Nearly a year late. No excuses. Here's the interview.

[Nine]

Sorry everyone.

A short interview with Lisa Hannigan, before her gig at The Exeter Phoenix on May 8th, 2009.

Exepose: Hi Lisa, how are you today?
Lisa: Hello! I’m very well thank you.

Exepose: Are you looking forward to tonight’s show?
Lisa: Absolutely. Very excited, raring to go.

Exepose: So, everyone’s dying to know – any plans for an album number 2?
Lisa: Definitely. The first has been so much fun to make that I can’t wait to do a second.

Exepose: Are you already writing material for it?
Lisa: Yeah! I’m always writing away – I don't know if any of the songs will actually end up on it, but I have a few. I'll be playing a new one tonight.

Exepose: Cool!
Lisa: Hopefully nobody will put it on youtube and spoil it!

Exepose: Ah, is that a problem for you then?
Lisa: No, not a problem as such, I mean you don’t want to actually request that people don’t do it or anything, but it just seems a shame, when your record comes out a year later and everyone’s already heard it.

Exepose: Fair enough! So, tell us how you write. Does it happen by itself or is it a conscious effort?
Lisa: I’m not very good at sitting down in my room with a blank sheet and starting from scratch. I just tend to come up with a little melody, or a bass-line or something, and then just go for a walk or hang out the washing or something. I do stuff to keep the creative side of my brain going by itself.

Exepose: A lot of your fans that we’ve spoken to really like ‘My Pirate Disco,’ and we were wondering why it didn’t end up on the record.
Lisa: It just didn’t! We went in and recorded so many, and they couldn’t all go on, and I just felt like that one didn’t fit as well as the rest, with each other. I’m sure it will go on the next one, because I do like it, but we just recorded all the ones we had and chose the ones we liked best. We didn’t want to overload the first record and then have nothing left.

Exepose: How long did it take you to record the whole thing?
Lisa: Two weeks.

Exepose: Wow, that’s really quick for such a well-produced album.
Lisa: Yes it is, very quick – but I think doing it that way works really well. If you just have two weeks, then you’re forced to just go in and do it, and you don’t have time to be too picky or pedantic, and then I think the final product ends up sounding more genuine. I think if you go in to the studio for 6 or 8 weeks or something you just lose focus and get bored with it, and that’s the worst thing ever.

Exepose: Exepose knows all about spending too much time in the studio! Spending 9 hours a day in a soundproofed hole with no sunlight can drive you pretty mad. Do you think fancy studios for months on end are over-rated then?
Lisa: Yeah, y’know, they can be really useful, but I don’t think a fancy studio is always necessary. The home-recording equipment you can buy now is so advanced… and sometimes it’s better when you’re not paying for it and can just do it at your leisure, when you’re in the perfect mood. The studio is my favourite place to be if I’m in the right mood.

Exepose: Well, talking about your favourite things, here are some short questions for you. Your favourite musician or band currently?
Lisa: Elbow.

Exepose: TV show?
Lisa: Dexter. I’ve got really into that lately.

Exepose: City?
Lisa: That’s hard. I haven’t been home for a while so I’ll say Dublin!

Exepose: Animal?
Lisa: My cat Steven.

Exepose: Favourite member of your band?
Lisa: Depends on the day! No, I love them all equally. Individually and as a group.

Exepose: Your favourite song on Sea Sew?
Lisa: Lille.

Exepose: Ours too! We heard recently that Ray LaMontagne recently expressed an interest in working with you. Is that true, and would you be interested?
Lisa: I would love to, of course. I’m not sure if he said he wanted to work with me or just that he liked the record – but either way I think he’s fantastic, an amazing singer, so yeah it would be an honour to work with him.

Exepose: How does being a solo artist fronting your own band differ from your work with Damien?
Lisa: Well, it’s my own music for a start so that’s a big difference! I’m doing much more singing too, that was tiring at first! I was nervous at first too, about actually fronting the band – like if someone heckles or something then it’s me who has to have some witty thing to say back! The lads being there makes it easier though. They’ll say something if I get stuck, or if anyone’s taking a photo up my skirt!

