Martha Wainwright on Snow Patrol, fond memories of Ireland, and that song about her dad
Martha Wainwright is at Cork Opera House on June 9. Picture: Gaëlle Leroyer
The music industry was in a weird place when singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright released her self-titled debut album in the spring of 2005. The internet had unleashed a wave of digital piracy that posed an existential threat to the business’s profit model of flogging overpriced CDs at a vast markup. In a panic, labels were slashing their budgets. If you were a young artist looking for a record deal – as Wainwright was at the time – the outlook was grim.
“How I understood that best was my mother and my aunt had been signed to a major label when they started out. And were supported by labels to develop their career.” says Wainwright – part of a rich music dynasty that includes her aunt and mother, aka Quebec folk duo the McGarrigle Sisters, her songwriter father Loudon Wainwright III and her older brother Rufus who, a year previous to Martha had put out his Want opus and was at that time being loudly heralded as the future of music by Elton John.
“The same thing happened to Rufus. He got a big record contract and was taken to LA and given an opportunity to work with great producers. Fundamentally, he had to make that money back. But there was an investment.
"That was right at the end of when people were doing that – artist development for an artist that’s not only commercial. It just really dried up.”
This was bad news for Martha, who had knocked on numerous record-label doors without success. “There was a scramble, and I was trying to get signed. I always thought it was because of my music that I wasn’t getting signed. Or because there were too many people in my family who are already in the biz – which is possible. But there was also a real scramble for the labels to figure out how they would pay for it [i.e. the changes in the business] and what would happen. A sort of a vacuum occurred. And I did get caught up in that”.
Caught up but not caught out. Persevering, she was signed by an indie label, and in April 2005 her debut, was released to huge acclaim. She has forged a long and rewarding career in the years since, but that first LP remains special both to Martha and her fans – and she is looking forward to celebrating its 20th anniversary at a special concert at Cork Opera House on June 9.
The gig will be a chance for Wainwright and audience to bond over their shared memories of the record. It is an album that encompasses multitudes – from cathartic folk-pop ( ) to French-style chansons that draw on her experience growing up in Francophone Quebec ( ).
One of the tracks surely receive the loudest applause is the single – a beautiful blend of anger and sadness in which she unpacked her complicated feelings about her father.
There was a lot to get out. Loudon had left Wainwright’s mother when Martha was a baby and, as is often the case with artists, often prioritised his muse over his relationship with those closest to him.
But the song wasn’t vindictive, and there is a lot of love mixed in with the rage, as Wainwright fired off a series of funny, furious fusillades at her dad and the world in general (“I will not pretend/I will not put on a smile/I will not say I'm all right for you”).
She remains struck at how her fans have taken the lyrics to heart and applied them to their own life experiences and – in particular, their relationship with their own family.
“It’s very personal and based on an argument, a conversation and a feeling that I had with me and my dad. It came out of me pretty quickly. You can tell – it’s a sort of a flush of emotion. But once I started performing that, it’s almost like it’s no longer mine, because a song like that is very anthemic, and people attach their own meaning to it, which is great.
"That is such a relief, because it isn’t about my dad anymore – it’s about anybody who you need to think about in that moment. And that’s really useful. That’s a great feeling, because that’s when the song becomes bigger than the artist and timeless in a different way.”
Although Martha struggled to get a record deal, it was often assumed that the Wainwright name had helped her career. Decades before anyone had used the word “nepo-baby”, there was an assumption that things were easier because of her background. In some ways, that was true. In others, it wasn’t.
“There was a perception that things were handed to me, but in the end, they weren’t, because you still have to prove yourself. You still have to be good. So, yes, I had the opportunity to meet famous people and to be in the room with them.
"And I did have more opportunity than a lot of a lot of young people stepping up. But I also had a lot more people looking at me, going, ‘this better be good’ – and waiting for me to falter.”
Wainwright has had a tumultuous past decade. Her marriage ended, there was a messy custody battle for her children, and she moved back home to Montreal (The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde was one of those who told her to prioritise family over career).
Having come through all that, she is happy to be back on the road sharing these songs and the associated memories with fans. She is looking forward, too, to returning to Ireland and speaks warmly of an Irish tour with her father early in her career.
“There were a few years when I was 17,18,19 songs when I was starting, and I had a handful of songs. He and I toured together. It was great - a little rough going at times. I was this opening act, and I was maybe pissy some of the time.
“We definitely did some long drives, and he brought me places, and brought me to to Dublin, up to Belfast – this was 30 years ago. We went to pubs and went to sessions, and I met a lot of his friends. He has always has been very good at keeping good friends in different countries. We met incredible people that I remain friends with in Ireland.”
The mid-2000s were lit up in stars for Wainwright. The year after she released Martha Wainwright, she collaborated with Snow Patrol on their single, – to this day, one of their biggest hits. She explains that she was initially reluctant to do the song and thanks Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody for his perseverance.
“I didn’t really know who Snow Patrol was, because I’m so out of it. But Gary had written a song, and he really wanted me to sing it with him, and I was sort of like not paying attention.
"I’m sort of working on my own record and doing shows, and trying to be a star myself, you know, which didn’t work out. And also being distracted with staying up late and being an idiot as well. I’ll always be grateful to him for this. He made it happen.”
- Martha Wainwright plays Cork Opera House on Monday, June 9. Before that, she will also tour to the Button Factory, Dublin, June 7; and Galway Folk Festival, June 8.
