SYPM #6 by Shutyour Prettymouth

Iggy Azalea + Gin Wigmore + Bebe Black + Linda Perry

G I R LS / G I R LS / G I R LS

ISSUE 06 – FEBRUARY 2013

10. Beb e Black The versatile, leftfield pop icon goes dark

04.Iggy Azale a

12. Be aut y

The controversial rapper settles some scores and explains her meteoric rise

Ditch those browns and blacks and go boldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;bright

08. Gin Wigmore The Kiwi rocker talks triumphs and tragedy

Contents

18. Linda Perry One of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest songwriters lifts the lid

22. Lucia O'ConnorMcCart hy Astonishing underwater art from t his hot new photographer

21. One Liners The great, the good and perverse spill the beans on the worst things theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve said

38. Pret t y Good Cool new acts making our ears drool

Shut Your Pret t y Mout h Shut Your Pretty Mouth is a pop-up club night run by future supergirls Maya von Doll, Lisa O and Charli Aitchison. It's also this magazine, a website, social network and a statement of intent. For more info on Shut Your Pretty Mouth, gossip, pictures and to find out how you can appear in the magazine, go to www.shutyourprettymouth.co.uk Editors: Maya von Doll, Lisa O and Charli Aitchison Design: Matt Black Production Editor: James McIrvine Contributors: Cecilia Borjeson, Joshua Nevett, Riya Hollings

We talk to badass new hip-hop star Iggy Azalea about making it big in a man’s world, twitter feuds with Azealia Banks and upsetting parents with her PU$$Y (the song, that is). WORDS: JOSHUA NEVETT

ROLLIN’ WITH THE PUNCHES

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’NILLOR HTIW EHT SEHCNUP

We meet Iggy Azalea midphotoshoot in Sophisticats near Oxford Circus, London. The controversial hip-hop star is being shot standing on a raised platform in this dimly-lit gentlemen’s club. ‘Don’t-fuck-with-me’ is the vibe projecting from the podium. She’s working it for the camera and displaying the attitude that has catapulted her to the forefront of the hip hop and electro scenes. To say Iggy’s lyrics can be sexually-charged would be an understatement. It was the cheekily-sleazy promotional video for her debut single “P U$$Y” that helped her breakthrough in 2011. Now she’s finally touring the U K (with Rita Ora) it’s not surprising that she’s causing quite a stir: “I wasn’t prepared for how young the fans over here were going to be,” says Iggy. “I feel a bit harsh on their parents when I’m saying ‘pussy’ repeatedly to their kids!” Iggy spent her own childhood in Mullumbimby, a quiet town in New South Wales, Australia. “I was always the kid who liked to dress up or just do shit that other kids didn’t fucking want to do. When you’re from a small town, you get caught up in that small town mentality, and I was into trying new stuff and those kids just weren’t. I always felt like I didn’t fit.” After a holiday to the States with her granny when she was 11, Iggy was besotted with American culture. This and her obsession with hiphop shaped her style. “I always liked people who were almost like cartoon characters, things that were eccentric, fantasy and dress-up.” She cites Bootsy Collins, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliot, Lil Kim, Andre 3000, Pharrell and even the Spice girls as influences. “I liked what the music was saying. There was this energy and I just felt that

energy too. I always felt so isolated and I wanted to get out of where I was and that energy attracted me.” At just 16 Iggy had big plans to escape her small world: “I felt like I’d ruined my life to be honest with you. I got kicked out of high school, and everybody knows if you get kicked out of high school, you’re going to have a shit job. You’re in a small

town and you’re thinking ‘what can I really do if I don’t graduate high school. Work at a supermarket?’ So I thought well, if I have fucked it then I may as well just go give it a shot.” So she got on a plane to the United States: “It wasn’t that big of a deal for me when I left, because when I said: ‘fuck you guys I’m going to be a rapper’, I thought, well, you all already

hate my guts anyway, so I’m just going to do whatever the hell I want.” “It wasn’t really running away it was more like running to something. I had this preconceived notion that people in America dress crazy, or people in America wear high heels, or people in America dye their hair purple, or they like hip-hop and they have parties. I thought America was the place to go to be weird and wild so I could finally fit in.” She landed in Miami in 2006 but it was in 2011 when a number of her freestyle videos went viral (including ‘Pu$$y’) that Iggy’s career really took off. By September she’d released her first project, a mixtape called ‘Ignorant Art’. “I wanted to make people question and redefine old ideals. Part of it does break down some of the stereotypes, but I think I didn’t go all the way in the way I wanted to go. If I had, half of you wouldn’t even know what to fucking do with yourselves. ERGGHH, POW! Your brains would explode.” In 2012, she became the first ever woman to be named on XXL’s Freshman list, a groundbreaking milestone which was voted for by her fans, or ‘Azaleans’, as she likes to call them. Iggy emphasises that hip hop does not favour women: “It’s all men in that industry, it’s all guys. I know high powered guys in the industry who do not, fucking, like, me.” Her inclusion in the list was ill-received by another up-and-coming rap diva, Azealia Banks. She accused Iggy of “seriously trivialising aspects of black culture” in reference to her lyric, “runaway slave master”on the contentious track ‘D.R.U.G.S’. This is Iggy’s response to Azealia Bank’s ‘Twitter beef’: “She says that shit about fucking anything . She called Perez Hilton a faggot, I

