Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Gin: the next big thing
What have you been up to since we last spoke?
I put the album (Holy Smoke) out, which went to number one in New Zealand. Then I just started touring.
The Cardinals, Ryan Adams’s band, have been working with you. How did that come about?
An exec from Universal is friends with John from the Cardinals. On their last tour in Australia, with Ryan, he picked them up and said, “Oi, do you want to be Gin’s band?” and they said yes. I don’t like session musicians, so it’s great to have an actual band. It was a stroke of luck.
How has touring been?
Great. I’ve been doing lots of festivals, which has totally renewed my faith in them.
You don’t like festivals? I can’t imagine that.
Oh yeah…Homebake, though, really got me going again. I f^cking hate festivals. I know what I’m like at festivals – take lots of drugs, drink lots of booze, sweat and pash and….it’s just disgusting. But Homebake is a real music lover’s crowd.
And how is the album going outside of New Zealand?
It’s going off in Greece, doing well in Australia, and I’m moving to the States in three days to get started there. I’m happy if anyone likes the album, anywhere. But I’ve always thought it’d be really cool to be in Japan. And then you’d be anonymous everywhere else. Apparently Japanese fans are really lovely – they make you presents and they’re really loyal. But they’re the hardest market, and so far they haven’t wanted a bar of it…
Do you feel famous?
In New Zealand, a bit, yeah. People say hello in the street, and give me things.
Really? Like what?
Yeah – books they’ve made, and cards. And on Valentine’s Day, I was doing a signing after a show and this guy came over to me. He pulled four boxes of Lindt chocolates out of his backpack and said, “Here Gin, I’m really quite in love with you, and I was wondering if we could go on a date sometime.” In front of like, 100 people! I gave him a little kiss on the cheek and thought, “Mmm, maybe I could date you.” He was really cute.
And what happened?
Well, it was a bit awkward with 100 people around…and I’m dating someone right now, so I couldn’t really go there.
How’s the crowd at your concerts?
It’s a real mixed bag. 70-year-olds, rough-looking dudes, parents with kids, 12-year-olds…it’s really mixed. But now, I’m going to gigs where people know the words and sing along. You never get sick of that.
How hideous is it if you have a bad show?
I think it’s what would happen if you were thinking about committing suicide. It’s like public suicide. Standing up there and just dying on stage – but you can’t stop. It’s horrible. But it’s all part of grooming yourself as a singer. The more bad shows you do, the more comfortable you are with little things going wrong. You get more relaxed and that makes you a better performer. Then you get less and less bad shows.
I heard that you got into a fistfight on your 23rd birthday in Santa Monica. True?
Yeah, I did. And I was totally just looking after my friend! I was turning 23, and something always happens on my birthday. I think I get too excited. I went to the baseball with these American girls I’d met. We were drinking beer and sitting in the sun, but then we decided to do something a bit more ladylike. We booked into this swanky-as hotel in Santa Monica, down on the beach. Real swish. Through my label, we got a reserved section in the bar. This man sitting near us started flicking water at my friend, and laughing. So I told her to flick back and tell him to piss off, but she wouldn’t. so I chucked my lemon at him, and it hit him in the eye. He fully fired up. He got this big tumbler of bourbon and coke, and threw it at me, while I was wearing this silk dress. Then he grabbed me, ripped my dress and punched me in the head. He had a signet ring on, and it made my head bleed. He full sconed me in the head. Psycho. It was so on. Things like that unfold real quickly. My girlfriends started to throw my birthday cupcakes at this guy. It was so LA. Then security comes down to sort us out, so I thought, there’s two ways this could go…I could be tough about this, or I could play the innocent victim. I did the latter and it worked. They kicked him out, set us up in the bar and served us free champagne all night. It was a great birthday.
Gin's album, Holy Smoke, is out now.
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