Little Boots: Small Hands, Little Boots, Big Shoes To Fill…
DIY grabs a chat with DIY Pop princess Little Boots, aka Victoria Hesketh.
The press is championing her as the “Sound of 2009” and “Kylie’s evil twin”, but does Kylie’s twin play piano, Tenori-on and stylophone, write songs, sing and look stylish all in one? DIY grabs a chat with DIY Pop princess Little Boots, aka Victoria Hesketh, about her new album, her newfound fame and her musical past.
Hi Victoria! DIY digs the new single, “New In Town”! We’ve heard it’s about being a stranger in LA and meeting random people there – some cool, some creepy. Can you expand on this? Or else tell us a bit about some of the weirdos you met over there!
No specific weirdos really! I was out there on my own, so it was isolating being in the middle of Hollywood. It was a weird contradiction of fear, and feeling like going out and going on nights out. Not knowing anyone, thankfully no harm came to me! It was hard, but mostly really fun.
Greg Kurstin produced your new album, 'Hands'– he’s the cool “accessory” for the female popstar at the moment. What’s his secret?
Greg is an amazing musician, songwriter and producer. I met him about 2 years ago with my old band [Dead Disco], and I always knew that I wanted to do as much as I could with him. We come from similar backgrounds – both keyboard-based and he’s got a jazz piano background – and he’s a fan of melodies and choruses, so he’s someone I’ve always connected with and wanted to write music with.
You mention jazz… As a student, you apparently wrote a dissertation on the concept of ‘originality’ in jazz, which referenced Jamie Cullum. Can you tell us briefly what you said about him in it, and what was your conclusion?
I wrote 1 line about him! I used an example about him covering Radiohead in a jazz style. People get really carried away and think I wrote a whole dissertation on Jamie Cullum, but it was just a reference where I talk about cover versions and improvisation. I can’t really remember much more – I think I was a lot cleverer when I was 21!
It happens, doesn’t it? You lose it…
I know!
On the album front, you’ve got Phil Oakey on one of the tracks, 'Symmetry' - how did that come about?
I’m just a massive Human League fan and the song was a duet, which needed male vocals. Someone knew someone who knew his management or something, and I was like “Oh My God!” I never expected anything to come of it, but he really liked the song, so it was an amazing result!
The song I really like on the album is the “secret track”, which strips it back to your voice and piano. You’re a classically trained pianist, so how has that background helped shape your music as Little Boots?
It’s a huge help to me to be able to have the knowledge and just be able to sit – and I don’t have to think about it. It makes it a lot quicker – I have an idea in my head and can put it down and try it. It’s just a really good skill to have – it’s not for everybody to have training. I can’t even remember half of it now! But I still try to play classical music whenever I can just to chill out.
Is there a particular composer you enjoy?
I like Debussy, and I would play Chopin, but my hands are too little.
To go a bit more ‘tabloid’ on music, DIY wanted to congratulate you for making ‘The Sun’ yesterday! You believe Leona Lewis’ music needs some “personality” to match her singing ability, no?
I didn’t say anything about Leona Lewis! They just make stuff up! 'Bleeding Love' is a massive tune and one of my favourite songs from last year so they just like to make stuff up! I might have said that a lot of the acts from those types of programmes don’t have enough personality to carry on being ‘artists’. I certainly didn’t say anything about Leona and she definitely wouldn’t care because she’s a multi-million selling artist!
That’s true! One thing we like about you is your unashamed love of Kylie, All Saints, Girls Aloud, etc. Why do you allude to these pop factory singers when you have also said elsewhere that you hope to bring musicianship back to pop music?
I don’t think I’ve ever said outright I’m going to bring musicianship back to pop music, but I think that’s just something I do. I’m a musician who happens to be a pop artist and I don’t think the two things need to be separate. I just think most of those artists have good pop songs, so I’m just a fan of the songs really.
Amongst others, you’ve covered Alphabeat and Miley Cyrus on your website, but where do you draw the line in the world of pop? Are you excited about the big Blue comeback?
Oh God! Blue are making a comeback?! I can’t really see that they’re going to do anything groundbreaking! They only broke up about 2 years ago! I think they’ve got some good songs, but I’m not particularly riveted by the comeback!
