Interview - Stephanie McIntosh

There are times when PRs ask you to cover something an artist who you think would be out of place on your title. You feel like saying 'No, sorry I'm busy', but that would be mean. And besides, you've probably said it before and don't feel like standing them up again. Such was the case with Stephanie McIntosh, a lovely Australian girl embarking on a pop career. I wasn't sure a Neighbours star going into music would be ideal content for the website, but she's fairly well-known, and besides, all the men in the office had a crush on her. For the record, her album sounds a bit Avril Lavigne and isn't that bad, and she's polite and bright.

Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in June 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd

STEPHANIE MCINTOSH

Stephanie McIntosh is Sky from Neighbours. She’s also Jason Donovan’s half sister. But the 21-year-old is also a person in her own right and is embarking on a career as some sort of budding pop goddess. We gave her a ring in London to find out what she’s up to.

Hello?
“Hello. Can you hear me?”

Yes I can, it’s all working fine. How are you at the moment?
“Yeah, I’m well, I’m well. It’s the first interview of the day, so I can’t complain at all.”

Your first one? So you’ve only just got up then?
“Yeah, well, pretty much! Have you, or have you been working for a while now?”

No, I only just got in. I thought I was going to be late, I was in the car and the traffic was really bad, and I was like ‘Oh God I’m got to be there in half an hour!’
“I’m still getting used to all the traffic in London. It’s crazy. It’s very different to Melbourne, although Melbourne has its traffic but obviously not the population with it.”

Are you actually from Melbourne? What’s it like there?
“Very laid back. It’s a very easy going lifestyle and just very relaxed.”

Better weather as well?
“Well, we have our good and bad days. It’s kind of similar, like the forecast will say it’s gonna be hot but it won’t be. And that’s kind of like Melbourne.”

We’ve got this image that Australia is just permanently really hot.
“Well our summer is just really boiling I have to say, and we had a really long summer this year, but it was good.”

Stephanie’s spent the last couple of weeks doing the promotional rounds for her album ‘Tightrope’. “Last week was strange ‘cause I was trying to understand that I was actually in London and that it was all happening. But it’s all been good.

“It’s the debut, and it’s being released in Australia now, and we’ve just finished releasing the third single back at home which is cool. And it’s kind of a pop rock record, and something which I’m really proud of.”

Have you got any favourite tracks on there?
“Yeah, the last track on there which is called ‘The Light Of My Life’. When you listen to it you’ll know what it’s about but it’s just a really special ballad full of strings and it’s just the lyrics are very touching so I was always connected to that song. There’s a track called ‘A Change Is Coming’ which is probably one of those tracks people don’t realise how much fun it is ‘til they sort of listen to it a few times. I love every song on it and hope that people can sort of feel the same way.”

As for life in entertainment, she took her first tentative steps - or pirouettes – in ballet aged just three. “I love dancing, I still dance when I can, it’s just not full time anymore because obviously Neighbours was a full time job in itself, I just couldn’t make the classes so I had to slow down on it.

“I think singing’s always come first, ‘cause it’s more natural, it’s something you can do, you know, easily in your own bedroom, and just sort of get carried away with it.”

Are you interested in keeping your acting going at the moment, alongside your singing career?
“Yeah, I hope I can combine all of it. Obviously at this stage my priority’s ‘Tightrope’. After four years on one set, I’m really happy to make my singing a priority but I haven’t shut [acting] off, that’s for sure.”

Stephanie is of course familiar to many Brits as Sky Mangel in Neighbours. We had a quick look at a biography of the character, and got slightly confused. Turns out Sky was born to Kerry Bishop and Eric Jensen, but her mother was shot dead and her father was a bit of a hippy so she lived with Joe then moved in with grandfather Harold, dated Boyd, was kissed by Lana, kissed Dylan, cheated on him with art lecturer Jean-Pierre, then cheated on him again with Stingray, had Stingray’s baby, called it Kerry, Kerry developed leukemia… it was then we lost track.

