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Amy Wadge is a Bristol-born actress, singer and songwriter, known for her “amazing” (Big Issue), “tough-but-tender voice” (Venue Magazine) and her “emotionally mature lyrics” (Q Magazine). A critically acclaimed musician, Amy earned the title of Best Female Solo Act at the Welsh Music Awards, beating out the likes of Charlotte Church and Cerys Matthews to win the title two years in a row. I’ve been sent to interview the up-and-coming songstress on a rainy London evening at the Borderline, a popular London music venue. The Borderline is empty and dark, and I manage to find Amy for a quick interview before the doors open to let in a waiting audience. Amy is a tiny woman, with a glorious mane of curly blonde hair and bright red lipstick. Wearing a black and white striped shirt ala Jonathan Richmond, she’s full of energy and raring to go; a last-minute meeting has been called, and she has, unfortunately, only a few minutes to chat. We scurry like mice down a dimly lit passage, walls filled with posters from shows gone by, into a tiny box of a dressing room lined with wooden benches. “Ah, the glamour of the music business,” she jokes as we get comfortable. Amy credits her dad with her passion for music—she grew up listening to everything he did, and that love of music lead her to learning to play the piano and guitar as a child. She counts Elton John among her favourite artists—she loved the Rose album as a child, “loved the stories, songs, even the artwork,” and the first album she bought was John’s Honky Chateau. Rufus Wainwright is currently Amy’s favourite musician, and, smiling, she admits, “I want him to be my friend.” Her top five favourite albums of all time include Bryan Adams’ Gold, Joni Mitchell’s, Blue, Elton John’s, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (are we seeing a pattern here?), Hourglass by James Taylor, and, of course, Rufus Wainwright’s double album, Want. Amy, unlike hoards of other musicians and singers, actually writes her own songs and has been writing, she says, “ever since I was a child…when someone would write a diary, I would write a song.” Inspiration for her lyrics and melodies comes from events that occur in her life, and in the lives of her friends. Laughing, she tells, how, when she was younger, “My friends were worried about telling me stuff because it would end up in a song.” She was an actress for awhile, and earned a degree from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to pursuit an acting career, but says that “acting always came second to music—music was always my first love.” Amy’s current band includes; Aled Richards, the drummer of the now defunct Welsh band Catatonia; bassist Bobby Kewley, who she met through her producers and who has been in the band for about a year; and Henry Priestman on keyboard and backing vocals. Henry, who “plays in the band from time to time and also produced the new album,” was in the popular 1980s band, The Christians. Onstage, a trio, including herself, usually performs, sometimes accompanied by a backup singer. Amy is in London to tour and promote her new album, No Sudden Moves. She tours a lot and has played in numerous countries outside the United Kingdom, including Australia, Asia, France and Russia. “Touring is why I get up in the morning,” Amy says leaning forward and pushing her curly hair away from her face, “to play live. I love gigging.” The new album is “much more acoustic, with less rock” than her previous albums, and, when pressed, she’ll admit that her favourite song on the album is a cover of the song, Design for Life. “It’s caused the most controversy and I love that. You either love [the song] or you hate it.” While her current tour will be over in just a few short weeks, worry not—Amy will be touring again in September. Interviewed by Summer Song June 2006 |