Sitting in a room of the famous
Savoy hotel, Kayleigh Stark can help looking out of place. She isn’t used to this kind of attention ans it seems that she’s having difficulty adapting to her new found fame. “I’m used to the anonymity of no one knowing or even caring who you are. It’s difficult getting used to people noticing you.” Despite her difficulty with fame, Kayleigh looks the epitome of rock; she’s dressed in a black shirt, that is fraying at the edges, emblazoned with a skull and a pair of ripped stonewash jeans. However she isn’t as unflinching as her clothing would have you believe as she sits hunched in a chair. This is her first major interview, I’m told, and the nervousness is etched on her face as I put forward my first question. LB: So, how did you first get into music? KS: Well, it was little venues first. I went with my parents because I was under eighteen. LB: What kind of venues? Pubs, clubs, that sort of thing and then when I was at one of these places I met a music producer, Doug Bana, and I took some demos and he got my name out there. LB: Which musicians would you say have influeneced you? KS: Well one of the musicians that influenced me was Freddie Mercury because I used to like watching Band Aid [Live Aid concert 1985] on TV quite a lot when I was younger. LB: What particularly about Freddie Mercury? KS: (pauses to contemplate her answer) I like his style of music. LB: Anyone else? KS: Aerosmith because I like their style of music and I like their live performances. I think they’re really good live and Arctic Monkeys because I grew up
listening to their music. And David Bowie because I like the Ziggy Stardust album; I think it’s really good. LB: So more towards the glam
LB: Kind of like a new genre you’re merging? KS: Yeah. LB: What was it like when you first emerged onto the musical scene? How would you describe the difference between going from little venues where noone really knows who you are? KS: I mean I like doing little venues because no-one knew who I was. LB: Less pressure? KS: Yeah. But I like doing the big performances now and going onstage onstage with thousands of people watching because it gives you energy. LB: More of an atmosphere, like at a festival? KS: Yeah. But sometimes I’d like to do small venues again. LB: Have you heard any weird rumours about yourself now that you’re a well know musician. KS: I think there was a rumour going around that I was going to collab with Guns N’ Roses but they’re not even together so that would be weird. LB: Yeah, that wouldn’t really work. At the end of the interview, Kayleigh thanks me before her publicist insists that she must be going because she’s got studio time booked later that afternoon for her album which I was informed will be released “sometime in May”. It seems that Kayleigh hasn’t quite got to grips with her rock star status; she hasn’t even smashed a guitar...yet. It seems that she’s getting used to the rock scene but they’ll be more to come from her.
No-one knew who I was.
Words by Louise Bunn
rock with Freddie Mercury and David Bowie? KS: Yeah. (There’s a debate over the the pronounciation of Bowie but Kayleigh insists that it’s pronounced Bowie as in Zowie Bowie). David Bowie and Freddie Mercury were my main inspirations when I first went into music and my parents were really into rock music so they took me to see David Bowie in concert. LB: So what was your favourite concert, either that you’ve been to or that you did yourself? KS: It would have to be Band Aid, that was so iconic. LB: What musicians would you like to work with? Do you have any collaborations on the cards? KS: I don’t have any planned but I’d probably like to work with Dave Grohl because I met him and I like his performance style; I think he’s really good live. LB: What can we expect from the new album you’re currently working on? KS: I was thinking of a fusion of rock. LB: Classic rock? KS: Yeah. And glam rock. LB: Are you going to do any new elements more towards Arctic Monkeys or more like the old style? Or a bit of both? KS: A bit of both. I’ve taken inspiration from them.
Photographs by Louise Bunn
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i’ve never H E Aeven D I N G smashed a guitar INTRO