Ahead of the release of EP Purple Heart, which is out on 25th March, we caught up with Tears For Annie to have a chat with a truly interesting and highly talented person.
As well as music, Tears also makes art and installation pieces for exhibitions. Her work has been described as "Beautifully Vulgar". This controversial edge makes Tears for Annie not simply a band, but a whole artistic expression and one we are really looking forward to see at the live show on 28th March at London's Surya.
R13: How did the name Tears For Annie come to be?
TFA: The name comes from an experience I used to have when I was younger.
I used to wake up frequently in the middle of the night and see a little girl at the end of my bed surrounded by a blue light. Now I come to think of it, it was probably sleep paralysis!!
I used to try and get up to reach her but I never could it just felt like I was being held down and all I could hear in my head was this voice saying 'Annie Annie Annie'.
Even though I couldn't get to her I used to feel this strong sense of calm, it went on for a few years then she just stopped visiting. But I like to think a little piece of her stayed with me.
R13: What sort of music do you listen to and who are your influences?
TFA: I listen to a vast array of music, I think it's really important not to get boxed in when you are writing and producing music I don't want to become old, arsey and bitter good music is good music whether its pop, indie, alternative
I'm a huge fan of Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Nick Cave, Jonny Cash. I respect the sense of irony and honesty in their lyrics.
R13: How would you describe your live shows to someone who has not seen you before?
TFA: I love to experiment with visuals in the shows, whilst I think the music is foremost the important, I think how we visualize something has great impact on our perceptions.
I'm working on using what I can only describe as short movies alongside the live performance, a lot of the images are very autobiographical done in a surrealist way and have been described as beautifully vulgar.
Whilst I love to produce music, my main joy comes from performing live and is really why I started working on Tears for Annie.
At the moment I'm working on a show, where the underlying message is showing hypocrisy, it involves taxidermy combined with human body parts and a married fox.
R13: Describe Purple Heart to us, how did it come to life?
TFA: Purple Heart is a collection of my own deeply personal memories, which is driven by an inner war inside, it also expresses my reactions to society's underlying sadness.
Whilst producing the EP I was researching the history of the military. I'd used a military drumbeat in one of the tracks. I discovered that soldiers in the US military who have been killed or wounded are awarded a purple heart. This seemed to be a very meaningful coincidence due to the lyrical content of the tracks and the concept of the EP. I feel something inside of everyone has been wounded or killed.
R13: How do you feel with it being so close to release date of the EP?
TFA: Great, I think everything is a journey and this is just the first step really of this trip, you know I would love people to like it and download it but I know it's not gonna be up everyone's street, the only thing that I hope is it stirs an emotion and is worthy of a reaction good or bad, if people feel nothing I think I have failed.
R13: I have read that you have a lot of influence with art, would you like to explain some more and will we see that reflect within your music?
TFA: Yes I studied art and music at college and have always been interested in art. I think Music is Art and they work in unison.
Last Year I did an exhibition in Berlin which was about the vulgar sexualisation of women, I used large photographs of my vagina digitally placed inside jackets from each decade beginning in the 1920s. I attached them to large plinths and did a live performance on them.
Most of the artwork thus far for Tears for Annie is coming from an autobiographical point of view as is the music as I think I have used the project so far as a cathartic experience I'm not very good at saying how I feel and I find it easier to communicate through Art and Music, but moving forward I'm trying to take concepts that tackle more social issues, I don't want to be described as "Tears for Annie - that bird that's a self indulgent wanker"
R13: Can we expect to see any Jungian or Freudian images in your videos? Or will you prefer to let the music do the talking?
TFA: It's funny you say that as last night I had a dream I gave birth to a baby girl it was so vivid and I woke up in a sweaty blind panic, children scare me!! I expect Freud would say I that I had finally given birth to my inner femininity as I was smothered by my mother or something of that ilk, I don't really use my dreams as a catalyst for my work although I do believe there is a lot of truth in what's perceived as a bizarre dream.
Some of my work has been perceived as sexual there's a lot of nakedness and elements showing female private parts but for me its coming from a more vulnerable side thrown together with experiences where I feel my innocence was lost.
Saying this I do however think it's so important that the music does most of the talking and the visual are just the icing on top.
R13: Where can you see yourself in five years time?
TFA: I would love to have a number of successful tours under my belt and many more to come!! I would also like to have a dabble in art directing a cinematic movie but you know what I might get ill and die ... alone ... you can't predict the future I think all you can do is be true to you.
R13: What does the near future hold for Tears For Annie?
TFA: I'm working on producing the album at the moment, some of the tracks are pretty raw but I want to keep at least a few that way, I'm also experimenting with different sounds and beats I don't want some of the tracks on the album to be as guitar lead as the EP. I'm hoping to release this in the summer.
R13: When will we get to see you play live?
TFA: I'm hoping to start touring in the summer but I am playing Thursday 28th March at Surya (London) if you wanna come?
R13: What bands would you love to share a stage with?
TFA: I would love to play with Patti Smith or Queens of the Stone Age.
R13: Thank you for your time, thank you for putting together a highly enjoyable EP too - really look forward to seeing what the future brings.
TFA: Thank you for the interview