STARPOLISH: Do you think you'll get tired of the exposure?
Do you miss just doing music for yourself?
CURFMAN: There's definitely
a difference between just doing music and being in the music business.
But you have to realize you make the options. No one is making you
be in the music business. That's something you have to decide, and
if you decide that, you have to put your all into the business and
music. I don't think in a lot of situations that I would have signed
a contract with… how it was going with some record labels when we
first talking with people in NY, the big record labels, a lot of
them didn't treat me as an artist. It was more like, "Oh wow, here's
someone who doesn't really know what it's all about so we can really
form and shape her however we want. And she'll play guitar and it'll
be great." But I was like, "No, this is what I do, this is how I
sound." I'm not going to sell out and I'm not going to wear certain
things or do certain things for the publicity of it. I think the
publicity people at J Records - and Arista Records, who we were
on before - have always been really careful of rather than making
a fading star, making a star that's there forever. And they're more
about making careers than they are about making a hit record --
with some of the people. Maybe with some people they aren't. With
how our contract is set up, even, we made sure that it was situation
where first off, I still had options of what I wanted to do with
music, and they don't decide what music I do, it's all me. So I'm
in a really comfortable situation with all that.
STARPOLISH: You touched on a question we got from a girl
who wrote in and asked how you would feel if the industry people
tried to heighten the sexuality [of your image] to sell more albums.
There has been a lot of controversy over young female performers
projecting a too-sexy-for-their-age image.
CURFMAN: It's nothing I've had
to deal with. If that ever comes up, or someone says, "She's wearing
a little less than usual," then that would be because of me. No
one is going to make me wear certain clothing, and I don't think
they'd want to do that. Maybe they will, maybe that will come, but
I'm not going to do it, and I'm not going to do something that's
uncomfortable for me just because it sells more. So, if that ends
up happening, it's would be because of me, personally, and not because
we're trying to sell [more albums].
STARPOLISH: School seems like it's still pretty important
to you. How hard is it balancing school with work and touring, and
does it take a toll on your personal life?
CURFMAN: Schoolwork definitely
takes up a lot of my time, just like any other 15-year-old. And
I'll be online doing school and people will interrupt me and I'll
say I can't talk, I'm doing history right now. I think people just
got really used to knowing that I do still go to school. Because
a lot of people forget that, and assume that this is really all
I do, and when I'm not on tour I'm not doing anything. Well, we're
trying to make a record, there's always business stuff going on
and it gets pretty busy, but we always make sure there's time for
our own personal lives, and having time to breathe and have your
own space. With touring, it's really easy -- you have your own space
and that becomes your home after a while, and you get used to doing
your homework in a hotel, or in a bus or in a back room somewhere
at a gig, and that becomes your way of life. It's no different than
how it felt when I was at home a few years ago.
