Congo Norvell features the combined talents of two veterans of the alternative underground. 

Kid Congo Powers began his career as guitarist for The Creeping Ritual, which later metamorphosed into The Gun Club. From there he went on to play with The Cramps, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, and to contribute to the German instrumental band Die Haut. His singular style of playing is filled with ambient menace, sonic versatility, and powerful sadness.  Sally Norvell is an independent filmmaker, an actress, and an amazing vocalist. She previously sang with the Austin punk band The Norvells, and recorded an album (with members of Jesus Lizard and Glass Eye), of 1920s songs called Prohibition. Her deep, earthy tones seem to emanate from deep within, excavating the depths of her experience, then bursting forth with a clarity and power that envelops the listener in her world.

As Congo Norvell they have previously released an EP entitled Lullabies, and a full-length album called Songs to Remember Him By. Their latest release, The Dope, The Lies, The Vaseline, is a sultry, atmospheric mix of love, death, and heartbreak.
I met Sally and Kid at a show in Washington, DC and arranged an interview. From the beginning they were both very accessible, friendly, and forthcoming. As one might surmise from their music, they are very soulful people who are not afraid to lay themselves bare. There is a synergy between them that is evident not only on their albums, but on stage and in person as well. This seems to come from the genuine caring and respect they show each other. This was probably best illustrated by a simple phrase from Sally that closed the interview; “Yeah, we really love each other.”

The interview began with Sally and a really dumb question from me.

Okay, let’s talk about the album. I like it a lot. What’s your opinion?

I like it too, Wayne (laughter). Yeah, I like it. Very pleased with the production. We were able to do what we wanted to do creatively more closely than we’ve been able to do in the past, at least for budgetary concerns, partly because we’ve been developing this thing for a long time and I think it’s kinda taken an interesting turn. It was a lot of fun to make it. A lot of strife, too, but... The kind of strife you laugh at later.

I’m curious about the nature of your collaboration, in terms of who does what... words or music first, that type of thing.

It’s kinda different every time. I tend to write a lot, so does Kid. We both sort of scribble a lot, keep journals, and sometimes a song will spill out... Like in the case of "Wailing Woman," it happens about once a year to me, I get a song that just tumbles out, it’s effortless to do it. But for the most part it’s a lot of writing words, and music comes up separately most of the time. I’ll hear something, if I hear a melody in it that strikes a certain emotion or certain direction I can kinda get the idea, “Oh, that’s what that song is,” then go back through my notes and pull out the appropriate stuff.

I’m sure it’s difficult to sort out exactly who does what.

When you’re writing songs, or anything that goes to publishing you have to think about where it comes from, at least in terms of making sure everyone is credited properly, and all of that. When you’re working in a band situation, or with more than one person it gets into very strange territory because you’re talking about bouncing ideas off of each other. You can’t claim, you know, “That note was mine.” You have to respect the situation and figure out who did what. I mean I really write songs all by myself. "Wailing Woman" was just, I don’t know, it was a visitation.

One of those rare gifts.

It was a rare one. I usually need someone to bounce off of a little bit.

I know a lot about Kid’s background, but I don’t know much about yours. As well as being a singer you’re an independent filmmaker.

Well, I’ve been singing since I was born. My mom is an artist, was into all the arts, and very encouraging my sisters and I to pursue whatever we wanted. She was a little bit of a folk singer herself, not professional, but we used to do it for fun when I was growing up. The first time I climbed on stage I was about four, and I was singing “Blowing in the Wind.” At a nursery school. At a Unitarian Church. So I always sang and loved to sing, and used any excuse to sing whether anybody wanted to hear me or not. I’ve never really had particularly formal training. A lot of people think I do because I have a bit of classical damage, but it’s mostly from singing in choral music and chorus and stuff. I’ve learned classical, but it’s all... and I know how to read music and stuff, and can play certain things, whatever... but I never sat down with a coach or anything. I have a background in theatrics and acting. I learned a lot about breathing and voice control that way. I guess in tandem with the choral singing it kind of gave me a certain ability or technique. And then mostly just singing along with records. Certain singers I would admire, I’d try to ape them a little bit, see if I could make the same tonality. Sometimes I would sing along with horn players that I liked, you know, try and get a clarinet sound. I always liked the woodwinds a lot.

Who are the singers you admire?

Lots of them... I liked a lot of jazz singers... Sarah Vaughn...

The influence shows.

Sarah Vaughn was a big favorite. Ella, of course. Billy Holiday... The usual kind of soul divas. Then I discovered some Latin singers. My favorite Latin singer is Mercedes Sosa. Live from Argentina is one of my favorite records. I don’t understand a word she says, but it just makes you fall apart in tears. Her voice is just insanely good. I love just really ridiculous emotional Latin singers. Opera singers. I love Maria Callas. And, um... who else? Liza. Judy. Barbara. (Laughter).

I would guess my greatest influence is Kid Congo Powers. He really pushes me in creative ways that I don’t know I would have been brave enough to go, and I’m really in awe of him most of the time.

How did the two of you meet and the collaboration start?

He had just recently moved back to the States from Europe. I was in the film business and hadn’t been doing a lot of singing. I had taken a break from bands for a couple of years and was doing mostly film work and commercials and videos and stuff. I was getting really crazy because it was really gobbling up my time and I wasn’t connecting with my inner life very much. It made me really crazy, and I started losing people, right when I started really... when AIDS first started hitting home to me. It wasn’t just AIDS, but a lot of mortality issues started happening and I started really feeling like I was wasting my time. I wasn’t making enough time to live life. It was upsetting me. Then I lost one of my best friends, this girl, Sarah Lee, and Sarah’s husband, Hank, had just recently met Kid, and Kid was similarly frustrated. 

Continued on Page 2>

© 2003 Wayne Wise