TRASH MENAGERIE |I love Little Boots 4eva

Saturday, January 10, 2009

I <3 LITTLE BOOTS 4EVA

*The interview with Little Boots was done sometime in the remaining months of 2008. Enjoy.

Yes, It’s true I have a crush on Little Boots. Now, I am not one to have celebrity crushes but something about Little Boots has me enamored. It could be the perfect combination of her beautiful and sexy vocals over disco influenced indie electro or just that she’s extremely attractive and makes better dj mixes than most or maybe its the youtube videos where she covers Haddaway and plays with circuit bent toys and microkorgs (see below).

Her first single “stuck on repeat” was sent to me as a secret Hot Chip side project song. After some internet detective work it soon became apparent that Little Boots wasn’t a side project but the work of Victoria Hesketh formerly of Dead Disco. While “stuck on repeat” was produced by Joe Goddard of Hot Chip, Little Boots is clearly Ms. Hesketh’s own musical vehicle.

It wasn’t soon after “stuck on repeat” made its way on ipods everywhere, man of mystery, Fake Blood made an earth shattering remix of the tune that made everyone listen up. Then she dropped the hit “meddle” which was also produced by Goddard.

In the meantime, Little Boots took advantage of the internet age and started recording videos of herself making music and posting them on the ever popular YOUTUBE. Creating an even bigger buzz and gathering fans and further cementing my crush on her.

Lucky for me and all of you trash readers I was able to use my charm to get a quick interview so enjoy.

Sirhan: you’ve had quite a good year, filled with amazing singles and wonderful remixes. what are some of your goals for 2009. and what is already planned for 2009?

Little Boots: Well the main thing is the album release which will hopefully be in Spring next year in England, I’ve been working really hard finishing stuff off lately and we’re nearly there so I’m really excited about that. Otherwise guess we will do lots of touring… I don’t really think about the future too much just concentrate on the present then normally the future works out ok!

Sirhan: When can we expect you to tour N.America? And what is your tour set up? Live show? Dj set? A little of both? Touring with friends or doing solo shows?

Little Boots: There are no plans to tour America at the moment but hopefully in the future if we release the album out there which I really hope we will. At the moment I tour with two guys who play synths and drums, then I play tenorion and keyboards and bits of percussion and other things. I also DJ a lot but I’m really trying to cut it down a bit to concentrate on live shows and finishing the album, I do really enjoy it though. We are planning a tour in November with a great new band called Heartbreak and some special guest DJs and bands, it’s going to have a bit of a new disco theme.

Sirhan: what is a typical day for you?

Little Boots: There’s no such thing! I’m so busy at the moment, today you have caught me on an extremely rare day off… but don’t know if its classed as off since I’ve spent most of it answering emails so far! Generally I try to go to the gym first thing in the morning, have a brew (that’s a cup of tea), hopefully play a bit of classical piano (best start to the day), then it varies between rehearsals, gigs, photoshoots and studio time. Lately the focus has mainly been on gigs and shoots/interviews as the bulk of recording is finished, but I’m hoping to get a bit of time off before Christmas to maybe do some more writing, I find it hard with so much else going on I have to have a clear head space.

Sirhan: We all know you took your name from the film Caligula, what are some of your other favorite films? Do you enjoy the work of John Carpenter? Do you have any aspirations to do any film or video work yourself? Maybe direct and score your own film?

Little Boots: I don’t really like films to be honest, they are too long and I have a short attention span… I’d rather spend the time making music if possible. I think the only DVD I own is “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, which is pretty predictable… we watched Ace Ventura in the tour van the other night, that was quite funny. I’m very interested in music videos I think they are a really interesting space to create something, there aren’t really any rules you have to follow so I think it opens up a lot of interesting opportunities. I follow a lot of up and coming promo directors. Not physically follow, I’m not a weird stalker or anything… you know what I mean.

Sirhan: How about fashion, any interest at all? I have always liked how music and fashion flirt together. With Justice doing Dior Homme runway show and Daft Punk doing music for Louis Vuitton. What label would you do?

Little Boots: I wear a lot of a make called ‘Felder Felder’ which is great, really interesting shapes and very futuristic. There’s also a label called ‘Antipodium’ that I’ve been wearing a lot of lately for the live shows, they have a great hooded dress a bit like a jedi cape I wear on stage a lot. I also like Gareth Pugh, Christopher Kane… the new Balenciaga collection is cool too.

Sirhan: You’ve done quite a bit of recording in LA. Any future plans of relocation? If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? What’s your favorite place you’ve been so far?

Little Boots: No, I’m far too much in love with London right now, I can’t imagine living anywhere else in the world. But I just went to New York last week for the first time and that was pretty much love at first sight…

Sirhan: These Youtube videos are a fantastic watch. Why did you initially decide to do them and what lies in the future for them?

Little Boots: I was just bored one night coz I’d just moved to London and gotten into the habit of going out pretty much every night… I had a night in so just did one for a joke with my friend. It had a really great reaction so I just carried on… I’d always done a lot of covers, from when i used to play in hotel lobbies and restaurants… then when I’m writing if I feel uninspired I normally cover something coz by learning it you break it down and understand how it functions and it helps you to write.

Sirhan: Lets talk about the tenori-on. Explain this little guy to us. And do you also have a bit of circuit bent toys you play with? What equipment are you working with?

Little Boots: Its basically a sequencer made up of a 16 by 16 square of lights. each light relates to a sound, it works on a loop and you can build up songs through layers and blocks of lights. Its easy to mess around with but quite difficult to actually build a song or make it function in a live set up but somehow we’ve managed it… It’s interesting because its not a particularly great sequencer but because it works visually it’s a new process of making music unlike anything else out there so it can be pretty inspiring. I don’t really have any circuit bent toys. I’ve used a bent speak and spell in the studio once but they’re so unpredictable it’s difficult. I have some other gadgets and a bunch of synths…. I don’t like to divulge too much!

Sirhan: Ok, we are stuck on an island and you’re allowed to bring one mixtape, what would you be putting on there?

Little Boots: Mmm the beach boys…..kate bush…. joni mitchell….. Could probably manage with just the beach boys. just about. if i had the acapellas from pet sounds I’d probably be ok.

Sirhan: Let’s talk about your experience of being a woman in the music industry? Do you have any feelings or insight about this? Also you’re an attractive woman, does this ever factor in any way?

Little Boots: I don’t really think it makes too much difference, there are all sorts of people making music… girls, boys, attractive people, not so attractive people…. if you have talent and great songs and are determined and work hard I think the likelihood is that you will be successful. Maybe I get treated differently from a man in the industry, but that’s how it is in all of life not just music.

Sirhan: Are we allowed to bring up Dead Disco? (if not lets just skip over this.) but whats the deal? do you keep in touch? do you miss being in a more “rock” based group?

Little Boots: It’s fine… I left the band, that’s all there really is to say. To be honest I don’t really miss being in a more rock based band, I always played piano and synths so its doesn’t really bother me not having guitars anymore, I wouldn’t really want to involve instruments I can’t play that much as you loose an element of control. What I do know just comes a lot easier to me and feels a lot more natural, I just pour myself into writing and performing and it feels amazing.

Sirhan: Final question, do you have groupies? or any funny/creepy stories about male fans?

Little Boots: Nope… all my fans seem very nice and send me nice messages which I am very appreciative of.

If you’re in Europe, then you’re in luck and you can catch Little Boots on tour this holiday season.

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