The Divine Nine: Q / A with Thea Gilmore
ADAM: You and I are about the same age. Thinking about the first play I wrote and had staged, about five years ago, gives me a peculiar mix of puffed-up pride and cringing embarrassment. How comfortable are you with your earliest material? How many of those songs have survived to current set lists?
THEA: Some of them. It's a strange thing to play songs you wrote at 16/17 and still get in touch with the kid you were when you wrote them. I write so much that I always enjoy playing the new stuff.
ADAM: I'm far from the first critic to be captivated by your lyrics. They lead me to wonder what the prized possessions are on your bookshelves.
THEA: Oh, the usual.. I'm into the Beats, Kerouac, Ginsberg... just starting to read a bit of Steinbeck too, I'm starting with the not-so-sad stuff like Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. I have a literature list that I fully intend to work my way through!!
ADAM: In America, we're always led to believe that, deep down, what all musicians outside the U.S. want is to "conquer" America. Is securing a Stateside audience an important goal?
THEA: I don't really want to conquer anywhere! Put up a good fight maybe. I like the thought of playing in America mainly because it's an amazing country that I'd like to see, but also because I think American people are a lot less cynical about the female-singer/songwriter thing. They don't get so hung up on gender; if they think you're good then thats all there is to it... you guys never dismiss women in the same way they do over here.
ADAM: Now for the two questions we always ask: First, the world ends tomorrow and Ticketmaster puts you in charge of booking the house band for Heaven. Who gets the call?
THEA: The Replacements.
ADAM: And who gets sent down to punish and play for the damned?
THEA: The Replacements (Just to show them what they're missing) and then Chris DeBurgh (oh my God I'm evil!).
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