This was the day after I spoke to Craig Reid from The Proclaimers - it was obviously Scottish Week somewhere (Scotland, perhaps). Amy Macdonald was quite softly spoken. She's done really well this year and built up a solid fanbase. I saw her in April 2007 in a small London club where a bottle of beer and a coke came to about £9, a shock I've never forgotten. I've just realised the office made a fifteen minute phone call to a network in Belgium. I'd hate to think what the phone bill was for that...
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in September 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
AMY MACDONALD
“When you’re on tour you find things to amuse you and there’s a fascination with Parma ham. You need to be there to appreciate it but it’s funny,” explains 20-year-old Amy Macdonald. The Glaswegian singer/songwriter is in Belgium when we ring her for an interview. Occasionally the mobile signal disappears, and on one memorable occasion the phone cuts me off entirely, resulting in a hurried call back. She’s currently trying to explain why there’s a photograph on her website showing her signing a piece of prosciutto.
“This Parma ham started to turn up on the rider so it just got to be a bit of a running joke. Our soundman is adamant that he’s going to have a vodka Parma ham, which is just Parma ham inside a glass and vodka poured over, so I can’t wait until he tries it!”
It’s a busy time for Amy. Since her first full single release in July – ‘Mr Rock and Roll’, which reached a more than respectable 12 in the charts – her life has been a whirlwind of press, gigs supporting the likes of Travis and triumphant festival performances. At the time of the interview, Amy’s on her way to Ghent – via Paris and Brussels - where she’s opening for Paul Weller. “It’s really cool, it’s a privilege to be asked.”
Amy Macdonald is usually described by lazy writers, such as myself, as being similar to KT Tunstall. This is generally because both are Scottish and play the guitar. On stage, Amy has a striking and commanding voice; it’s large and grand and wise and towers majestically over the chords she is energetically strumming.
On the telephone, she sounds a little nervous, which is understandable; few musicians get into the business because they really, really want to be repeatedly interviewed by strangers about the same topic. Her Scottish accent is strong and there are plenty of rolled r’s in words which I didn’t even realise had r’s in them.
Her new single is ‘L.A.’. I read that it’s about the actor Jake Gyllenhaal? “It’s been taken out of context I think,” explains Amy. “I feel everyone has somebody they really idolise, be it an actor or a musician or a sports player, and the song is just about how you can have that person and you can really respect what they do and look up to them, but you should always believe in yourself and believe you can achieve just as many things.”
Incidentally, the video wasn’t filmed in LA, but the marginally less-glamorous spot of ‘near Malaga.’ “I don’t think the budgets really cover us going all the way to LA for one day to shoot a video yet!” Amy giggles. Give it a few weeks...
And ‘L.A.’ is from her debut album ‘This Is The Life’, which popped into the charts at number two. Amy was very excited by this. “It’s a real honour that people actually went out and bought it and for it to get to number two was just amazing.”
It’s especially refreshing to see that Amy is so obviously into her music and not the whole fame and celebrity tag around, as made quite clear when we get onto her album track ‘Footballer’s Wife’.
“I just found that in Britain people seem to be completely and utterly obsessed by celebrity and things like that. Out of like ten young girls asked, at least half of them said that their ambition in life is to be a WAG. It’s absolutely horrendous that it’s impacting young girls. I’m not interested in picking up a newspaper and finding out that Colleen whatever-her-face has bought a new dress, it’s absolutely ridiculous. It sounds a horrible kind of culture that Britain’s got a bit obsessed about, that people have got famous for spending their other half’s money and I think it just deserved a rant.
“There’s football in so many countries but it only seems to be Britain that kind of has this footballer’s wife obsession. Every time I go to Europe I have to explain what the song’s about ‘cause they don’t really get it. We don’t have it in Scotland at all, it’s actually only England!”And the whole Big Brother thing kind of started it as well; people on this ridiculous show so that they can be famous for five minutes and then be cast into obscurity when nobody wants to talk about them any more.”
And let's not be forgetting ‘Poison Prince’, which was given a limited release in May, and it’s about the tabloid favourite Mr Doherty. “Pete Doherty was such a talented songwriter and just an amazing musician. Now everyone knows who he is because of his drug-taking and supermodel girlfriend and nobody’s ever really heard any of his music. For me that is such a shame, it’s a huge waste because he was a really talented musician and ‘Poison Prince’ was just my song to him to basically say please come back and leave all the rubbish behind.”
Have you heard the new Babyshambles single ‘Delivery’? “I think it’s wonderful. It’s just a great song. It sounds somewhat like The Kinks in places, I think that’s just Pete’s inspiration coming through, but I was really happy when I heard it and I thought ‘Oh, Pete’s back’. But then the next day I think he got arrested, which kind of made me think ‘oh, here we go again!’”
As well as being a major Libertines fan, Amy likes bands such as The Killers, Kings of Leon and The Coral, and is currently digging the Pigeon Detectives’ album. She saw a clip of them at T in the Park: “They just seemed to be absolutely loving it and commanding the stage. It was really cool to have an up-and-coming band that are doing so well and they’ve got so many great songs that people just want to jump along to."
Ah, T in the Park. Clearly the best-known and best-loved music festival in Scotland, and this year Amy was proud to be there, on the T-Break Stage in between The Haze and Down The Tiny Steps. “Oh that was brilliant,” Amy says excitedly. “I mean obviously I’m Scottish and really proud of that and I’ve been to T in the Park for the past five years. To be asked to perform is such an honour for me, the tent was absolutely crammed, everyone seemed to have a great time and I really enjoyed it as well so it was just awesome.”
The Scottish seem really patriotic, not like the English, so you must have had some really good support there. “Well I think the Scots tend to do that, we’re really proud of good things that come from our country. Everyone gets behind you, all the Scottish press and the radio stations, and everyone just feels it’s their duty to do as much as they can for you which is just amazing because it’s great to have the country that you’re from being really supportive like that.”
Amy also played a few gigs at Scottish landmarks earlier this year – Mount Stuart, Culzean Castle and Edinburgh Castle. It must make a real change from the sweaty beery venues. ”It was really cool to play in weird venues like castles and country houses. It was really civilised.”
Of course, some sweaty beery venues are better than other. Yes, we’re talking about the Glasgow Barrowlands. The subject of Amy’s song ‘Barrowland Ballroom’ (“And when the stars shine so bright on the cold December night / I wish that I was on the stage… Well there is magic in the air I swear”), she’s incredibly excited to be playing a Christmassy gig there. “Yeah that’s just been announced. That’s amazing, I didn’t think I’d be playing there so soon. I’m so excited about it and I really can’t wait to play and I think my friends are even more excited than me. I’ve had a text today saying ‘Can I come onstage to stagedive?’”
One final thing Amy – I was looking on your forum, and there seems to be a group of people trying to guess what your favourite flavour ice cream is. Can you put us out of our misery? “I think it’s probably chocolate,” she says with a smile in her voice. Intelligent journalism at its finest. Thanks for that.
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Amy Macdonald releases single ‘L.A’ on October 15th through Vertigo Records. Album ‘This Is The Life’ is out now
Amy Macdonald
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