Interview: Emmy the Great

After a slow-burn ‘playing-just-about-anywhere-with-a-stage’ over the last two years, London singer-songwriter Emma Lee-Moss (better known as Emmy the Great) has just leapt onto the mainstream musical radar with the release of her debut full-length First Love (review to follow).

A rather smug reviewer from everyone’s favourite scene-rag (the sad sacred cow that is the NME), commented that she’s “the kind of delicate, fragile, girlish creature who makes men involuntarily melt into helpless pools of adoration and women involuntarily itch to dash her brains out against the nearest hard surface”. But we don’t think that’s accurate (and we’d like to officially refute any suggestion that our libidos helped form our judgements), and that it’s really no kind of an introduction for one of the most talented musicians to emerge from the city recently.

So, we were very fortunate when Emmy kindly agreed to take a few moments out of her busy touring schedule to talk shop with Stereokill.net…

Stereokill: You’ve been on the radar as one of London’s rising-stars for quite a while now. After years spent playing the back-rooms and bars, are you enjoying the bigger crowds and venues?

EtG: Actually I’ve been really lucky to have gotten amazing supports and festivals from very early on, even before I was in a band with the others, so there weren’t a lot of back rooms and bars, but this is the most people who have come to one of our own shows and yes, it feels very good.

Stereokill: So, “First Love” is finally on the shelves… how do you feel about the album?

EtG: For me, it’s finished. It’s a record of the time that it was made, and the time I spent waiting for it to come out, and now that time is over. It’s actually quite weird that other people are only just hearing it. Members of my family will bring up a song and I’ll be like, “that is so 2008.”

Stereokill: One thing I noticed is that it’s a deeply personal album. What inspired you to write the album as you did?

EtG: The songs just come out. I didn’t choose to write them a certain way. Probably breaking up with my boyfriend when I did had a huge influence.

Stereokill: There are quite a number of spiritual references on “First Love”. Are you a religious person? Does faith influence your music at all?

EtG: No, my parents brought me up with no religion. The closest thing I get to religious guilt is if I rock backwards on a chair, I hear my dad saying “art dealers’ children don’t rock on chairs”.

My grandmother was Christian though, and my memories of visiting England when I was young are tied up with trips to Sunday School with her. Probably that has made churches inextricable from my view of England.

Stereokill: More generally, then, what influences you, musically or otherwise?

EtG: Good albums. Not every good album will force me to write a song, but sometimes I’ll hear one that just clicks and I will need to sit down and write a whole bunch of stuff. Last time round it was The Wave Pictures‘ Avocado Baby. Books and scenery as well.

Stereokill: What did you grow up listening to? What was the first album you bought?

EtG: The first album I bought was Metallica’s self-titled. I remember it very well… it was reading the lyric book when I first encountered the word ‘cunt’, and went downstairs to ask my dad what it meant. Second album was by Ace of Base. Very soon after that I got into Nirvana and then Green Day. Then a mixtape turned me on to Ash, the Lemonheads, Weezer and The Smashing Pumpkins and I’ve never looked back.

Stereokill: You’ve been playing all over the country to rave reviews: where have you found you have the most fun playing? Do you still look forward to coming back to London and playing the home crowd?

EtG: Every gig has been awesome. I used to be able to pick favourites amongst the cities but this time it’s been hard. I’m really looking forward to Manchester though, because every time I enter the city it feels like a homecoming. London will be fun too, but I’m stressed because I’ll want to see my friends afterwards and the venues always kick us out.

Stereokill: Certain elements of the music press have chosen to snipe at you for your choice of stage-name. Tell us, then, why Emmy the Great?

EtG: Good lord I wish they would just let it go! It’s just a name! I know it helps for a neat conclusion or entry into a piece of writing but SRSLY!

When I was a University, we all made demos. I made mine because I wanted to be a backing singer and I wanted to have something to hand to people. I never thought I would end up as a solo artist, so I took my gmail address and wrote it on the cover. People got hold of that first demo and I kept playing the gigs I got offered and then here I am. ‘Emmy’ is a name they called me at university, which I hated, and ‘the Great’ I added on because I hated ‘Emmy’ so much.

Stereokill: If you weren’t pursuing music, what would you see yourself doing?

EtG: I’d be a writer of some sort, in different formats.

Stereokill: What does the future hold for you?

EtG: A day off in Manchester, and prank call to someone with the Cookie Monster voice I recorded on my phone.

Stereokill: Finally, what are you listening to these days?

EtG: Cookie Monster on my phone, the first album by Cake, Exlovers and Younghusband EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

So there you have it. Emmy the Great is booked for a full bill of festival appearances in the UK and Europe over the summer. Her debut album, First Love, is on the shelves now and will be reviewed on SK shortly. In short, it’s definitely worth a listen. We hope to be seeing and hearing a lot more of this very talented young artist.

Video courtesy of Bandstand Busking

Share and share alike...