What does the world need to know about Lilygun? The world needs to know about Lilygun! haha… Quite a history with the band… what stands out the most? There have been so many memories, some that are terrible and many times when I thought I’d go insane! I remember when our drummer didn’t turn up to a gig and left us stranded on the night. We’d never played acoustically before and so we had to rehearse on stage roughly before the audience came at 8pm. We ended up playing so well that the crowd cheered for an encore and that was the start of many other successful acoustic nights we’ve played since. It’s probably the worst thing you can do to your band members but it hurt me more because that guy saw me lying in hospital with my head cut open! It was a real inhuman thing to do. Another memory that stands out was when me and the guitarist at the time were auditioning this girl drummer. Piranha was in Japan and not only did the Lilygun guitarist not turn up (this is the same snake in the grass who helped in large amounts to split up me and my original drummer of 4 years) the drummer didn’t either! I ended up sitting in the studio alone for hours just thinking about stuff. This might not sound so bad but it was a very stressful time for me and I really resented the fact that I felt so let down by my band members. The guy at the studio thought I had gone mad when he came in the room and saw me sitting there with my back against the mirrors after 3 hours! BUT there have also been amazing times and those times make me continue. What makes your band different from others? We’re one of those few bands around not paying attention. By this I mean that we don’t follow trends, we’re not fashion conscious at all or in the know of what’s in and what’s not. We just follow our own instincts and rely on our own imagination instead of being influenced to be like this or that. If it’s good, people will get it. And of course there’s the ever changing band line-up, you never know who’s gonna be playing on stage at any one gig so that’s always fun! How did overcoming your traumatic experience change your music and views on life etc? It hasn’t changed my music because I haven’t really written about it yet. I can say I behaved differently on stage afterwards though. When you’re faced with losing everything just like that, you have this sudden urgency to do everything one last time. I didn’t think that I could come back from such major surgery so when I did; I went totally crazy on stage. I became fearless and I wanted to show everything. It’s like that all the time for me now on stage. As for my views on life, I’m still trying to make sense of it all. Biggest memory with the band? 21st July 2006 – My first gig back at the WaterRats Theatre in Kings Cross. It was overwhelming. My family cried when they saw me back on stage. It was a miracle. What do you hope to accomplish musically? I want to be able to write about my experiences truthfully and positively. Most of the time song writing for me seems more or less out of my control. Writing is just something that I do. I never contrive ideas or copy, I just let it happen naturally and if it’s good, that’s great but I’ve written some real stinkers too! Getting to the all-girl line up, how was the band accepted and what obstacles did you have? To be honest, I face the same obstacles that I’ve always faced with this band, finding the right band members! As for being accepted, I don’t know if it was any different back then, when the band was all girls, to now. At the end of the day does it really matter if you’re accepted by others? Maybe it’s more important to accept yourself huh? How did you break the stereotypes? I break the stereotypes because I absolutely refuse to conform to what’s obviously expected of female artists. If other girls want to be sexy and be on the front covers of magazines wearing their underwear looking more like model wannabes than musicians than that’s cool for them but that’s not me. It’s not my style or manner of performing and it’s not relevant to Lilygun at all. Listen to the lyrics. It wouldn’t make sense if I was like that. Nothing about me is contrived except my clothes. I’m very particular about what I wear on stage and also on off stage photos of Lilygun. I’m very definite about who I am and who I’m not and there are places I don’t want to go with it. It’s so easy for musicians to cross that fine line between looking good as musicians in photographs to looking like total photoshopped twats! Why isn’t it enough to have nice clothes and good hair? It’s far more important the message you’re sending out surely? Was it more difficult as an all-girls band or to have a mixed band? I’ve come to realise that any type of band is difficult. People can be arseholes but you hope for the best! What do you have in the works? You can always find us gigging around London but we’re releasing 2 singles and a new EP this year which is very exciting. What to expect from Lilygun in the upcoming year? Never expect anything! There’s one thing for sure about Lilygun, you never know what to expect or what’s gonna happen. We’re an organised mess but I can say that no matter what happens, this band will continue as long as I have the music in me. Additional comments… No additional comments at this moment… Anna-Christina - Noise Zone Magazine August 2009