Interview with Britta Phillips on Being the Singing Voice of Jem

Hello folks, TFG1 Mike here. Before we get into

the interview with Britta Phillips, I just want

to let everyone know, we recorded this before

we recorded episode 23 of Showtime Synergy, which

is the truly outrageous Top 30 Gem Countdown.

So in this... I do say to her we're going to

be recording the countdown when essentially we've

already recorded it and released it. The reason

why the Britta Phillips interview is so late

is because she wanted it to coincide with her

announcement of her new album, which we have

details about later in the interview. So that's

why you're going to hear something about the

countdown, which the countdown's already out.

Anyway, Britta Phillips singing the voice of

Jem. Truly outrageous. TFG and Mike, talk to

you later. Britta Phillips here, and you are

listening to Showtime Synergy with Mike, Amy,

and Nicole. Hello and welcome to Showtime Synergy.

I am one of your hosts, Mike. Joining me is Lady

Rack. Hello. Hello. And Nicole, Beatles, Diva,

Hailstorm. How many names do you have now? I

go by many names. Just say hey you, she'll have

to buy it. Yeah. Hey you in the green wig. My

wigs change often. Yes, they do. So in this latest

Showtime Synergy interview, we welcome for the

first time ever on the GeekCaster Network, the

singing voice of Jem. We had the speaking voice

earlier. Oh, man. I almost said later this year.

Earlier this year. But we welcome the singing

voice of Jem, Britta Phillips. Yay! Hi. Thank

you. Hello. How are you, Britta? I'm great. That's

awesome. I'm glad to be here. We are glad to

have you. Before we get started, is there anything

that you can give us the scoop on and what's

going on in the world of Britta Phillips? Any

upcoming projects that you can reveal? Well,

I can reveal, the main thing is that I've just

done a solo album. Can you hear me? Uh -huh.

Sorry. So I've just done a solo album. I can't

tell you when it's going to be released because

I have to wait until the end of the month to

talk about that. Oh. So that's the main thing.

And what else? I have a vinyl seven -inch split

single with my husband, Dean, that's out on the

Great Pops Supplement. And the other thing that's

out right now that we've just worked on together

is the score for this movie, Mistress America.

I've been listening to that. Oh, cool. Oh, cool.

That's got some good stuff on it. Yeah. You guys

have done several other soundtracks. Well, you

did The Squid and the Whale. Is that correct?

That is correct. Yeah. And that was really good

as well. Totally different. Yeah. That was like

super mellow and sparse. And this is like bubbling

80s pop. Yeah. So how does your husband feel

about you doing a solo album, though? Oh, great.

He did one a year ago. So, yeah, it's my turn.

Yay. Awesome. Yeah. Very awesome. He plays on

it as well, as I played on it. Oh, good. It's

still both of us. It's just I'm doing all the

singing and I wrote it. Yeah, you're doing all

the singing. Yeah. All right, so where did you

grow up? I grew up in Pennsylvania. Kind of all

over the east coast of Pennsylvania. Bucks County

to the Poconos to Philly. Yeah. Awesome. So you're

used to the east coast weather. Oh, yeah. Although

I'm quickly forgetting about it because I've

been in L .A. for almost three years. Yeah. That'll

happen. But, you know, I still go on tour. So

I, you know, I travel. I get hit with cold. It's

not fun. I'm in the cold right now. It's not

fun. No, I don't miss it at all. I even get cold

in L .A., which is ridiculous. You're climatized.

Yeah, becoming a hothouse flower. So what got

you interested in singing? Where did it all start?

It all started at home with my mom and my sister.

My mom sang. and played piano and guitar, and

we were always just learning songs together and

singing in three -part harmony and stuff like

that. And I was in the chorus in school. Yeah,

so I always sang. I didn't know I could sing

really high and loud, though, until I started

driving. Nice. And I was like, whoa, because

I was pretty shy. But in the car, I was like,

okay, I want to be a singer. That's where it

all started. Yeah, in the car, alone. What kind

of car did you drive? I had a VW Bug. Oh, my

gosh. That was my first car. Really? Yeah. I

had a 68 Robins Egg Blue VW Bug. It was adorable.

