Interview with... Kate Nash

Kate Nash took some time out inbetween promoting her new album and touring to chat with Chloe about what she has been up to recently and her love for Cambridge!

You can check out our review of her latest album here.

Hey Kate! Nice work on the album; the new style seems to have gone down well with fans. What has influenced you when writing Girl Talk?

My personal life, I got emotionally burnt the past couple of years by a load of shit and I dealt with it by writing songs and focusing all my energies on this record and being as creative as possible. Also I started writing on the bass which changed my songwriting process.

It seems you‘ve had a busy year travelling to LA, hanging out with Willow Smith, forming a girl gang and working on your after school rock n roll club for girls. As well as that you found time to produce an album and do a tour. What’s been the highlight of the last twelve months?  

Staying in the Paramour Mansion and making the record with Tom Biller. It was just so surreal and magical and I was going through a tough time so it heightened everything. All the ups and downs I felt them so hard it just made the experience all the more incredible and heartfelt. It was wild staying in the mansion too, it was a silent movie directors home, then a convent and is now owned by an antiques collector and interior designer so there is crazy stuff everywhere, so much cool taxidermy, like polar bears and zebras and tigers and stuff. A lot of my close friends live in LA too so I had such a cool time.

"Sister" is arguably the most powerful track on the album and is a personal favorite; what inspired the track?

Friendship, deep best friendship, the kind that a lot of teenage girls have, and how difficult it can be for that kind of friendship to survive once you start hitting adulthood. You think nothing can tear you apart but I’ve had a lot of complicated female friendship heartache. It’s like you should probably just take the plunge and start dating sometimes and because you don’t it gets twisted and weird.

Feminism is an extremely clear theme on some of your latest tracks, especially Rap for Rejection and All Talk. The all-Girl band that you have established will be a key part of your tour; what difference has it made having the girls around?

I think it’s just more fun having girls around. It’s a nice feeling to have all women behind you on stage. It feels right for right now, the girls really get me and were really there for me through all the shit I’ve been through so I am really supported. It’s just comforting to be around people of your own sex I guess because you go through similar things and know how to connect and support each other on the road.

The first of your tour dates in Cambridge is fast approaching; you have always appeared as an artist that is close to her fans. Why do you feel this is important?

I feel super close to them and they give me a lot. They are basically the best most sweetest fans in the world too. They really open up to me about stuff and I feel like I have a platform to speak on and if I can inspire people to change things for the better whether for themselves or for others then I have a responsibility to do so.

Every track on girl talk has a different vibe and tells a story. Personally, which is your favourite to perform and why?

I love playing sister, it feels powerful like you said, and I think it sums up the attitude of the whole record. Also Underestimate the girl, and you’re so cool I’m so freaky.

Thank you very much for sparing time to answer some questions, all the best with the tour.
Thanks!

Interviewed by - Chloe Wilding