Who or what inspires you creatively right now, both as a mother and an artist?
The energy shift in my house after the birth of our new son - it’s inspiring hearing my husband and older son painting or drawing or building or whatever it is they’re doing in the next room while I’m in my cave with the newborn. The magic of a newborn is inspiring me too. All those shifting sands.
Music and film are such intimate, expressive mediums. Do you feel that motherhood has added new layers to your voice as an artist?
It’s made me infinitely more confident as an artist and also given me the ability to take everything so much less seriously like I’m willing to let go or say no, that sort of thing. I used to be so shy and caught up with what people thought of me and that I should just hide at the back with the tambourine kind of thing, now I’m like, life is so short and fragile and precious and magical why pussyfoot around in the shadows. I’m bolder, comfortable with saying no when I used to fear nothing else would come along (!!!) and I’ll sing my own goddamn songs.
How would you describe your sound to someone listening to your music for the first time?
My new band I’m working on = gothic countrygaze. Cinema of unease for the ears. The other band I’m playing bass with at the moment (AW - with Andrew from Die! Die! Die!) sounds like grimy Dunedin winter of discontent music I am absolutely mad for it.
Are there any particular genres, artists, or musical movements that have had a lasting influence on your work?
The Brian Jonestown Massacre “sound” I’ve always felt super connected to - the feeling that sound gives it’s kind of heady fantastical Californian psychedelic, makes me feel stoned on life but without the drugs.
What stories or sounds are you excited to explore next in your career?
Recording some sad noisy songs in the country with friends and family just for the hell of it - my the journey not the destination y’know - my husband plays guitar for me often unwittingly I can hear him just mucking around in the next room and it’s so much better than what I’ve been over cooking so I’ll pinch it. Basically I’m keen to make some sounds of my own after playing in a lot of other people’s bands when I had the time to 😂 Way excited to play live with AW - he writes super melodic bass that’s fun to play because it’s quite out the front sonically as opposed to up the back on a quiet root note kinda thing. I’ll let rip.
As a creative storyteller, how do you hope your work will resonate with your children as they grow up?
I want them to know they don’t have to choose just one ”thing” to do - just to do whatever feels right & compelling and feel free to try stuff on for size in life. Failing is great it means you tried. Imagine never trying anything out that took your fancy - how frustrating. Mummy was a punk rocker, sounds like a Ramones lyric, I love it. Theme-wise I generally make films about outsiders or people that have some sort of thing that could hold them back in life but they embrace it and use it as a superpower instead, I hope my children understand embracing differences implicitly .
Balancing artistry and parenting is no small feat—what does your creative process look like now, and how has it evolved?
Well compared to five years ago pre-motherhood I was probably playing Christmas party gigs in rural pubs in a punk band by night and shooting documentaries by day and just sooooo overstimulated. Today I live a very settled but somewhat more creative life in many ways it’s just distilled - I’m try to write some lyrics most mornings at the moment, I just set a timer to write for a few minutes while the baby feeds, and i’m listening to a lot of like, the new Sharon Van Etten, MJ Lendermann, Kurt Vile’s Santa song he made with his daughters is doing something to my heart… i’ve learnt through parenting I thrive on consistency just like a baby does and just doing the smallest amount of time each day on a creative practice is so freeing, there’s no energy expended on “will I won’t I” I just do it.
What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned about yourself since becoming a mum?
Concepts like consistency I used to find scarily boring are the opposite, to pick up an instrument or a pen daily instead of what’s “expected” of a mother like a yoga mat or a cup of tea and a magazine or whatever. No disrespect if that’s your self-care I wish I enjoyed exercise and herbal tea but yeah I’ve learnt it’s absolutely fine to have different self-care things to do than the other mums at kindergarten and in fact keeps me true to myself and happy and therefore a good parent. It’s okay to still be a rock music obsessed mummy and that can fit alongside my boring predictable day. Turns out we are all multitudes.
What rituals or daily habits help you connect with your family?
My kids and husband and I muck around playing music together a lot - we cook together, bake, garden, love watching a bit of TV together like old-school Smurfs or Snoopy. Our house feels like a bach it’s on the water out west and feels very rural, we love a slow life, picking lemons and beans it’s very Linda McCartney energy…. My husband take lots of film photos, we have the Polaroid cameras out at the moment a lot this summer using every day.
How do you find moments of rest or self-care amidst the busy life of parenting?
Writing a little bit every day, even if it’s nonsense or doesn’t “result” in anything. Some days it’s like ashes and there’s nothing there, some days there’s something magic. It gets the nonsense out of my overactive brain and settles me into some sort of manageable human rhythm. Putting pen to paper is my meditation practice.
What advice would you give to other new mums, trying to navigate this beautiful, complex chapter of life?
Don’t stop whatever you’re doing just because society says you ought to when you pop out a baby - it might be wise to hit pause if you have a screamer for a few months but that will change. Do whatever makes you happy it might just take a perspective shift. Or try it at nap time.