by
Our Lady of Miracles.
I am quite simply blown away.
So, with heartstrings still ringing like crazy on my way out, I spot them beside the bar and have to ambush for a few questions. They are game, but I'm talking elvish by now, so instead email addresses are exchanged, and then this arrives in my inbox one day:
Ok, you've been playing as a group for 1.5 years. How did you get together?
We have trailed each other and had light connection for as long as I can remember. We are each others favourite musicians and writers.
What's the most important thing about being a musician
to you, what draws you into it?
There's no choice. Just a magnetism/addiction. Wilt without the exorcism.
If you weren't in this band, what would you all be doing?
Mela - taking steroids and training to be a fire fighter
Jon - applying for immunity from work and trying to achieve the world record in listening to music, smoking drugs and watching TV
Blaise - spearheading a campaign in controversialimpolite politics, and fixing things that get broken to understand why.
How much of yourself do you give away when you perform, is it like baring your soul, or do the songs become their own entities?
Each performance is rather like a strip. It's never the same, we never know what to expect. Strange things have happened to us in this situation. Every song has its own life and comes out of the deeper source...-it's very hard to explain in a tangible way.
Do you feel pidgeon-holed into a "girl-rock" section, or do you think people don't perceive your any differently?
I'm not sure people notice im a girl! After all I'm playing a guitar. They probably think I'm a boy... Maybe they think Jon and Blaise are girls!
I think people expect you to be more vulnerable on stage than boys. But we all have the same demons and fears, and I expel these things from my mind and body with the same force that's tapped into by all people who feel the need to perform. It's not an issue for me. We are all made of the same stuff and human experience is entirely universal.
What inspires you?
Lots of things depending on my state of mind. Right now:
- Open spaces and landscapes where you know it looked, smelt and sounded the same hundreds of years ago.
- Drinking great red wine.
- Moments where you get the gift and songs appear out of nowhere.
- The smell of garlic and spices cooking.
- Holding my passport about to go away on a journey.
- Going on tour.
- The sound of the sea.
- Seeing your ideas become a reality.
- Flowers in my house and people laughing there, too.
- And Melted cheese & Marmite soup. (!!)
What's the dynamics inside the band?
Our only rule is that there are no specific rules in this band. As a force of habit no one would try to change the way any of us naturally play, stamp on the other's territory. I think we are all sensitive in our own ways to each others drive and sonic leanings. We shake the box up and see what comes out. We all write and play the noises we make individually. We know we need to....
