Sarah McLachlan – Moving Forward with her Laws of Illusion

 

June is seriously bustin’ out all over for Sarah McLachlan. The multi-platinum and Grammy-winning singer and songwriter returns to the musical spotlight this month with her new CD titled Laws of Illusion set for release on June 15.

 

While June 27 marks the launch of Lilith Tour 2010, a revival of the all-female touring festival she co-founded in 1997. The Lilith Tour has raised more than $10 million for women’s causes during its three-year run.

 

The 42-year-old Vancouver resident, who performed at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony earlier this year, opens up about her current state of mind, a fresh take on Lilith Tour, closeted entertainers and her genderless outlook on the laws of attraction and love.

Sarah McLachlan: Loss. Illusions. Denial. Loss. (laughs) It’s about coming to terms with things not working out the way you think they will. It’s about how strong and powerful those illusions are, how we build our lives around them, and how when they’re taken away or they disintegrate, you’re left with an ugly, unpleasant reality.

 

Then you have to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move forward. For me, it’s been two years of huge, hard growth and change.

SM: Yes…very much so. That’s just the reality of what I’m going through. It’s a very autobiographical record, but there are also lighthearted, fun songs on there.

SM: I’m doing well, yeah, thank you. (laughs) I’ve come through slaughter quite well.

SM: I’ve had the luxury of being able to pick and choose what I want to do with my career and I’ve had the great luxury of just being able to be a mom. I didn’t want to miss that. I also wasn’t particularly hungry. I definitely slowed down my production.

 

But after seven years, I knew I couldn’t keep putting out holiday records and greatest hits. I wanted to get a new record out there.

 

SM: My three partners, my managers and my agent were all talking about Lilith memories, as we do pretty much every time we get together and we just became incredibly nostalgic. There’s a whole wealth of fantastic new artists out there from a lot of different genres, so we knew we could make it even bigger and better.

SM: Well, we knew we were doing Lilith a year and a half ago, but yes, it’s very fortuitous that I happen to have a record coming out at the same time. I could’ve done Lilith without a new record, but it makes way more sense — and it’s way more fun to have a new record. I can kill two birds with one stone because I only go on tour during the summer.

 SM: The rock market has changed a lot over the past 12 years. There are a lot of other genres of music that are also getting huge recognition like the country and R&B markets, which have exploded with great female talent.

SM: That’s the trouble with the idea that it was a singer-songwriter tour. That was never my intention. Back then we asked female artists from all different genres of music, but whoever said “yes” was who we had to put onto the bill. The first year, certainly, we got dubbed the “white chick folk fest.” It was a label that we’ve been constantly battling and trying to change.

SM: I’m very excited about the Go-Gos, Loretta Lynn, and Mary J. Blige. I’m also excited about Cat Power, Tegan and Sara…

 

SM: We have some really great artists! It’s pretty cool.

 

SM: It’s fantastic. We’re all searching for community. As far as I’m concerned, one of the greatest successes of Lilith was the sense of community created not only for the artists but also for the people who came to the shows.

 

A lot of women have told me that they felt very safe, comfortable, like they could completely be themselves. I tried to create that sense of community and like-mindedness at Lilith to mirror the way I live my life with charitable elements and treating everyone equally. These days we need that community more than ever.

 

We’re in this A.D.D. age of Twitter, sound bytes and IMs where we’re never actually connecting as human beings.

SM: No, f#*k, I hate it! I get that it can be a useful tool, but I find it so annoying that people think the minutiae of their day are going to be exciting, interesting and digested by thousands of other people. I just find it so egotistical.

SM: Oh, yeah, I gave it plenty of thought. [Laughs] But I’ve talked to enough of my lesbian friends to know that it’s no bloody easier dating women than it is dating men. It doesn’t bother me the least bit if people think I’m gay because I don’t really label or think of people as gay or straight.

 

But who knows? I might fall in love with a woman. I haven’t yet, but the opportunity hasn’t presented itself. I just love people, and the way I define love has nothing to do with gender. You fall in love with the person and soul behind the face and body.

SM: It’s a personal choice, but it is important to live your life and be truthful about it. It breaks my heart to know that some people feel like they can’t come out.

 

I applaud anybody who has the audacity and bravery to do it, because it’s not necessarily going to be easier. Every time a celebrity comes out, it does soften the blow for people in the world who are scared of it or don’t understand it. It makes them question, “I really like that person, but they’re gay.

 

Does that make me like them or the art they create any less?” But I actually think it’s a lot easier for musicians and actors to come out because we exist in the arts, which is a way more liberal-minded community than another career that might be an old boys club.

SM: Yeah, it was a pretty huge week when that happened. And the same thing happened in California, but then it went away again, right?

SM: I know it’s one step forward and two steps back sometimes, but that felt like a big slap in the face. I know it’s religion-based, but I don’t understand how people can still think that way in this day and age. It just seems so asinine to me.