Oh, that's sweet. I blew it up, though, because

nobody told me I had to change the oil or add

oil. Oh, no. It just burst into flames one day.

She blew up shattered glass bumblebee. I had

a 64 Super Beetle. Bright yellow. I loved it.

Love that car. So, who were some of your influences

growing up, music -wise? Growing up, wow, let

me think for a sec. So many. Like I grew up on

just AM radio, pop. So, you know, Elton John,

Captain and Tennille. There's nothing wrong with

Muscat love. Really? I didn't love that one.

I didn't love that one. I just liked the first

single. But, yeah, Motown. But then, you know,

as a teenager, that all changed. I was into just

rock, classic rock and disco, Donna Summer, Saturday

Night Fever. Nice. And then Blondie, of course.

Blondie was a big one. Yeah. And then Madonna.

Awesome. Donna's amazing, too. Canadian stuff.

Yeah, all the obvious big stuff. Michael Jackson,

Prince. So why did you start playing guitar?

Why was that your instrument of choice? I actually

didn't really know how to play guitar until I

was in this movie, Satisfaction, which happened.

That happened like the last year of the gym,

the last year of gym. I got a part in this movie,

and they gave me guitar lessons. So I had to

learn how to play Satisfaction. Oh, cool. And

some other songs. I mean, I kind of played a

little bit, but not much, yeah. That's awesome.

Yeah. That's such an awesome start, though. It

sounds very glamorous. To have that as your first

song, that's really cool. Yeah, it was good.

It was good. So getting into the cartoon here

for Jem and the Holograms. Take it away, Amy.

Oh, yeah. How did you become the singing voice

of Jem? Well, my dad was a musician. He's a session

player. He played piano. done a session and heard

his friend who wrote music for commercials and

stuff uh heard about this show where they were

looking for a young singer who was not you know

like a session singer they wanted a young rock

singer and uh it's funny because my dad is really

shy and not pushy but he was like shoved them

like you know my demo cassette and my little

headshot and it's like my daughter sounds like

she might be good so yeah they uh they gave me

a call and i auditioned and then uh as i always

say my audition ended up being the um the theme

song awesome yeah i heard that before and weren't

you sick that day Yes, I had a cold. But I kind

of like the way it sounds when people have colds

when they sing. It has a different tone. But

that's what I always hear when I hear the theme

song. It's just slight congestion. Well, I think

it sounds amazing. Yeah, it's good. It all worked

out. That's good, though. Even though you had

a cold, it still carried really well. Yeah. It's

good. Some people get colds and they, you know,

just, they can't sing. Yeah. Yeah. I'm lucky.

I kind of, my voice doesn't really quit. So that's

lucky. That's awesome. So when you were recording

for Jim, was there a recording session that particularly

stands out as a favorite or a session from hell?

I didn't have any, any hell sessions, really.

I was always so excited. And that, you know,

because I was being hired as a young person to

be hired as a singer after I moved to New York

City to become a singer. It's just it's like

a dream, you know. So just once the only difficult

parts once in a while, we're hitting those really

high notes. Once they realized I could belt out

high notes, they were just forever seeing how

high I could go. They were testing your limits,

huh? Let's see. Kenji hit a high G, a high A.

Oh, wow. That's getting up there. Yeah. So, yes,

I would, you know, they would just pep talk me,

and I'd take some water, and they'd tell me to

bend over and let all the blood rush to my vocal

cords. And it was a whole. It was like athletic

training to hit those super, super high. Yeah,

I've done some vocal training before, too. If

people would see the behind the scenes of what

you had to do to warm up and stuff, it's like

a scene from a horror film. Oh, the sounds one

missed? Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to be recording

one of our episodes. It's going to be... our

favorite gem songs from the show can you mention

what some of your favorites were to record well

the ones that just stand out to me over time

are like only the beginning because that was

in the beginning that was probably like when

she's got the power those were really exciting

early ones like a dream only me and the music

they have some high notes in them those yeah

I mean, there are a lot of really fun songs to

sing. I know, I catch myself singing some of

them, too. Yeah. Yeah, there's a running gag

on this show, and it's all Amy's fault, actually.

