It’s all Pete Doherty’s fault. No, it’s down to Red Hot Chili Peppers. Or do we finger Fran Healy of Travis? Nah, sod it, let’s blame Ewan McGregor and Jake Gyllenhaal. They’re movie stars, proper ones. They’re used to shouldering serious responsibility. If it weren’t for these artists, Amy Macdonald wouldn’t be the teen-sensation singer-songwriter she is now. She’d still be kicking round Glasgow, an undergraduate at university, studying social sciences with an emphasis on geography. The highlight of her year would continue to be her annual pilgrimage to T In The Park, whereat she and her mates would party under canvas for 48 hours, forget their own names, and maybe see some bands. Amy Macdonald would still be a nobody, instead of a somebody out of whom great songs just flood. Amy was 12 when her world wobbled on its axis. She was on a family outing to Rothesay on Scotland’s west coast. Her gran gave her some money to treat herself. Instead of buying a tenner’s worth of ice-
cream she bought a CD: The Man Who by Travis. It was the first album Amy ever owned. She was blown away: simple songs (Driftwood, Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, Writing To Reach You), sung brilliantly, roaring powerfully in her ears and in her head.
Amy’s music inspired us to write interview questions. We asked them to her. You can read, and enjoy.
Q) Your new album runs through a wide range of emotions, highs and lows. Was this your goal when you set out to make this record?
No, I didn’t think I was writing ‘an album’ `I was just writing songs when I felt inspired. I tend to write about things in normal life that me and my friends go through or things I see and so I guess that is naturally going to cover different emotions. Sometimes I have been in the mood to write something toe-tapping and other times something slower.
Q) Was “This Is The Life” inspired by a specific story, or more a general idea?
More a general idea it came really from a night out with friends - we went to see a Babyshambles gig in Glasgow and it was a brilliant gig musically and I had wanted for ages to see them play and we were having such a good time and I just looked at my friends and thought to myself ‘this is the life’ and I wrote a song about it - it didn’t take very long, I just went home, picked up the guitar and thought about the evening.
Q) Which are your favorite tracks from the album?
I really like ‘Run’ - it is one of my more recent songs and was inspired by going to see the Killers perform in Glasgow Academy - I felt inspired just watching them and thought I wanted to write a song that wouldn’t sound out of place if they sang it. I also really like ‘This is the life’ the title track because of the memories it brings back when I think about that evening.
Q) If someone was about to hear your music for the first time, what would you tell them to expect?
I probably wouldn’t say anything! I would just let them listen and wait to see if their feet started tapping as I have noticed most people’s feet or fingers start tapping after a while - people tell me it is hard not to. People do say my songs are more uplifting than sad. They’re a bit poppy a bit rocky a little bit folky! I think there’s something in my album for all ages.
Q) We hope that you are this year’s Amy Winehouse - how do you feel about her success and her apparent inability to function?
I think Amy Winehouse is a talented artist and I would love to do as well as she has done in so many countries like America. I do feel sorry for her though because when you get to the stage where you obviously have personal problems with drugs, which are then put all over the papers and you have photographers waiting outside your house and in your face all the time it must be a lot of pressure that can’t help the situation. But all the attention seems to have done her records sales a lot of good. I just hope she manages to look after herself as I think often vulnerable people who are famous get exploited when they actually need help and support to help themselves.
Q) Shameless plug time - when does your new album drop and where can people buy it?
My album is released in the US on the 19th of August this year! “This Is The Life” is available for pre-order at Amazon now and will be available at iTunes and most stores nation-wide.
Amy Macdonald – “Mr. Rock & Roll”, from the album THIS IS THE LIFE –
http://uclassics.edgeboss.net/wmedia/uclassics/amymacdonald/01_mr_rock_and_roll.wax
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Posted By: diedonthevine | Jun 19th