Five Questions is a continuing column in which we pose
a different artist the same five crucial questions.
One:
The Manitoban: What substance or activity do you find
to be creativity-producing?
Emma Cloney: I find being near water such as a lake, river or a pond to be a creative source. Something about being in a natural element really gets my creativity flowing.
Two:
M: Who is your preferred teen idol? (e.g., Justin Bieber, Jonas Brothers, etc.)
E.C.: To be honest, I have never really been up on the teen (popular) music scene — even as a little girl my music play list included my favorite Winnipeg folk festival artists (James Keelaghan, Fred Eaglesmith, the Duhks, Crooked Still). While none of these artists are really teen idols, many of them sport trendy hair, style and swagger — which are idol-worthy.
Three:
M: What’s the most embarrassing album you’ve ever owned?
E.C.: As I thoroughly love all of my albums, I can only answer this by saying that the album I am embarrassed not to own is the early albums of my good friend and fellow musician Dan Frechette. We work together currently, and with his tremendous talent, it seems a shame that I do not yet own the full Frechette collection. I will have to remedy this.
Four:
M: What’s your motto?
E.C.: My motto since I was a little girl has been “be not lead by the hand of circumstance, but lead your circumstances by the hand.” I wrote this in a journal when I was 11 and have always used this type of thinking to guide me to my goals.
Five:
M: Animal, vegetable, or mineral?
E.C.: As an animal lover and horse rancher, I would have to say all three! The funny thing is when reading this question (as a mother) I saw this and thought, “I could cook a meal out of all of them,” so let say all. Each is a necessary part of existence. How could you choose just one? The exclusion of any one component (just as in music) would leave the story only half-told and hollow in some ways. They need each other — now let’s eat!
Emma Cloney plays her CD release party for Woodlands at the Gas Station Theatre on March 8.
– interview conducted by Maria Bowler