Everything's Amy's fault. Yeah, everything's

either Amy or Nicole's fault most of the time.

Most of the time, it is. Let's face it, you are

the misfits. But one... When we got to the episode

Hot Time in Hawaii, Amy just kept singing that

song over and over again. Obviously, that isn't

one of yours. That's one of the Misfits songs.

We always reference Hot Time in Hawaii and Misfits

in Hawaii. It's really catchy. What can I say?

How does it go? Misfits in Hawaii. No, don't

even start. Well, there was a lot of talented

musicians on the show. Did you ever play with

them after the show ended? No. In fact, the only

musician I ever saw who played on the show was

my dad. He played on everything, but I was not

at the recording sessions. I mean, sometimes

I probably came in on a session he was doing,

but at the end maybe. But yeah, everything's

very separate. So you just stay in touch with

any of the cast afterwards? I never, um, I mean,

I would run into the misfit, the, you know, the,

the same women who sang the misfits also saying

the holograms. Um, and I would run into Ellen

who's, who is pizzazz her voice because I know

her and Ann, but the others I never saw after.

Oh, wow. Yeah. This is a different reality than

I want to picturing. And they were like, They

were older than I was, so I didn't really, it

was like, yeah, I don't want to hang. I was like

20 and just behaving badly and going out and

getting drunk all night. So I'm sure that we

were not really in the same worlds. In that vein,

what memorable experiences do you have working

on Gem? Because it sounds like to me that yours

were completely different than other individuals.

Yours was very unique. Yeah, I mean, mine was

just solo. I was always alone with Anne and Ford.

And they would, I don't know if I have anyone.

I just, all I can say is that really, I just

remember going in, they would sing me the song

on the piano, and then we'd have fun recording

it. bang it out in like an hour for a song at

most. Yeah. Well, did you ever have a feeling

while working on it, there was be as big as that

it came out to be? No, no way. I mean, there

were some articles that came out in the paper.

My dad would always send them to me, you know,

saying about gem, you know, Oh, if gem were a

singer, she'd be a platinum selling. And so I

knew the show was doing well. But, I mean, compared

to how it's been in my life, you know, since

then, I had no idea. I just thought it would

come and go. And I never thought about these

kids who are watching it growing up and remembering

it or caring, you know. So that's amazing. We

were those kids. Yes. Yeah, we were. So cool.

Because, I mean, the only kids. We're not alone.

The only kids I saw then, I had a little brother

who was like five. And so when I would visit

him and his little friends were around, they

just thought I was super cool. And that was my

only taste of it. But I just didn't imagine people

would remember or think about it after they'd

grown up. And that's really cool. Awesome. What

was the recording schedule like for Jim? Did

you guys do the whole season together, or was

it a week -to -week recording? How did the song

recordings end up going? It seemed like they

would just get the scripts in so that they knew

what was going on in the show and the lyrics.

This is Anne Bryan and Ford Kinder, and then

they'd write the music. I seem to remember it

being like every week or every couple of weeks.

So it was definitely spread out while they were

in real time, not all at once. And then we did

all of, go ahead, go ahead. No, then we got,

we would record the songs and then they'd send

it to, well, maybe they were doing the vote,

the voices and the songs. at the same time that

all the music was in new york and the um the

vocal the acting was in la and then they'd send

that off to be animated last gotcha so when you

would get together like with all of the cast

like say that because there are several songs

we had the misfits and the stingers so when you

got all together what were the recording sessions

like or did you only because like later on in

this in the show you had a group of people like

when you'd sing together you'd have all of them

together so i'm wondering would you record those

tracks separate or together i think i only sang

with the group once because i was and and that

was like at the end of the sessions i know it's

so sad i'm so sorry oh no it's okay this is fantastic

i'm asking questions yeah no it's it's so they

do that often with um you know, animated stuff.

They just record everybody separately so they

can control the voice mixes and stuff. Yeah.

