Cracklin' Rose

It might not be a life-enhancing move to argue with Eileen Rose. This feisty singer-songwriter, bred in the downmarket part of North Boston, the youngest of six sisters and three brothers, is a descendant of the legendary heavyweight boxing champion John L Sullivan and shares Irish and Sicilian parents. All the more surprising then that she suffered repeated rejections from countless record companies until finally fetching up on Rough Trade with her almost exclusively autobiographical debut album of hard-edged depictions of blue-collar America, Shine Like It Does.

*Of course all that rejection hurt*, she confesses to hotpress as she prepares for an Irish visit in April, *but it seemed that the companies couldn't figure out how to deal with somebody who didn't easily fit into a neat niche. I wasn't mainstream, I wasn't country, I wasn't whatever they wanted. Record companies tend by nature to take the easy option and I guess I didn't present them with an easy option. But I was encouraged by the fact that none of them said I wrote dumb songs or couldn't sing. So I kept going.*
Now based in London, Eileen Rose Giadone grew up surrounded by music, especially from her Irish mother. *She was close to the Maguire Sisters so we heard a lot of Irish songs. In fact, a lot of those Irish songs don't seem to have made it back to Ireland because most Irish people haven't heard of them! But I also remember hearing Jerry Lee Lewis' 'Keep On Dancing' and 'This Diamond Ring' in our house when I was little. Later I got into The Monkees, but the first record I can remember buying was the Kiss album Destroyer !*.
She laughs now at the very notion, but that eclecticism, from ersatz Irish folk tunes, to rock and roll, pop and then mascared heavy-metal, is reflected in her album which features three members of Alabama 3. It has justifiably drawn favourable comparisons with a wide range of class acts, from Tom Waits to Kate Bush, Neil Young, Alanis Morrisette, Neil Young and Springsteen.
*Well, I like all those acts you mentioned, but I suppose my top favourites would also include Jane Siberry, Hendrix, jazz trumpeter Chet Baker and I even like Aerosmith. I also listen to a lot of old country, but not new country. It's too insipid for my liking.*
And then there's Neil Diamond. On the song 'Lincoln Park' she sings *How can you cry when RKO is playing Sweet Caroline*. *I really like Neil Diamond too. To hear him on the radio on RKO was great back then!*, she admits quite unapologetically.
Despite her liking for unit-shifting artists she herself is contentedly resigned to perhaps never landing a major record deal. *That whole thing is too calculated for me. I've no time for the mindless commercialism of singers like Mariah Carey. Sure she's technically a great vocalist, but there's no life in her voice. I admire the fact that she's now probably more in control of her career than before, and she's writing her own stuff, but that route's not for me*, Eileen says.
In fact, of the newer pop acts she singles out Destiny's Child. *They have a lot passion, yet it's commercial. They have real soul, not fake soul just to sell records.*
As to her own current career, she's lined up a new EP Party Dress for imminent release. I asked her what had she learned from doing the album. *I suppose that I should stop if I'm not enjoying this or that part of the process. People talk about that so-called difficult second album, but I don't see it that way. I've written new songs and I feel I'm getting better as a writer.*
But where does she stand on the great Eminem controversy?
*I like Eminem. I love people who stir it up, who challenge accepted attitudes. He has a fantastic sense of rhythm and a great turn of phrase. Sure, he says things I may not like, but that's my problem. I'd never want him to be censored. My only concern is that he can't be an angry young man forever, so what does the future hold for him long-term?*
Perhaps more to the point, what does the future hold for Eileen Rose?
*I'm coming to Ireland in April, I've got the Party Dress EP to promote and I'm looking forward to Dublin. Last time I was there I got a serious hangover!*.
As for her father's heartfelt wish expressed in her song 'Rose' when he told her, *Rose, never learn to sing the blues*, she did and she can, not to mention rock, and folk, and country and pop. And. like that famous ancestor, she packs one hell of a punch.

Eileen Rose's debut LP Shine Like It Does is out now Rough Trade. Party Dress EP (also Rough Trade) is due for release on March 19th.