INTERVIEW: Tanika Charles w/ Spinner.ca
Tanika will be performing live at Yonge & Dundas square tomorrow (Sunday, June 19th) at 6pm alongside Digable Planets and The Pharcyde! FREE SHOW!!!
Here’s a quick likkle interview she recently did with Spinner.ca.
In the year since Tanika Charles released her ‘What? What! What?!’ EP, the Toronto-based R&B singer has been playing show after show around the city. But, as her performances get bigger, Charles maintains that it’s the small club shows that best match the vibe of her soulful, spirited music. “You can connect with the audience so much more when you can actually see them,” she tells Spinner. “It gets really hot and sweaty, and that’s the best.” And her set-up is only going to get sweatier: Charles’ is currently working on her next album, due in the fall, which will be recorded live in the studio. Spinner caught up with Charles to talk about performing at NXNE, her angry alter ego Ms. Chawlz and her “real problem” with Frank Ocean.
Tell me about this album that’s coming out.
Right now I’m in the studio all the time working on demos. It’ll be a live album, so everything’s going to be recorded with a band off the floor. This is a bit different than the EP, which I worked on with producers from around the city, so it’s exciting for me because it’s going to have that really pure, thick, heavy, sexy Motown feel to it.
Is a live album an extension of you performing live so much in the past year?
Yeah, it is. I just feel better on stage when the music’s big. There was a while where I’d have two backup singers, a DJ and maybe a live instrument, but that’s not the sound I’m trying to portray here. I really want to have a classic, soul feel to it. Going forward, the songs I perform are always going to be with a band.
Have you played NXNE before? What are you most looking forward to?
I opened up for Platinum Pied Pipers in 2007 at the Sound Academy — wow, that was a while back. It was really exciting! I’m looking forward to sharing the stage with Digable Planets and The Pharcyde. They’re classic and I’ve never seen either of them live.