q&a

Do you consider yourself the hero or the villain in your story? The trouble with heroes and villains is that it’s very all-or-nothing. You’re either all good or all bad and most of us aren’t like that. Some people are truly heroic and they spend their lives striving to be a better person each day than they were the day before and that’s not me. I admire that, but I’m comfortable being who I am, even with all my flaws.So I can’t be a hero, but I think there’s enough good in me that I can’t be a villain either. Sometimes I think maybe I’m just a minor character in someone else’s story instead. What advice would you give to someone looking to get into your field? Be realistic. I make a living from music, kind of, but I’m a long way from selling out massive venues around the world and making millions. Sometimes that’s hard, because I’ve got a lot of good friends who are musicians and most of them are more successful than I am. It can be heartbreaking to pour everything you have into your music only to watch as everyone you know makes it and you’re still doing tiny solo shows in your hometown and wondering if you peaked at 15. If you’re going into music to become rich and famous, don’t. If you work hard enough you’ll be able to make a living as a musician somehow, but if you dream of Grammys and everyone knowing your name, you’re probably going to be disappointed. How has your career changed since it started? In theory I’m a lot less successful than I was when I started out, but these days I’m finally writing the music I want to write. Green Square was really just three teenage girls writing shitty pop songs, and then we morphed into this pseudo 60’s thing. I don’t regret any of it (much) but it was only ever part of me. With Calligraphy, and with my solo music I feel like I’m finally expressing all of who I am. I’ve never been more comfortable onstage and I don’t care that barely anyone has even heard of my band, because it was only ever meant to be a bunch of friends having fun and writing a few songs together and instead it’s become something I’m incredibly proud of. As of this exact moment, who is the most important person in your life? Why? My husband, although I hate to say it because I always get uncomfortable when I have to talk about our relationship. I had to sit through so many years of listening to friends obsessively talking about their boyfriends all the time and I never wanted to be that person. But all that aside, Ry means more to me than anyone else, even my family. He’s the first person I turn to and he works so hard every fucking day to be the best partner he can possibly be. Sometimes I take his love for granted because I’m secure in the knowledge that he’ll never stop loving me, but he works for my love every day, even though he doesn’t have to. What is your proudest accomplishment thus far? Becoming a published author is pretty exciting. I don’t know if anyone was that surprised when I started a band, but nobody was expecting me to get a book deal and I’m proud of it because I had to work really hard to make it happen. My first book comes out in a few months and it still feel so surreal. I’ve done a bit of writing here and there for magazines, but the fact that I’ll be able to walk into a bookstore and see my book on the shelves soon is amazing. I hope it does well, but I’m going to be proud even if it doesn’t.