Chords for Louise Wener at Latitude 2011

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[Gbm] _ _ [A] _ _ _ Joining me [N] now in the camper van here at Latitude, Louise Wenner, hello!
Hello!
Sorry about the smell.
[G] It's a bit stinky, I don't know why.
I've [Eb] been asking people to [N] speculate, and of course you're now a writer so maybe you
can use your imagination in this, as to what type of animal might make a bowel movement
that smelled like that?
I think cow.
I'm thinking cow, but with a bit of goat, a top note of goat.
_ That's an interesting cross.
Well thank you for traipsing across the festival for us.
Pleasure.
I suppose the obvious question is, what is the difference between performing at a festival
as an author and performing at a festival as a rock star?
_ Oh god, it's completely different.
I mean it's much more [Bb] cosy when you read a bit of your books, a [C] few questions, a bit of talking.
It's not the same sort of adrenaline [E] rush that you would get if you were going on stage
and performing, and that sort of bit where you're waiting [C] in the wings, _ waiting for your
moment [N] going on, you haven't sound checked, you don't know how it's going to sound, you
don't know how it's going to be.
In a way, surely you're a bit more exposed being up there and reading and talking as
yourself than you are with a band hammering away behind you.
Well I suppose so, because it's you, it's just you, there's no defence, whereas before
it's me but it's my guitar and it's my band and it's my songs, so there's a whole sort
of persona to hide behind.
With reading I guess there isn't, but _ both are really fun.
And when you look back on your time as an indie icon, as it were, _ are there any bits
of behaviour where you think, how on earth was I allowed to indulge that?
I mean, were you a punctual person back in the day?
Would you be in bed till four with tour managers?
With tour managers?
No, banging away on the door saying, Louise, we've got to be in such and such a place in ten minutes.
[D] Yeah, of course, I mean, [G] depending [Ab] on which way you look at it, I suppose the great thing
[D] about being in a band was that you were allowed to sort of, I had this extended adolescence,
you [Ab] sort of carried on being a kid for as long as you wanted because everything was
taken care of, so if you screwed up in some way, there was always someone to clean up
[E] the mess, whatever it was.
So how difficult is it coming out the other side of that then?
Because most people have to deal with that in their early twenties, whereas I suppose
you extended it into your thirties.
I did, [Ab] yeah.
Which is maybe a [N] good thing because I was more ready to cope with it, so I didn't go
quite as crazy, probably, as [E] so many people did.
But coming out is [N] strange because you're in this sort of, you're existing in sort of a
bubble, you know, it's this very protective little bubble.
And then you come out and sort of your life smacks you in the head and you think, oh,
and then it's like, it was good.
It was also good to be out of it in a way.
But writing, I mean, you need such discipline to be a writer because you've got these deadlines,
but the time between you doing the book deal and _ submitting the copy, it's left up to you
and you've got to be disciplined.
How did you adapt to that?
How do you discipline?
It took me a while, and for a moment, well, for a good few months, maybe even a year or
so, I was kind of living in some sort of pop star, rock star time.
So I'd get up very late, I'd do a bit of writing, amble out to [E] a cafe, you know, get a coffee,
wait till I [C] was in the mood [E] to write.
This sounds like JK Rowling's life, doesn't it?
And then that very much changed.
I had kids, [G] of course, and then everything [D] changed.
And, you know, it's [G] like, right, I've got an hour [E] while one of them's sleeping, must write now.
You know, [F] so I'm very, in the last [Em] five, six years, I've become really, like, control-free
kiri sort of disciplined about it.
So do you have to write a certain number of words a day?
I do a thousand words, come and rain or something. That's good.
That's good going.
And then you go back and_
And then I go back and make them good.
Which is the best bit, hammering it all out or going back?
Which is the least enjoyable bit?
It depends.
I just, I like the [N] hammering it out.
I think all writers really like that.
Yeah.
But you have to do the groundwork and sort of make it, hone it afterwards.
You've just came here from a podcast with our friends at The Word magazine about the Britpop era.
Now, as you arrived here, I was interviewing Suede.
I saw that.
I saw not even the slightest recognition in_
I don't think they would even recognise me unless I was that girl in purple.
So were you not all one_
We're still wearing black.
We don't talk to people in purple. _
_ You weren't all one big Britpop happy [E] family then?
No, I've developed quite a lot.
I mean, obviously there [N] were sort of little cliques, gangs of the Britpop bands that really
sort of hung out together.
Who was in your clique?
Just us.
We were our own special clique.
_ But to be honest, the atmosphere was mostly one of _ competition and schadenfreude and you
couldn't wait to see the other one go down.
Was it really?
Yeah.
Whose difficult second album did you enjoy seeing flopping then?
I can't remember who we did, but we'd certainly watch the midweeks of people.
What chart position they've gone down.
10.
Brilliant.
They're over.
It was all of that.
Who was liked by everybody?
_ _ _ He was liked by everybody.
I don't know.
I guess whoever had the most drugs to hand out.
_ [E] And you were as popular as what you had in your pocket.
I see.
And who was despised by everybody?
Who was despised by everybody?
That [Am] changed daily.
Yeah?
Yeah.
_ _ Do you ever, have you got any itch at all to get up and sing again or is that something
you can deal with [Eb] at karaoke?
I can deal with it at karaoke.
I love karaoke.
It's [E] just the best.
Have you found any sleeper songs on karaoke?
Yeah, god yeah.
So do your mates as a laugh sometimes programme?
And I had to sort of like creep behind them and take it off and put something else on
_ [N] but I only miss it when I go and see a great band or a great gig and then I get this real
sort of little, oh god, I want to do that.
What have you seen recently that got you feeling like that?
I went to see Davos quite recently which was, they did a really amazing gig.
It was like, not a band that I particularly sort of clued into or loved but I just happened
to go to a gig with a friend and he was just so brilliant and artistic and I go, I want
to get on there and do that.
But it normally goes away again as soon as I leave.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And what's next for you?
Just more writing, more stuff.
When's your next book out?
Your last one was your autobiography, or memoirs.
Yeah, it's just come out literally a couple of weeks ago so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So how different was it delving into your real life rather than delving upwards into your imagination?
It was quite strange, I thought it would be easier than it was.
It was actually quite hard.
So I'm always confused as to how do people remember?
Well, the remembering isn't difficult but it's just the, do I want to write that down?
Yeah.
It's just the remembering thing was really easy.
But then sort of deciding whether that was something I really wanted to commit to paper
for posterity or not.
Will any people be upset by what is in there?
No.
Oh, shame.
But read it anyway.
Read it anyway, it's great.
Great, thank you very much for talking to us, Louise Werner.
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