“I didn’t go all the way I wanted to go. If I had, you wouldn’t know what to fucking do with yourselves. Your brains would explode”

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think she trivialised gay culture… fucking whatever. She’s biased about everybody and everything, even towards the people who help her. She even talked shit about the fashion industry after they basically gave her a career. I don’t think anything about that girl man, she fucking talks shit out of her arse and that’s her business.” Last year she drifted away from t r a d i t i o n a l h i p - h o p a n d s t r a ye d into the world of E DM (electronic dance music). Acclaimed producer Diplo curated her sophomore mixtape, ‘Trapgold’. “It was cool, I loved working with Diplo, he’s awesome. He’s always like, ‘blonde buddies for life’ [squeaky voice], because we’re both blonde. I don’t know a lot of producers with credits like Diplo that would give away their tracks for free and let me re-arrange them and put them on a mixtape. Shit, I don’t know if I’d give away 11 of my beats if I was Diplo.” Iggy is just as positive about her collaboration with Steve Aoki, for the club-friendly anthem “Beat Down”. “Steve’s funny because he’s the monk. He has like organic almonds and peanuts in his dressing room, and weird smoothies made of grass and stuff. He totally talks about planets. He fully goes off on these tangents and thinks there are alternate universes and stuff.” Although Iggy might have southern rapper T.I. waiting in the wings, she’s

keeping one foot firmly inside the EDM camp – and for good reason. Her full-length debut album, The New Classic, has now been more than two years in the making as legal problems, record label re-shuffles and musical uncertainty have all delayed its release. Iggy’s finally found a consistent sound for her new record, which is due this summer. “It does involve EDM,” she explains. “I just like that sound, I don’t know, there’s just something about it. I feel like it fits me better and I feel more comfortable rapping on music like that rather than straight hip hop beats.” Iggy starts flicking through a drinks menu on the table in front of her that’s full of pornographic images. She reads aloud the terrible sexual-pun drink names with the sort of delight you’d expect from someone who wrote the lyrics : “Open ya mouth, taste the rainbow, taste my Skittles ah. Pussy pussy pussy.” Before we wrap things up we ask why she thinks the w orld should know about Iggy Azalea? “I think you guys should just know who I am anyway. I don’t mind talking a load of shit. I probably say stuff that everybody else thinks but I always have the balls to say it. I have an interesting story and I probably inspire a lot of people to believe they can achieve anything they want too although it seems so impossible. If you want be a lawyer, or even work in a fucking strip club, you might not think you have the jelly to shake it, but trust me, you do.” Long may she shake. p h oto g ra p h e r a n d st yli st : r iya h o ll i n g s a ss i sta nt p h oto g ra p h e r : j o e h a n s h aw a ss i sta nt st yli st : a l i c i a th o r p e a rt d i r e cto r : c h a r l e s wh ite h a i r a n d m a k e - u p : n ata s h a l awe s

a ss i sta nt

n ata l i a m a n n i n g

a ss i sta nt

m a r i ko m o r ita

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Kiwi Sapphire

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New Zealand born, Australia based blues rock sensation Gin Wigmore has got the lungs and the songwriting skills to go all the way. But a horrific car crash in her teens meant it could’ve been very different WORDS: MAYA VON DOLL

You played [classic rock venue] Water Rats in London last night. Did you crowd surf? That did not happen, ha ha! I’m not going to crowd-surf just yet. But it was a late one. It was my first London show ever, it was very exciting. I think I got a little too over-excited afterwards The top YouTube comment under your deliciously dark video for Black Sheep is ‘She’s filling t he Amy Winehouse-shaped hole in my life’ - how do you feel about that? That’s cool, I’m happy to fill any void in any person’s life, to be hone st, so long as it’s music that’s O K . I don’t want to b e filling anyone else’s shoes but if it’s music and they’re digging it that’s great. In your artist bio you come across like a cool B-movie heroine. A bolshy spirit finding herself in all the wrong places. Do you see yourself like that? [Laughs out loud - a fantastic rasping, naughty laugh!) I don’t think I try to find myself in the wrong places I think it just turns out that way, unfortunately. But I always thought that my bio should be written by me because it’s about me. I enjoyed doing it that way. We read you put your university application form away again when your E P took off? I did ye s . I’m not much of an academic but, surprisingly, I’m actually doing a teaching degree by correspondence right now.

