Stacey Walton is a rocker chick from South London, she released her debut single A Tender Kiss which smashed into the Weekly Airplay Charts at number 2 and has become one of the hottest talents around the music industry right now. In this interview she'll be discussing he relationship with Matt, her huge chart success and her favourite songsStacey Walton seems to have it all, the looks, the voice, the ability to play instruments, the friends, the lifestyle, the boyfriend, the label and the confidence but I’ve been asked to do an interview with this young South Londoner and I’m decidedly nervous considering her reputation and the various “Rock Chick/Wild Child” labels.
I met up with Stacey Walton in a small empty bar at 2:15pm on Friday 13th August in California, As I walk in she’s sitting at the bar with a short denim skirt and vest top, she’s sitting with a glass of water and as I walk in she looks up, smiles and welcomes me to sit next to her. She offers me a drink and I take a glass of water. If I’m honest I quite expected you to be drinking something a little bit more alcoholic, I ask. “Nah, I like a drink but I’m not the kind of person who drinks just for the sake of it, I don’t drink during the day, it’s only really later at night when I start drinking, if I started on the alcohol this early I’d be dead by 11:00pm.” She smiles and looks around at the empty room.
So what’s a typical night out for Stacey Walton like?
“It’s as you’d expect really, I’ll start to get ready at about 5:00pm and I’ll probably hit the clubs at 7:30pm, I’ll start off with maybe two drinks within the first hour and then it will increase as the night goes on, In terms of when I leave the clubs it really depends on how the night has been, sometimes it may be early like 11:30pm or sometimes it may be a crazy time like 3:45am. But as long as I have fun then I’m not too bothered about when I get home.”
So does drugs ever play a part in your nights out?
“Yeah sometimes, Not regularly but every now and then a friend will have something to smoke or sometimes stronger stuff but I’m not heavily involved in drugs. In fact I’d even say that I rarely take drugs.”
So what’s the strongest drug you’ve taken?
“I dunno, A lot of the time I’m told the next day from a friend that I took something but I don’t remember. I’ve taken cocaine once and that was a pretty bad experience so I doubt I’d do it again, I’ve taken a load of different kind of stuff but it’s usually been just once and I’ve sort of decided not to do it again. But you don’t know until you try.”
She sits at the bar and takes a small drink of water.
So do you have the same sort of insecurity’s that many musicians seem to have?
“Sometimes for some unknown reason, I feel very insecure before going onstage and performing but it’s not a feeling I get at every gig, it just sort of appears out of the blue and there’s been times when I thought, I can’t do this, I have to cancel the show, I’m not good enough, but I’m quite proud to say I’ve never cancelled a show, even once last November when I came onstage in this grotty little North London club and there was 6 people in the audience, that was something that I never wanted to happen again but I guess everyone has to pay their due‘s. In terms of difficulties as a musician, right now I‘m going through a writer‘s block which I’ve had for about 4 weeks now but this afternoon I hit a breakthrough when I wrote a song with Matt called My Empty Soul (Is All I Can Offer), which I have to say is one of my favourite songs I’ve written or co/written. So at least things seem to be moving on a bit and I can now continue with recording my album.”
Does the pressure on you make it more difficult?
“Kind of, I know that there’s a lot of people who are gonna pick up my album on the strength of “Oh that song A Tender Kiss was good, maybe there’ll be more songs like that on it.” but if I’m honest I’m kind of in my own little bubble when I’m in the studio and I’m gonna be making an album that pleases me and if other people enjoy it then great if not then that’s fine, as long as I’m happy with the outcome of the album then that’s all that really matters, of course I’d love for people to think that album was an incredible debut and that’s maybe something I’m hoping will happen but like I say as long as I’m happy with it then that’s the main thing that matters.”
Now then your currently dating Matt Urie from Saburben Sunrise, how would you describe your relationship?
