Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins recently swept the Australian Grammys, winning five.
Here she muses on the pop culture influencing her music.
Sonics: The piano at my parents’ house is a beautiful old Steinway & Sons with soft ivory keys. When I wasn’t playing it, I used to open it up sometimes, put my head into its body and scream. It made a sound like thunder. Other times my old dog Bindy would come and sit under it as I played, just enjoying the vibrations. She died a short while ago, but there’s still a bit of carpet under the piano that’s flattened into the shape of a sleeping dog.
Film: There’s something about foreign movies, especially French ones. I love that, compared to the Americanized blockbusters that are being pumped out every day, they seem to have no boundaries. You can always count on a French or German film to take some bizarre, perverse turn when you least expect it. And the sex scenes (of which there are always many) are never romanticized or perfect; they’re raw, gritty and beautifully uninhibited. Some of my favorites are “Swimming Pool,” “Amelie” and “Life Is Beautiful.”
Literature: I’m not sure who wrote “Perfume” (Patrick Suskind), but it is one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. I’d like to meet the author; maybe some of his mad imagination would rub off on to me. The story is set in old France and is about a boy called Grenouille who has an uncanny sense of smell. He was born in the gutter and is a dark, ugly kind of creature that skulks around the country searching for smells. The story is fantastical yet somehow disturbingly convincing.
Creative spaces: My favorite place to write music is my studio. When I say “studio,” I really mean my old bedroom at my parents’ house. And when I say “bedroom,” I really mean Dad’s old toolshed that we cleared out and put a bed in. I then hung Indian material all over the walls and ceiling to cover the cobwebs, put some candles around the place for some ambiance, and set up my equipment in the corner.
It’s a perfect cave. There is only a tiny window near the door, but the thick bush outside completely blocks out the light. I find the best time to write is at night anyway; there are no distractions, and there’s nothing better you could be doing – no friends to catch up with, no sun to be basking in and nothing to watch on television except infomercials, cheap porn and Chuck Norris.
TV: Watching “American Idol” I have to wonder: How can something so painful to watch also be so addictive? I feel sorry for the kids getting their dreams torn apart by these ruthless, ratings-hungry judges. But then a small, devilish part of me thinks that they really have to be told one day. They really should know that they sound like a dying duck.
Then again, a lot of the time they still don’t believe the judges; they just simply cannot accept that their mother has been wrong all these years! Well, best of luck to them, I suppose.
Then there’s the other side of the coin. Because I’m a musician, I’m always being asked whether I resent these people for taking over the charts with their “karaoke pop.” But the way I see it, charts are a reflection of what the public wants, and you can’t argue with that. You can be disappointed, but you can’t argue.
Missy Higgins brings her unique folky take on pop to the Boulder Theater on Saturday. Peter Rowan’s New Acoustic Trio also plays. Tickets, $19, are available via bouldertheater.com.