Yeah, so I didn't really, I never met the Stinger,

Stingers. Oh, yeah. I didn't meet the Misfits,

but that was it. So you were, like you said,

you were really young when you worked on Gem.

How did working on Gem influence the rest of

your future career? Oh, well, it gave me a lot

of experience. I mean, that was probably the

most important, like just having to be professional

and confident in the studio. That really, that

experience is really, that gave me the confidence

to continue. That's awesome. Yeah. And you have

your dad to thank for it. I think that's just

so cool. Yeah. Thanks, Dad. Yeah, he did. And

that's really not his character either. So he

was just like, he really put it out there. But

your dad, I mean, your dad, though, was he an

in -studio musician, did you say? Yeah, I mean,

he started out as a jazz musician. He played

on a Herbie Hancock album. Oh, nice. Yeah, he

played, like, bass trombone jazz. And then he

switched to piano and did Jesus Christ Superstar

on Broadway and did a lot of Broadway stuff and

then ended up doing commercial sessions, yeah.

Oh, wow. That's awesome. Yeah. Very cool. So

last year, IDW launched the first ever ongoing

Gem comic. Now I know you teamed up with Samantha

Newark to do a signing for it. What was that

like and have you read the comic at all? I haven't

read the comic because they were supposed to

let me have one and they forgot to put my extra

one in there. So I went and signed all of them

and sent them off and never got to read it. But

I did read a great article about it in the New

Yorker. Did you read that? It was like a really

awesome review. Oh, no, I haven't read that.

I must have missed that one. That was the New

Yorker one. Yeah, so I'm excited to read it because

it sounds great. Oh, it's an awesome, awesome

comic. I've mostly read reviews of the comic

in comic circles, but not the New Yorker, so

I'll have to check it out. Yeah. See if I can

find it if it's online. I'll buy one. Well, the

first trade is out now. The Showtime trade that

collects the first six issues is out now, and

I think the next trade will probably be seven

to ten, as far as I know. So let's go behind

the scenes, Amy. You've done some voice acting.

Do you have any upcoming projects? Voice acting

projects? No, I'm afraid. I wish I did. I love

doing those. The Moral Oral and Mary Shelley's

Franken -Hole are the two that I've done on Adult

Swim. Moral Oral is hilarious. Yes, I love that

show. I love it so much. It's so crazy. It's

so different. When you first watch it, you're

just like, what? But I love it. It's funny. Yeah,

it's super funny. And then, you know, I don't

know if you got to season three, but season three

gets pretty dark and real. Yes, that's true.

It gets like he was the guy is a friend of mine

who who created the show, Dino. And like by season

three, he was trying to do a Cassavetes movie

and stop animation. It was just nuts. but uh

that yeah that we actually for those shows we

all read together around a table which is like

unheard of for animation or stop animation shows

because they everyone don't ever want anyone

talking over each other but it was so much fun

because really you just have to you cry to stop

from laughing so that you don't laugh all over

somebody's lines, but it's just the most fun.

Yeah. And you said the creators, your friends,

how did he come up with that show? He told me

this was, this show was originally a TV show.

He wrote for Iggy pop to be in. Oh, and Iggy

pop was going to be like this adult who was.

kid somehow I can't remember exactly but then

Iggy he met with Iggy in New York City and Iggy

was he was very flattered but just not really

into it so he held on to it and then he just

rewrote it with this the Christianity which becomes

all of it really and did a stop animation yeah

that's cool Well, you play both guitar and bass.

Now, which do you prefer? Oh, bass. I'm a bass

player now. I'm not really a guitar player. I

mean, I do play some guitar on my album, but

I'm not as comfortable or confident on that instrument

as bass now. I've been playing bass now since

the 90s, so that's my main instrument. Oh, cool.

