lauren k newman rocks - many instruments. lauren k newman is influential - and heavily influenced. lauren k newman is "a blurring, roaring passionate display of musicianship, heart, blood, veins, sweat, sewn guts and disgustingly loud, heavy, rhythmic guitars and drums".

as lkn, lauren has ventured into a new realm of do-it-yourself rock - and her latest offering 'in the leap year' (greydayproductions) is the blueprint of one remarkably talented musician.

_ ____ladies & creeps, lauren k newman____ _

your "sound" is quite difficult to put a description or label on - what the hell sparked you?
Life, living, terminal illness, John Coltrane, Zach Hill, Edward Van Halen,
Steve Albini, Alex Steward, James F. Newman, Sarah Hinote, my Mother,
Francesca Sherry, family, long distance cycling and jogging, mental illness and the debilitating faculties of the disease plagued mind, the blue sky, the full moon, the lone, bleak, dark halls of midnight, what would Mary Lou Williams record if she played all the instruments in a heavenly inspired moment, Ginger Baker, Stanley Jordan, surgery, hunger, Arnold Schoenberg, Henry Rollins, Kepone ,kerosene 454, Basquiat, Jawbox, Shellac, Jim Carroll, solitude, laughing, performance art, the streams of subconsciousness that float all within and about me that manifest in my waking and sleeping hours, 4 tracking nearly everyday since 1997; constantly challenging myself as a musician to explore, purge, grow, navigate, dominate and play as fierce, athletic, and dexterous as possibly, always fluid, always foward. These people, instances, and musicians have all compelled, and propelled me.

where are you living now and how's the scene?
I live in Portland OR. I know nothing of the 'scene'. I make music, and
perform. I am not involved in circles of musicians or audiences. from what I observe in the weekly papers, there is an always expanding variety of genres of music, art, theatre, and literature among the local artists.

so what led you to Portland, it's a ways away from Florida?
I suppose I chose Portland for a number of reasons. Mainly, My Own Private Idaho was my favorite movie and I wanted to live in the city where that heart breaking fiction took place.

are there any plans to bring the lkn stage show to the east coast in the near future?
Definitely, as soon as I book it, I'll have the dates posted on the greyday website. I desperately miss the east coast. I am stuck, however, here in the pacific NW for some time, due to music projects. I will move home to Florida in the next few years.

other than stellamarie & lkn - what other projects are you currently taking part in? I drum in a Portland loud/mathy band called Avenue of the Strongest, and i have a drum duo, performance art/noise/casio/destruction/percussive-mind-fuck project with a friend of mine we haven't named it yet. I had been doing this on my own minus
another drummer, just setting up casios, and loud feedback looped
guitars, and then I'd fucking crash/bash/jazz/attack my drums (record the whole thing on four-track) for a half and hour to 2 hours straight - with breaks from drumming to change up the casios and feedback. I'd give the tapes to friends as a birthday gift or just to say 'I love you'- a musical greeting card. Not unlike all the fourtracking I do in the drums/bass/guit/voc. forum, only this was way more ambient and no constraints whatsoever. As far as the math rock band, Avenue of the Strongest, I am touring the US with them
June 7-26... .

both stella and lkn releases are packaged without lyrics - do you plan to make these available?
No. Simply because the words I utter are not as important as the feelings, rhythms and emotions evoked in each musical passage. the rhythmic texture I create is my diction, my verbiage. I do feel I speak clearly, or rather express myself completely through my drumming and guitar playing primarily.

ok - so with thousands of songs in your collection, how many of those do you plan on making public?
I plan on eventually, over time, making nearly 80%-all of them public. That is my lifes ambition: to continue to write, record and perform on all instruments, what ever music is sent to me from above, and make it available to people who are interested.

so how do you feel about the digital age of music downloading? would you ever offer your collected songs for free? I definitely will offer up many of my compositions for free once I develop a web page.
It's art that has been given to me to give to whomever wishes to accept it with their eyes/ears/hearts.

As far as downloading in general, I feel it's a blessing and a curse all
depending on the statue of the artist being downloaded.
It's exposure that could compel someone to buy a full length, or it's a
lazy, cheap way to steal from the poor. Independent artists don't have the guaranteed sales of Metallica, or Madonna....for instance, buy the Zeni Geva album, download the latest Michelle Branch single.

what comes first: recording or sleep?
I've learned to sleep, and restore my bodies natural balance so that I can fill the allotted days with recording and drumming my ass off to my fullest potential.

[from an archived live review]:
"She [Lauren] didn't quite empty the place, but gave it her all by talking about douching, lesbianism, and her lust for Britney Spears" - how fucking rock is this?
That's just one of many instances where I am overtaken by the mood, and lust and tone, and moment of live performance. Honestly, where else am I going to have a captive audience with which to share my all, from nonsense to skill, to abandon?

dream gig - lkn is in the line-up. who else is playing?
Shellac, Shannonwright and my drum duo. ( I will drum for shannonwright one day if it is Gods will ).

the stellamarie website is now defunct - has lkn replaced the "quieter" side of Lauren?
not at all. I simply found myself creating all these loud, textured
recordings in private and saving them away for my jogging music. The thing with stellamarie was, live (as it still sometimes is) it was nuts, wild, violent performing, but I chose to purposely make my album delicate. The dicotomy, I feel offered honest variety. I can't stand still when Iperform, therefore I can't sing in a nice timbre.
I can't sing live the way I would on record - so I felt 'two for one:
chaos live, order on album'.

do you feel any more driven to vote [presidential] this year than years in the past?
For mutha-freakin' sure. I haven't missed my right to exercise freedom of choice since I turned 18.

what scares you?
The American government, corruption, lies.