“IS IT a girl?” Paloma Faith asks as the call is put through for our interview.
“I’m glad it’s a girl because I’m in the bath,” she says. “I was trying to rush and then I thought let’s take a gamble. It’s 50-50 chance it’s going to be a man and if it is I’ll slowly edge out of the bath and try not to make any water noises. They might think I was flirting or something.”
Paloma’s insuppressible personality is apparent from her first words.
The former Islington Green pupil is due to play a gala show of her collaboration with trumpeter/arranger/composer Guy Barker – Down at the End of Lonely Street – alongside a full orchestra at the Barbican on December 10.
She said: “The Barbican’s like the cultural centre of the area I was brought up in. As a kid I always saw it as somewhere quite posh where rich people go. Now I’m playing there it feels like a breakthrough.”
She says the show’s about loss and loneliness, adding: “There’s a few of my songs but mainly songs that have influenced me by the great queens of tragedy and torch singers.”
Renowned as a flamboyant performer, Paloma’s happily aware of her past limits.
“I wanted to perform from quite a young age but I knew I wasn’t very good. I was about 10 when I did my first dance performance. I loved the excitement and adrenaline but didn’t know what I was doing. When they went right I went left and when they went up I went down, I totally stood out. My mum said it was hilarious that I stood out like a sore thumb because I was wrong all the time.
“For years after, I had the enthusiasm but not the ability. I think people thought I was a bit of a laughing stock…but I guess I found my way.”
A choreographer once told her he’d have to give her a lead role as she was hypnotic but “not very good” and was doing something different to everyone else.
Realising she wasn’t going to be a dancer was a “big setback”, so she began singing in bars while studying theatre hoping to work behind the scenes.
But she began attracting attention for her voice.
“I started to do it to my own surprise because I hadn’t really sung that much. Because the people I admired were so amazing I put myself beneath them and didn’t feel good enough but through this last year touring this album I think my voice has improved so much. I’ve sort of learned on the job. In a way my voice is better now than when I recorded my album. When I listen to the album I think oh a bit shit but I now play live and people say I’m so much better live.”
Paloma’s style has often attracted the attention of the Fashion Police: “Sometimes I end up walking out in something I haven’t really thought about. I look at it in pictures and think what was I doing? I know it’s dressing up. I find it difficult to get dressed on a day off because I don’t actually remember what I think looks nice. I take pride in taking risks and being a bit funny with it. People put me in those columns “what was she thinking?” Well I wasn’t. When I’m serious and when I know I look good it’s vintage inspired stuff. I think I’m very good at dressing like a Hollywood starlet.”
SEE the second part of this interview here - Paloma Faith on moaning music moguls, cash-strapped students + old school teachers
Showing posts with label Guy Barker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guy Barker. Show all posts
Friday, 19 November 2010
PALOMA FAITH ON MOANING MUSIC MOGULS, CASH-STRAPPED STUDENTS AND HER OLD SCHOOL
SINGER Paloma Faith has praised the teachers at her former school for doing an incredible job in the face of adversity and thrown her support behind the recent student protests
Speaking from her bathtub, the eccentric performer – a former pupil of Islington Green School – also criticised wealthy music industry figures for complaining about suffering during the recession.
Paloma, who is due to play a gala show of her collaboration with trumpeter/arranger/composer Guy Barker – Down at the End of Lonely Street – alongside a full orchestra at the Barbican on December 10, said: “When you look at world news, I think we’re really well off, maybe not as well off as in the 80’s and maybe that’ll never happen again.
"From the small perspective of being in the music industry I work with a lot of people who were in the music business when they earned shedloads of money and now they’re all complaining. Well they look pretty well off to me, I’ll be honest. I think a lot of people are rich people complaining they’re not as rich, but they’re still rich.”
Paloma, who is working on her second album, took a minute to praise her former teachers at Islington Green School.
She said: “I had an amazing education there. It’s funny because at the time I did my exams it was one of the schools that had one of the worst reputations in the country but I have to say the teachers were incredible.”
Now a bestselling artist, Paloma recalled appearing in school productions but never scoring the coveted main role.
