Tigs
Where are you from?
Well hello. I grew up in a quiet village called woodchester, which is in Gloucestershire.
It was beautiful and tranquil and i couldn’t wait to get out of there.
When I left it was to Bristol. a strange and crazy time ensued, my memory of which is mainly negative.
London beckoned, and it became my home in 2004.
How did you get involved in making music?
I’ve written poetry for as long as i can remember, and been singing for just as long. Add to that a passion for music and it was only a matter of time i suppose until I started to write songs.
I was inspired by the New York art rock scene of the 70s and by how it seemed to be fusing poetry with music. Obviously someone like Patti Smith stands out as an example.
i had been in bands from about 17, but now i wanted to take control and when i met a guy called dimitri through friends, he became my partner in crime and helped me record and refine the music i wanted to make.
When I couldn’t play an instrument, i would describe what I wanted and he’d fill in.
so my recording career started in earnest when i met him in 2003.
Where do you get your ideas for the lyrics to your songs and do you aim
to get a particular message across?
that’s an interesting question…if a little hard to answer. i mean, you’re a writer – I bet you get inspired by a million different things, no?
Just life experiences (cliché I know) stuff that you see, books that you read and definitely music you hear.
Overall though, it’s definitely the peaks and traumas of what happens to you and the people you care about.
Do you enjoy playing live much? It sounds like it would be fun to perform.
yes! I love it love it love it! maybe its because I haven’t reached the right level yet but the live thing is so unpredictable, you never know what’s going to happen. i mean it could fuck up or it could be pure magic, and the not knowing keeps it exciting. I’m not sure its ever going to get boring.
That said, ask me again when I am tucking my tits into my jeans.
You have been compared to Karen O a lot. Do these comparisons bother you
or do you find them alright?
hmm i never know how to answer that. when I first saw your questions I actually said to my manager “he’s put Karen O question in, the fucker”.
apologies for that.
What can I say. I love and respect the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and so I am never going to be insulted by the comparison. but i feel the album i have made stands in its own right and not just that – I differ in voice to her and the album is a totally different sound. You couldn’t confuse the two.
Obvious comparisons always surface, the nearest thing will do. Having dark hair adds to the Karen o thing, but if I was blond it would be Leila moss or Blondie.
The best gig you’ve played so far?
oh so many criteria….best gig for me? best for whole band? best rider?
….i guess for me it would be a show we did at the infamous Dublin castle. the band who played with me at the time would disagree, I don’t think they had a good time. but personally i was on form and people got in to it. Steve Lamacq liked it!
Or maybe Cambridge soul tree, when we were on tour last year. that was fun.
But then there was death disco at Notting Hill arts club, the penultimate date of the tour and i was so shitted that i fell backward into the drum kit and ripped up my side. the scar is my eternal memory of that.
Who are you listening to right now?
Well, let me see now…apples in stereo are an ongoing favourite, as are at the drive-in, bodega, yyys!! yo la tengo (impossibly good) and Wolf Parade.
I will never give up my love for Weezer as they are just too deserving of it. Eagles of Death Metal rock my very soul.
I am mainly for the oldies as you can see – Pavement, The Olivia Tremor Control, Meat Puppets, Grandaddy (rip), French Kicks, DINOSAUR JR, Dead Meadow, Sonic Youth, The Breeders.
But I like The Cribs, though not the whole album, and Interpol, Iron and Wine, Joy Zipper, Love as Laughter, and My Morning Jacket.
‘strange animals’ are going to take over the world but you wont hear about them for a while yet.
But my newest discovery and the one thing I cannot stop playing is the slow wonder by A.C fucking NEWMAN. Unbelievable. that is the ONLY word
for it.
What are some of the artists that have inspired you?
I don’t really know where the line is between liking/loving and being inspired by. i think very few of the bands i love have inspired me significantly but i guess ive been just a little led by all of them. how can you not be?
I WAS inspired though, by tom petty. and The Ramones. and a little of
both Patti Smith and Debby Harry. Obviously I want to be the female
bowie.
What would be your greatest fear?
losing the will to do what i love, but not making much from it….in
favour of having more and being miserable. selling out in other words,
but I wont ever do that.
Or losing my face in a freak sanding accident. then my friends wouldn’t
recognize me and I couldn’t wear lipstick.