“I think it’s pretty good, I think we started out as friends and it sort of developed as we started to spend more time together which means it was a sort of natural progression rather than being a forced relationship, because sometimes you can get a bit lonely and just sort of settle for a normal person who you wouldn’t normally go for. But I’m happy with how things are going, we have great fun together and we’re pretty similar sort of free spirited people, he’s not a asshole Rockstar, he‘s got a great heart but he‘s also got an edge which I think is important, I don‘t just wanna be with someone basic and dull, Matt has his crazy moments as do I and it‘s always nice to enjoy those crazy moments together, It‘s still at an early stage right now and I think we're just really having fun for now and we'll see where it goes but there's no pressure."
There has been a huge amount of young singers coming through recently, who are your favourite new acts and who are your least favourite?
“Well there’s been fucking loads recently, I think Michelle Green is crazy talented, I also think that Matty has a pretty huge career ahead of him, Sally Stevenson seems to have a pretty amazing voice, G2L are ok, there not really my kind of thing but I guess they could be considered good. I wouldn't say there is one particular new artist who I dislike, they all seem to have some sort of talent and I'm sure it's a good thing, but we'll wait and see which ones fall first."
Your in California right now and before you arrived here you were staying in New York but your from South London, where will you be calling home from now on?
“I think mainly South London, I’m probably gonna spend a fair bit of time in California and New York also but yeah I think I’ll probably still spend as much time as I can in South London, the fact that Matt’s based in the US and I’m based in the UK makes things a bit tricky at times but I know he really loves London and the UK and I really love the USA so it should hopefully work out fine. I think I’ll be in California for another couple of months and then I’ll be back in the UK for the rest of the year I think.”
So now that you’ve just about got past the writers block bump when can we see a Stacey Walton album?
“Hopefully sometime in the next two months. I really don’t have a date in mind but I do want to try to get it written, recorded a released within the next couple of months and then hopefully I can do a pretty long tour in support of it.”
And what future plans do you have in your mind?
“Hopefully I can get the album out soon and tour in support of that which will hopefully take me into mid 2011. Then either a follow up album or a duet album with Matt and then a tour again. I don't know about the long term future, I don't think that far ahead."
And is Matt the right guy?
"Yeah right now I'd say he was the right guy for me but I'm aware that public relationships don't generally last very long, but we're young and we're having fun and that's something I want in my life right now, I don't want anything too serious and I don't think Matt does either but he's the right guy for me at this moment in time."
So do you not see you guys being together in the long term future?
"I dunno, Like I say public relationships tend not to last and relationships at an early age don't last too long either, I'm being realistic, I'm happy with things right now but things can change and we may last or we may not last, It's a complete unknown but if I'm honest I take things one day at a time."
As I finish the interview and leave I remember the feature that we’ve recently began doing, where the person we interview has to select 3 songs which means the most to them, this is Stacey’s.
Song 1
Here Comes A Regular - The Replacements
It makes me cry every time I listen to it, It’s a song with so much emotion in it. It’s a song about being a normal person, it’s about not living up to your potential and living a life which you weren’t meant to live. It’s essentially about regret, the line “I Used To Live At Home/Now I Stay At The House” is to me is one of those lyrics which get me every time, it’s kind of like now your loved ones have left you what used to be a warm and cosy and loving home has now just became bricks and water. Some people may interpret the song in a different way but that’s how I see it and that’s why I love it. It breaks my heart every time I heard it. It’s such a beautifully written song.
Song 2
London Calling - The Clash
I don’t think I need to explain why I love it so much. It’s just an epic song which never gets old no matter how many time I’ve heard it. I play it live as much as I can because I have a bit of a young crowd at my gigs so I think it’s kind of important to go look this is why I do what I do. It’s an absolutely iconic song. There’s nothing else to say about it really.
Song 3
Who Wants To Live Forever - Queen
I’m not the biggest Queen fan if I’m honest, I’ve never been a fan of the big songs like We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Bohemian Rhapsody, Don’t Stop Me Know, Another One Bites The Dust and all of the other huge hits. But this song has such a subtle beauty about it that is different to the iconic songs. My two favourite Queen songs are Who Wants To Live Forever and Love Of My Life. The reason why I’m such a fan of this song in particular is in honesty unknown even to me, I just can’t resist it, it just draws me in every time. I guess in that sense it’s indescribable, I think it‘s subtlety and beauty is why I like it so much. Edited by user 15 August 2010 01:56:45(UTC)
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