GIN WIGMORE

I think I was probably a cowboy in a past life.

Being a black sheep is a way I would describe myself.

You can't go round looking like a rag.

I try not to think too much about where my voice comes from. I'm channeling characters and emotion to come up with beautiful words that tell a story.

It's easy listening to a record, but a live performance is so personal and real.

That's the great thing about songwriting: You have that time to have perspective and look back and think about all the things you'd want to say.

No one can attack you when you're songwriting; it's you and a song, which is a great place to be.

I got down to business and started writing furiously. I wore my fingers down to a callous state writing with every Tom, Dick and Harry around the world, including a chap named Charlie who plays for a man named Bob, to wrestle my emotions and bring out the raw grit hiding in my tightly guarded sub-conscious.

I was in a band in Auckland, and I remember they all hated me. They had a big intervention. They said, basically, 'Gin, we think you suck.' I was miserable. I cried and cried. But looking back, that taught me about social skills and how to communicate with musicians.

You break up, and you say something pathetic, or you don't even speak at all when someone's telling you they don't love you anymore. But then you think about it five minutes later, and you have all these great comebacks!

Honestly, Americans are more open-minded and have the patience and the time for new types of music. In Australia and New Zealand, you must earn your place.

I love playing shows. That's the time I have to really share what I am about.

When you're young, you need to be silly and be stupid and not be trying to do that when you're 40 in a red sports car.

I'm very open with people, very warm, when I meet them. My fans in particular find that strange and refreshing.

When I went to Memphis and Mississippi and Nashville, I learnt the blues is a whole way of life. I don't really have the blues, but I can appreciate the honesty and the simplicity of it.

I love the energy in the U.S., you know. Everyone is really psyched. You feel really privileged to be there.

Writing music is such a freeing exercise, and it's really nice to play in that world of being confident, vengeful - getting back at all the bad boyfriends.

I've got a very short attention span, and this has been part of the reason I'm so kind of dumbfounded at the fact that I've still stayed with music. Nothing has ever stuck for me, and music's the only thing that's managed to stick out for a long period of time.

I'm not aiming to be someone like Christina Aguilera.

People might think I'm a bit more intimidating than I am.

You just feel better when you look nice.

I remember when I wrote songs when I was about 16, they all sounded the same because I didn't know anything. And all the subject matter was all the same because I hadn't actually done much.

I'd say the key thing is to remain true to what originally got you into music. When I wrote 'Hallelujah,' it ignited me to do music because of the love and joy that I got from writing that song. Down the road, you get all of these opinions from people; just remember what got you started in the first place.

I'm a big believer that when we put so much into our jobs - and everyone does - you deserve to be get paid for it instead of doing a gig and then having to work in a bar for eight hours.

I don't think I'm a diva.