Interview for CollegeBound.net & Go-Girl.com

Violinist Emilie Autumn Doing Her Part to Help & Letting Her Individuality Shine
by Carole J. Brandi

Violinist Emilie Autumn knew that she would always stick with her convictions. As she steps onto the stage in a corset and combat boots, you can instantly sense she means business. But then you hear beautiful classical music! So, why the get-up?
The classical world was too conservative, and the mainstream wanted to rearrange what she had to offer. She pulled out of a major record label because she refused to change. Emilie knew living life to her own "tune" would eventually strike a chord and she'd find an audience. Taking her strongest inspiration from her mom, this gal with a fiddle is proving that with determination you can have the fairy tale.
Emilie began playing the violin at age 4 and it turned into a lifelong obsession. The talent was apparent and she landed many small gigs while in grade school. But her school life was not very stellar or full of kudos. She received recognition in local papers, which turned into her worst social nightmare. Her classmates were getting jealous. The kids mistook her shyness for being stuck up, and she was beat up frequently. So at the age of 10 her mother agreed to let her be home-schooled. "I ended up reading all the time and becoming as educated as my brothers and sisters who went to traditional schools," explains Emilie. Of course, she spent her free time practicing violin.
Without her strong will, Emilie may not have grabbed the opportunity to get her GED and go to college at an early age. At 15, she enrolled in the College of Indiana School of Music, Bloomington, IN, because she was interested in pursuing jazz. Even though Emilie left the college after two years, she advises aspiring musicians to stay in school.
"[You need to] have something to fall back on. I can definitely say it rounded out my training because it was so rigorous and demanding," Emilie admits. "I don't think anything can quite prepare you for the kind of variety of tasks you'll have to perform in real life like college."

"Non-Traditional Student" Stumbling Blocks

Still, Emilie discovered the lack of attention when you're a jazz violinist. "Not many people cared that I was a 15-year-old girl with a fiddle," Emilie recalls.
Although Emilie's first love is classical music, her ideas of what ought to be done with classical music were always far from the standard format of tuxedos and concert halls. Her biggest influence being Jimi Hendrix, she began to play the electric violin. Performing in corsets and combat boots because she felt she had no sense of style won audiences but irritated the academic big-wigs.
"The 'verbal beatings' I got told me the classical world would never be enough for me and that I'd always struggle with the acceptance of academic people in charge," says Emilie. By the time she was 17, she was ready to move on and forge the career she'd been crafting over the years. She began showing people the other things she'd been working on -- pop songs, Celtic fiddle playing, electronic Hendrix-inspired violin. She was instantly adopted by producers and record labels who saw her marketability.

Song for Sept. 11 Skyrockets Her Popularity

But Emilie was even more rebellious in the world of pop where money talks and people do anything to get famous. "I really wasn't that way but as soon as I saw the busy hands of record execs messing with my music, my sense of who I am, and what I look like, I wanted out of it," she recalls.
Determined more now than ever, Emilie created what she hopes will become her own empire. She started her own label, Traitor Records, and a Web site. Her latest album Enchant will have some added help. Once the Web site went up, major distributors came knocking. So now Enchant will be distributed by a major record label while milie can still retain creative freedom. "I've been in these major deals before, but I didn't want an artist deal," she explains. "I wanted help to get this into the channels that reap major publicity because I really want to see what people think of my music on a wide scale."

Emilie never imagined how a catastrophic event would call her to arms and put her on the musical path she was destined to walk. She was at home in Chicago when the World Trade Center came under attack on September 11, 2001. "Someone who loved me called and said I should turn on the TV," she shares. This musically inclined gal couldn't just sit there and grieve. She asked herself what she could do. There was only so much money she could donate and she couldn't give blood.
"The one thing I always turn to through any strong emotions, good or bad, is music and writing and it's just the most natural thing I can do," says Emilie. Her first instinct was a requiem but she realized people needed to be shown how to be strong. "I wanted to write something that would encourage people to believe that even in the presence of such unspeakable evil there was a brotherhood of good and just people, no matter how small."
The proceeds from Emilie's single "By the Sword" will be being donated to the Red Cross. "The money I've raised off the extensive sales online and at shows has far exceeded the amount that I would have been able to give that day," Emilie proudly states. "The fact that I can keep helping people in need even now gives me a sense of satisfaction."

Emilie's Endnotes

Fave movie: Elizabeth. "I am a closet fan of Queen Elizabeth. I would pattern my life after her."
Fave gig: "On my birthday, Sept. 22, I debuted the song "By the Sword." It was an all ages show largely for high school kids. There were 200-300 people there to have fun but it was really emotional. I said a few words about the song and what we're all going through. Then something just came over me and I decided I have this electric fiddle in my hands and I'm going to play the "Star Spangled Banner" first. It was close to Jimi Hendrix's guitar version and these kids completely came unglued."
Fave female influence: "I adore Annie Lennox -- her voice, looks, not afraid to do anything. She can cut off her hair and age and still be gorgeous. All those things that every woman should be able to do and seem to be so hard."
Biggest Pet Peeve: "Girls who completely deny their own intelligence and magnificence because they think that boys will like them more. In my opinion a guy who is not completely turned on by formidable intelligence is not worth even thinking about. Girls still have a really hard time saying 'I'm strong and I'm smart.'"