Giving up music and the marriage not working has taught me to do everything for the right reasons…I should be happy.’ – Angie Hart
In this game, you get some prickly interviewees. I am lucky in this respect as most of ‘my’ artists have been down-to-earth types who have a chat without wondering what awful thing you’re going to write about them. Then there is Angie Hart. And she, it has to be said, is a diamond.
It was the day after Valentine’s Day and when the middle-man tel-co company who hooked up our call couldn’t manage to provide a quality line Angie laughed (the first of many) and suggested she jot down my number and call me herself.
As the frustrated tel-co operator bleeped at me via call-waiting Angie and I discussed the theme of new beginnings.
‘I have a wonderful new love,’ Angie confirmed warmly. ‘I had the best Valentine’s Day morning ever…he looked me in the eyes and said “You’re the love of my life,” which was better than any cards or flowers.’ Girly ‘ahhhhh’ from both of us….
Most recent press regarding Ms Angie Hart has centred around her new album Grounded Bird . In previous interviews Angie had drawn a parallel between herself and a grounded bird, but as she further explains, ‘Limitations can help you can create something beautiful when you don’t have all the choices in the world. That’s where that comes from…’
Of course, a line about her abandoned marriage is thrown in for good measure. Sensing her to be a hippy like me, I suggest that even the worst things in life are supposed to teach us something. Angie happily concurred:
‘I’m really glad it happened. It was a really horrible experience.’ She says with a punctuating laugh, ‘Giving up music and the marriage not working has taught me to do everything for the right reasons…I should be happy.’
So what was the catalyst for her long awaited return to music, and Australia? It might have been the minimum wage management position in a boutique but Angie admits there were many signs, not least some of the clientele that frequented her store.
‘ Gwen Stefani used to come in [to the jewellery store] a lot. When I was in Frente!, No Doubt supported us. I just felt so ashamed that I had given my music away…here were people that I admired [who] were doing what I should have been doing. Those things really weighed on me…’
But here she is with a new release, albeit one that seemed to take a while to launch. ‘There were a lot of false starts. It was a struggle to get this album together [but] there were angels all the way, which was wonderful.’
One unlikely looking angel was Justyn Pilbrow a ‘heavy metal looking dude wearing black jeans, black jacket and wrap around sunglasses,’ chortles Angie. ‘I thought “We’d absolutely have nothing in common, this’ll be … fun.” ’ They met at a songwriting retreat in New Zealand and, as it happened, had a lot in common. ‘We ended up recording into a cassette walkman, which was the take we used on the album. I knew that day he was going to my producer, and we ended up writing some of the best songs on the album.’
After the frenetic rise and fall of Frente! Angie is looking forward to a different vibe with this tour which, like all gracious solo artists, she attributes to her ‘great band… we’re doing wonderful things together.’ But the best bit is, Angie enthuses, ‘I’ve got so much more energy to tour, and I’m just looking forward to getting the album out to more people.’
A conversation with such a warm, genuine and much loved Australian artist is something I really don’t want to end, but I am watching the clock for her (since we ditched the tel-co lady) and so thank her for taking the time to chat. In what I imagine is her normal, delightful tone she thanks me, signing off with ‘It was a lovely start to my day!’
Likewise, lady, and have a sweet tour.
