Life, Love, Lyrics
JUDE MONTAGUE talks to fellow-songwriter Anna Page
Some artists have a powerful and positive impact on Hastings culture even though the spotlight has not fallen on their profile. One of these is songwriter Anna Page, who has been teaching songwriting to a new generation of artists and to pupils across all ages, from two to 92 years old. She’s been living and working in Hastings since moving from Wiltshire in 2015.
Anna has a rich personal history which she draws on as a source of inspiration, converting emotions – anger, regret, yearning, resilience – into expressive poetry and sound.
I asked about her process, and what she thinks makes a good song.
“The important thing is to write about what you care about and feel strongly about,” Anna says. “When I was young, my bedrooms in Wells and Welwyn always faced West, so I saw a lot of sunsets. My first song, written aged around 6, was a melancholy minor key song about seeing the sun going down, and I remember thinking I wanted to write lyrics and music. At that moment, I had an impression of a First Nation Chief-type spirit nodding its approval in the corner of the bathroom.”
That childhood vision set her life choices in motion. While working as a dancer on The Word and Naked City in the 1990s and as a make-up artist for pop promo videos, she was inspired to write and perform her own material.
DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER
Her first few songs such as Can’t Stand You and Going Mad were all quite angry. an anti-rape song Ecstasy became a 1997 single of the month in Record Collector, where it was declared “superb”.
“I had no idea of just how angry I felt until I wrote songs!” Anna says. “In the 90s, I was in a nine-year relationship with someone who was attractive and funny, but who also lied and was unfaithful. I kept ending it then getting back together, and I never trusted him – he was the inspiration for Can’t Stand You.
“I was never happy with the second verse while I was with him, but as soon as I ended the relationship for the final time, the first thing I did when I got home was write the whole second verse straight off the bat, like it had been dying to come out… It began: ‘Can’t stop this anger, and why should I try?/ It gave me the strength to tell you goodbye’.”
I agree with Anna when she says that songwriting constantly challenges the writer by bringing out ‘inconvenient’ feelings, those we try to hide from ourselves. When they are acknowledged, that helps us move forward. “It’s like my songs know everything before I do. They access deeper levels of consciousness, with all the discomfort, but also freedom that brings.”
This Too Shall Pass was written late one Sunday night, while her drunken ex was scarily hammering on the locked bedroom door quoting from a bible he had stolen from the local church. Anna had a deadline the next day, so was determined to finish the song. ‘I see you clearly now love’s gone’ became the opening line.
LONDON YEARS
She lived a successful but stressful time in London, playing packed-out gigs at The Monarch, The Forum, and The Hacienda, supporting The Damned and Sham 69 with an all-girl Camden based band, Deluxor. She achieved Demo Of the Month in Making Music, and was described as “fierce, frantic and fully sorted” by Melody Maker.
Eventually, however, she hit burn out, and didn’t know how to continue going forward. Sitting on Brighton beach in 1999, watching the sun shining on the waves, she had an epiphany. She says that the power of nature gave her a new sense of self, and began to work on her own self-worth, energised by tapping into our connection with the beauty of the universe.
Since moving to Hastings, a few of her songs have been inspired by nights out and some of the people here, having escaped to a place where the sky meets the sea. In addition to writing songs, she is a visual artist, and has been working on some promo videos, including one featuring the wreck of the Amsterdam at Bulverhythe.
Photographer Tim White shot some great drone footage at sunset of Anna for her track Ghost Ship. That story was inspired by her former 1500s cottage, whose beams were reputedly made from old ships’ timbers: “All aboard the ghost ship/No soul is left on deck/But we still keep on sailing/We cling to the wreck.”
As well as being inspired by great songs and music-makers (The Kinks, Dolly Parton, Don McLean, Love, Kate Bush) Anna also cites Alice In Wonderland as a lifelong influence. At age seven, she devoured that book in one sitting, and remembers her childhood relief at how the author understood the crazy precarious world of dreams and reality. (Interestingly, Lewis Carroll sometimes visited Hastings as his aunts used to live on Wellington Square).
BEING ALIVE
While sad songs seem to come more naturally to Anna, her track Bedroom Legend is about feeling happy alone, being creative, appreciating being alive. “It came from a place of pure joy: in Muswell Hill where I was 1993 to 2004. So many happy times, all night parties, creative, vibrant people, live music. Belated apologies to my neighbours there!”
The title of her album Stars & Rockets was inspired by her songwriting friend Lil’ Lost Lou, who said you must find a lover who makes you feel those ‘stars and rockets’ fireworks. The order of the songs takes the listener through various emotions, but ultimately, she says, the best excitement “comes from having a brilliant relationship with yourself.”
The album was released approximately ten years ago but has been given new life by her recently formed full pop band. The line-up includes longtime collaborator John O’Sullivan (from Mark & The Clouds, The Snakes, 20 Days and 20th Century Kids) and drummer Mark Barker (whom she has played with at Beatles Days and in Poxy Music, a 70s covers band). On lead guitar is her partner Peter Collins, from garage rock outfits The Kumari and The Likks.
Anna & the Mariners play Adventures in Pop on Tuesday 7 July at the Jenny Lind with house bands MARS and The Barbarian Horde. Free, 8pm start.
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