September Swan Song?

A Talk with Shannon Worrell

It's hard to believe that, less than a year after its release, September '67's debut CD, on the Enclave label, is going out-of-print. In the very first issue of this magazine, we raved about Lucky Shoe, and the finely-crafted pop of Shannon Worrell and Kristin Asbury.

As recounted in NO NO NO, the Enclave label was forced to fold after its parent company, EMI, was forced to liquidate several new music labels in an attempt to hold off a takeover bid. The Enclave, which also released fine, critically-acclaimed discs by the U.K.'s Belle & Sebastian and Nova Scotia's Sloan, was losing too much money. The rights to all artists went to Virgin Records, who have (apparantly) only taken up the option of one Enclave artist, Belle & Sebastian, so far.

With September '67 without a label, and with Shannon Worrell's hints at an August Tokyo Rose show that "this is our last for awhile," we talked to her about the duo's future plans, their recent stint on the Lilith Fair tour, and the sad, sordid mess of record company restructuring.

Grip Monthly So are you still going to break up the band?

Shannon Worrell I don't think that's an accurate description of what's going on. I'm just kinda working on this show (she is assisting in the editing of a documentary on "Southern Writers"), and just kind of taking a break from music. I'm getting married in October. I'm also working on my own film idea too. For about a year now. I'm going to start shooting interviews in the Fall. It's a documentary. . .

Grip On?

Worrell Hunting. Sort of a family history of hunting. Hunting in my family. I'm tempted to call it Young Hunters because that was one of the failed band names.

Grip That's actually a good band name. So you and Kristin going to split up?

Worrell No, I don't think that's an accurate way to put it. We're just taking an indefinite time off. We don't have a record label now. Or even a record. And we don't plan on making another record right now. But we didn't sit down and say, 'let's break up' or anything.

Grip Tell me how it was playing the Lilth Fair?

Worrell It was fun. I loved it.

Grip Something about you at the press functions?

Worrell Oh, well, I was always like the naysayer at those things. I was always the dissenter, it became like a joke.

Grip Were you saying, "Female Rock Sucks"?

Worrell No, no. People would just talk about how diverse it was and then it's like Jewel and Fiona Apple and Sarah McLachlan and. . . not very diverse. And Sarah (McLachlan, who put out the festival) said that it was all stuff she liked, and I just said it's not that diverse.

Grip Yeah, you're not throwing Diamanda Galas in there, or Lydia Lunch, or somebody.

Worrell Plus it was super white, I thought.

Grip Cassandra Wilson was there, right?

Worrell Yeah, but she was on the second stage while, y'know, Fiona Apple is headlining. She's like 12 years old and Cassandra Wilson is over on the camp stage with us.

Grip Can you fill me in on what's happened with the Enclave. You obviously didn't make the shift over to Virgin.

Worrell No. We didn't want to go there but it turned out that they didn't want us there anyway. I think Belle & Sebastian is the only band that's going to go over to Virgin while the rest of the groups just get released from their contract.

Grip Were you signed as a band or as two solo artists?

Worrell One solo artist. Me.

Grip So if they had wanted you to go, you personally would have under contract to Virgin?

Worrell Maybe. But they didn't want to, so it's irrelevant. I didn't want to, so. . . We probably could've gotten out of it.

Grip I find it hard to believe that Virgin wouldn't want some of the bands (World Party, Sloan, etc.) on the Enclave roster.

Worrell Virgin and Capitol have to absorb EMI's fallout of bands-- dozens of bands and acts. They couldn't take all of them. And the Enclave artists probably all had really hefty contracts. . .

Grip So people who've waited better scarf up Lucky Shoe 'cause it's going out of print?

Worrell It is going out of print. From the Enclave.

Grip Why don't you keep it in print?

Worrell Yeah, that's something else we can do. They might even sell us, at cost, all of our remaining CDs. I don't know if we want to do that, but we might. I mean, it was released as a Superduke / Enclave release, I don't know if you saw that, but we could put it out.

Grip What about you doing another solo record? Is that a possibility?

Worrell I don't know. It's a possibility. It just seems that everything is possible right now. Maybe I'll never make anymore music, or maybe I'll make a record by myself and one with Kristin.