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your teens. For me it was 14. Even then
I was an old lady – a young-head-onold-shoulders
type. You discover
whether you’re gay or straight in your
adolescence, and my theory is it’s then
that everything is determined.
How would you describe the Lauren
Laverne of her teens?
I was an indie kid, even though it wasn’t
cool to be. It was just before Kate Moss
came on to the scene, when people
viewed second-hand clothes as
something someone else died in. I loved
shopping and dressing up and still do – I
don’t know anyone who truly loves
music and doesn’t have appreciation
of the way things look. My style icons
were people like Courtney Love, PJ
Harvey and Debbie Harry.
How did your parents react when you
ditched your place at university to be
in a pop band?
My dad is a lecturer in social policy,
a real pointy-headed academic, but he
was also a guitarist and I grew up with
his records booming from the kitchen.
He always told me not to go to
university to get a job but to do what
interests me, so I don’t think it was
anything major. I think they thought it
was quite cool really!
Do you ever feel you’ve missed out
on your education?
I don’t know. I don’t regret not going
to university. I had a place to do
Medieval Studies at Durham but I’m
not sure if it was meant to be. Ed
from The Chemical Brothers did it at
Manchester – that’s how the band met
– and he gave me a lesson once in
a field at 3am and I thought, “Ooh, I’m
not sure it would have been for me.”
I have a friend who’s a mature student
at Birbeck doing English Literature
and I’m always incredibly jealous of
“NICK GRIFFIN’S QUITE
INTO POLITICS, DO YOU WANT TO
LEAVE IT TO HIM? NO THANKS”
LAUREN, FAR RIGHT, AGED 18
AND FRONTING SUNDERLAND
INDIE GROUP KENICKIE IN 1996
what he’s studying. I think, at some
point, I’d really like to do that as a
degree myself.
Your show on BBC6 Music sees you
discussing everything from pop to
politics. Are there any topics you
don’t feel confident enough to talk
at length on?
No way. I’m a Curious George by
nature, into stuff and enthusiastic and
that’s what’s most important. The fact
that a brain surgeon’s coming on the
show and I can’t operate on brains
doesn’t faze me. I just try to be smart
and confident. I’ve always thought
you’ve got to be interested in order to
be interesting.
Do you think women are interested
in politics? A recent survey revealed
that only 1% of women have the
desire or inclination to become
an MP.
I can’t can t speak for other women but I do
think hink that whether you like it or not,
politics affects every minute of your
day, so you better get involved
in n it and try to shape how
you want it to be. If you
don’t, who will? Nick
Griffin’s quite into it, do
you want to leave it to
him? No thanks. I’m not
saying I know what all my
political views are –
that’s hat’s a big question –
but I know that I
believe in fairness and
equality. I don’t
think hink you want to tag
yourself too much to
one party because
there here are bad eggs in
every one, but at the
moment you’ve got
to o believe and be
optimistic that
the he government
will work it out and
do the right thing
by the country.
Are there certain
policies you feel
are especially
relevant to
women?
THE MAKING OF LAUREN LAVERNE
From Kenickie to Candy Pop, how a national treasure was forged
SHARING THE MIC WITH
MYLEENE KLASS ON THE SET
OF CD:UK IN 2005
AS THE FACE OF BBC2’S
ART-WEEKLY THE CULTURE
SHOW IN 2008
DRESS, £1,765, ESCADA; CUFF,
£220, OTAZU FOR SWAROVSKI
CRYSTALLIZED; BOOTS,
£685, RUPERT SANDERSON
LAUREN LAVERNE
I think women feel social injustices more
keenly, whether it’s war or the disparity
between the richest people in our
country and the poorest. The people
who tend to suffer the most are women
and children. Women get the rubbish
end of the stick and so it’s war and want
that are the important things to me.
You were talking about abo Big Brother
at the shoot today. DDo you think
more ‘intelligent’ pro programmes
are compromised by the likes of
reality TV?
I don’t think so. Big Brother was the
first social experiment experim to be on TV,
and that’s pretty prett fascinating.
I don’t like watching wa it when
the producers producer do the whole
‘evil’ thing – I mean, m who wants
to watch peopl people eat rice for a
week? But I think the t way people
form relationships, wwhether they fall
out or cop off, is interesting. inter
Are there any pleasures pleasu that are
too too guilty?
Nope! I guess I have a
no-brow
approach to culture, aand the same
goes for all the people peopl I’m really
interested in. The sm smartest people
I know enjoy stupid stupi things and
extremely geeky things all in
the same breat breath, and why
not, really?
Lauren is ppresenting live
coverage
of the Glastonbury
Festival Fes F tival from 25-27 June on
BBC2 an and BBC6 Music
Lauren Laverne
first hit the
spotlight as singer
of Kenickie, the
Nineties indie
group who scored
a number of hits.
By the time the
band split,
Lauren had won
over the public
with her sharp wit, turning to a career
in TV and radio in 2002. Against her
friends’ advice that it would be
“seriously uncool”, the culture
chameleon got her big break fronting
Saturday morning music show CD:UK
in 2005, later going on to host BBC
arts programme The Culture Show.
Now the presenter du jour at BBC 6
Music, the one-time popstrel recently
wrote the Candy Pop teen series. Up
next is baby number two…
WWW�STYLIST�CO�UK����
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