Who are you and what do you do:
MI’m Charlotte Cornfield. I write songs and sing and play them all over the place with lots of different people and often by myself. I also play the drums.
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Why do you do what you do:
I love music. My bones are made up of millions of little pixels of musical matter. Making music and listening to music make them light up like lite brite and cause me to start dancing around with a smile on my face. I want to be inspired, I want to travel, I want to stand on my tiptoes and belt into a microphone. So I do it.
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Current obsessions:
Bicycles, San Francisco, Dr. Dog, Television (the band), the Pacific Ocean, Hemingway, Panoramic & True, drumming, Joni Mitchell’s Hejira, fall in Montreal.
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Story told to you when you were a child that you will never forget:
I did a canoeing day camp at Harbourfront in Toronto when I was about 10. We paddled to the Toronto Island and the counsellors told us that there was a boy who got lost on the island in the 60′s and came across a barrel of radioactive material. Apparently he reemerged in a swamp covered in green goo and was henceforth referred to as the “swamp man.”
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Song you wish you wrote:
Aw gee, probably “Amelia” by Joni Mitchell. Or “Cupid” by Sam Cooke. “We Used to Wait,” by the Arcade Fire is also melting my face right now.
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Most played track on your itunes:
Probably “Bad Fog of Loneliness” by Neil Young. It’s an odd choice, I know, but it’s such a beautiful tune.
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Most cherished musical object:
My guitar.
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Go-to album on a rainy day:
Blood on the Tracks. Bobby D.
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Proudest moment:
Good question. I think it’s coming up. I am really excited to release my LP Two Horses on Oct. 25th. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
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Most vulnerable moment:
I had to do a workshop at the Ottawa Folk Festival with the Sadies in 2009 and they were going to back me up on a few tunes. I got stung by a bee on a crucial guitar playing finger 5 minutes before we went onstage. I thought I was going to pee my pants, but we got through it. Those guys rock.
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Are you most influenced by your surroundings or your inner monologue:
I’m equally influenced by both and the way they weave together.
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Favourite venue to play in and why:
Casa del Popolo, Montreal. It represents home for me in every way. I have so many incredible memories of shows I’ve both seen and played there, and I have a fuzzy feeling in my heart every time I walk in. It’s a little spot, but it’s got a wicked vibe and great sound.
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Dream venue to play in and why:
Massey Hall, Toronto. I actually played ther, in all-star band when I was in high school, but that doesn’t count. It’s got such history, and it’s such an unbelievable space for sound and vibe. Those steep balconies!!
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Top album released this year:
I’m a sucker for The Suburbs.
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First band t-shirt you ever purchased from a merch table:
Tune-Yards, the one and only time.
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Band you’d leave your bandmates for:
Television, to play drums.
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Album you wish your parents exposed you to in the womb:
Stand, by Sly and the Family Stone. Maybe I would have learned to walk sooner, not that I had a problem with it or anything.
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Album you want to expose your kin to whilst in the womb:
The Head on the Door, by the Cure.
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Last record you purchased:
The Black Keys’ Brothers. What a barrel of hits.
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If for some reason you lost the ability to make and play music, what would fill that gap:
Probably splatterpainting, or just ride my bike around the world.
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