Well, it was pretty straightforward...it's my name. Most people that do what I do have alias titles, but for some reason that didn't set well with me in my case. I didn''t want to force some sort of image onto myself, because I'm just a girl who loves making music. I don't have to get into some alter-ego mode when I write songs, it's just sort of been a natural thing for me. A part of who I am.

At this point I don't have the necessary equipment to do any live shows. "Live" would mean pressing "play"...Ashlee Simpson can tell us how that doesn't exactly work out for people.

You always hear artists complaining about how music pirating and file sharing has really put a dent in the income they'd otherwise receive. But really, people will always find a way to get what they want. I find it great that music is so readily available to whoever wants to hear it, because half the time people will hear a list of random tracks or an out-of-order, mixed up album, and want to go out and buy the real thing. It's a different type of publicity, and I think the only way that artists could really tell how "effected" they'd be by it is to shut off the internet along with file-sharing software completely and see how their sales are impacted. But I don't know, I guess I've always been sort of a "here, enjoy" kind of musician. I wouldn't mind making a few bucks, of course, but I think i'd want compensation for going through the trouble of actually packaging a CD for sales rather than the music itself.

haha, Who wouldn't? It sounds cool initially, and to be honest, if the opportunity was ever presented to me (I'm dreaming here) I'd most likely make a mad dash for the dotted line. But if I had the clear-mindedness to actually sit and talk through things with the executives about important issues like creative control, I might be thinking otherwise. But I guess it all depends on what the label had to offer.

I've played electric guitar in a few hard rock bands since I was 15, but it later occurred to me that I became wary of depending on other people to make my musical vision a reality. After alot of flaky band members or overall band dismemberment, it was time to try going solo for a little bit, if only for a bit of experimentation.

And hey, it's been fun so far!

What you enjoy listening to and what influence you are two different things. I love listening to alot of stuff, but I don't necessarily know if it all shows in my music. Some, possibly, but not all.

Here's a concise list:

I love bands like Jaga Jazzist, mewithoutYou, Procupine Tree, The Notwist, 13&God, Thrice, Sigur Ros.

Some individual artists I listen to constantly are Imogen Heap, Pauline Croze, and Bjork.

New York, New York

Cakewalk software (Project5 ver. 2, Rapture, Dimension Pro)

Studiologic SL-990 XP midi controller

200 gig Compaq Pasario desktop w/ 1 gig RAM

I'm also online here:

www.myspace.com/LauraBurk
www.purevolume.com/LauraBurk
www.humblevoice.com/LauraBurk