And of which of your songs that you have written

or performed, would you say has the most meaning

to you? Ooh. Well. Because you've been in a lot

of different bands and you're working with your

husband. Now you've got a solo. Yeah, I would

have to say I haven't performed it live yet,

but I would say I have to say one of the songs,

one of my original songs on my solo album. I

cannot wait for this. Talk about it at the end

of the month, right? Yes. Okay. Awesome. Maybe

I'll just hold on to the interview until the

end of the month and you can just tell us now

anyway. You promise? If you can wait to air this

till, you know, the 27th, I can tell you. Yeah,

we usually do it on Fridays, but that'll be the

29th. Oh yeah, or the Friday, whatever. Friday's

fine. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be cool. Oh, I'm so

excited. Okay. Okay. So yeah, I have this album

and it's called luck or magic and it's going

to be released April 29th and I'm so excited.

Oh my gosh. Nice. I'm announcing, um, in January,

uh, January 27th and I'll release, um, a song

just like for streaming. And if anyone wants

to pre -order the album, they get the song and,

uh, Then I'll put the video out there a week

or so later. And then probably another song for

a radio single. Yeah. Oh, nice. How many total

tracks are there? Oh, there are 10 tracks. And

there are five original songs that I wrote and

five covers. What are the covers? Well, there

are two. Only the beginning. I'm covering the.

The song Drive by The Cars. Oh, nice. And Landslide

by Fleetwood Mac. These are both songs that were

suggested to me by my producer at the time that

I never would have thought to do because they're

so huge. Yeah. But they came out great. And the

other three are pretty obscure. One's called

One Fine Summer Morning by Evie Sands, and that's

from, like, 1969. And one is Fallen in Love by

Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Nice. And what's

the last one? Oh, Wrap Your Arms Around Me was

Agnetha from ABBA's on her first solo, English

language solo album in 1983. Oh, that's going

to be great. A friend of mine suggested that.

Yeah, it's going to be good. I look forward to

listening to that. Yeah. doing a bunch of videos

too. I mean, I'm hoping to have at least like

five or six videos, so that'll be cool. Awesome.

Where would you prepare the videos at? Are they

going to be on YouTube or? Yeah. I mean, just,

I mean, I think the first one will probably come

out, you know, I'll do an, I'll just do an exclusive

release. I don't know. We'll see if we can get

somebody big to host that like NPR, the New York

times or something. I don't know. Cool. Too bad

TRL isn't still relevant. Total Request Live

with Carson Daly. Will you be doing any tours?

I'm going to do some live performances. I'm definitely

going to have three or four songs that I'll perform

either in in -stores or radio. And locally here

and up the West Coast, probably. And I also want

to open some shows for Luna. So when Luna does

some more shows next year, I'll just... So you're

getting back together with Luna? Yeah, actually,

Luna's been together since last March. We started

our 10 -year reunion in March. And we did a whole

tour of the country and Spain and the UK. Yeah,

and Australia. Because I thought your last album

was 2012. Was it 2012? The last Luna album was

2005. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. We had a 10 -year

hiatus. Maybe you're thinking of my husband's

album, Dean's album. Maybe that's what I think

of. Yeah. It sounds very Luna, his album. So,

yeah, we've been doing. luna tours and that's

been really exciting we just played new year's

eve in san francisco and oakland yeah so have

you ever been oh have you ever been able to meet

or work with any of your musical influences like

any of the ones that you named earlier before

i've never met madonna But I did meet Deborah

Harry because she was in Satisfaction. How cool

is that? I know. That woman is awesome. She is

so cool and just amazing, beautiful and down

to earth and really funny. I mean, I hardly could

speak to her, but we were in a group, so I just

stared at her. But she's very cool. I probably

would have done the same thing. Be like, you

know who you are. And the same thing, like when

I met Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, I couldn't

really speak, but my husband knows him a bit.

So I just stood around and stared at him while

they, they chatted. He came to a show. Cause

we did this Warhol screen test show where we

performed with Andy Warhol. Green Tests from

the mid -60s, and Lou Reed was one of them. So

he came to our show at the Lincoln Center, which

is pretty cool. Yeah. Who else? I met Keith Richards

once. Oh, cool. That was pretty cool. I was actually,

for like five minutes, I was in a band with Steve

Jordan, who produced his solo album. And Steve

Jordan's a drummer. And he took me up to the

studio to meet Keith in like 1988 when he was

working on his first solo album. And he showed

me some open tuning guitar chords. Oh, so you

actually got a lesson from him? Yeah. So it was

pretty cool. And he was very cool. I'm trying

to think. There are probably more, but I can't.

