Live music and touring are on lockdown right now and fans as well as artists are going through withdrawals. We wanted to come up with something fun to help bridge that distance between fans and artists right now. What we came up with is something called The Lockdown Lowdown and it’s a Q&A session with fun questions for artists to answer. They’re not your typical interview questions, so it gives you a peek inside of the artists themselves. We’re big music nerds here at I’m Music Magazine and we love learning things like this about the artists that we love. We’re pretty sure that you’ll get a kick out of these, so we hope you’ll take the time to read them. In this installment, we spoke with electronic/alternative artist Vanilla Sugar!
How have you been doing during the pandemic and how are you spending your time?
I’ve been doing okay! I am an introvert, so I don’t mind having to stay at home! I’ve been busy booking a tour for this September – December.
Have you been working on new music?
I just released my new album, SHE! 10 tracks of in your face music with haunting vocals and heavy synths. The title represents me as a female, solo artist – I went through a lot to get to where I am and there’s so much history that I had to come through to get to this. SHE is strong, representative, and powerful.
Name five albums that changed your life.
I really love The End of All Things to Come by Mudvayne. It was very inspirational to me musically – I love the heaviness of the music and vocal style. Another album that I love a lot is Follow the Leader by KoRn. That got me through a lot of tough times growing up.
Name five artists that influenced you as a musician.
I love The Prodigy, Grimes, Sleigh Bells, and Mindless Self Indulgence. They have all played a part in developing my sound. I like heavier music too – bands like KoRn. I get a lot of vocal influence from metal singers.
What are your five favorite live albums?
I actually don’t listen to live albums! I love seeing artists live, but there’s something about being there in that moment that keeps the energy up for me. It doesn’t hit the same listening to it on headphones.
Life on the road; what are five of your craziest/funniest/scariest tour stories?
I love being able to wake up in a new city every day. I enjoy meeting new fans and getting to hang out with them. I also looooove driving! My best friend is my tour mate, she helps out with merch, and makes sure we get to the venue on time. It’s fun!- I really enjoy seeing the world through music. The best part about it is making connections with new people. I would say the worst part is having to drive through snow. I am not used to it at all and it scares me! One of my road stories is funny looking back, but in the moment was super scary. We were traveling to Los Angeles from New Mexico. We were super low on gas, and driving through mountains, with no signal on the phone and the sun setting. I looked at Beck (merch manager) and was so worried. We couldn’t call for someone to bring us gas, so we decided to just coast as far as we could. We hit empty on our tank and, I’m really not sure how, but coasted to a small gas station at the bottom of a mountain. I was so relieved. It was crazy. We now make sure to fill up anytime we hit about half a tank. Another funny experience was in Amarillo, Tx – a fan came on stage wearing a unicorn mask and danced around with me.That was very interesting..haha. One of my favorite stories is when we went to play a show in Reno, NV. We stayed with a very nice family, who were very involved with Burning Man. The gentleman there decked out a golf cart with turntables, awesome loud speakers, purple feather boa, and lights! He let me drive it around. I love the video that Beck took of that. So funny (and fun)! One of the more scary experiences was Warped Tour, in Anchorage, AK. We were able to take a day trip with our host to a small part of the state that was scarcely populated. There was (and still is) an abandoned insane asylum / hospital unit there. Totally fenced off. I managed to shimmy my way through a hole in the fence. We had flashlights and started exploring the inside. I noticed in my footage later that I could see orbs floating through!! SO CRAZY! The entire vibe there was spooky! The craziest story though…I played a festival in Sulphur, TX. It was sooooo fun and everyone was having a great time. During my set, the cops came to shut down the festival because it was getting super crazy. I didn’t stop playing, even as the cops came up to the stage haha……They eventually LITERALLY pulled the plug on the generator to get the show to stop.
What are your five favorite movies?
My top 5 favorite movies are The Crow, Cloverfield, Midsommar, Teeth, and Rock A Doodle.
What’s the best and worst advice you ever heard?
Best advice: be front facing with your audience as much as possible. It keeps the show even more energetic! The worst advice: ignore your fans and hide in the back after the show.
What’s the strangest thing you ever autographed?
The strangest thing I ever autographed was a leaf.
If music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
Vanilla Sugar. Funny you ask, I want to pursue wrestling in the future!
