In her music you can find blues punk rock and roll soul gospel and beside conventional instruments a harmonium and sometime a pedal steel guitar:
Some people say her music is a mix of Blondie, Cramps and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Her singing style is often compared to Patti Smith and Nick Cave. Some years before she toured with Cave as supporting act and backup singer, even he was who released her first EP after her band Happy Hookers disbanded. Even more she recorded her version of Kurt Weil/Bertolt Brecht song Pirate Jenny with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis for a compilation album.
As a child of an Indian immigrant family she learnt to play the piano and harmonium but was banned from western type music but later she became a goth girl. Her first band was the bass-drums-harmonium trio Beat The Devil where she wrote all of music and lyrics already. Her music is so entertainingly eclectic that I felt the need ask about her influences. She says:
I’m proud to say I’m still a sponge in the sense that I can absorb a lot. At the same time with a question like this I never know where to start. I obviously love music my tastes have a fairly wide range. I’d say my biggest influences are the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Arthur Lee
Classic Punk, Hip Hop especially old school Hip Hop, Industrial/Noise, Soul, and Old Bollywood music from the 60s and 70s. Lately I’ve been really into Broadcast and Ministry. Ha! Who would ever put those two together? I don’t know, it’s just where I’m at:
I like other forms of art as well. I used to be a dancer so that comes in to play a lot. If I can’t move to my own music then what ‘s the point? I do like to read and do it often but in short form. Something I can get through in one sitting like poetry, essays, short stories rather than a novel. I’ve got a short attention span. I love streaming TV shows. I’m all about it, especially if the writing is witty. I recently watched Fleabag and Killing Eve. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a damn good writer.
Cooking is another big one for me. I love to cook and I love to eat. Most studio engineers I know are big into cooking. It makes sense to me cause making a record and making a well balanced meal is kind of the same thing. Anytime I’m at a mixing session I often wonder if the track has been over spiced. I love going to museums and looking at art. I like the theatre a lot to. This is all starting to sound like a profile on some Tinder app. Are you gonna swipe left or swipe right?
