INTERVIEW WITH GEFFEN RECORDING ARTIST ORIANTHI

By Ted Ollikkala 14 January 2008

Orianthi (answering the phone): Oh hi, hi – it`s Orianthi, how are you? Yes, yes, u-hum, things are pretty hectic around here – I`m making a record and everything – so… ah, you know it`s great but y`know I have a bit of time today to do it.

Ted: I want to call this interview: `Catch a Rising Star`

OK, cool!

Sometimes they say "Catch a shooting star and put it in your pocket"; but that`s no good because then no one can see the star! So, I want to catch a rising star and show everybody. What do you think about that?

Ha, ha – OK that`s cool. That`s really cool, definitely.

I`m very happy with the way you`re updating everybody on the MySpace website; you`re blogging and letting us know what`s going on.

Yeah…

You recorded a new song with Steve Vai last week?

I did! Yes, it was a lot of fun – I mean, he`s a genius, a musical genius. But for me, to be working with someone like that… I mean, I`ve known him since I was 15. …. My first gig actually was, I think with Steve Vai back in Adelaide and um, y`know he`s been so supportive of me and really encouraging to me … he`s been sending me emails, and I`ve been sending him songs , and he would check out the songs, and then he`d email me back and everything … so it was really awesome to have his support and just finally, you know, I went on tour with him, so like, I think three months ago - it was awesome, I did a six night tour with him

You performed with him at the Fillmore?

I did.

Yes, I read a review about that. They gave you equal billing in the review

Ha, ha, ha! – that was a lot of fun. It was a pretty, I mean, y`know, he`s a very hard act to follow… but he`s a bloody hard act to open up for!

Do you feel comfortable playing in the large places? Are you comfortable performing in front of very large audiences?

Large audiences? Yes, yeah definitely. I mean, I think that when it`s more intimate it`s actually… I… I get a little more, nervous – you know what I mean. A story: it`s strange - I`ve gone to this place with four people with an acoustic guitar and that`s really more nervous than getting out there with a band and playing and rocking out… If… I think it`s because it`s just light there, and you can see them, and y`know and their reaction. When you`ve got all the people in front of you and the vibe is great and the lights are on and the band starts off it`s… it`s a little bit more of a keen thing and that`s really cool, I mean – y`know I love that…

So, yes – you get a lot of energy from the crowd…

I do. Yeah – and it`s great. I think it`s, you know, it works both ways, when you get out there, it`s like… we put on the energy… we put out the energy as well and you get it from the crowd

But every night with Steve was great, I mean – I had such a great time