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subscribe to style file blog via RSSladyhawke takes flight
July 1, 2008 9:53 am
If you were among the 137,500 lucky few who scored a ticket to last weekend’s Glastonbury festival, you may have done a double take by the Q Stage on Sunday afternoon. Whether it was the sweet, sweet sound of an electro-pop revival that stopped you in your tracks or that the synth-driven charge was being led by a blonde, bangs-sporting Stevie Nicks lookalike (the hard-rocking seventies Stevie, not her latter-day, Wicca high-priestess incarnation), it’s likely that you momentarily took pause to revel in the musical stylings of Pip Brown, a.k.a. Ladyhawke—and even more likely that you stayed through her whole set. “She’s one of my heroes,” the New Zealand native says of the comparisons she’s been getting to the Fleetwood Mac front woman. “I’m flattered, but it’s embarrassing when I read that stuff because there’s no way I’ll ever be as good a singer—or as crazy a party animal as her!” With an anachronistic video for her first single, “Back of the Van,” circulating the Internet, the London-based Brown is definitely in the business of paying homage to rock gods of old—which might be what makes her a favorite with deities of today. Two months before her first album debuts, Ladyhawke can already count Paris It band the Teenagers, Courtney Love, and electronica queen Peaches among her fans. Coming off three live performances at Worthy Farm and in the wake of the release of her second single, Brown took a moment to talk about her new record deal, her travels down under, and her Stevie-meets-Seattle style.
How did you come up with your alter ego—a big Richard Donner fan, are we?
Not a huge fan, I just love that particular movie. The name fitted me and my sound perfectly, I thought.
And that sound is…
Guitar and synth-pop with an old-school edge.
You’re based in London now, but you were in Australia and New Zealand before that. Do you think having the exposure to so many different scenes has helped shape your music?
Traveling really just exposes you to different sounds and different ways of doing things. You get to see bigger cities and meet loads of people and all these experiences mount up to influence not just your sound but your attitude and outlook on things. But my family are very musical and I was surrounded with music my whole childhood—my stepdad was a jazz drummer and my mum a singer, and they were very supportive of me, so it was easy to be able to explore music and different instruments.
Who are your major influences, then, and what are you “exploring” right now?
David Bowie, ELO, Prince, Fleetwood Mac, Kim Wilde, Nirvana, Joan Jett…loads more! Right now I’m listening to Justice a lot, the Teenagers, Cut Off Your Hands, and Lightspeed Champion.
You definitely seem to be channeling Nirvana a bit, at least with your onstage look. How would you describe your personal style?
I wear a mixture of mid-nineties flannel, animal-themed T-shirts, Doc Martens, and black hats. My style is a little confused but it works for me (I think!)
Your haircut is all Stevie, though.
My hair has been like this for years! The person who cuts it now is a guy called Robbie at Taylor Taylor in London. He has the cut down. I’m too scared to let anyone else touch my hair!
What was the inspiration for the throwback video that you did with Kinga Burza for “Back of the Van”?
Kinga contacted me on MySpace just to say she was a big fan and would love to one day meet up. We ended up coincidentally meeting at a show through a mutual friend from Paris. We got on really well and I asked her if she’d be interested in doing the video. She was really into the song and idea and we discovered we both had the same desire to make a video with a similar feel to the Jacksons’ “Can You Feel It”!
Having been accustomed to producing everything yourself, what does your recent deal with Modular Records mean for you as an artist?
It’s great to be signed to a label with so many great artists on it, and with such a solid reputation. Pav, the owner of Modular, heard some of my demos and loved them. The rest is pretty much history!
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