RACHAEL Yamagata never imagined that her passion for music would turn into a successful music career that would take her around the world. But that's exactly what happened for the Virginia-based singer.
"When I started songwriting something just clicked. I had done everything from language majors in college and then a theatre major. I hated school. I hated authority and discipline so I wasn't doing well in theatre class. I didn't seem to have the dedication that was necessary," she says.
As Yamagata's desire for a career in theatre burnt out she began toying with songwriting and quickly discovered she loved it.
"It really developed into a passion and I didn't think I would do it professionally," Yamagata says. "The professional stuff came after. It was almost like a by-product of me loving what I was doing in music."
Yamagata's passion has taken her all over the world and seen her release three studio albums along with a handful of EP's. Last week she performed at the Electric Owl in Vancouver with Sanders Bohlke.
"We're going to try and drive really fast from Salt Lake so we can spend two nights there instead of one," Yamagata said before the gig. "It's definitely one of my favourite cities. I think it's beautiful and we always have a fun show."
Yamagata's performance in Vancouver was just one stop on a lengthy tour that has already seen her perform in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Madison, Wisconsin.
She has performed throughout Europe, Asia, Quebec and the United States. Yamagata says that when performing over in Asia the
crowds express their gratitude and appreciation towards musicians very differently than crowds in North America or Europe.
"What was hard is that the audiences are so polite that you don't get the feedback that you normally look for," she says. "You can't transition in between songs because people are so polite that they won't clap if any music starts."
"A lot of Asian fans are really interested in the motivation of why you write that specific line. They're really detailed with some of their questions and that kind of reaction really surprised me as well," she adds. "Going to other cultures reminds you that music doesn't really have a specific language barrier. It's a universal language."
Before her solo career Yamagata was in a funkadelic band, Bumpus, for six years. Eventually, she began to realize that her style of music was much different from the vibe the band was creating.
"The things I was writing really didn't have a place within that band," Yamagata says. "I realized that I couldn't devote my time to the band.
That's really what naturally changed."
As a solo artist Yamagata has released three studio albums, four EP's and a live album. Her most recent EP, Heavyweight, was released last year.
Her music has also appeared in numerous television shows and movies including The O.C., One Tree Hill, Smallville, How I Met Your Mother, ER, Grey's Anatomy, 30 Rock and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Yamagata often writes in the middle of the night or on the road and typically draws inspiration from relationships of all kinds.
"I pretty much write lyrics, melodies and music all at the same time," she says. "It always stems from some sort of gut wrenching emotional fog that I am in. So there are a lot of relationship-themed songs. I feel like there are a lot of the same elements in relationships whether it's friends, coworkers or lovers. We're all trying to connect with one another."
Yamagata has collaborated with a wide range of notable artists such as Ryan Adams, Jason Mraz, Rhett Miller and Ray Lamontage.
"It always helps to watch somebody else approach the same thing that you're trying to do," she says. "I think working with other people can be really inspiring. All of the great people that I've worked with they're very down to earth."
Yamagata has also worked and toured with Grammy winner Mandy Moore. During their collaborations the two connected on many levels.
"She's very dedicated, very smart and really well-educated in music," Yamagata says. "We
had all this girl talk on all other levels. It felt like a really good connection in terms of writing together. So we did a little bit of that before touring together."
That was really a great experience because I think we both looked up to each other," she adds.
Yamagata admits she's wasn't the biggest fan of editing her work in terms of writing lyrics.
While spending time writing with Moore she learned about tenacity and patience.
"I write it and then I am done with it. I am on to something else, my attention span for editing is not great and she (Moore) is a person who will be very concentrated on getting the right lyric or the right emotion to come through," Yamagata says.
"I think that was very inspiring to me. Her work ethic is great."
For more information on Rachel Yamagata visitrachelyamagata.com or follow her on Twitter: @RachelYamagata.
