A few weeks ago I had a phone interview with exciting new pop act Mika. Being a lazy student it took me a while to transcribe it, but here it is at last for your reading pleasure:
How would you describe yourself for someone who hasn’t heard of you before?
I am a new artist who’s making big-sounding pop records, the kind that haven’t really been made in the past few years, for whatever reason – a lot of the big-sounding records have been made by bands, verging on the tradition of the 70s and 80s. I’m kind of reclaiming pop music, that’s my interpretation of what pop music should be.
You’ve released a single on download, but we want to know: when can we have an actual CD to buy in the shops?
January 29th is Grace Kelly, my single, and the album Life In Cartoon Motion comes out in the beginning of February, shortly after the single.
For those planning to go and see you in concert, what can they expect from your live show?
Deconstructing my record, really. There’s nothing more disappointing than when you go to see a band that you like live and they don’t deliver, so I always wanted to capture what I did on the album but just kinda make it even louder and a little more aggressive, so that’s hopefully what I’m achieving with my live shows. And it’s all for fun and stupid, silly, you know.
You’ve been in everything from the Sunday Times to Attitude magazine, are there any other publications you’re desperate to get a mention in?
It’s funny, I would never really ask to get a mention in any magazine, marketing things just came along but are really welcome as they help with putting the music out there. I’m in the GQ issue of January and I did a photoshoot with Mick Rock, who is a legendary photographer.
I really love the designs on your website – did you create them yourself?
Yeah I did and I did them with my sister. She’s a brilliant artist. The visual side of the project was begun up to a year before the album was actually finished, so when I was recording the album in LA she was working there, drawing all these things, and it was a way of showing the record company what the album was gonna be like, by showing them the drawings.
You mention Rufus Wainwright on your MySpace, and I’m a big fan of his, so I’d love to hear a duet between you and him. Who would you most like to duet with?
That would be pretty amazing, I’d have to be doing the high bits. Also Annie Lennox, that would be pretty incredible, or the Flaming Lips.
Who do you think will be your chart rivals when you finally release your single?
I have absolutely no idea. I do my own thing, which is great, although I’ve been compared to the Scissor Sisters, but even Relax has a different flavour. The good thing is that all the people I’m being compared to in the press are classic acts who aren’t really releasing records at the moment, which is a really good situation to be in.