Recalling one production of Little Shop of Horrors, she said: “I was never one of the leads I was always one of the dancers because at that time I was really into dance.”
Paloma also took the opportunity to voice support for students protesting against the coalition government’s plans to increase university fees.
She said: “It’s a shame the (protests) went violent because it reflects badly on their argument. If they’re protesting and saying all this stuff about being the future, what kind of impression does that give if they’re smashing things up? It's a shame for the students that genuinely are the future and are wonderful and have a lot to contribute because it gets them down as well. But I understand their reasoning because I do think that kind of debt is really intimidating to people specially people from poorer backgrounds.”
She added: “To a person who’s working, £9k is not that bad but if you look at that figure from the perspective of someone who comes from nothing and whose mother and father never in their lives can conceive of £9k or let alone earn it then I think that figure can be seen as extremely threatening and intimidating. It’s really sad and awful. It's great that students are protesting. For years I came from a really non political generation."
It is not the first time Paloma has commented on the British education system in the Press.
She appeared on This Week alongside Michael Portillo to discuss education in October last year.
The singer confessed to looking forward to her Barbican show, a venue she admired when growing up.
She said: “It's always been this place that was like the cultural centre of the area I was brought up in. The Barbican was quite close so it feels quite exciting to be part of it.
As a kid growing up I always saw it as somewhere quite posh and where rich people go from the perspective of a young kid in Islington and Hackney. But now I’m playing there it feels like a breakthrough for me.”
SEE the first part of this interview here - Paloma's Bathtime Revelations
Speaking from her bathtub, the eccentric performer – a former pupil of Islington Green School – also criticised wealthy music industry figures for complaining about suffering during the recession.
Paloma, who is due to play a gala show of her collaboration with trumpeter/arranger/composer Guy Barker – Down at the End of Lonely Street – alongside a full orchestra at the Barbican on December 10, said: “When you look at world news, I think we’re really well off, maybe not as well off as in the 80’s and maybe that’ll never happen again.
"From the small perspective of being in the music industry I work with a lot of people who were in the music business when they earned shedloads of money and now they’re all complaining. Well they look pretty well off to me, I’ll be honest. I think a lot of people are rich people complaining they’re not as rich, but they’re still rich.”
Paloma, who is working on her second album, took a minute to praise her former teachers at Islington Green School.
She said: “I had an amazing education there. It’s funny because at the time I did my exams it was one of the schools that had one of the worst reputations in the country but I have to say the teachers were incredible.”
Now a bestselling artist, Paloma recalled appearing in school productions but never scoring the coveted main role.
Recalling one production of Little Shop of Horrors, she said: “I was never one of the leads I was always one of the dancers because at that time I was really into dance.”
Paloma also took the opportunity to voice support for students protesting against the coalition government’s plans to increase university fees.
She said: “It’s a shame the (protests) went violent because it reflects badly on their argument. If they’re protesting and saying all this stuff about being the future, what kind of impression does that give if they’re smashing things up? It's a shame for the students that genuinely are the future and are wonderful and have a lot to contribute because it gets them down as well. But I understand their reasoning because I do think that kind of debt is really intimidating to people specially people from poorer backgrounds.”
She added: “To a person who’s working, £9k is not that bad but if you look at that figure from the perspective of someone who comes from nothing and whose mother and father never in their lives can conceive of £9k or let alone earn it then I think that figure can be seen as extremely threatening and intimidating. It’s really sad and awful. It's great that students are protesting. For years I came from a really non political generation."
It is not the first time Paloma has commented on the British education system in the Press.
She appeared on This Week alongside Michael Portillo to discuss education in October last year.
The singer confessed to looking forward to her Barbican show, a venue she admired when growing up.
She said: “It's always been this place that was like the cultural centre of the area I was brought up in. The Barbican was quite close so it feels quite exciting to be part of it.
As a kid growing up I always saw it as somewhere quite posh and where rich people go from the perspective of a young kid in Islington and Hackney. But now I’m playing there it feels like a breakthrough for me.”
SEE the first part of this interview here - Paloma's Bathtime Revelations
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