The band (or bands) I am in (or have been in) are… (or solo)?
Anna Page, The Anna Page Band, Deluxor, The Doll Headed Wasps, Louis James and The El Jays, Poxy Music, Giddy Girl
Weapon(s) of choice?
Vocals, guitar & occasionally keyboards
Random superpower?
I know how the universe works. I studied Philosophy at Warwick University and really think I’ve figured out the answer to everything, crazy though that seems, hence my 2001 St Martin’s Lane art show, recent Hastings fringe shows and upcoming book of that title. I’m so sure, I even hand delivered my booklet to The New Scientist Magazine in 2000. I don’t think it made sense to them, because the answer to everything isn’t just about science.
I can also fire eat, which is quite random.
I believe everyone has superpowers they can tune into, but doing so can be a bit scary, so many avoid it.
Biggest influences?
White Horses by Jackie was the first song I played repeatedly on our old record player, aged about 4 or 5. I was mesmerised, not just by the magic of the music, but by the mystery of how it emanated from the needle in the groove. I was the youngest of 3, and although there was inevitably much squabbling, our common devotion to Top Of The Pops and taping songs from the Top 40 Sunday countdown demonstrated to me early on the power of music to unite, even in the cut throat world of sibling rivalry.
I’d say I’m more a fan of songs than artists and genres, but I love a lot of 60s music and the sounds of the years I grew up in, i.e., 70s-90s, with Pop, Disco, Motown, Punk, Post Punk, New Wave, and late 80s/90s Indie particularly resonating with me.
I feel The Beatles have probably written more brilliant songs than any other band, but I also love The Stones, Kinks, Pink Floyd, T Rex, Bowie, Nick Drake, Abba, Kate Bush, Buzzcocks and Prince. I love good lyrics, so I’m a fan of The Magnetic fields and I love musicals, especially Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair, which I once performed in.
I learnt guitar at school and although quite shy, in the early 90s I decided to form a band when I was a make-up artist, helping to create pop videos for an endless procession of terrible, usually all male metal bands, who made me think I could do better than that. Aptly, Silent All These Years by Tori Amos came out around that time and inspired me further.
Watch or listen to me perform on this link…
The song I always want played as I walk on stage…
If you want to buy me a drink I’ll have…
Prosecco or white wine and soda (soda to the top) or Bacardi and coke (coke to the top) …always gotta be to the top…
A music video that you really need to watch is this one…
This is my friend Lil Lost Lou’s fabulous song… I love her DIY vibe, as she shot it in her flat in Folkestone and did the animations herself, too!
Soapbox / Speaker’s corner
I see the lockdown as a last chance saloon to save the human race. I’m hoping people will continue to work from home where possible, consume less, travel less and aim for a sustainable future. There’s nearly 8 billion of us, and we need to drastically change our ways if we have any hope of surviving as a species, or at least of prolonging our time on earth.
At time of writing, there’s been a total so far of 350,000 deaths worldwide from the virus. The human population goes up by nearly 250,000 net increase every day, so if that many died of the virus per day, our numbers would not decrease. That’s a sobering thought… it could be much, much worse and I believe we have worse to come in terms of more disease, war and climate crisis if we do not control our own numbers and the impact we have on the planet and hence ourselves.