Is that what you had applied for at uni originally? I did and then I - fuck my life hey - I had all intentions of doing this teaching degree when I was 18 and then I was having my leaving party to go down to Wellington in Auckland and I got into the car with this guy that I’d been obsessing about all through high school. He was much older than me. And finally this night he was like ‘Right Gin, tonight I’m gonna kiss you’. And I was like ‘This is my lucky fucking day!’ I got into the car with him and stupidly was too drunk I didn’t wear my seat belt. We had a terrible accident. I went right through the front windscreen and was in intensive care. I didn’t go to university because of brain damage and shit Oh God that’s terrible! It was horrible. And then I changed my mind about university, I pulled out of my teaching degree and started Religious Studie s and Spanish. After 6 months I was like ‘I don’t know why I’m doing a major in Religious Studies’ I’m not very religious at all [Laughs]. How long were you in hospital? Did you bre ak all your front teeth? I was so lucky. The doctor said to me it was a miracle that I hadn’t broken my neck. Because I was so drunk I had no reflexe s so when I was going through the glass he said ‘you weren’t tense and if you had been tense you might not be here.’

We thought that was a myth! No it’s actually quite true! If you’re going to do something stupid make sure you’re pissed because it might help you in the long run! But then again I might not have got into the car if I was sober. Catch 22 really. Why have you called your album Gravel & Wine? AARRGGH! I didn’t know what to call it! I’d just finished the record and I was totally drained. It’s actually a lyric from my song ‘Black Sheep’. Yeah I was trawling through all the lyrics and found that. We love your vide o t o ‘Man Like That’. Where does a rock chick learn to dance like that? Specially one that’s nearly broken her neck! Or was that the trick? That might be why.. I was obsessed with this dance called the ‘Black Bottom Dance’ which is when a cow gets stuck in mud, which is what it’s supposed to look like. So it’s kind of like that! Finally, you’ve probably been asked loads of times about this… What was it like working with Daniel Craig for the Heineken/ Skyfall commercials for your song? Ha ha that’s cool, I thought you were gonna ask something lame like ‘what are your hope s and inspirations?’ I didn’t actually get to meet Daniel Craig he was about 20 meters away. They shot us at different times but we were all on set on the same day. I was staring at him probably a little bit creepily (laughs). He’s very cool, he’s totally like ‘Mr Bond’. He’s a dude and looks like he’s been in a few fights so he fits the part.

D b

SHUT YOUR PRETTY MOUTH Hey Bebe, what you been up to? I’ve been very busy! I just finished my album and now we’re getting ready to release my new E P – which is called ‘Deathwish EP’ – in February. So who is Bebe Black? I am Bebe Black... But that’s not your real name? Or is it? Bebe was what my mum used to call me when she’d write me letters. My real name is Naomi. How would you describe your sound? I would describe it as leftfield pop. I don’t want to be confined to one genre! I want to be able to write ballads that consist of piano and strings and soulful vocals, and I also want to be able to write epic, anthemic pop tracks with dance elements and for them to sit nicely together. I like lots of percussion. I like using my voice as an instrument.

Do you still live in Camden? I’m not in Camden anymore. I lived there for a year or more, while I was writing for the album. When I listen back to the songs I wrote during that period, it’s strange. It was an eventful year. The lyrics are a diary of that time. I think that people will be able to identify with those stories, though, so it’s not completely self-indulged. There are heaps of dance elements in your music. Where did that come from? The decision to have a dance element to my music was a conscious one. I like to mix organic and electric sounds. You famously ( re)wrote and s ang the lyrics on Benga’s ‘Icon’. Do you have any more work in the pipeline with him? There’s nothing else planned at the moment. ‘Icon’ is a very different track in comparison to the music I usually

Darker by degree Bebe Black became an ‘Icon’ with her Benga collaboration. But that’s just the start for Dorset’s darkest new diva WORDS: CECILIA BORJESON

You used to be a part of a jazz/blues/ rockabilly duo, Bebe and Paolo. What brought about your change in direction? I don’t think there was a change in my life or anything. I was just growing as an artist and as a woman. When I was 19 I enjoyed writing songs that were almost coquettish and cheeky, but after a couple of years I became comfortable with writing in an honest way, as my confidence grew in myself as an artist.

make, and for now I want to establish my own sound. It was a wicked experience, though – Benga is a charming man. Did you know they made us jump out of a plane for the video? What did it that feel like? I was very scared and very cold. We fell through an ice cloud. It hurt.

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COLOUR SPLASH It takes a brave lady to ditch a make-up bag of browns and blacks and embrace the bold bright trend. Here’s how to rock that look… MAKE-UP: ALEX BOX WORDS: LISA O PHOTOS: JON COMPSON NAILS: REBECCA WILSON HAIR: YUMI NAKADA DINGLE

F a n c y a b re a k f ro m m o n o c h ro m e monotony? It’s now about embracing a blatantly block bright look that isn’t about perfection. According to David Horne, director of new product development at Illumasqua: “Imperfection is a definitive, unique beauty. It evokes raw emotion and celebrates differentiation. Without differentiation we are all subject to becoming perfected beauty clones led by our own vanity.” This look is about painterly artistry – it’s not about prettyfying – it’s about expressing individuality.