DJing is another thing you do. I’ve always thought it’s not necessarily a difficult skill, but it’s so easy to get the setlist wrong. What is the golden rule of a Little Boots DJ set?
Just have fun and play good songs! I had been playing big European clubs at 4 in the morning and stopped enjoying it. There’s almost like a rulebook - you just download songs from Hype Machine and play them in a row – it just stops being fun, so I try not to do as much. I may just do parties and play disco and pop.
What is your one ‘wildcard’ to guarantee a packed dancefloor?
Phil Oakey and Giorgio – 'Together in Electric Dreams' is always a winner!
You’ve met a few big dogs over the last few months – including Brandon Flowers and Kanye West. Can you tell us something random about those characters?
Kanye didn’t take his sunglasses off for the entire night indoors [at Perez Hilton’s party] – I don’t think he ever does anyway, so that’s not exactly groundbreaking. Brandon’s just lovely. He had a jacket with feathers on and I told him I liked his feathers and he started saying something about ‘We’re getting trouble from animal rights’, so I scuffled off really quickly. He likes feathers – I think it’s a good look.
Would you ever wear feathers?
Yeah, totally!
Speaking of ‘ruffled feathers’, I’ve seen an online article about you where you’ve discussed the split of your old band Dead Disco and an individual logged in to rubbish this and said that they know “the truth” about it all. I imagine that could be quite hurtful, so is there anything you’d like to say to this “person”?
Oh God! Really? I haven’t seen that. I left the band, which was my choice and it was a really difficult choice to make. I loved the band. I really and truly did. It took me 6 months to make the decision, but I don’t think things would’ve carried on all right anyway. There were a lot of problems with the label and if I hadn’t left, I think it would’ve just fallen apart. I made the decision because I just wanted to keep making music and be a musician. The other girls have known each other since they were kids at school. We decided to form a band, but by the end of it, the label got involved quite a lot and pulled us in different ways. I think they’ve got a new project that’s going really well anyway.
There was a cool aesthetic to that band, as there is with Little Boots. Which artist, past or present, do you think best combines pop and image?
Bowie.
What about currently? What do you make of Lady GaGa’s look?
She’s pretty funny but she sounds high maintenance.
You heard the “teacup” story, then? Like you, she loves her brew! How many cups do you drink a day, and which kinds tickle your taste buds?
I literally used to drink about 8 cups of this really strong brew but I started wielding myself off it gradually so I’m down to about 2 now! I was having tea-withdrawal symptoms and headaches! I’ve got into green tea and teas like that – it’s good for your metabolism.
Apparently GaGa likes Ginger Tea – it’s good for the voice! There’s a tip for you!
Thanks!
It’s funny that I’m talking to you now actually when the album’s not out yet. Before ‘Is This It?’ was released, The Strokes decided that they needed to stop speaking to the press because the hype was getting too much for them and they thought people needed to hear the album before asking them questions. How do you feel about “the buzz”?
It’s kind of scary because it’s a bit like an empty bubble. There’s all this talk and hot air and not a physical album out. But when I play sell-out shows that feels real! And the other stuff doesn’t really feel real. I’m looking forward to it getting out, and people hopefully buying it and liking it.
What will people hear when it’s out?
A colourful set of pop songs. It’s not all dance, straight up pop or electro, but a mix. But I wanted to do that and make a varied record.
Will there be any re-releases of ‘Meddle’ or ‘Stuck On Repeat’?
I have no idea at the minute. Maybe in the future, so they can get played on the radio. Meddle has already been released as a 7-inch and Stuck On Repeat was on iTunes – so I’d rather release stuff that people haven’t already got.
Sounds about right! Finally, Little Boots. If you could be in somebody else’s boots for a day, whose would you fancy?
Someone who could go on holiday and doesn’t have to do too much work.
Richard Branson, maybe? You’ve seen his “crib”?!
Yeah, but then he’s probably quite busy and stressed!
He probably pays people to be stressed for him!
I’ll be Branson on his day off and go on his island for a day.
With how it’s going for you now, I’d say stick to your own Little Boots!
Aww - thanks for that! Thank you!
Little Boots kicks off her UK tour at Club Academy (Manchester) on 13th May. See http://www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic for more details, and here for tickets. You can pre-order her debut album 'Hands', released 8th June, here.
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