INTERVIEWED BY BRIAN LUSH

The pop realm is full of princesses and we know all them by one name.(We don't have to name them, do we?) Pretty soon, the pop landscape will be referring to AUBREY COLLINS as  simply AUBREY but unlike all of the those other pop tarts, AUBREY ROCKS!!!

This isn't AUBREY first time in the proverbial rodeo. She first graced the airwaves and the charts in 2002 at the age of 14 with her debut CD BACK TO ME. The combination of that albums country sound and her stunning voice had critics making the inevitable comparison to LEANN RIMES. Well, AUBREY's all grown up now and things couldn't be more different.

On WORLD WITHOUT ME, AUBREY eschews country twang and lets it rip. It is a collection of rock gems that are both feminine and forceful. WORLD WITHOUT ME is to 2006 what PAT BENATAR's CRIMES OF PASSION was to 1980. A rocker is born and it's exciting for ROCKWIRED to see a great new artist take a step in the right direction. The world is begining to take note.

ROCKWIRED spoke to AUBREY COLLINS over the phone. This is how it went.

I have to preface all of this by saying that I was under the impression that WORLD WITHOUT ME was your debut CD. I just found out that it's not.
It's not. I did a CD prior to this one.

And you were quite young when you released that CD.
Yeah, I was 14 at the time. I recorded it around the ages of 13 and 14 and I released it two weeks before my 15th birthday.

I also understand that there is a big stylistic shift between your first CD and your last one.
It's a big gigantic step that I took. It's completely the opposite of everything I have ever done before. The first CD was country rock and from there I just hit a hard right because my writing wasn't going in the direction that the country route was going at the time. I felt more comfortable on stage doing more rock songs, so it came naturally to me.

How did it all begin for you? Music, I mean.
I guess I was four years old when I took my Dad's huge work boots and put them on started singing on top of a box with a microphone I got for my birthday. I guess I always wanted to entertain and  that's pretty much how it all started.

Where are you from originally?
Originally I'm for Littleton, Colorado and now I'm just kind of travelling all over the place.

What music influenced you growing up?
Mostly when I was younger, I listened to alot of country. FAITH HILL and MARTINA MCBRIDE were huge influences on me and then I'd always listen to PAT BENATAR and MELISSA ETHERIDGE as well. When the time came for that big shift in my music I started to listen to AC/DC, METALLICA and all of those kind of older bands and then I came out and started listening to people like MICHELLE BRANCH and newer stuff to see how my writing abilities could be more radio ready. I came up with my style of music and it's been a lot of fun getting there.

You're kind of young to know who PAT BENATAR is.
I know. I went to her concert in Denver and it was such a great inspiration for me to see that because she was out there and letting eveyone know that she's still around and able to deliver. That's where I wanna be when I'm her age.

You were saying earlier that the country boots didn't quite fit anymore and you went into more of a rock vein. Can you tell me a little more about that?
I was just writing alot and it just made me realize who I was and that I could express myself  a little bit better when I started writing and when I got that going, the music became a little more rock than a country album would allow. I did alot of showcases for SONY RECORDS; One was Country and the other was a Rock showcase and they asked me specifically  "...Would you rather be doing Country or would you rather be doing Rock?" and honestly, my heart was in Rock. In Rock I was a lot more comfortable on stage, I felt like more of an entertainer and I was allowed to sing my songs the way I felt they needed to be sung. It just allowed me to be a little bit more me. A little bit crazier but also, a little more cool.

And for the first CD you didn't write anything.
I did. I wrote half of the songs on the first CD.

I see. How did songwriting begin for you?
In the begining, I always told myself that I never wanted to do songwriting. I always wanted to do music but never the whole songwriting thing or play guitar because I thought it was cheesy. I just wanted to be the singer. At the age of twelve I got my first guitar. I picked it up for a little while and I absolutely hated it. My fingers hurt so bad and I couldn't deal with it. I couldn't bare the pain. I put it down for a couple of months and after that I felt weird without having it being strapped to me so I picked it up again and that was when I started getting a little more of a feel for it. The bloody fingers came into play and I just had to sort of tough it out. My Dad was always helping me out and bringing home lyrics that he would jot down in his truck from work. They were the cheesiest lyrics in the whole entire world. He gave me inspiration to start putting a little of my lyrics into song because I never thought that his lyrics were going to be the number one hit. He was big inspiration to me by telling me that I should write my own material and then I got to working with my producer and he took me to a whole different level of songwriting. I started writing with the big names like MEREDITH BROOKS. That was probably the scariest moment of my life when I walked in with MEREDITH BROOKS and she just looked at me and said "Look girl, this is it. This is what you've got to do." To this day I'll take every word that she gave me as a blessing and I appreciate everything that all of these songwriters have given me.

With the finished product in your hands, how does it feel. Is it everything that you wanted it to be?
And more. This was such an incredible experience for me. I was sitting in the studio day and night with the producer and just working and working and working. There were times were I could've just wrung his neck and there were time where I think he could've wrung mine but at the end of the day, it was always an awesome job.

Are there any tracks off of this CD that stand out for you as favorites?
The track that sticks out for me as favorite would have to be WORLD WITHOUT ME because I thought at the time, when I started writing, I thought it was the strongest song I have ever written. Then, there's the song FIGHTING which I wrote all by myself and I'm so honored to have a song that I wrote entirely by myself, on the record.  There are a couple of songs on the record that I wish I could've sung better but I'm so proud of the record, that there is nothing that I would do over again.

What is the response like to your live shows?
It's awesome. I get things like "the live show is better than the record!!!" and "in order to respect the record, you have to see the live show." It's different every time but everyone seems to go more towards the live show because I'm an entertainer and I just like to put on a good show for everybody and make them feel like they paid their money's worth.

I also heard that you did a show with HANGFACE?
Yeah I did.

I interviewed them as well
Yeah. The guys told me to tell you hello.

Tell them I said hello as well, even though we e-mail each other all of the time. They're with PAT BENATAR's management company.
What's funny is that's how I met DJ (DAGGI "DJ" HELLING, HANGFACE's Lead Guitarist) He and I have been dating for the past seven months now.

I had no idea!!! I never knew ROCKWIRED had that kind of power over people. Anyway, What do you want a listener to walk away with after hearing your music.
Inspiration and more love for the music. I want them to know that I'm out here and letting them know that this is what I do and If they like it, that's great and if they don't , I respect their decision and I just hope that one day we can take over the world and rock the world!!! That's our mission. That's our goal.

MADONNA said something similar to that when she got started so who knows?
Who knows?