By Web site Editor Admin
Trying to make it on your own as a singer/songwriter is no easy task. When you’re friends with the likes of Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson and G. Love, however, the road to success is not as difficult. Tristan Prettyman’s debut album Twentythree is chock-full of mesmerizing folky pop tunes with cameos from G. Love and Mraz. Recently, The Chronicle had a chance to interview Prettyman during an opening stint for the John Butler Trio.
The Chronicle: Has your tour with the John Butler Trio been going well for you?
Tristan Prettyman: It’s been great. Actually, we’ve had a number of shows where there’s been fans coming for me as well, so it’s been really cool with people yelling out. It’s always nice when you’re an opener and people are yelling out song requests. It’s an honor to tour with [the John Butler Trio]. Their audiences are very much a music appreciative audience. They come because they love the music, not because they’ve heard it on the radio 10,000 times and it’s the latest craze.
Chronicle: What made you go with Twentythree as the album title?
TP: Well, I turned 23 on the 23rd this year; that was part of it. I told myself when I started this, that if I didn’t get anywhere by the time I was 23, I would go back to school and move on. It’s also a superstitious number for me. It’s something my brother introduced me to, and it has to do with the 23 enigma, which is essentially that 23 appears everywhere. It’s a number of the cosmic universe, like it’s just everywhere. It’s unexplainable. My brother told me about it, and it just started happening everywhere. I’d be stuck behind a truck, and there would be an enormous 23 on the back of it. Four days after my birthday, I was on a plane, and this guy walked on with an aluminum metal photo reel, and on it was a label that said “TP 23.” Weird stuff like that, it happens all the time. There was a tour last year, where every hotel room had a 23 in it. I was like, “All right, well I know what I’m naming it!” [laughs] It seemed like a good luck thing
Chronicle: Was there an overall message or theme for the album?
TP: It’s funny, when I was touring and starting out, a lot of people were like “You need to write some happier songs.” I was like, “It’s so hard to write a happy song. I want to write sad songs.” Actually, this album turned out to be pretty upbeat. It’s really autobiographical for me. It’s really just a collection of songs that have come out in the last two years through whatever I’m been doing, whether it’s touring, friends, at home, or a relationship.
Chronicle: What made you choose “Love Love Love” as the first single?
TP: That was a song I wrote and then my old manager was like, “That song is a hit! It’s the best song ever! It’s so good!” I go through this thing where if I write songs I don’t like anymore, I don’t play them ever. It wasn’t finished for a really long time. Some people started
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getting live shows and they were like, “Why doesn’t she ever play ‘Love Love Love?'” So then I started playing it, and after every show, people were like “Oh, that ‘Love Love Love’ song’s really good. I really like that one.” It was the one that got the most overall response. It was one of the happier songs. When we did the record, I was like, “I already know what the single is! This is the single. I love to play it. It’s the single.” I know so many people get stuck playing songs they don’t like, and you have to play your single a bajillion times. So I was like, “This is the one,” and the label was like, “All right, we’ll go with it.” It ended up being a good thing.
Chronicle: Is the song, “Song For The Rich,” based upon anything that happened to you?
TP: Yeah, it’s actually about a friend of mine who I used to go to church with when I was in a church-going stage, which I’m not anymore. He got involved pretty heavily with cocaine. Everybody was worried about him. Me and my friends were worried about him. His friends were worried about him. He was just so far gone that he wasn’t realizing what he was doing, so I had written this song and played it for him one night, and he totally lost it. It was a reality check for him. Until people hit the bottom, really only then they can save themselves. I definitely think it was one of the big moments for him where he realized how many people he was hurting. The record is so upbeat and I wanted to throw something that wasn’t so “everything’s happy, funny, wheee!” That’s how I am most of the time, but you can’t ever escape reality and real shit going on around you and stuff that is heavy. He’s doing better now, but that definitely was a big couple of months for him and everybody else that cared about him.
Chronicle: Being an Ani DiFranco fan, what initially got you into her?
TP: Well, she’s the shit. [laughs] When I found her, I was like 15 years old and I was in that stage where you totally hate your parents and you want to be treated like a grown-up. You’re in that in-between phase where you can’t sit at the adult table and you don’t want to sit at the kids table. You’re like, “Where do I go?” So when I heard her, she was saying stuff that I had never heard any other girl sing before. I was listening to Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey and all this pop, produced music. I had never really heard somebody playing a guitar and singing. It was something I probably had been unconsciously looking for and I found it and it kind of set me free.
Chronicle: Is it hard to distinguish yourself from all the other singer/songwriters out there?
TP: No, I think everyone’s unique. Everybody has their own thing and own way of thinking. I’m still really young. I’m trying to start a career and still trying to figure myself out all at the time and I’m 23. Throughout this whole thing, I’ve been very eyes forward and just going for it, not really worrying about what’s around me.
