Solvej Schou, whose recent album Quiet For Too Long was named “Album of the Week” by this publication, will be performing at Cafe NELA this week, so we chatted about what drives her, what inspires her and what fires her up…

L.A. WEEKLY: When did you start singing, writing and performing?

SOLVEJ SCHOU: I started singing when I was a little kid, probably since I was 4. I’ve been playing guitar since I was a teenager. I’ve been playing solo and in bands in L.A. and Hollywood since I was in high school, and my dad is a really great singer and guitarist. My late mom, who died a week before my 10th birthday, she was also an incredible singer and piano player. Music has always run in my veins. Definitely singing was a way for me to deal with grief as a kid at a young age.

Who were your early influences?

I would say that I’ve always been very influenced by the blues and by rock & roll. I grew up listening to Leadbelly, the Pretenders, X, the Talking Heads, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Elvis Costello — those were all big influences on my in terms of singing and songwriting. I got into Patti Smith in high school — my English teacher, I went to L.A. public school up until college, and he introduced me to the music of Patti Smith, which had a huge impact on me in high school. PJ Harvey I first heard when I was 13 in my best friend’s bedroom. Her voice, her groaning and her power really inspired me.

You’re also a journalist — how do you balance the music with the writing?

It’s a balance for anyone who’s creative but also has a separate professional life and a day job, which I do have. I’m a staff senior writer at ArtCenter College of Design. I’ve been that about two and a half years, and before that I was a full-time journalist for a long time. I used to be a writer at Associated Press and I was a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly, I contributed to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and other outlets. Writing to me is very internal and cerebral, and singing to me is visceral and explosive and physical, as well as emotional and mental.

Is there crossover between your songwriting and journalism?

Yeah. I started writing songs long before I was a journalist, but then I also started writing poetry in elementary school. So I wrote poetry and that turned into lyrics later on. There’s always been a connection. I was a creative writing major in college and I have my graduate degree in journalism. There’s a definite connection because a lot of times, poetry becomes lyric. And a lot of times, the words come first for me. The words and the melody, and then everything else is built on top of that.

These are clearly difficult times — is it your intention to provide inspiration through your music?

I always say that creativity is pure. That comes from your gut, heart and soul first. When I’m writing a song, it stems from my own frustration, but if other people can connect with that, that’s great. Because I know that going to marches and being surrounded by people, there is a collective anger and frustration. I went to the first Women’s March in 2017 in Washington, D.C., and it was incredible. I grew up going to marches, and I think music can bring people together in the same way that marching in the street brings people together.

I have the privilege of lighter skin, even though my grandmother is Jewish and went through the horror of the Holocaust and losing her whole family. Her six-year-old son, who would have been my uncle, was killed in the gas chamber and her siblings were killed, and she survived. My mom was born in a relocation camp. But I have the privilege of that lighter skin, and I grapple with that and with what people in this country experience. The discrimination that you face having a different background. I grew up in Los Angeles which to me is a beautiful ocean of difference. My America is one of diversity and difference, and there is beauty and so much soul in that.

Do you prefer the process of songwriting or performing on stage?

I wouldn’t say that I prefer one over the other. I would say that I’ve spent so much time alone writing songs and in a rehearsal space as well as playing with the people on the album, but the process of writing is very solitary — an article or a song. On stage, you are channeling the energy of that audience even if that audience isn’t big.

What can we expect from the set at Cafe NELA?

I’m gonna be playing with the three people who played on the album — Chelsea Jean Speer-Guzman on bass, Bryan Bos on drums and Eric Hasenbein on guitar. There’s a band called Bella Novela from Long Beach and an L.A. band called The Letter Openers playing. Also there will be a table for the collective Turn It Up!, and I’m on the steering committee. That a collective aiming towards parity in music for women. Alice Bag is on the steering committee, as well as Evelyn McDonnell who edited the book Women Who Rock, visual artist Lucretia Tye Jasmine, and Allison Wolfe from Bratmobile. So we’ll have a table, and I want this to be a show where women feel welcome. So yeah, I’m excited for this show and for this album to be out in the world. We recorded in 2017 and I did so much on my own.

What else do you have planned this year?

I have upcoming shows, but nothing officially announced yet. I’ve written a bunch of new songs and at the show we’ll be doing some of those. My next door neighbor was murdered last year and her son is on trial for it. We were at home at the time so that was upsetting and I wrote a song about that. I want more musicians to do political music and music about social justice. I grew up listening to riot grrrl bands, Bob Dylan and Marvin Gaye. Any way I can contribute to that, I’m happy to do it.

Solvej Schou plays with Bella Novela and The Letter Openers at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 27 at Cafe NELA.

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