STI C K IT O N “Frankie has her face bare without any base,” says Alex Box, creative director of Illumasqua. “Leaving her skin dewy with a glow emphasises the intensity of the green lipstick, offsetting the precisely applied lip against something as irregular and imperfect as the thread shape around her eye.” Illumasqua Powder Blusher Duo in Katie and Ambition, £26; Illumasqua Blush Up Brush, £28.50

P I N K P O UT Make-up artists were looking through rosecoloured glasse s when they created this look at Chanel, Dries van Noten and Giles Deacon. Sharp, graphic edges keeps this candy-floss colour from looking too s accharine. Darker pink was worn too â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a subtle way of being subversive. Illumasqua Lipstick in Immodest, ÂŁ16

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LI M E LI P S “A s h a d e l i k e t h i s , that is assumed to be unconventional, is to be applied immaculately, the eye then sees the beautiful application before noticing the colour,” says Box. Illumasqua Intense Lipgloss in Shoot, £14

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N A I L A RT Get creative with nails – think 3D prints, pierced nails and stencil designs – use double-sided sticky tape and play around with textures. At Vivienne We stw ood and Thierry Mugler nails were speckled and dotted with colour. Illumasqua Speckled Nail Polish in Freckle, £14.50

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She writes the songs You might not know the name Linda Perry, but as one of the most successful songwriters in the business you’ve definitely heard her music WORDS: MAYA VON DOLL

Do you think girls have taken over pop music? No, not really. I think it seems pretty even to me. I think it stays pretty even. People are maybe getting confused with the hype nowadays . If you take away all the drama and gossip it would look pretty even. Lately there’s more drama from the women so it makes it look like they’re taking over in pop music, but really it’s drama. But in the last couple of years we’ve seen the demise of guitar bands in the charts… And they have been dominated by Adele, Kesha, Katy. It’s a phase we’re going through right now. The last 7/8 years have been very electronic both women and men doing a lot of auto-tuney effects. It’s a phase that’s dying right now. And you’ll see by next year the guitar driven bands will be back. You’ll get your Fiona Apples, your rock bands, and then the boy pop bands will show back up, it’s just a cycle. There were a lot of guitars in disco. Is there a song out there that you’d wished you’d written? No, not really. There are tonnes of songs that I love and I’m really happy for that person that wrote that song because I couldn’t have written it. You know, it came from them because of their emotions and their feelings. It’s just like I have people that run around and say “I wish I wrote ‘Beautiful’” and I’m like “Why?

SHUT YOUR PRETTY MOUTH Be thankful and appreciate it and be happy for me that I did”. I love music, I don’t wish to be anything but what I am. Is there anyone dead or alive that you would like to collaborate with? I would have loved to have made records in the late 50s or early 60s. I w ould have loved to have been sitting next to Phil Spector while he was producing records. That style of music to me is just, you know… I love the 70s but to me there’s something about the late 50s/early 60s. It was a really great time for music. So risky, diverse, so easy and feel good and it just sounded good too. It was very musical. If you hear the 60s and then the 70s, 70s is more rock and roll but it’s not as musical as the 60s. There’s something very atmospheric when you put on the Velvet Underground or The Hollies or Diana Ross. You wrote and produced ‘Beautiful’ for Christina Aguilera. How personal is that song to you? Really personal because I wrote it from exactly the perspective that people hear it from. You know when the lyric is ‘I am beautiful’ you know it’s not from someone starting in the mirror thinking ‘OMG I’m gorgeous’. You know they’re coming from a place of insecurity and trying to convince themselves that ‘I am good enough, I can do this’. So it wasn’t written with Christina in mind No, I wrote the song for me. But not long before I met Christina Why didn’t you sing it yourself? I didn’t want to be an artist anymore. The thing about me, is I just do what feels right. I left a band [4 Non Blondes] that could have had a very popular s e c o n d re c o rd . I k n o w b e c a u s e I wrote the songs and I knew what they sounded like and it was a way better record than our first. Plus the record that I wanted to make wasn’t the same as the band wanted to make. I wanted to do something darker and weirder and the band

wanted to do the pop thing . But I just couldn’t. So I walked away, got my thoughts together. Honestly, the funny thing about my career is, I’m not a pop person. I don’t even understand how I got here. But you know once in a while I write a good song that people seem to like. I’m not doing it every day, cranking out pop hits in the studio – but once in a while I’ll write a good song and it’ll make somebody feel something. That’s enough to make me happy. Do you find in the role of producerwriter you’ve become a sort of therapist ? We l l y e a h o f course, writing music is intimate, it can be the most intimate experience or the most detached experience, it depends on who you are and what you want to accomplish. Me, I want to have longevity, want my career to go until I can’t go anymore. Some people just want it for right now, wanna make some money and then bla bla bla... they’re not in it for the long haul, they’re really actually not even quite artists but really they just wanna sell perfume or really they wanna do clothing.. and they’re using the artist selling records as a way to market themselves or to brand themselves . Those kinda people I don’t really work with and don’t have much connection to that. But I’ll write a stupid song – I mean ‘Get the Party Started’ was the most stupidest song that I’ve written and I love it. You were quite troubled as a teenager. Is there a certain right of passage in becoming a great songwriter or artist? Aren’t we all troubled? Sometimes I guess they say that when you are suicidal and dark that you are gonna have a higher creative outlet but I feel that for me I don’t know where

