JB- When it comes to getting the perfect harmony or even just that perfect sound, with instruments or whatever, is it a struggle or does it seem to come naturally?

NM-  We've been really lucky in that all of us grew up singing harmony, all of us have had a lot of experience in choirs and our own music and in bands and in harmony situations.  Ruth and I were both doing a lot of backup vocal work in Winnipeg before this happened.  So we're all very comfortable with harmony and we all have very distinctive ranges so we know how our voices work together and we can all basically predict where each other is going with things.  And because we've been singing together for a while you just sort of key into each other pretty easily, so in terms of arranging harmonies it comes fairly naturally.  You do have to work at arrangements but it's not like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole ever.  It feels pretty fluid and that's the really rare thing, you know.  I don't think that happens all the time.

JB-  It's a lucky thing, I guess.

NM-  It's very lucky.  It's very, very lucky.  And I actually didn't realize how lucky we were until we started auditioning for the new member.  Because we had some fabulous singers come in and some fabulous songwriters - that was a really great experience - I discovered a couple of songwriters I didn't know about who wowed us.  But the thing about it is they can be great singers but if their voice doesn't blend, it just doesn't blend.  You know, and (there's) nothing anybody can do about that.  Just in hearing that happen - that it didn't blend - I realized, "Wow, we got really lucky twice."  I mean, that's just… it's amazing to me sometimes when I think about it that way.

JB-  There's a lot of focusing on the harmonizing and the sound of the voices but how much does instrument selection play in the arranging?  There are a bunch of different instruments… for instance, who decides when Ruth plays the accordion?

NM-  It depends.  It usually depends on what's going on.  My main instrument is the guitar.  So for me, if I write the song it's going to be on guitar.  See Ruth has also picked up the banjo as well, so she… in the past it made more sense for her to play the accordion on my stuff.  And then when she writes, she usually writes on guitar, although she's starting to write on the banjo now.  It depends what the writer starts out with usually. That's what the core instrument is going to be.

JB- And there is a new album.  It's out today.

NM-  Yeah, it's out today.

JB-  Look at this, I get you on the day the album comes out!

NM-  (laughing) 666!  [referring to the date the interview was conducted, June 6, 2006 - 6/6/06]

JB-  Tell me about the new album.  It's called Firecracker.

NM-  Yup, it's called Firecracker.  The new album is a continuation, in many ways, of the sounds people heard on the first album because the focus is always going to be the three-part harmony.  Though the one voice has changed that has not changed the overall sound.  The blend is not the same blend but it's still a great blend.  Our voices work together so the initial reviews that I've seen of the album is that there's still that feeling that the blend is there.  So the songs - some sounds will be very familiar because there's still two of us that were, you know, in the original band.  It's gone in some good directions.  I've definitely… my stuff's gotten "poppier" and there's more country vibes and what Annabelle brings is quite different from what Cara brought so things do change up a bit.  We're all very proud of it.  We worked really, really hard on it.  We were on the road a lot of the time and having to do things sort of remotely via computer which was a bit of a challenge.  We're all pretty happy that it's finished and out.  (laughing)

JB-  How long did it take to put together?

NM-  We started recording it in October.  And we had to sort of do it in between tours and on tours.  So the (music) beds were done in October and there were sessions throughout November, December and January and then everything else added on by studio musicians and then when we were in Australia there were a couple of parts done remotely.  I think I did vocal in a hotel room at one point.

JB-  Do you find that easy to do?  The distraction.  Or do you have to have that comfort type feeling of where you're going to be writing or working on something?

NM-  Um, ideally, yeah.  Particularly with writing you want to… I prefer to be in my own space and have time and it's just sort of a psychological headspace that I would prefer to write in.  But then again there are a couple of songs on this new album that I wrote on the road.  So it's not like any of us can't write on the road.  But I think ideally you want to have peace and quiet.  But in terms of recording I think we probably would have preferred not to be recording on the road but things needed to get done.  And it makes for some interesting stories about the making of the album.  Annabelle did a violin part at an airport, which is not the place you normally associate with recording.  When you have to do it in this kind of way where you can't take months off to do it, it ends up kind of being done piece by piece in, perhaps, not so perfect of circumstances.

JB-  And sometimes those unique experiences may also trigger some sort of idea or influence.

NM-  Yeah.

JB-  Now on the website, thewailinjennys.com, there's a link called "Food". 

NM-  Yes.

JB-  Now here we are just after lunchtime and I'm going to get hungry all over again thinking about the things I was reading on there.

NM-  (laughing)

JB-  So for those who haven't been to the website, although I'm not sure why that would be.  Because there's no excuse now, right?

NM-  Right!  (laughing)

JB-  But what are the food pages about?  Tell me what inspired that.

NM- Well, we have always been obsessed with food.  I think that obviously predated the band.  We found that is a big preoccupation for all of us.  And the thing is all of us are not big fast food eaters.  There's some bands that are on the road and will stop at Subway every day and stuff and we just couldn't eat like that.  And plus, being on the road as much as we are you're one time when you get to just rest and not be working is when you're eating.  And it's also one of the comforts that you can find while you're out on the road in unfamiliar places all the time.  Plus, you're also getting to try all these new restaurants in different areas of the world, which is an amazing opportunity.  So we've just always loved, you know, trying new stuff and then - I can't remember how it started that we started posting our favourite restaurants.  It's become something that a lot of our fans know us for and they'll write us in advance and tell us where to go when we're in one particular area.  I'm the one that posts all the little run downs of the restaurants so that's enjoyable for me to do.

JB-  (laughing)

NM-  Yeah.  (laughing)  Just remembering what was really special about something.

JB-  Now I know from when I've written restaurant reviews you often get them contacting you and offering you freebies…

NM-  Oh!  Do they really?

JB-  Yeah.  You've never had that?

NM- We have never had that.  We've had one invitation and they did give us free dessert.

JB-  Big deal, it could have been your birthday!

NM-  (laughing)  I know.  We haven't had any major freebies yet.

JB-  Maybe you'll have to get the locals to tip them off that the band is coming.

NM-  If the overall experience was good we'll post it and that's the only time that I'll put something that is sort of like a criticism.

JB-  A lot of times it's the little family-run restaurants that have the best food.  Have you found that?

NM-  Oh yeah.  We very rarely will go to any sort of chain place if we can avoid it.  Sometimes you're kind of stuck with it but we usually try and find out (from) some people what the best restaurant in town is.  And if we can go to the small independent places, yes, they are often the best - for sure.

JB-  So there we go, we've got the TV cast and then the restaurant critics… if this music thing doesn't work out you've got something to fall back on!

NM-  (laughing) Yeah, exactly!