Gin Wigmore truly is out of this world.
The New Zealand native first caught the world’s attention with her raw and emotional voice that delivers a mix of genres, such as pop, blues, soul, and rock n’ roll all in one song. Having seen her perform at a private showcase in Singapore recently, we know for a fact that when Gin Wigmore takes the stage at a gig, she doesn’t just take the stage – she owns it with her powerful vocals and her inexhaustible energy.
Thanks to our friends from Universal Music Malaysia, we got to hang out with Gin real quick in her hotel room and had a chat for a bit before her show.
Here’s what went down:
Hi Gin, how is it going? How has Singapore been treating you?
It’s so good! Oh my gosh everyone has been so kind. I think I might need more things to ask for. Because everyone keeps asking me if everything’s okay or if I need anything else. It has been so chill and great, and we went out to have chili crab last night – it was so good! And we ended up doing scissors paper rock bidding games, and we were down at the pool having shouting wars all night. It’s so different from New Zealand and the US – everything is so clean and nice and organised. It’s an awesome way of life – I’m really into it.
Say Gin is who you are by profession, what are some of the biggest differences between “Virginia” and “Gin”?
Virginia and Gin, hmm. I’d have to say that it’s pretty consistent. I kind of stick to being me for the majority of the time. There’s not much apart from maybe marathon-watching series on TV that might be the more “Virgnia” side of me than the “Gin” side. But, I’m pretty consistently Gin 😉
I read a 2011 Huffington Post interview where you said growing up, you were an angry teenager. How greatly did that influence your music? Do you ever look back and regret those years of being angry?
Yeah! I was a shitty teenager (laughs). I don’t regret anything because I’m really happy with who I am and where I am in my life right now. And if I changed anything in the past, that would change the present right now. It’s like that “Back to the Future” story, you know? If you changed a slight thing, it would change your present. And I like who I am and what I’ve become at present so I don’t regret anything. But it was important for me to be rebellious and shitty teenager because I was..I had things that I wanted to say. So much so that my Mom said to me, “Look, I’m sick of hearing about you telling me about your horrible life. Just write it down!” and if it hadn’t been for Mom telling me to write everything down, I wouldn’t have had the lyrics to make my songs. From there, I learnt to play the guitar and I put all my angsty, you know, “My life is so bad” lyrics, into all these songs..when it really wasn’t, but you know I put those in and made songs. And I guess that was the catalyst to this whole thing.
I watch “New Rush” and it was really trippy and dark! Could you tell us the inspiration behind that music video?
Yeah well, with my songwriting, they come about through..when I first write a song, it’s an image in my mind and I almost always write to the picture that’s sitting in my mind. So..the visual for that, when I first started writing “New Rush”, it was kinda like when I first started writing “Blood to Bone”. And it was about changing my whole life and switching everything up, and moving and going and all that stuff. Because I wanted this new rush. I wanted a new whole outlook and direction in my life. It’s like pushing through adversity and the visual to accompany that needed to be that same kind of..so you’re overcoming an arrow that’s in your gut, this really intense..you’re bleeding out and it’s not a good time. And you’re running through in hopes that you’ll survive, and that’s what I wanted to portray with the visual that accompanied that song. But the person who saves you, might be the person who did that to you. Is the grass greener? I don’t know. It’s that struggle and hope that you’ll survive and hope that you’ll get through to a better life, stage..I love intense videos and how people react to them.
Of all the songs off “Blood To Bone”, which songs do you hold particularly close to heart?
I really love “New Rush” because it feels like a very different sound for me. It feels like someone’s just kinda continually punching you in the face. It’s aggressive and I like that about it – it’s relentless. It’s fun to make music like that. There’s a song called “Black Parade” on this album which is really cool and a really powerful track for me. It just feels strong, like a kind of epic, death march in a way. It’s powerful and is really nice to sing because you take on that character where you feel like..invincible while singing the song. Which is a really nice feeling 🙂
How do it feel to constantly be compared to the likes of Amy Winehouse? And on that note, do you listen to Amy Winehouse?
Yeah, yeah, totally! I mean, she’s an incredible artiste and an incredible singer..to be considered a musician of the same kind of calibre, it’s an amazing thing. It’s cool. I think we’re not the same artiste because every artiste, even with their similarities, they’re completely unique because they are their own individual. I’m not Amy Winehouse, she’s not me. We’re both females, we have tattoos, and we sing – that’s about all the similarities there is and the fact that I can be placed as a musician at the same kind of level, that’s awesome. Because she was f*cking amazing. She was honest, and sincere, and an incredibly singer. It’s a real shame to have lost her. And yeah, man..I listen to Amy Winehouse! She’s a beautiful singer. And it’s real, you know? It’s raw. And that’s coming from her soul – people like that, it’s kinda like the old singers. When you couldn’t manipulate the sound because all you had was the microphone and a tape, and you get one shot..that was it. She didn’t need anything else to be awesome and that was amazing.
When you’re not being “Gin Wigmore”, what’s your jam? Do you have any guilty pleasure when it comes to the music that you listen to?
Listening pleasure umm, yeah I love listening to this Spotify playlist called “Peaceful Piano” (laughs). And it’s just piano, man. It’s like spa sounds. And maybe I’ll umm, I also like..so because Los Angeles has a big drought and there’s hardly ever any rain, I bought USD10.99 worth of rain because..it’s like (laughs) rain sounds, you know? It’s like..rain of a tin roof, heavy rain, rain with thunder – all kinds of varied rain!
Last one for the road – do you ever sing in the shower? And if you do, what do you usually sing?
I don’t sing in the shower, actually. I used to do this thing when I was like 14/15 years old where..I’d go into the bathroom because bathrooms always have the best, wicked acoustics, and cause you’d sound amazing. And it’d be a tiny ass bathroom in my house, I’d sit in there on the bench next to the sink with my guitar, and I’d be playing and singing, and think that I’m f*cking awesome. And I would bring in my friends to stand in there with me and be like, “How dope is this sound?!” so yeah. I don’t sing in the shower but I used to have mini gigs in the bathroom 😀
Gosh haha that’s so cute! Thanks for the lovely chat, Gin.
Thank you!
Special thanks to our awesome buddies from Universal Music Malaysia for flying us in and for the opportunity! We’ll leave you now with what is most definitely one of our favourite songs this year, “New Rush” by Gin Wigmore.
Enjoy:
Don’t forget to check out her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more timely updates 😉
All pictures from Gin Wigmore’s Instagram.