else to put it . I could have been a tennis player. I would have used all my energy towards that. I could have been a great teacher. I believe that we choose where we want to focus our energy. I know very troubled people that can’t seem to make anything creative happen and it’s been devastating for them, they’re too overwhelmed. There are a lot of people that are so talented and they don’t go anywhere because they become their own problem . Because they’re not being able to channel their energy properly. Yo u c a n h a ve a girl that’s grown up all posh, cookiecutter mom with a lifestyle that’s all money, food on the table, anything she wants – but I guarantee you that girl is gonna be troubled because it’s not a re a l i s t i c l i f e to be in. I think actually poor people are better off than rich people because I think they have a more realistic idea of life. If you give a poor person money and then take it away they’ll be able to survive because they’ve been poor. You take away money from someone who only knows how to be rich they’re not gonna know how to survive being poor. What was the last tattoo you got? I think it was ‘My Beloved’ across my back. Two of my dogs that passed away so it was a dedication to them How did you chip your front tooth? I chipped it on the water fountain in 11th grade (about 7 years old). Yeah someone bumped me. I’ve never fixed it though, but my girlfriend won’t let me fix it. If it wasn’t for music... I’d be a tennis player. Check out Linda’s iPhone sessions

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What’s the worst thing to come out of your pretty mouth? “All the times I’ve spoken about poo in public. Like, seriously, STOP!!!” Charli XCX, pop sens at ion!

“This morning at Heathrow I said to my friend ‘OMG I just got a text saying “I love you” but I don’t have the number saved?!’” Alexis Knox, super st ylist

“The C word. A lady should never swear, but sometimes it just slips out.” Queen of He art s, ele ct ro diva

“My second molar” Eugene McGuinne s, singer-songwrit er

“When someone dared me to eat a lamb’s eye and I couldn’t swallow it...” Eli, one half of DJ duo Eli & Fur

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Underwater Love Hot new fashion photographer Lucia O’ConnorMcCarthy wows us with her aquatic adventures WORDS: JAMES McIRVINE PHOTOS: LUCIA O’CONNOR-McCARTHY

Going straight from a Philosophy degree at Trinity College Dublin to becoming one of London’s most exciting new fashion photographers doesn’t seem a typical career path but then there’s nothing typical about Lucia O’Connor-McCarthy’s astonishing photography. What could be just a routine style shoot becomes another world of bright light and vivid colour inhabited by strange nymph-like creatures – albeit creatures who shop at Reiss or Topshop, or any of the major brands or fashion houses that are eager to add some of Lucia’s magic to their shoots. Lucia was discovered while she was still at university taking pictures for fun on an S LR her parents had bought her for her 18th birthday. At the time she still assumed she’d get a ‘proper’ job: “I thought I was going to be a lawyer or something. I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me I’d

be a professional photographer a few years ago.” She was offered her first solo exhibition in Dublin on the back of some pictures of her friends on her flickr account. “I’d got really lucky so after that I started taking things a bit more seriously.” Soon she was juggling working for her degree with shooting regularly for Dublin model agencies and this led to her getting more fashion work in London. Her distinctive style attracted the attention of Rankin, the legendary photographer, and she was one of the few to feature in ‘Dig the New Breed’, an exhibition of his choice of the most up-and-coming young fashion photographers. She took her dad to the exhibition launch party where he got papped chatting to Rankin – “I think everyone assumed he must be some sort of important art dealer.”

Lucia finished her degree last summer and 2013 is the first year that she’s been able to dedicate herself to photography full-time. The work is flooding in, though sometimes her youth (she’s only recently turned 24) can confuse her employers: “I think people expect me to be like 40 or something. I’ve had so many shoots recently where I turn up and people start giving me their coffee orders. It’s so embarrassing. I have to explain that I’m the one they sent the car for and I’ll be taking the photos.” Being young does mean she can relate to the young models and musicians she’s shooting. “I love chatting with them because we’re on the same sort of wavelength. The funniest question I get asked – especially by boys – is what are models like? As if they’re an alien breed or something like that. I have

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“I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me I’d be a professional photographer a few years ago”

to explain they’re pretty much like you or I.” The person she’d most like to photograph is rather older than her regular subjects. “I’d love to meet and photograph David Attenborough, just because I love him. I think if I didn’t shoot fashion I’d definitely want to do wildlife.” The World Wildlife Fund recently contacted her about possibly doing some photos for them. An unusual proposition for most fashion photographers but not necessarily for Lucia who’s work always seems to have a certain wildness about it.

