A Chat with spill tab
Recently, WSOE’s music director: Izzy Schupp had the opportunity to interview popular indie artist: spill tab.
Claire Chicha, better known by her stage name, spill tab, is a French-Korean singer, songwriter and music producer. She is now based in LA and is fresh off the heels of the release of her deluxe album: AngieAngieAngie. In this conversation, Izzy chats with Claire about her journey through music, the impact of this album, the joys of touring and more
(this interview has been edited minorly for grammatical errors and brevity)
Image Credit: https://www.because.tv/artists/spill-tab/
Tell me about yourself, why music? And where are you based now?
I grew up around music. My dad is from France and is in a jazz band, my mom is from South Korea and plays the harp. I was born in LA and went to college for music business, but that was right when COVID hit, so all the jobs I wanted to do were non-existent. I reconnected with a high school friend and started making music.
It can be scary to work in a gig economy. You can make a lot of money, but then not make a check for a long time… Not everyone is going to be content with that type of lifestyle. I've had friends that were also gigging but then left because they preferred to do something more stable. They still do their creative work on the side, because it's still a big part of who they are, but it's a really anxiety inducing way to live.
The thing that suits me the most is being in full charge of my career. You can really only look to yourself, and have to adjust. I feel like I don't really ever clock out, but I love what I do and it allows me to always learn something new.
What can you tell me about the release of your new deluxe album AngieAngieAngie?
There were songs that never made it on to the album (ANGIE) for different reasons, but I wanted to give these songs a chance later on to slot themselves into the ANGIE world. Extend the breadth of the world a little more before moving on from it.
What draws you to the style of music you make?
My discography is riddled with different genres, and I am constantly playing with genres.
I don't even know what genre means anymore, I just enjoy different instruments. It's good to have an overarching language to talk about genre and to have broader distinctions. I think within the indie world, that world can encompass so many different sounds and textures, so I think that a lot of my music is driven by the fact that I'm trying to experiment and to find something that feels fresh to me. I just want to be constantly curious.
How does being multilingual impact your lyrics? I know you've put out songs in French before but do you think it increases your toolbox, and connecting to more people? Do you go about creating non-English music in a different way than in English?
English is the center pin of music in western culture. I think that most of the world has learned English as a second language, and even in France, essentially every French person I know speaks a little English. French is a different toolset because, similarly to every language in the world you cannot directly translate a lot of idioms, concepts, objects etc. I find that really cool and inspiring and it allows me to explore a different language entirely. I just want to connect to as many people that mean a lot to me as I can, and being multilingual allows me to do that.
What are some notable things about your production style? In LA and in your personal sound?
I really enjoy collaboration in everything that being creative encompasses. It took a village to create my album, and I get to make music with people whose talents I really respect. Outside of that it's a really competitive place by nature, and I love being able to present something that I'm really proud of. I think I've always been uninterested in creating something that feels mediocre. I find joy in just grinding hard and creating something I'm really stoked about, living in LA pushes that to another degree.
Do you have a personal favorite track of the new four?
Every single song at some point has been my favorite song. I think right now my favorite song is “Suckerrr” because we've been opening the set with [it] and we do a really cool breakdown and involve the audience, it makes it feel really alive in a way that I'm so excited about, so through that, “Suckerrr” is my favorite song right now.
What have your touring experiences been like?
I'm about to go on tour, and touring for me has evolved so much these past few years. My first tour was in 2021, and I've been touring ever since. I really deeply enjoy touring. Before COVID struck I really wanted to become a tour manager, I'd just done merch operations on a North American run, so touring really agrees with me, and I love being on the road and making new friends. It's essentially like summer camp, and I get to live out my childhood dreams. I think that doing it in the capacity of being [an] artist is awesome and I'm so grateful but it definitely is more stressful. It's not the same as having one job on tour and executing that one job. I get to bring my friends on tour which is so fun. I've been with my bassist for four years, my drummer for three years. I feel really really blessed. It's just a traveling caravan of bozos.
What is it like bringing your music to the stage, do you prefer live over production?
I love it differently, with production it's a different side of the brain. It's a very very creative craft. What's creative about touring is that it's a nice balance of creativity, because you’re directing the set, but then there's a lot of technical aspects to it, and I really enjoy that balance of touring… It’s also really repetitive, so you can perfect something in a sense. And you play almost the same set every night so I really enjoy that aspect of touring as well.
What are you looking forward to? Anything to plug or share?
I am playing a festival in Brooklyn, New York on May 18th.