Photograph by Ivan Maminta

Music: Salli Fune

Singer-songwriter Salli Fune is a traveling storyteller, having lived in Asia, Australia and North America. She was the frontwoman of the band High Drama in San Francisco, California and is now embarking on a solo career, living in Canberra, the Australian capital.

"If life is indeed a journey and not a destination," she says, "then I still have a long way to go."

Music to her is like oxygen. Its deep presence in her life and learning shines through in the raw beauty of her songwriting and the intimate quality of her live performances. In this Q&A session, Salli shares the inspirations behind her music, about the personal nature of songwriting, and just why karaoke can be more than a guilty pleasure.

What was the one song, piece of music, musician that made you want to become a musician?

I don't think there was one thing that made me decide I wanted to be a musician. It just happened as a means of self-expression. I mean I've always loved to sing - I've been singing since I was a toddler. It comes as naturally to me as breathing. Writing songs just somehow evolved from that.

I do think of myself as a singer first, then a musician second. That's mostly because I'm not all that technical when it comes to playing. I took up guitar as a means to help me write songs and communicate my ideas to other musicians I'm working with. It's easier to for them to be on the same page as you when you've got the chords figured out to a song, for instance.

Tell me more about your process in writing your songs? how do you start? where do you find inspiration to write them?

I'm a firm believer that songs already exist out there in the universe. Your role as a songwriter is to channel the songs through you. It's like giving birth. It's funny, at one point, I thought I was the only one who thought because it seemed crazy, then it turns out all songwriters believe the same thing! It's like there's this one cosmic radio that we all somehow plug into. That's where the melodies and tunes that we hear in our heads come from.

What inspires me is music first and foremost. Usually, it's a melody that I suddenly hear in my head, usually during such inconvenient times as when I'm driving or in the shower! Sometimes, it's a word or phrase that comes to me, and I think to myself, that would make a nice title, or line in a song. Then I just try to develop that idea.

As far as process, it's different for every song. For "Blindside", I started out with some chords I was fiddling around with on the guitar that sounded good to me. This was actually the verse part. Then as I kept playing them, the melody just came to me and the chorus just followed. It all just flowed from there and I wrote the song in one day. I leafed through my pile of lyrics, and nothing really went with the melody, so I ended up writing new ones specifically for that song. It just so happened I wrote about something that was going on in my life at the time. I don't usually get to do that. Most of my songs are written in hindsight. It's funny, too, that it took me a while to play Blindside to anyone after I finished writing it. Sometimes I do that, sort of cherish the 'newness' of a song before I play it in public.

For most of my songs, I usually write the lyrics first. Then later on, I review them and sometimes I get an idea for a mood or feel that I want to suit the lyrics. With that idea, I try to find a melody and then find the chords on the guitar. It's usually a long process this way. I end up revisiting a song idea over and over again. I have one song that took over a year to write. I have one that took 15 minutes!

Many of your songs are highly personal, how do you feel about other people listening to such intimate feelings or moments?

That was actually the biggest obstacle for me when I started writing songs. I mean, I've been a writer all my life, but that was as a journalist writing about other people. It just seemed safer that way. I always felt writing about myself and my feelings just seemed so...self-indulgent! But then when I thought about it, most of my favorite songwriters do just that. They write about their feelings but in a way that resonates with their listeners. Gradually, I had to learn to just let go and trust that the listener will appreciate it, just like I appreciate other songwriters. And I find the more honest and open you are when you write, the more people can relate to it.

Among my primary influences would be women singer-songwriters such as Aimee Mann, Julia Fordham, Suzanne Vega and Liz Phair. There's a certain intelligence and depth to their songs, but at the same time a lot of raw emotion. I love how they write with such unabashed passion and honesty. They're really writing about things that everyone, not just women, can relate to but sometimes are too ashamed to talk about, but more eloquently than the average person!

