December 2015, Lifetime
Being a Dance Moms fan is like being in a secret club—sometimes it literally is, if you consider all the Facebook groups and Dance Mom forums you’re subscribed to—and like with any club, there are certain things you only know if you’re a fan that outsiders just don’t get, no matter how hard you try explaining to them. (The secret language, on the other hand, is still a work in progress.) This includes the fact that dance is a sport and a pretty …read more
January 4 2013, Spindle Magazine
Oh Canada (oh Canada). You’ve been good to us over the years. You gave us maple syrup, Mounties, Jason Priestly and Pamela Anderson. Things got a little shaky, admittedly, with Avril Lavigne and Nickelback, but then we put more maple syrup on our pancakes and, in the ensuing sugar rush, things looked pretty rosy again. And what do we do to repay you, oh great and most generous giver of a country? Largely, by making fun of your accent. So it stands to reason you’d want to keep …read more
January 2 2013, Spindle Magazine
The first time I call Alt-J there’s no answer. All too aware of the tight time allocations for all interviews I persist until, eventually, someone picks up. Relieved, I brightly introduce myself. The voice on the other end is wary.
“Oh right… who are you supposed to be interviewing?”
“Er… Alt-J?” I helpfully proffer like a colossal berk (I’ve not been given any information beyond ‘call the band at this time’). The voice asks if he can call me back; he wasn’t …read more
December 2012, Spindle Magazine Issue 6
Before Erika M. Anderson became E.M.A. (future pin up of angsty teens), she was front woman of drone folk band, Gowns, whom you may or may not have heard of. If you haven’t, you could probably be forgiven since they ‘self- destructed’ back in 2010 after just the one album and I’m not entirely sure their live shows, driven by a frenzied chaos that became a trademark, ever made it out of the us underground scene to this side of the pond. That kind of …read more
December 2012, Spindle Magazine Issue 6
I’ve been sitting on this question for some time now, desperately hoping that at some point (preferably before deadline) enlightenment would hit like lightning from the heavens above. Yet alas, no matter how hard I ponder it, I’m no closer to an answer to this, most infernal of riddles. So I’m turning it over to you, reader of this article.
It’s a question I didn’t overly concern myself with until I interviewed them at Bestival ’11. …read more
December 2012, Spindle Magazine Issue 6
It was back in 2009 when I first saw Glasvegas, at a time when buying a ticket to see Kings Of Leon, whom they were supporting, was still vaguely acceptable (in other words, pre sex on fire). In the wake of James Allan’s breakdown, with a spate of cancelled performances and dogged by rumours of an impending breakup, the chances of the band surviving to make another album looked doubtful and a graceful bow out, probable.
At times, somewhere around the …read more
December 2012, Spindle Magazine Issue 6
If there’s one thing that becomes immediately obvious while watching The Cribs play to a packed out crowd in Brighton tonight, it’s that the departure of Johnny Marr from the band has done nothing to diminish their sheer, rabble-rousing force. If anything, they’re stronger than ever returning to their original set up of three-man band. “One thing I would say is I definitely don’t see us looking to take on another member again. I think we’ve done that …read more
December 2012, Spindle Magazine Issue 6
“If a feminist means someone who works actively for women’s decisions in society, then I am a feminist.”
My question to Swedish singer-songwriter, Karin Park, comes after ten minutes of discussing how she fails to conform to traditional female roles, her perceived lack of decent female musicians and how, even after 10 years of working as a musician, she still encounters sound engineers who think she’s incapable of putting up her own equipment. “That would …read more
December 2012, Spindle Magazine Issue 6
Somewhere, inside all of us, is that person we know we’re destined to be, if only we were given the chance. Sure, the world sees you as the 40-year-old postal worker who still lives with his mother and suffers from an unfortunate amount of flop sweat, but you know better. You know deep down you’re Tony, the cruise ship singer who cuts a swathe through the scores of middle aged women, melting hearts with a single thrust of those gyrating pelvic muscles. Tony, I see you.
Inside my head? Oh darling, I’m …read more
November 27 2012, Spindle Magazine
“This is all totally a movie,” Conor speculates. “This is totally some stupid horror movie when we’re all joking around and you say ‘Bloody Mary’ three times and then a drink haunts you.”
It’s a dark and stormy Halloween night. While the wind and rain lash violently down outside, I’m sequestered in a small, dingy room lined with mirrors — of the kind usually to be found at the back of an adult film shop, or possibly in one of the …read more
Amy Lavelle is a freelance journalist who writes for the likes of Grazia, Glamour, Red, The Pool, Metro, Telegraph and the Independent, among others.
Amy is represented by Amanda Preston and Hannah Schofield at LBA. Her debut novel, Definitely Fine, published by Orion Fiction, is out now. Her second novel, Home Sweet Home, came out in April 2023.