I have to confess I’m not sure what’s going on in Neighbours at the moment. It’s usually on when I’m driving home from work.
“Well apparently Stingray just died here, so… Actually Ben (Nicholas) who plays Stingray is living in London at the moment.”

Have you been catching up with him?
“Yeah, him and Kyal Marsh who plays Boyd, they’re my best mates off set so it’s been fun having them here.”

Have you got any sort of fond memories of your time in Neighbours?
“Oh, of course. I mean yeah, the whole four years has been amazing for me, it was just such a good place to learn and grow and experience so many different things.”

It’s good you got on well and everything and you’re still in touch with people.
“Yeah, well there’s definitely a few of us that will probably stay friends forever I hope. But yeah, it is really lovely.”

Do you think you’re likely to go back?
“Um… I sort of feel I’ve put closure to Neighbours now, you know if I was asked to go back or be a guest, if it was a good time I would definitely go back.”

Do you think you’re much like Sky in real life?
“If anything, maybe more so now. As she’s got older, I’ve got older obviously, but initially for the first couple of years on the show, not at all. We were chalk and cheese, like I found sometimes I didn’t even know what she was talking about. That was so much fun though and it was part of it, like that she was so different, and it just made it so much more interesting, and challengeable for me.”

It was good acting then, because you looked like you knew what she was talking about…

Stephanie has also been busy with ‘The Steph Show’. It might sound like a camp game show, where your host appears in some sort of gold shimmery fabric and a fluorescent grim to watch losers juggling fire or something. In actual fact this was an eight-part fly-on-the-wall documentary which followed Stephanie over time as she prepared her album.

Was it a bit weird having the camera following you round? Because in Neighbours you know the camera’s going to be there, you’re acting, but ‘The Steph Show’ was more fly-on-the-wall wasn’t it.
“It had its good and bad days, I have to admit. It’s sort of hard to believe but you do forget it’s there sometimes but more than not you’re aware of the camera being there. There were some really hard days where I was sort of a bit sick off jumping off the Neighbours set and having another camera in my face. It got pretty full on.

“You know, I am a pretty private person behind the scenes and behind Sky Mangel and behind the music which sounds pretty silly. It was hard but a great experience and I’m really lucky that I had the chance to do something like that.”

I guess everyone here’s been mentioning to you all the other people from Neighbours who have released singles…
“Yeah!” (laughs)

Probably a bit annoying to hear about that. Is there something in the Erinsborough water?
“Exactly, that’s exactly what I have said before! I guess it’s funny how they’ve all come out of one place. It is kind of weird because there are so many talented artists back home in Oz that aren’t just actors.”

The other thing I guess people have been speaking to you about – your half-brother Jason Donovan. Do you follow much of his career?
“Yeah. I’m living with him while I’m here, which is really nice to have some family over here. I think I’ve been a little bit naïve to how successful he was. He’s got all these amazing framed albums and platinums and golds, he’s done so well. There’s a big age gap between us and I was very young when he was breaking through with it all. It’s nice to be able to appreciate it now for him.”

Has he been sort of mentoring you?
“Yeah, in a big brother way I guess. But yeah, he’s been great, you know he and his children and his partner are all very supportive, it’s just very normal when I go back at home at the end of the day.”

Jason was on ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’ Would you ever appear on those sort of gameshow reality shows yourself?
“I guess that all depends… it honestly would depend where I am and what I’m doing, if the timing was right, if it was a good thing to do…”

If you wanted bugs on your head, that sort of thing.
“Yes! I don’t know much about the show because it wasn’t over in Oz. I was aware of what he did and that he was doing it but I haven’t seen any of it yet. But I heard it was quite extreme, so maybe not that one!”

Any other plans for this year?
“I hope this album sees me through to the end of the year really, I hope I get the opportunity to release more than the first single. If I have it my way hopefully there’ll be three to four singles. So I’m just really focused on this album and hope to stretch it out for the whole year.”

Then have a nice holiday.
“Something like that, exactly!”

MySpace