Anyway, most of my songs are not autobiographical. They're about other people or hypothetical situations in relationships. I like songs that peel the layers and approach them from different tangents, as you would a news story. Like a song about a breakup doesn't have to be the usual "I'm so heartbroken" scenario. There are so many ways that emotion can manifest itself. It's like taking a snapshot of a situation and writing from there. Like, I wrote a song called 'My First Morning Without You,' and it talks about the feeling of waking up the next morning after a bad night. You wake up and think, did that really happen? Is it really over? And man, do I have a hangover...

What's it like performing live?

I feel great with just singing live, but as soon as I have to sing AND play guitar, I have to admit I still get terrified! I remember reading an interview with Suzanne Vega, and she said the very same thing. But with practice I think I'm becoming more confident.

I think all musicians live for performing live. There's such a rush when you play your own music and somehow connect with the audience. Like they're sharing in your experiences. I love it during gigs when I look across and people nod or smile their appreciation. It's really heart-warming. It's also a good chance to 'road test' new material and see how listeners will react to it.

with Mike Cooper in the band, High Drama at Perry's Joint, Fillmore

You've lived in various parts of the world, how have these different locales influenced you music, your songwriting?

Well, it's definitely made my musical tastes rather eclectic! Moving around a lot, always stopping and starting, wherever I went, music became the one constant thing, a source of stability. My family was always into music, and we always had music playing at home. I grew up listening to a lot of Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini, Nino Rota movie themes, things like that. I guess that's why I'm just naturally drawn to the sound of that era. Then I spent my teens in Australia, where I was inspired by a lot of obscure British and Australian music, as well as all these jazz-influenced groups like The Style Council, Carmel, (early) Everything But the Girl, (early) Sade, Swing Out Sister, Matt Bianco that were coming out of England at the time. That's actually closer to the sound that I want to pursue. But then, there's also a part of me that listens to stuff like hard rock, but it doesn't necessarily influence my music.

What was the last concert you went to and how was it?

Not sure what my last concert was, but I can tell you one of the best concerts I've ever been to was PJ Harvey live at the Warfield in San Francisco. That woman just rocks! She just has so much energy and presence, and there's this darkness and mystery about her. I mean, here she is singing all these really deeply personal songs, yet she still remains an enigma to her audience. That's a difficult dichotomy to achieve.

How different is it performing solo than being a lead singer in a band?

Performing with a band is always so much better and more fun than performing solo. With a band, you all exchange energies and bond together on the music on stage. It's all about team work and everyone sounding good, and making each other sound good. When you're up there alone, it's all on you. And it's hard to maintain the audience's rapt attention for so long if it's just you and one instrument - unless you're someone like Neil Young.

You're also known as a karaoke queen, what do you think of the karaoke craze? Why do you think so many people like to do it? And how does karoake shape the way you approach your singing and your musical career?

I definitely think karaoke gives people the chance to just let their hair down and let go. It's a good emotional release. Thanks to karaoke, I've had plenty of practice singing, and in front of a live audience, too! I've always told people that singing karaoke, even in front of an audience, comes naturally to me, but singing my own songs in front of people still frightens me. It's so much safer singing other people's stuff, and you can focus your energies on just singing and totally let go. When you sing your own material, you feel more vulnerable. And there are so many more elements to think of, so sometimes (for me anyway) it's harder to let go. Which is ironic, because it should be the opposite.

What's the best song to sing karoake with?

Too many to mention! I love doing Torn by Natalie Imbruglia and Silver Springs by Fleetwood Mac. There are also cheesy ones that you can only get away with in a karaoke bar like Islands in the Stream or Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Quick! Three albums that you'd want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?

Not in order:
I'm With Stupid - Aimee Mann
Porcelain - Julia Fordham
Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair

What projects are working on? What's next?

Just taking it one day at a time...

What would you like to be doing at this very moment?

I would love to be singing and making music for my living.

Oh, you mean at this very moment? It's freezing winter here in Canberra now, so I'd love to be sunbathing on the beach somewhere in Key West or the south of France!