![\"\"](\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Sista_Monica_Band-11-2.jpg\" "\\"Sista_Monica_Band-1[1]")
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If I had to sum up Sista Monica in a few words, I’d have to go with, “Seasoned Pro.” There is absolutely nothing that the “Lioness of the Blues” can’t accomplish as she has proven time and time again. She’s just released her 11th album in 20 years titled Living in the Danger Zone, <\/em>and has been nominated for a prestigious Blues Award. It would seem as though she’d been doing this forever. However, read on to learn about Sista Monica’s first career, and who actually inspired her to pursue her musical aspirations. I think you’ll be just as surprised an amused as I was!<\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Let\u2019s get right into it\u2014 tell me about the new album \u201cLiving in the Danger Zone\u201d!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>SMP:<\/strong> Well, the album really covers the full range of emotions in a love affair that goes from pure bliss to totally in love to having problems and then finally realizing that you can\u2019t make it anymore. And then you break up, but you don\u2019t really break up, you just kind of prolong the agony of the break up (laughs).<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong>\u00a0(Laughs) Oh, haven\u2019t we all been there!<\/em><\/p>\n SMP:<\/strong> Oh yes. That\u2019s living in the danger zone for sure!<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Absolutely, but I\u2019m just glad to hear you can do that with a little funk too.<\/em><\/p>\n SMP:<\/strong> That\u2019s right! Always got to have a little.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Is this album something that for you has been a lifetime in the making, or was this more spurred by recent events?<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>SMP:<\/strong> It really has been recent experiences that have culminated in all the songs that just came out of me. This is the 11th<\/sup> CD of mine that I\u2019ve written songs for and produced, and this one just feels really true to the bone. It\u2019s true to the topic; it\u2019s current. If you have an opportunity to listen, you\u2019ll hear me talking about blues, but not in an old-school way, but more of a contemporary way. You know, I\u2019m talking about my lover texting somebody else while I\u2019m sitting there at the movie theater, you know. It\u2019s that kind of modern thing.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> You wrote the majority of the songs on the album, right?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n SMP:<\/strong> Yes, there are 14 songs, and I\u2019ve written 12 of them. They\u2019re just born out of my own experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any particular style or method you like to use, or do you let them just come and hit you?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n SMP:<\/strong> It\u2019s very interesting\u2014 I\u2019ve really found that it has varied as I\u2019ve matured as a writer, the process has changed. What I find myself doing is really becoming more of a vessel and listening to what my inner spirit and inner soul is saying about issues that are going on in my life. Most of the time I\u2019m in my car, so I may be writing in my car. But the full song will come. All of the instrumentation will come, and the sound of the song will come so that I can eloquently tell my band what I want to hear when we get in the studio.<\/em><\/p>\n There was one song on the CD, \u201cLet Me Moan\u201d, that I wrote in my house, in my kitchen. I was talking to my ex, well, I was talking to myself, but I was talking to my ex who wasn\u2019t there and just saying, \u2018If you\u2019re not gonna do right by me, then leave me alone and let me moan! I can be better alone on my own!\u2019 You know, I was doing that kind of thing. And so when they come, I just kind of stop for a minute and listen to where they\u2019re coming from, where I could be coming from, and see if those are real, true emotions. That\u2019s where I write from.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> With all of the material you write, it must be tough to weed through and pick the songs that are going to make it onto the record. How do you know when it\u2019s going to be \u201cthe song\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n SMP:<\/strong> I always start the album thinking as a producer with a concept. The concept for this CD was about being in love and breaking up and losing that\u2014 feeling the heartbreak of the loss. So, I knew early on that was going to be the concept. This was a nine year relationship where I anticipated being with that person for the rest of my life. We had some really good intimacy, but you can\u2019t just live on intimacy alone, you know what I\u2019m saying? (Laughs).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> (Laughs) But if only we could, huh?<\/em><\/p>\n SMP:<\/strong> Oh, there\u2019s so much more. But I really know when the CD is over when I\u2019ve said everything I wanted to say about a particular topic.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n