Lindsay Latimer
Interview conducted on Jan. 27, 2020
by Dan Locke
Bloodstream” is the first single off of Latimer’s forthcoming EP, Little Tiny Ocean, which will be her third EP, and is due out February 7, 2020.
On this extremely relatable track, Latimer shares, “This is a song about addiction-the first thing I wrote when I finally admitted to myself that I had become enslaved to Instagram. We get good at pushing the positives of whatever we’re addicted to. Meanwhile, we’re dying inside. Over time I let social media control my perception of who I was and how well I was performing. It’s so simple to put your toe in and before you know it, you’ve sunk. I felt stuck. I wanted to start living a life free from that captivity to something intangible.”
Dan Locke: Tell me about your upbringing.
Lindsay Latimer: I started in ballet classes and piano lessons very young and was exposed to the stirring emotion of those two practices. I began voice lessons and musical theater in elementary school and realized it was singing where I felt most at home. Really ever since I can remember, I’ve been encouraged to create things—art, plays, stories, songs. Things that cultivate imagination and originality. My mom was an art teacher and freelance artist as we grew up and my dad, though a corporate businessman, is the musical one. Both parents fostered my musical passions and did everything they could to get me in camps, classes, lessons, and workshops, to help me learn and grow. It really all comes back to that endorsement at home for me.
Who were your musical influences growing up?
Judy Garland, Billy Joel, Diana Krall, Frank Sinatra, Amy Grant, John Mayer, Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton, David Lanz, Joni Mitchell, and Shirley Temple.
Tell me about the Cincinnati Music Academy.
CMA is a music academy that offers a variety of private instrumentation instruction by some of the region’s most regarded teachers. My older sister and I took weekly piano lessons here for many years and in seventh grade, I started classical voice lessons under the instruction of Paul McCready, which I continued there for six years. Overtime that place went from dread and anxiety to priority and concentration for me. As kids, we often don’t yet have the perspective to comprehend how what we’re doing in the now is going to benefit us in the later. I’m sincerely grateful for that academy.
Did you do the Suzuki program?
No.
Growing up you were into musical theater. What is your favorite musical?
Yes, I love it. Thoroughly Modern Millie. I played Millie’s junior year of high school and it changed my world.
Since you are from Cincinnati I am going to ask you about some bands from there. I would like you to say something about each one if you can.
I hadn’t heard of lots of these. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. However, I was close buddies with the three guys that make up the pop band Public, which is now on the fast track to stardom. I used to drive them around before they had their licenses and we’d buy junk food and aimlessly roam all over Cincinnati. Nick Petricca, Walk the Moon’s frontman also went to my high school, a few grades above me. We were in the same electric jazz orchestra. He was very Frank Sinatra’s style back then. He also played Woodstock in our production of You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.
The National – Love The National. Favorite song is “Bloodbuzz Ohio.”
The Isley Brothers – Didn’t know them.
The Afghan Whigs – Didn’t know them.
Rascal Flatts – I think they’re from Columbus, but I’m not a country music fan.
Heartless Bastards – Good band. Love the combo of blues and grunge that Erika makes with her voice.
Foxy Shazam! – I didn’t know them.
Marty Balin – Didn’t know him.
Over the Rhine – Got into them back in the day. “Born” makes me think of high school.
B. Donaldson and the Haywoods (Billy Don’t Be a Hero) – Didn’t know them.
Why did you quit social media in 2018?
I hated how it ruled my life. I became enslaved to it and allowed it to define how I viewed myself and performance. It changed the way my brain worked (or didn’t work) and I missed what it was like before. I decided being mentally present and healthy was more important to me than running my own social media. I have someone else managing it for me now. Best decision ever.
Tell me about your new EP.
When I deleted my social media apps I was processing and writing a lot. These songs helped me make sense of what I was feeling and why. The way social media, namely Instagram, made me feel really good about myself one minute and lousy the next made me see how my self-esteem had gotten so bipolar. I felt tremendous and then minuscule—like an ocean that had immediately drained.
Does it seem that the titles from the EP all have to do with flowing or water?
Yes. Going back to the EP’s theme, I think we all can switch from one status of self-confidence to another instantaneously due to how we perceive ourselves through the lens of social media. We can boil to the top or melt to the bottom in a matter of seconds. It makes me think of the different forms of water.
Why did you write Bloodstream?
I wanted to create an expression of how I had felt social media as a drug. Once it was in my system, dictating my thought patterns, I was under its influence. I allowed this to come to be.
I also went through “withdrawals” of “what do I do with my hands?” in my first weeks without using it at down moments like red lights or the space created once the person you’re having coffee with goes to the bathroom.
How has Nashville been for you?
I didn’t love it at first, but I learned to love the things I liked about it and that helped. It’s been crazy to watch the growth and transformation that has taken place over the past decade.
How did you get your first guitar? And do you still have it?
I saved up summer babysitting money and went downtown to Gruhn Guitars on Broadway. Still playing it weekly.
What is the year make and model of your favorite guitar? And what is its name?
Martin OMC-160GTE; 2010. I never named it.
Favorite food? Pizza? (“Unlearning You”)
Haha right. Probably pizza or watermelon.
What was your first performance like?
I played the lead role in our elementary school Christmas play and it was the best night of my short ten years of life. My first classical voice recital in junior high I was so nervous in the parking lot before that I basically made my mom go inside and say I had gotten sick. My first performance in Nashville was a writer’s round at a hotel bar downtown. I was still nervous but thankfully lost the option of making my mom go tell everybody I was sick. It was the crawlspace to my later side gig of playing shows in town. I and my three bad songs felt very powerful that night.
Another question about Cincinnati. Since you are from Cincinnati, have you ever had the chance to check out the unfinished subway system?
I’ve never seen it but think it’s wonderfully eerie. I guess the Great Depression put a halt to that development? Shame.
What artist would you like to have your dream tour with and why?
Celtic Woman. My Irish descent, classical background, and long-lived desire to perform in a headset mic would all be satisfied.
How do you see yourself in 5 years?
Grateful. Being a musician, mom, and still writing.
Anything in closing?
Little Tiny Ocean is out 2/7/20.
