Finding Her Voice

Indie rocker Kristin Hersh, 42, is coming home with Throwing Muses to perform at the Middle East on March 14. But the former teen mom, who's bipolar, is writing more than songs these days.

You're writing a memoir about your time in Boston and Providence -- starting a rock band, becoming a teen mother, and being diagnosed bipolar. What's it like revisiting those days? Well, I didn't do it on purpose (laughs). I was approached to write my memoirs, and the only book I had ever written was a diary, which I had lost in a flood a couple of years ago. So I sat down and re-created it.

You recently sold the book to Penguin -- the working title is Rat Girl -- but you've already read excerpts at festivals around the world. What is it like to be so autobiographically naked? What's interesting is people get it, and I'm not used to that. I am used to rhythm and melody and impact flying around the room and creating a different impression listener to listener.

With your Internet venture CASH Music (Coalition of Artists and Stakeholders), fans can "subscribe" to your music for a quarterly fee -- why distribute this way? I really wanted to give the music away, but I know it means the music will stop. The model I am using is one of community-supported agriculture or public radio. Downloading the music is still free, but people can buy subscriptions to support my recording fees.

What do subscribers get out of it? Quite a lot. For $30 a quarter, they get advance copies of all of my CDs, exclusive live downloads, and guest privileges for any one of my shows. They also get what we are calling "the bat phone" -- which is really our office number, and they can call any time they want. For a one-time contribution of $500, they get to visit me in the studio while I am recording. For $1,000, they get listed on the album credits, and for $5,000, they get an executive producer credit.

Are you making any money on this? All of my recording fees are covered. I am not asking for rock star money; being a musician to me is more like a plumber. It's honest work, and I don't want more than honest pay.

How has that changed how you make music? These listeners are paying my lab fees, they are paying for me to experiment. I don't have to dumb down the music and make it popular because of money worries or hoping a tour will happen.

Your recent songs are some of the best of your career. This summer, you're releasing another solo album, and next year Throwing Muses is coming out with another. I find the songs are getting more beautiful, more gutsy. [The music industry] asks you to slap makeup upside your head no matter how it looks. I just want to whack the lipstick off.

You seem to be at one of the most creative points in your career. I'm allowed to do something I care about. I don't have to spend time posing for endless fashion shoots, traveling around the world having my eyebrows tweezed. I have the energy and the time to work. Of course, I'm eating out of a garbage can, but hey.