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Fiona McDonald

© Anne-Marie de Bruin

Fiona McDonald has pretty much been an enigma to the New Zealand music industry over the past few years. She was the female voice behind the Headless Chickens, helping them win mainstream chart appeal with hits such as 'Cruise Control' and 'George' and for years we also knew her as an integral component of the Strawpeople, (as singer and songwriting partner with the group's mainstay, Paul Casserly).

Now however, after what seems like an age (it was 1996, in fact, when Strawpeople released Vicarious) Fiona is back with her latest release, A Different Hunger. And... after my recent meeting with Ms. McDonald, it is certainly clear she's not afraid to say what she thinks or offer opinions on some of the risqué, (controversial even), themes on the new record. Anyway, read the interview and decide for yourself...

So what have you got on the cover of the record, is that some kind of electrical thing or something?

"It's a nine-pin amp valve. I was putting lots of different things in my mouth like tissues, fish, toffee and it was just what we liked the best."

You've got the song 'I Wish I Was A Man' on the record and there is a New Zealand play I was reading recently entitled Eugenia , which is about a woman who pretends to be the ultimate Italian stud...

"Really!?"

Yeah! Now Eugenia, she goes so far as to actually fool women into thinking she's a man by using a 'fakie' in bed. Did you have anything like that in mind when you were wrote the song?

"Not at all. My song's about what it's like to ejaculate. It's not about wanting to be a man at all. It's about wondering what it's like to indulge in the act of sex as a man- I have no desire to be a man whatsoever!"

OK then. So you're a songwriter, that's cool. But what is it actually like to be one??

"Oh God! No-one has ever asked me that question before! I have no idea...I can think of lots of bad things about being a songwriter...I guess I would say the good thing is that it is a talent that many people wish they had and therefore I appreciate it on that level. It's quite hard work, and it can be difficult at times."

But people don't expect women to be songwriters. I remember seeing you at the No Fear concert at the Town Hall a few years back and you got quite mad because someone on the radio had described you as the girl from Strawpeople, rather than the woman from Strawpeople. Do you find people may have different perceptions of you as a songwriter because of the mere fact you're female?

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