A splash of gin

Like many Kiwis, singer/songwriter Gin Wigmore made the move to Australia not to chase success, but to escape heartbreak.

I had a really horrible break-up, she told Sydney Star Observer.

I just wanted to come here, get over that, and party with two of my friends. I got a one-way ticket and went to the Gold Coast. After being a real gross trashbag for six months and waking up on the beach every day, I thought maybe I should do something with my life, so I moved to Sydney and signed a record deal. It’s the land of dreams, old Australia!

She insisted her dry, croaky singing voice is not a result of her hard-partying Brisvegas period.

It’s a weird voice, hey? It’s been like that ever since I started singing. I went off to singing lessons and they didn’t really know what was going on, she laughed.

With the release of her debut EP, Extended Play, Gin’s voice has proved somewhat divisive..

I’ve either got real lovers, or real haters. I couldn’t ask for anything more -” I hate middle-ground stuff. Those people that love you, they stick with you for life. And the people who can muster up that much hate for someone are also quite hilarious.

Fans of her EP, which traverses from the Fiona Apple-esque piano pop of These Roses to the sozzled knees-up that is Under My Skin, will be pleased to know that Gin plans on making her album, due in March, equally diverse.

There’s nothing worse than buying a $30 CD and thinking, -˜Oh, I could’ve just got the single’. I really want to make it an experience for the listener.

She’s just got to write the damn thing first.

I’m a busy bee trying to write songs at the moment. It’s fucking hard! I keep taking trips up to the Blue Mountains to try and get some work done.

The fruits of Gin’s labour are already garnering her some famous fans. Perez Hilton recently gave her a shout-out via his infamous blog, instantly sending her MySpace plays stratospheric.

It was crazy, she recalled. I was sitting in New York with the label, and all of a sudden their Blackberries started buzzing. They were all screaming, as Americans do, yelling, -˜Oh my gawd, she got on Perez Hilton, oh my gawd! I was like, -˜What’s that?’ I didn’t really know.

Of course, being on Perez Hilton’s radar isn’t always a positive thing. One wrong move, and the catty commentator could make it his mission to publicly humiliate you -” pics from your Gold Coast trashbag past could even come back to haunt you.

I know, that’s the thing -” it’s so flavour of the month, she sighed. We’re just playing it cool now.
Impressively, Gin’s US jaunt also saw her sign a deal with Universal Motown records.

It’s a really hip-hop focused label, she said. They’ve got The Roots, Lil’ Wayne…

And now, a blonde white chick from New Zealand.

How’s that, hey? It felt a bit like, -˜Am I supposed to be here?’ she laughed.

info: Gin Plays The Vanguard, Wednesday, November 26.