travel, but when I do, I like to send gifts from wherever I am. It's fun to find the local post office.