By Justyna Zurek-- Staff writer, Midwest
Justyna: Introduce yourself, and tell us a little about you.
Diane: Hey I’m Diane Birch, I’m a singer, songwriter, piano player. Recently released my album called “Bible Belt” which is a collection of songs about my life, travels, daughter of a preacher man, finding my way into the modern world.
J: How would you describe your sound on your album?
DB: It’s really hard for me to describe my sound, I think, I guess it’s pop soul. People compare it to a lot of artists of the 70s/ singer songwriters. It’s just a lot of different influences, I guess it’s pretty much just pop music.
J: What inspired you to begin your music career?
DB: I always knew I had sort of a bigger purpose, I didn’t know exactly what it was, I just kept kind of following, following the flame and, following the signs, and taking risks, and opportunities that were in front of me. It just kind of evolved over time.
J: Do you have any musical influences?
DB: I have loads of musical inspirations, everything from classical music, opera, church hymns, to rock and roll, club music, I listen to all kinds of stuff, I mean, everything from the Cure, Joy Division, to Lil’ Wayne, Snoop Dogg, disco, I’m like, really into all types of music.
J: What makes you stand out from other artists?
DB: That’s probably a question that other people can tell you, I don’t really know, I don’t have much perspective when it comes to views of other artists, I just do my thing, I don’t really follow trends or I don’t really care what other people are doing, I just try to be true to myself, so if that makes me unique, then I think I might not be alone in that one.
J: Have you always wanted to write music?
DB: I always wanted to do music, I never necessarily wanted to write music. I started playing piano at an early age, so I sort of wanted to do more of that, then as time went I started realizing that I can sing, and I started pursuing that.
J: Have you wanted to do something other than music?
DB: I always wanted to be a perfumer. I love perfume a lot, I wouldn’t mind taking a crack at design, fashion I always wanted to do fashion design, maybe open up a shop around, something creative definitely.
J: So you toured with Nick Jonas, has that helped you at all?
DB: Touring with Nick was really awesome, I sort have been introduced to a lot of fans, that I didn’t have initially, he was really great, super sweet, really talented, I kind of thought of it, as a little window to that world, which was really new for me, and it’ was probably one of the funnest tours for me.
J: How does it feel to headline your own tour?
DB: It feels amazing to have my own tour, it’s kind of at first a little bit of pressure, you’re like “oh my gosh, it’s all on my now” it’s really fun, I’m so excited to play my music every night, seeing the people in the front singing along, that’s kind of the experience I’ve never had before. So it’s really exciting.
J: Do you have any crazy fan encounters?
DB: On the Nick Jonas tour, it was really funny, I met all kinds of people, I had girls screaming in my face, saying stuff like “I LOVE YOU” and people wanting me to sign their shoes, or computer, or forehead, or some body part. that was kind of interesting for me, cause more people want me to sign just my CD. Signing various objects and body parts, always different.
J: How did it feel, when your song appeared in the Valentine’s Day soundtrack?
DB: It was really cool, I was very excited to be a part of the movie, they were such a great cast, really great artists on the soundtrack, so I was just really excited to be included in that.
J: I know you’ve traveled a lot in the past, do you still want to travel?
DB: I love traveling and I travel all the time, fortunately with music, it’s really really exciting for me because, I’m a huge fan of traveling, I grew up all over the world, so I kind of had to travel at an early age. It’s amazing, I want to keep traveling and playing music, I never felt happier.
J: Would you like to say anything to your fans, or new fans?
DB: Yeah, I just want to say THANK YOU, so much to everybody, that has supported me, and discovering me, yeah, it means a lot, I have a lot of twitter fans, that I’d love to hang out with, so it means a lot to have you guys supporting me. THANK YOU!
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