Exepose: So was it an easy transition to make – going from being in the background and being fairly subdued, to being at the forefront and playing much more upbeat stuff?
Lisa: It suits my personality much more. But then, if you’re doing backing for someone it’s not appropriate to be all ‘look at me!’ It wasn’t about me, the work with Damien.

Exepose: Did you love your gig at Electric Picnic last year as much as we did?
Lisa: I loved that gig. It was just so much fun, definitely one of my favourites. Everyone was so glad to be there, and I love electric picnic anyway, but everyone was on top form and in great spirits, we all just had an amazing time up there. So I’m glad you loved it too!

Exepose: We particularly liked Una’s robot antics. How did that come about?
Lisa: Oh well you know, she’s just trying to launch her stylophone career. She’s going to be big. I’m hoping she’ll let us support her when she plays Wembley next year. She’s amazing.

Exepose: We were pleasantly surprised to see you playing a harmonium. It’s a strange instrument, how did you end up playing one?
Lisa: I just love the sound of it, you can do two things and once, and it has a really nice sound that I felt fitted well with our music.

Exepose: It looks quite difficult though, to play – do you have to be quite strong?
Lisa: No not at all. Come and have a go, it’s on the stage now, see for yourself!

At this point Lisa leads Exepose out of the interview room and onto the stage, where we have a go on the harmonium. It’s much easier than we thought! Rob plays twinkle twinkle little star while Lisa and Hollie attempt to sing it, a little out of time. Back in the interview room:

Exepose: Do you have any plans to tour the rest of Europe?
Lisa: I’d love to it’s just hard, trying to fit everything in, because we’re doing it all by myself. The logistics are difficult. But as soon as possible, we will.

Exepose: The album is very focused on the artwork – it’s beautiful. Do you think you’d have ended up doing art more full-time if you hadn’t been so successful in music?
Lisa: Well I studied art-history, so maybe. I don’t know. I just enjoyed making the design for the album really, I don’t know if I’m good enough to actually have a career doing it!

Exepose: Some people from eskimofriends.com wanted to ask you what Teeth was about. Are you able to elaborate at all?
Lisa: I had no idea people were intrigued by it! Obviously I can’t go into specifics or I’ll ruin it for everyone! But I think it’s about being overwhelmed, and about the way you were before you met somebody and then the way you are afterwards. About the way they are in your head and the way they really are.

Exepose: Finally, all Exepose’s male fans want to know… how’s your love life?!
Lisa: I wouldn’t know where to begin! (She pauses to think.) So I won’t.

Exepose: Thank you Lisa, you’ve been lovely.
Lisa: It’s been a pleasure. See you tonight!

[Joyful]

Yay! Thanks for posting. It's a fun interview. I liked that you asked the question regarding "Teeth". Imho, it's about Damien. So glad that you finally transcribed this for us. Thanks Holly!

[Yetzirah]

awwwwwwww, that's lovely! thank you for sharing this!

[Nine]

you're more than welcome, i'm just sorry it took such a damn long time!

x

[Wheels]

Hey that's great! Late... but great! :-) Thanks for sharing.

[verenita]

nothing new to say... just thanks a bunch for sharing it with us and for thinking and "talking about us" during the interview
it seems you had so much fun. i´m glad for it

[MANGO]

Thanks for posting~~~

[cille]

!!!

[Moves-My-World]

A wonder if she'll stick true to her word and publish Pirate Disco on the second album. I hope so anyway.

Thanks for the interview.

[eva_arg]

nice interview!!! thanks for posting, better late than never

[dboyd]

awesome interview

<3333

[srahman24]

Great interview!! I'm so excited that she hasn't just forgotten about My Pirate Disco

[borneoman]

amazin' thankies Hollie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!