Sister Bliss and cohort Rollo wrote most of the new album during a US road trip.
‘It was quite amazing having a totally different experience, driving up the Californian coast, just seeing the nature and feeling really connected. But at the same time I felt extremely disconnected – I got really homesick and by the end I couldn’t wait to come home. So you’ve got that schism between the bit of sunshine that definitely came into the music, a very positive energy, but also a sense of longing melancholy that informs a lot of the album. Believe it or not, I’ve got quite a depressive streak and that’s just how it comes out of my hands when I play the keyboards. So it was a really great energy in which to make new music. But who knows? Maybe now we’ll all have breakdowns and the next album will be this really dark, spidery menopause album.’
Although the band are filling stadiums these days, they didn’t plan on playing live at all.
‘We only put together a live band, because our pluggers told us, “Nobody knows you’ve got an album out!” We were absolutely shambolic. We literally put together a band from mates of ours who were hanging around in the studio doing nothing. There were 10 of us – we couldn’t even all fit on stage. At one point we had one person who just played the tambourine. I don’t know what we were thinking.’
Despite being a superstar DJ and dance musician, she still finds time for domestic bliss.
‘I love to cook; I’m quite a homemaker. Maybe it’s just the guilt of running around thinking, “I must home-make, I must bake some bread” – I’ve never done that, but I do make a nice roast dinner. I’ve been watching MasterChef with great enjoyment. Sometimes you wish the presenters would shut up, but the cooking is incredible.’
Cooking is not her only non-musical talent.
‘I’m quite good at boxing as well. I have a mean left hook; I’ve got quite a strong right hook as well. So don’t cross me.’
She’s a scholar of out-of-body experiences.
‘I was very interested in astral projection. My mum told me that when she gave birth to me, it was so agonising that she actually left her own body and watched herself from the ceiling, with – and this is the key part – the music of The Rite of Spring ringing in her ears as if it was coming from an extremely loud stereo. Those kinds of out-of-body experiences are fascinating.’
She feels, perhaps unsurprisingly, an affinity for The Rite of Spring.
‘I used to prance around listening to it when my mum had the record. It’s amazing – very primal. It’s about a bloody violent birth from molten lava; that’s what it sounds like. I’ll have to buy it from iTunes now. We only had it on an old 78-rpm record from 1942 or something.’
She’s distrustful of vegetarians (four-legged ones, at least).
‘One of my friends had a little blonde head of hair and a horse thought it was hay and leaned down and started munching on her. She now has a life-long fear of horses. I’ve been bitten by a gerbil, but who hasn’t? They’re pesky little creatures; they really are one step away from rats. They’re not really very good pets. I didn’t particularly like my gerbil. And, more importantly, he didn’t like me, the little f***er.’
She was a big fan of ’80s pop.
‘Top spot was Adam and the Ants. Although I had a Kajagoogoo picture on my mirror, because I really fancied the bass player when my hormones were kicking in. He was so pretty – the blond one with the funny little plaits. But Adam Ant was my man. I know he’s making a huge comeback in between bipolar episodes. But who knows? Maybe he has the inner strength – maybe his medication is working. My mum gave me his autobiography for Christmas because she remembered how much I love him, and it’s fascinating. I love Adam Ant – let’s hope his comeback is joyous, successful and healthy.’
The Dance is available now online.
