She’s a surfer, a former model, and a singer-songwriter that’s recently released her sophomore major label album Hello. She’s Tristan Prettyman and even though you’ve heard her song Madly Madly on the radio, she’ll still talk to Buzzgrinder.

Tell us about your new album. How is it different from your previous work?
This album is much more specific than ‘twenty-three’. I always heard that recording your first album is pretty easy in that you have had your whole life up until that point to write it. I definitely think that is true. I also always heard that the sophomore record is the hardest. I never understood how you could let something like music intimidate you. So going into the second record I really had no expectations. I knew that I really wanted to try recording live. Everyone together in one room, all playing at the same time and doing a couple takes of each song. Old school. So we did that and it worked out amazing. There was such amazing energy throughout the whole process. Recording in London, the studio, the people i was working with. Everything had a meant to be feeling about it. I think in my own life, I have grown up tons, since “twenty-three”. I’m much more a woman, a young lady, business savvy and aware of the world around me. I’m more comfortable with who I am. I think all those things, growing up from a kid to a woman, are present on this record. The honesty of growing up and making mistakes are all present on the record. This is where I am now, and this record is a perfect reflection of that.

You’ve been on Conan. What is it like backstage prior to the performance?
Conan is tall. I was on there with G. Love and we had so much fun. I was a wee bit nervous but it broke the ice for all the other late night performances we have done. They are much easier than playing a big show for a ton of people.

In another interview, you told someone you “fell into music by accident.” Can you explain that?
I didn’t really start writing and playing full-on until I was out of high school. (I graduated in 2000). Before then, I had been teaching myself here and there how to play guitar and I was kind of writing songs, but not really. I had always been a big writer. I kept lots of journals and wrote short stories. I’ve always been much better at expressing myself through the writing than talking. After high school, I was attending community college, not really sure what I was doing with my life. I wanted to work in the surf industry and be a sales rep for a clothing company like Volcom or Billabong. I was getting better at playing guitar and with that came the confidence to play in front of friends and family. The support and push from my community led to playing shows at little cafes and opening for national acts that came through town. My friend’s roommate came home one night and I was sitting on their floor playing guitar and he was like, “who are you? Where did you come from?’” He was working on a surf movie soundtrack and wanted to use one of my songs. He asked for months, before I agree to record some stuff’. I started playing more and more but still just for fun. I didn’t really know what was going to happen, but I just knew it beat going to school. Long story short, and this is the best part of the story for sure, my parents came to a show and after they pulled me aside. They said we think you should just go play music and take a break from college. I remember my mom saying that I could always go back to school but this opportunity might not ever come again. They saw how happy I was and how people were connecting. They’ve always encouraged me to follow my dreams. So if it wasn’t for them, I would probably still be in my 7th year of college.

Besides being a musician, you’re also a surfer. Do you ever get sick of surfing questions?
No, no really. Surfing is something I just do and I have done since I was a kid. It was just part of the program if you wanted to be apart of our family.

You keep a fairly extensive MySpace blog. Have you ever had any scary MySpace encounters?
Not really. Sometimes people say weird things or make odd comments. I just “accidentally” delete their messages if they make me feel uncomfortable. I love MySpace. It’s a great way to stay connected. I feel like I have been able to grow with my fans instead of just being this artist, or a song or a lyric. They can get to know me by coming to my page because I run it and always have.

You were on the way to being a professional model but changed your mind. Why?
I modeled for a very short time when I was 15. I never really liked it. I was always told I was photogenic. I thought it was a great way to make cash.

But in reality, I drove to LA one too many times for castings, sat in a lot of traffic, and all the gigs I got came mostly through my connections. I realized then that I was good at networking. Then music came my way and I thought, wow, this is much bigger. I feel so blessed. I think I really realized I had more to say and I was more than just a pretty face. There were much bigger plans for me than something easy and simple.

What’s been the greatest perk so far about being on a major label?
I think the thing I keep in mind, and have always kept in mind, is that even though I signed to a label, we changed nothing within our camp. We continued to work hard, tour, and do as much on our own with out own resources as we could. In the end, when you have something really good you want to present you take that to the label and they can get it out to so many more people. So the exposure and amount of places they can put your music is more than we could ever do on our own. I just spent the whole summer doing a radio promotion tour going from radio station to station all over the country so that the people that run the station can get to know me a bit. I feel like once people get to know me and hang out with me they get a better understanding of my music. It all comes together and makes sense. It’s hard to be more than one dimensional sometimes. There is so much music out there these days and it can be hard for people to ‘get’ an artist or to see what distinguished them for any other artist. I want to be an artist’s artist, I want to write great songs and show progress in my musicianship. I want to be respected. That definitely doesn’t happen overnight and so I’m thankful that my career hasn’t either. Sometimes it’s frustrating, it takes longer, but in the end, it’s more rewarding for everyone involved.

One Response to “Interview: Tristan Prettyman”

1. 

   On 07/29/08 12:54 PM, Sean said:

   Great Artist, Great interview!

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