Mark Watkins is a DJ for Blast 1386 Radio of Reading College in England. Mark was one of the first people to play my songs on the radio, so it was really fun to do this interview with his Consumer Guide Tumblr.
MW: Debra, you’re a very talented woman who writes and plays lead guitar! How did it all start?
DD: Thanks Mark! I started writing little poems and stories when I was 7. I still have a poem I wrote from the perspective of a pencil describing what it felt like to be slowly ground down and used up. Cheery stuff!
I wanted to start playing electric guitar when I was 15 but my mom nixed that idea as “unladylike”! After seeing Bonnie Raitt rock her Strat in my senior year in college I couldn’t suppress the urge anymore. The next day I bought a Fender Jaguar at a pawn shop for $125. I’m so glad there’s less stigma these days for girls to play electric guitar!
I moved to NYC to study journalism–and joined a punk band. I taught myself how to solo by looping chord progressions on a little Casio keyboard and playing over them, trying to hit notes that sounded good. Whenever I met a new guitar player I would ask him or her to show me something, and that’s how I learned some cool exercises and scales.....READ INTERVIEW