- Rock Star Burnimg Bright By Michelle Matthews, March 2000 -
The above picture and following article and interview are from
ZA@PLAY March 30, 2000
Heather Nova is a shining example of a
vibrant young woman making her mark in
rock. She's playing in South Africa and
speaks to Michelle Matthews
It's a beautiful day in Cape Town. The sky's a
brilliant blue, as flat and saturated as the
heavens of South Park, and the still air is a
comfortable notch above body temperature.
Heather Nova and I are sitting by the cascading
pool at a swanky hotel in Bantry Bay. She's
broken the ice by complimenting me on my shoes
- a pair of silver sequined slip-slops. She's a little
left of the catwalk herself, in a black top
emblazoned with "Elvis" in gold and accessories -
a chunky tortoise-shell bracelet like a diving weight
on her tiny wrist and a blue plastic purse covered
with kitsch kitties. She doesn't look like a rock
star, she looks like fun.
She surprises me by being quite chatty and
smiley. I expected the performer of emotional rock
ballads Walk This World, Maybe an Angel and
London Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do) to
be more intense. She's also smaller than I
expected. Her fey figure perfectly suits her ethereal
voice, which issues from the same sort of mystical
resonating body cavities as Kate Bush has. From
quivering croaks to almost inhuman peaks of pitch,
she maintains a fierce clarity of tone. One
imagines her dwarfed behind her Fender, but, as
live albums Blow and Live From the Milky Way
testify, she can more than hold her own on stage.
South Africans can expect a powerful, polished
performance.
MM: I went to the CD shop yesterday and
listened to your Live From the Milky Way
album. You sound great live ...
HN: I really love playing live. I think something
happens live that I've never been able to capture on
a record.
You have a strong following on the internet.
Have you seen any of the sites?
Yeah, I haven't visited them all, but there's a lot out
there. It's kind of bizarre [laughs]. It's actually great
for fans - before the internet you didn't have such
immediate communication to talk about the artist.
I'm quite flattered by it. I don't go on there myself
and hang out [laughs].
It's interesting to see how all these people
really relate to you and particular songs ...
Actually, that's what's nice, to be able to go on
and read that. Because besides getting letters
from people - which don't always arrive - you don't
get that kind of direct feedback from the fans. So
it's great to know what people think about each
song.
On your first album your name was Heather
Frith ...
Yeah, my name is Frith, but 'cause I live in
Europe, I found that people like the French couldn't
pronounce my name. I ended up either Fried or
Cold. I also decided that I wanted to have more
privacy. So I chose a name that came from my
mother's family.
Oh, 'cause I thought it had to do with the star:
"a star showing a sudden large increase of
brightness and then subsiding". That's surely
not what a rock star wants!
[laughing] Right! Everyone thinks it's about the
star, but I didn't think of that when I chose it.
When did you realise you could sing and
wanted to write songs?
When I was a kid I used to sing all the time. When
I was about 13 I learned the guitar and from then I
started writing songs. It was something that was
really natural to me. It was something I would do to
relax or escape. We lived on a small boat [in
Bermuda], five of us in the family. You had to kinda
create your own space. And for me it was just
going on deck and playing the guitar and that was
the way I had my own world.
You use water, rain and sea imagery a lot in
your music, even on your covers. What is the
significance of this?
It's something that I naturally use as a metaphor.
Obviously I guess it comes from a really
deep-rooted connection with the sea, because I
grew up on the sea, literally, as my garden. And
the sea is always where I go back to to feel
connected and to feel at home ... [she gazes out
onto Bantry Bay].
Do your songs come from real life or have you
projected yourself into spaces you've never
been before? 'Cause there's a lot of emotional
variation in them ...
You know, we all go through many moods within a
day, or maybe that's just me [laughs]. No, my
songs are very much from real life. A lot of them
are autobiographical, but some of them are, like
you say, projected. Some of them are
observations. Little bits are imagined, but most of
it is very real.
Who do you imagine you're singing to?
[pauses] Anyone who will listen! What's amazing
about music is that emotion doesn't discriminate.
It doesn't matter what the person looks like, or how
old they are. I just want people to feel. I want them
to allow themselves to feel and I think that's what
music does - gives us permission and access to
our emotions. That's what fascinates me and that's
what drives me to write.
What progression do you feel you've made
between 1995's Oyster and your latest album
Siren, both musically and personally?
Well, personally an album always reflects the
space you're in at that time - what relationship
you're going through, what ideas you're having.
That's always indicative of who you were then.
Musically, with Siren I was more into guitars, more
into the rock thing and with the next album I'd like
to move a little bit away from that - strip it back.
What influenced the difference between Oyster and
Siren is that between those two records I did so
many live gigs. I wanted to capture some of that
intensity that we get live - I still don't think I really
did it, but that was the intention. And the next one,
I want to be using more beats. Still be using
guitars, but not in such a rock way. But not dance
- it'll still be very Heather Nova!
You studied art and painted the cover for your
EP Blow, are you going to do that again?
Yeah, I just did another one actually. I'm releasing
another live record which should be coming out in
a couple of months. I paint for my own pleasure,
but it's nice to put something on the cover.
You had a rigorous touring schedule for two
years after the release of Oyster. What did it
teach you? Are you happy to be touring
again?
The first time I did that long kind of touring I had to
learn where my limits were. I got really, really
stressed out on that tour. But when I came to tour
with Siren I was much more prepared and more
relaxed. I could enjoy it more. I just finished an
18-month tour in October and I haven't been on the
road since then. I just came to do these gigs
'cause I got the offer. I decided yeah, I'd love to go
to South Africa! I'm excited about playing with Joan
Armatrading. I grew up listening to her music. It's
great to play with your icons [grins].
Heather Nova plays with Joan Armatrading and
Afro Celt Sound System at the Three Arts Theatre
in Plumstead, Cape Town on Friday March 31
before moving on to Womad in Benoni where she'll
play on Saturday April 1 at 6pm on the main stage