Chronicle: Does it bother you that you sometimes get labeled as the “female Jack Johnson?”
TP: I wonder more about what Jack thinks of it, if he ever reads any of my articles. [laughs] We’re friends, so it’s kind of funny. He’s someone that I really respect as an artist, so I take it as a compliment. I thought being from San Diego and doing the singer/songwriter thing that I’d get Jewel comparisons nonstop and I haven’t really gotten that at all. To be compared to a man, I don’t think it’s as bad as being compared to another girl. If people were like, “Oh, she’s like Michelle Branch was three years ago,” then I’d be like “All right, I’m doing something wrong.” It’s flattering, definitely.
Chronicle : Is there a sense of friendship amongst you, G. Love, Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson?
TP: Well, it’s very different. Jason, I met in San Diego four years at a coffee shop, and we’ve been friends ever since. We tour every year. That’s really just home bringing us together. With G. Love and Jack, they go back a long time. I knew Jack before I’d met G. Love and then we all kind of realized we’re all in the same camp. My old manager makes surf videos, which is how this whole thing got started for me. They used a song for one of their surf videos called “Shelter” and Jack was helping make that. A couple of years later, we all realized everybody knows each other. Now my new manager knows Jack’s manager well and I used to tour with [Johnson cohort] Donovan [Frankenreiter] back home. We’re all kind of a gang of people. [laughs]
Chronicle: How did your duet with Jason Mraz on “Shy That Way” come about?
TP: We were on tour for like four shows and then he was going to Canada. I didn’t have anything to do since I really wasn’t busy at the time. So he was like, “Why don’t you just come to Canada with us and come hang out? You’ve never been to Canada.” We liked each other at the time too, so I was like “Oh yeah, I’ll come to Canada with you.” We had two nights off in Vancouver. I had that song and I was working on it. He heard it and was like, “What’s that song?” I was like, “I don’t know. It’s a new one I’m working on.” I had one verse for it. He really liked it, so we just ended up that whole night writing that song together. It’s been one of those things that we always play when we tour. I don’t think we’ll ever play it with anybody else. It’s a fun thing for fans. I just decided to put it on the record. The record does have a common theme in that most of the songs are about one person, so it really fit in with that.
Chronicle: Does surfing help inspire your music?
TP: When I go home and I go surfing, it’s like cleaning the slate off. Wherever I was for the last month or whatever I was doing, I can go surfing and be like “Ah, it feels just like it used to.” It feels like it did when I was 15 and I was going surfing after high school. It’s definitely good for cleaning your head out and meditating. It gives you a fresh start to write from.
Chronicle: Why did you decide to record the album live in the studio instead of individual tracks?
TP: There is a little bit of both, actually. The first record that I did, the Love EP, was really stripped down. It was low-key. We did it in four days. So I wanted this record to be a step up from that. It was one of those things when I got together with that band, they were great, world class musicians. I would start playing and they would all join in and it felt like we’d been playing forever. So when I got in the studio, it just made sense. It makes a better vibe, I think. Rather than going for perfection and more going for creating a mood, it really helped. That’s what I wanted to come through. If there was a mistake or somebody hit a wrong note, if you have a great vibe, you don’t even notice those things. We just found it was easier.
I have ADD and I have mixed feelings about the studio. I like the idea of it, but when I’m in there, I hate waiting. I want to record the song and move on. So it was a way for us to do three takes of a song and move on to the next song. The record was done in like two weeks. I feel that albums are like postcards. By the time you give it to somebody or they get it, you’re already somewhere else. I don’t believe in taking a year to make a record. You make happy songs, you record them and they’re going to sound different, whether you record them that week or in two months, depending on where you are in your life or what’s going on around you. It was like, “Let’s get it the hell done!” [laughs] I love the live show, where I can play 11 songs and create a thing with the audience.
Chronicle: You prefer to play live, then?
TP: Yeah, definitely. Live is awesome.
Chronicle: Was the San Diego music scene open to your music when you started out?
TP: I grew up in North County San Diego, which is probably about half an hour outside of the city, where the big music scene was. When I started, I was playing at clubs around my house and really small restaurants and stuff. When I went down to the coffee shops, it was this whole thriving community of musicians. There’s a ton of singer/songwriters, and people who are willing to play with you and play drums and join in with you. It’s a nice feeling of community.
Chronicle: What plans do you have for the immediate future?
TP: I am going to Australia, New Zealand and Japan in October. I’m actually touring with Jason [Mraz] in November and hopefully get back here. I love New York. n


Upcoming singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman finds inspiration in Ani DiFranco, surfing and playing live shows. (Image courtesy Virgin Records)