Lucia’s Naiades series (featured here) gave her a great opportunity to show off her wild side. In Ancient Greek mythology Naiades were water nymphs and fittingly these pictures were shot while Lucia was on holiday in Greece. “I’d wanted to do some underwater pictures like this for ages but it’s a really tough thing to organise. Waterproof camera housing and water tanks are really expensive and getting contracts for models to do nudity for a personal project would be a nightmare.” The actual shoot ended up being a much more straightforward. She used her friend’s mum’s basic point-andshoot waterproof camera and shot underwater on location in the sea. The models are Francesca, Lucia’s friend, plus her sister and cousin. Lucia has been diving since she was 11 and trained as a divemaster when she was 19, so being underwater wasn’t a problem. “It was a really natural thing I hadn’t planned at all. I really loved the prints when they came out. It’s nice to do something that’s not about fashion and clothes and is just about the pictures.” See more at www.luciaomc.com

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SHUT YOUR PRETTY MOUTH This five-piece all-girl band atones for the dearth of great new guitar bands in recent years WORDS: MAYA VON DOLL PHOTO: MAX MILLIAN

Do you want to tell us WTF happened to guitar music in the U K over the last 5 years? We’ve got a theory that Simon Cowell and his cronies have been having mass burnings of any demo CDs with the slightest audible bit of guitar on them.

You posted a vid of yourselve s outside HMV singing a sad acoustic song about its closure. Why was HMV important to you? Its true most singles are only released digitally, but it seems a shame that the only major record shop is closing down. If you don’t live in a big city, your only option to buy a CD would be from your local Sainsbury’s or Tesco where they have the top 20 chart consisting of Olly Murs and Little Mix…

Fake Club

And are girls the only ones that can save guitar music? No there are some really cool acts emerging at the moment. Were really into Peace and Jake Bugg at the moment, but aside from that Tenacious D have been steadily holding up the flag for saving guitar music. Your press statement says you’re ‘sick of the values of the current generation’. Do you mean paintedon eyebrows, false-lashes and a love for The Kardashians? Hey come on there’s nothing wrong with a bit of scouse brow! Even Kate Middleton loves it. But yeah we just wished there were more positive role models for girls in rock music when we were growing up learning our instruments. The choice was pretty much either Avril Lavigne or Dave Grohl… We’re just creating the music we enjoy playing, inspired by bands we love. Vivienne We stw ood used your track ‘Do What You Gotta Do’ for her Red Label collection promo video. Are you a fans? We were totally honoured that she used our track, she’s an old school punk! It doesn’t get much cooler than that! In terms of band style though, we’ve got our ‘old trusty’ outfits that we generally wear every gig – usually just jeans and a t-shirt but we’re up for anything really. Previous outfits have included cross-dressing hillbillies, electro-pop short blonde wigs, my big fat gypsy wedding, the Spice Girls and 1930s ballroom Jazz band style. We like to keep our fans on their toes.

Wh o a r e y o u r b i g musical influences? Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys, Led Zeppelin, Deftones. Who’s got the most irritating tour habits? Chloe. Your press kit says ‘The Runaways meets the Spice Girls’. So we need to know all your nicknames: (To be said in an X Factor style voice) Soooo ladies tonight we’ve got: Rosie aka Daddy Warbucks (But you can call her Daddy); Aicha aka Pacemaker Djidjelli; Chloe The Force aka Jeremy Dingwall; Vicky aka The Ace of Bass; and Carmen aka Jim. Tell us about your monthly club night in Holloway, London? We’ve got this massive warehouse space where we rehearse, play pingpong and have a film club occasionally. So we thought why not put on a club night once a month? Our first one was really successful. We had fire breathers outside, our mates band Jackal Pack played, we played and had a few DJ’s on too. What’s next? We’ve just released our newest single ‘Over and Over’. We have another club night coming up on the 14 March that we are also filming for a TV pilot. There are some awesome bands and DJs playing, a few artists will be doing murals and we’re screening an independent film. Were also releasing our 1st edition of FKR Mag to coincide with the club night around the theme of ‘giving up growing old’.

Pret

Hot new talent making us drool right now

etty Good

SHUT YOUR PRETTY MOUTH They’ve written tunes for Girls Aloud, and rocked party crowds worldwide. We talk to the 23-yearold DJ -producer-fashionista duo Eli & Fur

[in Croatia] last year was a definite highlight. Hopefully we’ll see bigger and better DJ sets, and some new music this year.

Are there any other female acts out there that you are digging? How would you introduce each Eli: We think Kim Ann Foxman is other? great. There are lot of female singers Eli: This is Fur… Gemini. we have been inspired by growing Fur: This is Eli, she enjoys festivals up: Debbie Harry, Britney Spears and strawberries dipped in chocolate. and Gwen Stefanie to name a few. WORDS: CECILIA BORJESON

How w ould you b e st de scrib e what you do? Fur: We DJ and make music, and it’s something we want to keep doing for a long time. What is your working relationship like – who does what? Fur: Getting on so well is a plus point when working together, it’s great fun. For ideas we will find a beat we like or a chord sequence and both come up with melodies. Then we pick our favourites and build the songs that way. For DJ sets we both spend a lot of time finding music and then work on mixes together.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to deal with so far? Eli: Getting your name out there and your music heard is always hard – it takes a lot of patience and time, but it is all worth it just to see progress. What are you into right now? Eli: Anything Hawaiian. Fur: Woodkid ‘I Love You’.

