QQ. What are the recent projects that you've been working on?
A. I have been working on "True Blood" and I think my episodes are coming up in the next two weeks. My album "Neon Gods" is coming out next month and it will be on iTunes and then through my website haunsolo.com for physical copies. Because of the way the market is going I just didn't want to try and distribute through other physical outlets because it just didn't make any sense. The physical copies through our website will be signed and will be special. We're going to try and number all of them so people feel more special and they know that they're getting something that we really care about. I am not sure of the exact date of the release but it will be around the middle of August.
Q. Where did the title "Neon Gods" come from?
A. One of the songs on the album has the lyric that says "They call me psychosis." For a really long time that was going to be the name of the album but then I was listening to Simon and Garfunkel's song "The Sound of Silence." One of the lyrics to the says "all the people bowed and prayed to the neon gods they made." I have always wanted to have another band that I made named neon gods, so I was like why don't I just name the album "Neon Gods." The reason why I like it is because it's stronger than "they call me psychosis" and that lyric immediately has this dark tone, which is okay, but I feel like "Neon Gods" is something that you have to work a little more to understand what it means and it can be interpreted in many different ways. The way that it is in "The Sound of Silence" is basically saying "all of the people bowed and prayed to the neon gods," to these false idols that they made which I believe what they mean is the idols that we've made in our culture. Like Britney Spears is a neon god, caffeine is a neon god, and alcohol is a neon god. All of these things that we worship, like sexuality is a neon god.
Q. What kind of tone and sound will the album have?
A. I am not saying I am trying to stay away from the darker side, I just didn't want a title that only conveyed the darker side. I feel like the album stretches through all kinds of emotions. A lot of people listen to my music and think that initially it's really sad, but in the end I don't feel that way, and the people who really know my music don't feel that way. In the end it's sort of a celebration of finding out who you are and reclaiming things that have happened to you, things that have hurt you, and giving you the freedom to talk about it and feel it within my music. That's what I hope to do for people, people who have been hurt or whatever can listen to the music and experience the pain and reclaim it and reclaim who they are and be honest about it and then walk away. People can get rid of their negative feelings through my music and then be able to release it and go about the rest of their lives with the happiness they feel after being unburdened. I kind of see my music more as a celebration even though I have songs about being hurt. The lyrics "they call me psychosis" are from a song called "Addicted" and it's about being in a relationship where you can't say anything right or everything that you say the other person takes it the wrong way and they get angry with you. The chorus is, "and honestly it would drive anyone crazy to be close to someone like you like this and now all of your friends they call me psychosis." Now everybody calls me crazy because you are so crazy you've made me crazy. It's sort of like the idea of being in a toxic relationship and not being able to express it and not being able to ever get through to the person because now they've called you crazy and now there is nothing that you can say. Once someone calls you crazy nothing that you do is valid anymore, nothing that you do is sane so they don't have to listen to you, it's that kind of frustration. In the end when I wrote that song I had been in a relationship like that and it was nice to finally say those words and to have some place, whether it was just the air around me, but somewhere that could hear it. It's just so confusing when you're in a relationship like that and it was nice to have somewhere, even if it just existed in a song, somewhere where it finally made sense, somewhere where I could finally communicate it and it made sense. I feel like that's what I would like to provide for people and at my shows I have so many people coming up to me and thanking me and telling me that they've listened to the music I've given out at shows over and over again and it's helped them heal from a breakup or their dad dying or whatever. That's what I want to be doing, that's what I feel like, some people write happy songs and some other people want to listen to happy music and that's where they want to be and that's fine. I don't really feel like that's where my calling is as an artist. I feel like I really want to heal people as much as I can and represent an honest depiction of a person. That's kind of the idea behind "Neon Gods," it's making fun of that perfect idol, because I am not that, and no one is that. I have songs on the album where I talk about how angry I am at a certain person and songs where I talk about how angry I am at myself and how imperfect I am and then I have songs that are really great and celebratory. It's kind of tongue in cheek and I just really wanted to celebrate all of the different facets of someone's personality in going through some sort of catharsis and pain.
Q. When you began working on "True Blood" did you see it as the big success it would become?
A. No, I didn't, I didn't come in on the first season, I came in on the second season. I have been watching from the first season and I thought the first scene with the guy who was pretending to be a vampire in the Quick-E-Mart was genius. From that moment on I was like, "Wow, this is something different." At first I thought it was really melodramatic and I was like, "This is interesting, I can't really decide if I like it or not." As I watched it more I realized it was a comedy, a very hitting comedy almost like Andy Kaufman. I was like, "oh my God, this is crazy," and I was still kind of unsure if it was a comedy until they cast me. We do these table reads every episode before we shoot and all of the cast sits around a table and we read the script all the way through, all of us together, so we can hear what it sounds like and see what it's going to be so we can refocus. That's a way for the writers to see what things are working and aren't working before we actually shoot it. At the table read I was really nervous first of all, I really respect a lot of the actors there and they sat me next to the guy who plays Lafayette (Nelson Ellis) and I love Lafayette, he's my favorite character. I totally geeked out, at first I tried to play it cool and then I gushed and was like, "You're my favorite and I love you!" That was totally embarrassing, but then when we started reading the script, everybody was laughing all of the time and I was like, "Yes, that's it, it's a comedy and I love it!" That was really the first time that I really for sure got the show and realized why it was so great and why it was going to be doing so well. The numbers just went crazy and the numbers are still going crazy, we're breaking all of HBOs records. It's really amazing to be a part of a show like that and Alan Ball is like the best creator in the world. All of the executive producers are so wonderful and you can go up to them and talk to them. I did this scene this season and I was coming down with bronchitis and I didn't know it and I kept forgetting my lines and I thought I did a terrible job. I kept going up to the executive producers saying, "I'm so sorry, is this okay?" They were like, "it's fine, it's fine, it's fine," and the fact that I can do that with the executive producers is huge, and with the writers. Everybody is just so approachable and so nice and everybody just wants to work together and have a great working environment and I think that's part of the reason why the show is so great and does so well. On set it's such a great working environment and it's so much fun and the people involved are such good people. I am really blessed and I can't believe that I am on it still.
Q. The chemistry seems to come quite naturally with the cast.
A. Yeah it really does, they are all so amazing and everyone is just so amazing at creating that kind of atmosphere. At the premiere for this season we showed the first two episodes and the huge theater was filled and Alan Ball got up. He said, I'm sorry we're running late but I have to do this, and he said everybody's name that has worked on the show, all of the actors, all the crew, everybody. I just thought that's why this is such a different show to work on because everybody is so valued to the point where he has to pause to say everyone's name out loud. I just thought that was so sweet and I was actually crying. I just thought it was so wonderful and so thankful. I already am, but it just refocuses you, and you realize what a rare opportunity it is to work with these people.
Q. Where can people go online to pick up your CD, learn more about you, and keep up with your projects?
A. You can go to haunsolo.com and it's actually a little site right now but we're working on it becoming a more comprehensive site and that will be up and running in like the next week. You can also go to myspace.com/lindseyhaunmusic and my Twitter account is @HaunSoloProject. I don't have a Lindsey Haun Facebook and there are fifty thousand people who are pretending to be me on Facebook and I don't have one. I need to make one and I will be making one and kicking those people off.
