Q&A: English Folkie Emmy the great
Friday February 13 2009
On Elton john, china and bearing her soul
Before we start, I wanted to take the opportunity to applaud your courage. Not many indie darlings would dedicate an entire show to Elton John.
Elton John! Where did you read that?
Er...Wikipedia.
I KNEW it. There's a rumour I gave a shout out to him on stage. I quite like him, actually. But nobody in the band can remember me saying anything about him during a show. Someone put it on Wikipedia -- it's a total lie.
Right... well, moving along then -- Emmy "The Great". You're not lacking in confidence are you?
I hadn't meant for it to become my stage name. I had done a few demos and was looking for a band. I just called myself Emmy The Great thinking it would be a temporary measure.
In the UK, they're already calling you Emmy The Quite Good...
I know. But it's too late now.
Also, you're apparently in danger of going out of fashion. Didn't I read somewhere that heartfelt folk pop is like, SO, last year?
Really, where did you see that? Anyway, when our album was put back from last September, we knew that there was a general vogue we were missing out on. But even if folk was "last year" or three years ago, we'd still be making music, we'd still be using the arrangements we're using. So to separate yourself from all of the fads is quite a good thing in a way.
Some of your songs are a bit dark. In particular, I'm thinking of We Almost Had A Baby. I heard you performed that with your boyfriend sitting in the front row. Ouch.
That was really hard, I didn't like that. It felt spiteful. But usually I'm fine about performing personal songs.
You lived in Hong Kong until you were 12 and then moved to the UK. Any culture shock?
Schools in China are so strict. If you forgot even one item of homework, you would spend all your time facing the wall in the teachers' lounge. It was really tough. We were taught a very high level of maths and science. When I got to the UK, I was really highly strung.
You've collaborated with Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, on his new project, Brighton Port Authority. Was it one of those cases were an old codger is trying to bathe in the reflected glory of an upcoming star?
Schools in China are so strict. If you forgot even one item of homework, you would spend all your time facing the wall in the teachers' lounge. It was really tough. We were taught a very high level of maths and science. When I got to the UK, I was really highly strung.
You’ve collaborated with Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, on his new project, Brighton Port Authority. Was it one of those cases were an old codger is trying to bathe in the reflected glory of an upcoming star?
Well, the official story is that I fell through a worm-hole and went back to the 70s [Cook claims the record is a collection of early glam-era recordings he found in his attic]. Actually, I went to his house in Brighton and recorded a song. He has a friend who liked our EP. That just turned him on to it.
Apparently you get upset when people compare you to the new York anti-folk scene and artists such as Moldy Peaches
I used to because that was a very specific scene with roots in New York. But I understand that people feel the need to make comparisons and I like a lot of those artists. So no, it doesn't bother me so much any more.
You're also a budding music journalist. Why in heaven's name would you want to get involved in such a grubby line of work ?
After we had recorded the album I had a bit of spare time, so I decided to do some writing. I'm actually going to scale back on it because it's encouraged me to look at music in a hard-edged and dispassionate way -- and I don't want to end up looking at music like that.
Emmy The Great plays Cyprus Avenue, Cork, March 6 and CrawDaddy, Dublin, March 7. Her album First Love is out now
- Ed Power