List your top three hang-outs in the world.. Le Baron Club, Tokyo; Home; So High Soho, London – it’s a fancy dress shop! From playing with electronic stars like Alex Metric and Fedde Le Grand, you are now billed alongside underground house and techno heroes Maya Jane Coles and Maceo Plex. How will your musical direction develop in the future? Eli: Being able to play with all those names has been a great experience. We have worked hard to get gigs and spent a lot of time practising, so it’s great getting to DJ with people we love. We want to keep experimenting with different sounds and ideas, and there’s so much we want to achieve. We are both excited about the future!

Eli & Fur

What were last year’s highlights? Fur: Playing Dimensions Festival

Tell us something about the other person that we are unlikely to have read elsewhere. Fur: Eli loves to snake board. Eli: Fur is a massive animal lover, and a dog whisperer. Where could we find you letting your hair down on a night off? Fur: At a mate’s house. We like doing Mexican nights, making fajitas and drinking tequila. Musicwise, what do you have coming up? And what do you have in store for you own imprint NYX? Fur: We have a new track coming soon called ‘Nightmares’, and we will continue to release new music on NYX all year.

The UK’s hottest new rapper tells us about her gig regime and her all-girl team WORDS: MAYA VON DOLL AND SAM NAHIRNY

We caught one of your live shows (at London’s ‘The Garage’) it was siiiiick. Your beats were filthy as fuck but with just the right amount of hooks on top. Has this been your plan all along? Yeah it has . I’m attracted to big beats and even though the core of it is usually hip-hop, I like it when producers merge genres and give me something quirky and different. I need big drum and bass lines and I’m happy! I grew up in Ghana and over there the music is so sweet and melodic, very catchy hooks and I think that’s where I get most of my inspiration from when I’m writing.

Phreeda Sharp

What gets you fired up? Close-minded people. Rigid knowit-all types . Bullshitters . Bullies . Chauvinists. We h e a rd a b o u t yo u t h ro u g h producer Fabien Waltmann and checked out your video for ‘Bad Jane’. Who’s the original bad girl? Bad Jane is a term I made up. It’s not necessarily someone who just went off the rails and becomes bad. It’s more of a metaphor for the girl that is real, as in different from what people think every girl should be like. Bad Jane isn’t perfect, she’s imperfectly perfect. She’s a rogue, she’s strong and she’s outspoken. There’s too much pressure on girls to have to look and act a certain way and we spend so much time and energy trying to live up to an ideal that is completely ludicrous. Bad Jane doesn’t give a fuck about fitting in and being liked, she’s too busy doing her own thing. That’s who an original bad girl is to me. What’s your writing process? It involves me playing a beat really loudly, pacing around a bit, rapping random stuff out loud until I catch the rap rhythm that I love, then I sit down and put the meat on the bones.

How do you prepare for a gig? All those lyrics… Once a track is recorded the lyrics are forever stuck in my head, I don’t even have to think about it they just come out. If I fuck up I just pretend I didn’t and no one knows anyway, they are too hyped up to care. How do you prepare for the after show? As soon as I get off stage I have a strong shot! Clean with no chaser. Then I take a sec to get the adrenaline down before I chat to anyone. The after-after show? More and more shots and a dance-floor You’re a very hot rapper. Have you had any strange reque sts from fans?

Thanks. Nothing too strange. I think guys just find me quite scary so they tiptoe around everything in case I bite their heads off haha! When we saw you live it was an inspiring all-girl assault is this part of the message? Most of my team are women from the live performances to my management etc. My music and my lyrics promote feminism but I try to do it in a way that is relatable to men and women. I want girls to feel they can be who they choose to be, it doesn’t matter what that is as long as it’s their choice and that celebrating their sexuality or wanting to be just as powerful as guys is totally acceptable. We don’t just want to be the best females doing what we’re doing, we want to be the best full stop.

SHUT YOUR PRETTY MOUTH South Africa’s Amsterdam-based singer of tropical bass outfit Skip & Die, Cata.Pirata, chats beautiful music and er, cockroaches WORDS: MAYA VON DOLL PHOTO: ALEXANDER DAHMS

Where are you right now and what are you doing today? I am in two minds whether or not to say. The one mind says Portugal-ontour, the other says stuck-in-a-pencilcaressing-paper. Then there’s this third mind (that suddenly appeared out of who-knows-where!) that won’t stop babbling about cosmic forces and systems of electrodes. Suspicious stuff minds. Where was I? You’re not afraid to touch on politics in your lyrics – what message are you hoping to get out? The universe is our muse – we explore it, we soak it all up, we form our own opinions, we shape our own journeys. And we hope to stimulate the same cognitive shift in consciousness within our audience. Touching on poignant (social) matters is a way for us to destroy certain taboos and their repressive powers. What do you make of the reluctance of western artist-writers to share their views on politics in music? Aha! Now that’s politics in itself! :-)

