SunLive Competition

Gin Wigmore is the first to confess she does some really crazy things. Maybe it is a death wish, she says, but her philosophy is that “life stops once you stop trying to make stories for yourself”.

Back from the United States with more crazy tales that an old folk book, you can’t deny the 25 year old singer has lived. Her crazy cross-country journey, through some of the dodgiest and most unusual places in the Southern states, began ironically when she had run out of tales to tell.

“After finishing Holy Smoke, there was all this chat about what I was gonna do for the second album, and how it is your downfall and artists can die, all these horror stories. And I didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to be.

“My manager just said, go to the States, and go learn about the blues and Elvis, drink moonshine and find out about these places. And I did and it was great. I found the record. I went on this journey to find this record and I am stoked with it.”

Unlike writing form the heart as she did with Holy Smoke, her latest album Gravel and Wine tells the tale of Gin placed in what she calls an ‘imaginary world’ – the surreal world Gin felt she had been living in for the last three months.

“It’s a bit like telling a personal story in an imaginary place, like if I was in a breakup, what would I do? Would I pull a shotgun on them? The songs are talking about real heavy s*** but saying what would I do in this world?”

Beyond her music, Gin certainly has a few tales to share. In the States, she went to church for the first time in her life to sermon led by Pastor Al Green sermon (American gospel and R&B singer).

“It was this beautiful church in Memphis, with a sermon that went on for four hours. It was like something out of a movie, with people fainting and the choir comes down and lays white sheets on them, and they are hemorrhaging, it was amazing. I remember sitting in my car having a bit of a come down form it being like ‘oh my god. I don’t think I can go to church again, it will never be the same again.”

On the other end of the scale, Gin also embarked in late-night rides through the back country with strange men – an experience she says could have turned out for the worse but opened up the most amazing experience.

“I met this crazy dude in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and we got talking because I was buying guitar and he was an antique guitar collector. And so I bought him lunch because I bought the guitar he wanted.

“Later that night he took me out to this plantation in his ute pick-up, down this dusty road on a plantation. And I was like, f*** man this guy could just stop the car and cut me up into little pieces. But it was awesome, there was this big barbeque on for someone’s birthday, and everyone as singing and dancing and drinking moonshine.

“When I got back from my trip, my boyfriend said to me, you are lucky you are alive, you do some really stupid s***.”

Back to the real world, back home in New Zealand, Gin is looking forward to playing in the Classic Hits Winery Tour, flanked by Don Mcglashan and Avalanche City. While she may be headlining, she takes the micky out of herself saying” I want a bigger bus than everyone else and I don’t want to hang out with anyone else” – the reality being there is no divide between the artists.

“We all go in vans together, and its pretty communal type living. I remember being around the States where it is quite segregated from headliner to supporting acts. But in New Zealand its cool how you are all in together and it is so much better.

“The people you spend a month with you actually know with and could hang out with down the track.”

Competition Results

Liz Dawe