Recently we had the honor of interviewing Donna Lynch, author and founder member of the Ego Likeness. Check out this exclusive interview what she thinks about music, goth scene, and literature.
GROUNDCAST Thank you, Ms. Lynch. Thank you for too much honor in giving us an interview. To begin, how about telling how you get in the music.
DONNA LYNCH I’ve been a pianist since I was seven and I’ve always sang. My mother and father are both very musical, as well. I went to school for classical piano and voice, but didn’t do much outside of that until I met my husband (and Ego Likeness co-founder) Steven Archer. He encouraged me and pushed for us to write and perform our own music.
GROUNDCAST What are your influences for composing music?
DONNA Everything! I am influenced by goth, industrial, EBM, coldwave, no wave, punk, classical, rock, old country, pop, dance, bluegrass, hip hop…absolutely everything. We are influenced by everything from Skinny Puppy to Peter Gabriel, The Swans to Kate Bush to Foetus. Prince, Lady Gaga, Big Black, Killing Joke, Die Antwoord, Tori Amos, VNV Nation, Siouxsie, Apop, Heart, Danielle Dax, IAMX, Bauhaus, Nick Cave…I could go on for hours!
GROUNDCAST I once read that the band name came from a book, “Dune” by James Herbert. What kind of literature do you enjoy reading?
DONNA I enjoy classic literature, poetry, and contemporary fiction, mostly. Dorothy Parker, Nabokov, Charles Bukowski, Emile Zola, Chuck Palahniuk, Jeffery Eugenides, Stephen King, Lovecraft, Poe, Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, JG Ballard. Again, it would take a long time for me to complete that list.
GROUNDCAST You have other project, the Trinity Project. Could you tell us a bit about working with it and with the Ego Likeness?
DONNA Trinity was a good outlet for the material we wrote that was too abstract for EL, but, for the time being, had to be set aside. Between EL, writing and art projects, and Steven’s electronica side projects (Hopeful Machines and Stoneburner), there isn’t enough time to focus on everything. Ego Likeness is our main priority. It’s a bit like a child- very trying at times, but extremely rewarding. It encompasses most of our time and energy.
GROUNDCAST The influence of Romanticism in your lyrics is visible, by the tone highly subjective, with the use of various pronouns that indicate the first person. Do you usually create the letters inspired by personal experiences?
DONNA I have written about some very personal experiences, with very little metaphor, but have also written from the point of view of various characters. Although, my own experiences seep into that, too, even when I haven’t intended it. Many of the songs on Water to the Dead, for example, were written from the viewpoint of Isabel, the protagonist of my novel Isabel Burning; and our album Breedless was sung from the point of view of the demon Lilith. The next full length is being narrated by a woman who is full of ghosts and monsters- which is much closer to the truth than I’d like to admit!
GROUNDCAST How do you rate the sound of Ego Likeness?
DONNA We try to not sound exactly like any one other band. If you have enough varied influences, it’s not so hard to do. What would be the point in trying to be the next Siouxsie & the Banshees or the next FLA or something? I’d rather let the audience decide what they hear.
GROUNDCAST Your band (Ego Likeness) has goths as main audience, forming part of this scene. Do you consider the work of the Ego Likeness as gothic?
DONNA We’ve always played to the goth/ industrial crowd, and seem to get the best response from that scene, so we will continue to do so. But I think we have enough other elements in the music that people unfamiliar with the g/i scene can appreciate it, as well.
GROUNDCAST I also saw you they will make a show with the group Lestat and other artists from the label for you. Could you comment on what you expect from this show (or as it was, if answer this question after it)
DONNA That show was fantastic! Lestat are a great goth band and we played with a really good darkwave band local to Cleveland, Ohio called Shadow Saints. The whole night was a success.
GROUNDCAST You are also a writer. How and when did you decide to write? About what topics are your books?
DONNA I’ve been writing since I was a teenager, and have always loved to read. My books tend to be dark and psychological, more about the ghosts in your own head, rather than the ones around you.
GROUNDCAST As far as being a writer influences your projects?
DONNA All of our projects influence the others. It seems wrong not to let them blend together where they need to.
GROUNDCAST Was there any watershed moment in your career with Ego Likeness?
DONNA Playing with our musical idols: Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), The Damned, New Model Army, Chris Connelly (RevCo); and getting to travel so many places. Next to writing and performing, traveling is my favorite thing to do.
GROUNDCAST A question that is always very controversial is related to mp3 and its illegal distribution. How do you evaluate this situation?
DONNA I think it’s foolish to think that people aren’t going to steal from you the moment you put your work into the world. I wish it didn’t happen, but I don’t lose sleep over it. The “companies” that steal from us will never care how it affects us, and the individual people who do it probably think it doesn’t really affect us…even though it does. This is how we make a living, but if you’ve never created something then had people steal it from you, then you wouldn’t really understand how it feels, I suppose. I think it seems like it’s “not a big deal” to most people. But that’s not going to stop us from creating things.
GROUNDCAST How do you evaluate the goth scene nowadays?
DONNA Fading. The older people in the scene are having children and careers and don’t have time to come to shows and clubs like they once did, and the younger people seem to mostly live on the internet. I think it’s too easy to go to a club on Second Life or watch a live show on youtube. It seems like people aren’t motivated to live in the real world anymore.
GROUNDCAST Do you have any favorite movie? What?
DONNA Hmm…it’s hard to decide. A few top favorites are Silence of the Lambs, Bladerunner, The Lost Boys, The Fall, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ghostbusters, and Dead Ringers.
GROUNDCAST Do you know any Brazilian band?
DONNA Not too many, though I saw Sepultura with Ministry and Helmet back in 1991 or 92, and they were amazing. Any suggestions? ; )
GROUNDCAST I want to thank you very much for the interview and this is your space to leave a message for the readers of Groundcast. Take your time.
DONNA Thank you so much for the opportunity! I hope you will keep up with us through our website www.egolikeness.com. This will be a busy year: the Ego Likeness EP (EAST), a new single, and a new full length will all be out, as well as several book releases. We hope to make it to South America in the future!