Tiger Lilly is in a revolving door

March 19, 2013

Somethingyousaid.com has a conversation with Tiger Lilly about the imminent release of her latest extended-player:

While most people I know would be trying to pick up the pieces after a breakdown in their marriage, Tiger Lilly used it to inspire her to write her latest EP, Revolving Doors. “I’d actually broken up with my husband,” she tells me when I ask her about the inspiration behind the three-track release out on March 19th. “I felt like I was at the same place I always get where I run away from relationships.” Writing her music in that time, drawing on the emotions she was feeling, she used it to write three beautiful tracks.

Tiger Lilly doesn’t believe in regrets, because, “we are who we are from our life experiences.” She’s strong, talented and determined. With two albums and numerous EPs already on iTunes, and three three UK tours to her name, it’s not like Tiger Lilly isn’t getting herself out there; she’s had her own range on fashion website ASOS and she’s performed in part of the Olympic-related concerts that took place last year.

It’s clear when you listen to the EP how much emotion went into the lyrics. I felt empowered after listening to Throw Me a Line. I could completely relate to the way that Tiger Lilly felt. Of course, I wasn’t going through the same things that she was, but that’s the beauty of her lyrics. Regardless of whether you are going through the exact same situation as she was when writing the song, you’re able to lose yourself in it, submerge yourself in the feelings and come out of it a new person.

Writing isn’t just about airing emotion for Tiger Lilly though. When she was penning Silence is Golden, for example, the process was “such therapy, and it made [her] take a good look at what [she] was doing.” The fact that she was able to do that through writing the song is evident even when you listen to it. That feeling of coming out as a new person? It really is like that when you listen to Revolving Doors. During the writing process, Tiger Lilly felt like she “was going around in a hotel revolving door and not getting off the continuous merry go round,” and it was that which gave the EP its name, one that fits very well with the overall feel of it.

She’s not afraid of making mistakes or embarrassing herself. She once forgot how to play Sweet Child of Mine onstage, so she got the audience to sing it with her, A Capella. Musically inspired by the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Alanis Morrisette (as well as wanting to be Jon Bon Jovi when she first saw him live), the people around her and the experiences in her life, Tiger Lilly says that she’d do a great collaboration project with the Foo Fighters. I ask her who she’d invite to a dinner party. Her response? “I would have Madonna and Lady Gaga, so they can have it out, Sharon Osborne so she can back Madonna’s team, Simon Cowell so he could praise me for the set-up I created whilst serving Iranian food to my guests and saying ‘Surprise surprise! You’re the entertainment.’ Actually, I need someone on Lady Gaga’s team… who could be on her team?… Gary Barlow.”

She’s truly an interesting character if ever I did meet one and, to end the interview, I hit her with a quick-fire round of questions:

Me: Love or Money?
TL: Love.
Me: Nights in or nights out?
TL: Nights out.
Me: Summer or winter?
TL: Summer.
Me: Books or film adaptations?
TL: I know it’s bad but I’m a film buff, so films.
Me: Biggest guilty pleasure?
TL: Food. I’m a big food lover. My arse hates me for it.
Me: Most annoying habit?
TL: I’m a text pest.
Me: If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
TL: The power to heal. I would want to be able to make a difference.
Me: You’ve got 24 hours to live. What do you do with that time?
TL: Call everyone to my house and throw a huge party and dance the night away.
Me: What would you pick for your last supper?
TL: A Persian buffet.

Revolving Doors is released on March 19th. You can get it for FREE from Tiger Lilly’s website, www.tigerlillymusic.co.uk, just by signing up to the mailing list. A free EP, with emotionally touching songs? What more could you ask for?