Whole lotta Rosie

(London Green News Winter 2007)

INTERVIEW: Rosie and the Goldbug

A BAND who come onstage looking more gothic Victorian parlour act than modern day pop group is enough to raise a few eyebrows - but this Cornish trio are here to tantalise and terrorise the banal and the bland. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Rosie and the Goldbug.
Rosie Vanier is a force of nature. As lead singer, she seems a modern day Kate Bush - with a little Karen O thrown in. In truth, neither comparison does justice to a performer who gives so much at live shows (which Bush famously shuns).
As with most eccentrics, Rosie’s unusual childhood is responsible for much of her idiosyncracies.
“I grew up in the heart of Bodmin Moor, and we lived in a very isolated farm house,” she says.
Rosie attended what she refers to as an “unusual” school, next door to the legendary Jamaica Inn where Daphne du Maurier wrote her classic book about murder, mystery, storms and smugglers.
Backed by bassist Plums and drummer Pixie, the band have been workng together for around 11 months.
Regulars at Brixton’s Jamm will remember the band from their performance at the Green fundraiser in October, which was something of a dream realised for the band.
“When we were growing up we were all in bands and always yearned to gig up in London. The fundraiser was really really great.”
Rosie’s own performances have become the stuff of legend, as she sings and dances with abandon, giving her all to the show. The work of a great dramatist?
“Onstage, I am just being myself,” she insists. “I’m a bit of an extreme performer, I don’t hold back.”
It says a lot about Rosie’s musical intentions that she has recently been co-writing with Marcella Detroit, formerly of Shakespear’s Sister - herself no stranger to eccentricity and bombast.
In spite of being a band whose future seems so ensconced in the past, Rosie and the Goldbug really are going somewhere fast. Despite being pursued by labels desperate to sign them before their fame explodes, Rosie, a self-confessed ‘control freak’, is eager to make the most of the new media revolution.
“We are using new media to our advantage, but I really am a big fan of the punk DIY ethos.”
For a band who live in a make-believe world, Rosie and the Goldbug certainly seem to have their feet firmly planted on the ground.
Check www.rosieandthegoldbug.com for live dates.