Skip&Die

Th e re a re n u m e ro u s p a t h s t o enlightenment, to each their own. I don’t choose to share my views on politics, I choose to share my views, which contain notions of social struggle as well as personal poetics. The personal is political, is it not? Yo u ’ re i n c h a r g e o f t h e m a d / beautiful/unique visuals, artwork and videos. Does image play a bigger role in a bands’ success these days? We see it as a whole. When we perform people aren’t only dancing to the music, they are reacting to the energy they see on stage. Same goes for a cd-cover or a video, they influence the way you listen to the music. It’s hard for us to imagine composing a piece of music without it having a visual association. Music can sound dark or colourful. The visual aspect is integrated organically within what we do. It adds another layer to the storytelling, it’s an extra medium with which to titillate the senses. How important is it for you to play live? Extremely important. We love taking our music to the people. Luckily we’re mostly on tour and the band dynamics really rock us out. It’s one thing to sit and ponder our existence in artistic solitude, but entirely next level to celebrate it with a crowd.

Love the fact that cockroaches get a mention in your biog alongside ‘blazing sun’ and ‘skulls and bones’. We don’t think we’ll ever see them in any one else’s press release. Do you hate them or have you developed a tolerable re spe ct towards them since your travels? In South Africa we call them Parktown Prawns . I grew up with them all around. They’ll nestle themselves right into your bed if you’re not careful. It’s a love-hate relationship. They never die – no matter how often you t r y t o k i l l t h e b u g g e r s . Th e y ’ re survivors. I have respect for their determination to live. You’ve talked of ‘the beauty and mess’ of what inspires your music - the personal, the political, the people and the party. Nothing sums up this dichotomy more than your awesome song ‘Love Jihad’, tell us what it means to you? To me this is a song of emancipation towards whatever or whoever is trying to hold a cloak over your eyes, regardless of religion or gender. One can so easily be misled. Be it by your lover, your government, your T V or the people you trust as your teachers. The song to me is also to some extent a ‘Jihad for True Love’: If you love, love with no strings attached. But be warned: If you mislead, you shall be misled.

It was a British beach in the middle of October, so it was probably the coldest I’ve ever been, but I loved every second. You lose yourself a bit more on location than in a studio, it feels ‘real’ in the moment. The location was so stunning, and the sun stayed out. So we were lucky, but yes, I found sand for like three days after in various crevices and items of clothing. Who’s the ‘King of He arts’ or are you more of a ‘Jack of Clubs’ kinda girl? I’m quite independent, and I get bored easily - I don’t think a queen really needs a king. But I am a romantic at heart and everyone wants that great love, don’t they?! Have you ever had track envy? All the time. I’m obsessed with Swedish pop music, it’s so effortlessly cool and the melodies are always so beautiful. I hear songs all the time and wish I had gotten there first. Great music inspires me to make great music, so I think song envy is a good thing. What are your live shows like? I try to mix stuff up. Visually, I like experimenting with lighting, and ways to create atmosphere. Sometimes I’ll have a band, sometimes just myself and dancers. I want people to connect with the meaning of the songs, but I also want them to have fun, let their hair down, and get their money’s worth.

Queen of Hearts Sophisticated electronic pop muse Liz Morphew aka Queen of Hearts on her debut solo album WORDS: MAYA VON DOLL AND SAM NAHIRNY

Your music has an air of escapism, where are you taking us? I’m fascinated by love, the inner strengths and struggles. Before I write lyrics, I visualise pictures of what I’m trying to say and describe, and go from there. So, in a way, I suppose I’m trying to take you into the depths of my mind and imagination, or better still, let you interpret the words and find whatever it is that draws you in. 2012 was an important year for you, your b e autiful/romantic/ electronic EP ‘Warrior’ came out. What’s on the cards for 2013? Thank you! ! For 2013, my main focus is to finish the album and finally

put it out. After that, I’ll be back on the road again, there’s nothing better than perfoming live, I love it. Who are your core influences? Being born in the late 80s, I remember my parents listening to a lot of Michael Jackson, The Human League, Wham etc. So, I was naturally drawn to the electronic sound, but I also became fascinated with watching artists perform (on Top Of The Pops etc) and was incredibly inspired by powerful and visual performers like Bjork and Grace Jones. Now, I would say my influences are Roisin Murphy, Robyn, Goldfrapp. I love the combination of style and sound- that’s what makes an icon. What was it like shooting the video for ‘Warrior’ on the beach? Did the sand get everywhere?

Do you think the U K’s scared of producing sexy singers? Say compared to the USA & France? ‘Sexy’ is quite subjective. I find confident, powerful women incredibly sexy, as opposed to the ones that take their clothes off. I also find intense performers really sexy. Theo (Hurts) has the most intense/almost aggressive stage presence, that’s pretty hot. I don’t think the U K is scared of producing sexy singers, I just think ‘sexy’ is more left of centre over here, or maybe everyone’s too obsessed with being ‘cool’ or ‘current’. The USA are in a different league to us, I don’t know how they do it.