A Conversation With Doris Cellar

A native of Astoria, Queens, the singer/songwriter Doris Cellar has had a career as diverse as the borough she calls home. A talented multi-instrumentalist, Cellar is just as skilled in playing odd instruments such as the harmonium and glockenspiel as she is playing the more traditional rock instruments the keyboards and guitar. Cellar, has likewise maneuvered in between musical genres just as effortlessly.

The name Doris Cellar became first known to music fans when she co-founded the indie rock band Freelance Whales who made a big splash with their debut album, “Weathervanes”. Tracks from the album would appear on various popular TV shows and commercials. On the band’s sophomore album, “Diluvia”, Cellar stood out singing the lead vocals in the single, “Spitting Image.” As a solo artist Cellar’s first album was Up On the Roof, a collection of love songs performed on the ukulele. Shifting gears, Cellar’s next project was an album of electronic music titled, Windows. Her last album Double Vision saw Cellar melding pop and rock sensibilities. Over the past year, Cellar has released new singles and music videos including “To Be Loved by You,” “Honey Bee,” and “Inside Your Groove.”

Doris Cellar often shies away from interviews, but she agreed to speak to me and proved to be open. It became obvious through this interview that a recurring theme in the career of Doris Cellar is that like her music, she only genuinely wants to be heard.

You have returned to live performance lately. How did it feel to be back in front of a crowd? 

Felt great! I loved it.

You're known to have played a variety of musical genres throughout your career. Have you ever felt pressure to conform to a certain sound or type of music? 

Nope. I just chose not to.

What influences contributed to your most recent songwriting? 

My impatience for digital glitches brought me to want to compose my latest music more organically. Just me and the guitar.

You have shown concern over copyrights and whether artists receive proper credit for their work. Can you explain why this issue affects you so much? 

People should receive credit for their work and should really get their music copyrighted and published before someone steals it. It happened to me not too long ago. I started a female-fronted rock band and when the bass player Alana B posted the songs under her own name and not the band’s name, it traumatized me. If only I knew better, I could have copyrighted them before that happened. So, when I posted them up, they came down automatically. They're on her page though and I don't have access to any of the social media because the passwords were changed, and I was locked out. I and the drummer had worked so hard for a whole year before this person joined to create that sound so I’m sad that I can't post the songs. These songs should have gone up.

Before going solo, you had experienced success with the band Freelance Whales. It was a shock to many fans when the band announced you had left the group you co-founded. Can you clear the air on what led to your departure? 

They let me go. I ended up losing everything. I felt like a failure. Freelance Whales have hidden songs as well that no one will hear. Sucks. I just want to spread the word to other songwriters copyright your music and if others are playing with you have them sign an agreement that you own the recordings or don’t let them play with you. Find someone else who respects you as a songwriter. I didn't just one day say, “Hey I'm going to be a songwriter.” This type of work is blood sweat and tears and a whole lot of raw talent. It takes a special kind of person, to be constantly creating and writing. So many things can get in the way, if you aren't focused you can easily get writer’s block and dwindle your skills if you stop playing altogether.

Since reinventing yourself as a solo artist, you have worked almost non-stop writing and recording songs, filming music videos, and performing live shows. What motivates you to be so prolific?

 Oh, my gosh. Thank you. It's not motivation. Motivation would be a paycheck in this industry. It's just in me since I was six. Songs come to me psychically.

You have such a wonderful stage presence. How do you connect with an audience? 

Oh, thank you. To be honest I used to be super shy and unable to keep my eyes open or speak. I was bullied and forced to stay quiet in my early years, but I think now that I know who I am more I am able to be authentic and not pretend. I find humor in most things, and I try to show that side of me instead of oppressing it.

You not only directed your latest video, “To Be Loved by You," you even did the animation yourself. Do you have any interesting stories about making that video? 

The picture is from a caricature drawing of me, and it was in my closet, so I took it out and began drawing mouths and eyes over it. Wanted to revisit stop motion because my last stop motion video was on my phone which was pickpocketed from me on my way home from my last solo European tour with Jonah Matranga. I lost the amazing footage, and it took me a while to get over the loss, this is how I did it! The video took 12 hours of picture taking and a month of editing to get it right.

What's next for Doris Cellar?

Hopefully, this band that’s backing me up that I started last year and just now completed with the drummer, will get to the studio ASAP. These songs are so good. They need to be heard.

Make sure to check out Doris Cellar’s social listed below!

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