Yeah. Well, I have an odd question for you. Sure.

Have you named any of your instruments? Have

I named any of them? No, but I should. I love

them like people. Yeah, like BB had Lucille.

Oh, yeah, no. I have this white Mustang bass

guitar of mine. It's just my favorite. I should

name her. Yeah, for sure. And one last really

odd question for me. Nothing to do with whatever

we talked about. Okay. If you could have a melee

weapon of your choice, what would it be? A what?

A melee weapon. A hand weapon. Oh, a hand weapon.

Yeah. I mean, not like a gun. Like a... Like

a mace or sword. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or an

axe. Yeah. Or a hook. Let me think. We apologize

for Nicole. Yeah. I think probably a long sword.

There you go. Yeah. Awesome. It's the classic.

Yeah. Because I have shorter arms. I need a long

sword. Okay. Would you like to inform the fans

of where they can interact with you online? Oh,

yeah. I'm on Twitter, at Britta Phillips, and

I have a website that's bare bones right now,

but all will be revealed soon. It's BrittaPhillips

.com. I'm on Facebook, too, BrittaPhillipsNYC,

which I know I'm in L .A. now, but we haven't

changed that. All right. We would like to thank

Ms. Phillips for taking the time to chat with

us here in this Showtime Synergy interview. We

will ask you to hold the line. We'll be back

after this. This is Britta Phillips, the singing

voice of Jem, and you're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. All right, folks. We just spent

the last 30 or so minutes talking with the singing

voice of Jem, Britta Phillips, and now what you

didn't hear because I had her do it off air.

Is Britta singing an acapella version, a few

lines from Gem and the Holograms, only the beginning?

Wow, look around at the sight and the sound.

Did it take you by... All right, we are back

here on the Showtime Synergy interview of Miss

Britta Phillips. And we've wrapped the interview.

We got an acapella version of one in the beginning.

And, yeah, that was awesome. Oh, my gosh. That

was, like, so cool. I didn't even tell you guys.

I didn't even tell you I was going to ask her

to do that. I wish she had video because, man,

I don't think my smile could get any. It was

like my inner eight -year -old was just sitting

there in awe, like, oh, my gosh. She's singing

to me. That was super, super awesome. So yeah,

folks, that's the interview with Britta Phillips.

Coming up next, it's going to be one or two episodes.

I'm not sure which one yet. It's going to be

one, not one or two, one of two. It's either

going to be our top 30 truly outrageous countdown.

Or it's going to be the Valentine's Day special

for the comics. So it might be either or. And

then obviously after that we'll do the movie.

Sometime after March will be Dark Gem Part 1

for the comic. And then probably after Dark Gem

Part 1 we'll do the finale. Well, like I've said

already before in many episodes so far on Showtime

Synergy, we'll obviously still do the comic afterwards,

but the overall episode 25 finale where we reveal

all the feedback and everything else and we do

our revisit of certain episodes. Oh, God, that's

going to be so scary. We're all going to China,

people. So. You don't have to. Well, have to.

That's true. So there you go, folks. The interview

with Britta Phillips. I didn't mention this in

the actual interview with her, but she is actually

the first interview for the GCRN for 2016. Nice.

I've got a bunch of other people lined up, and

hopefully at some point this year we will be

able to get... Patricia Alice Albright, The Voice

of Pizazz. I'm hoping to get Charlie Adler, Eric

Raymond, obviously, and a couple other ones as

well. So who knows? We'll just have to see what

the year brings us. I was going to say it's off

to an awesome start as it is. Yeah, I was going

to say. That's great. It's pretty epic, yeah.

Oh, my goodness. Any one of those that you've

mentioned, the year will be really amazing. It

will be truly outrageous. Oh, God, I can't believe

I almost sounded like Aquaman right then. Oh,

God, brave in the bold. Jim did it better. Anyway,

that's it. Show's over, Synergy. We will catch

you next time.