Not Many Experts

Although the sage homo sapiens at Not Many Experts have been banging on at you about Marina & The Diamonds’ flawless pop music for months now (we’ve posted about her, like, at least twice y’all) , we had yet to add her to the list of hotly tipped artists in our series of interviews. After hearing the fantastic news that she would be part of the NME Radar Tour (which practically guarantees success) along with fellow “Neon Golders” Yes Giantess, we thought it would be the perfect time to catch up with a Marina on the cusp of real, tangible success.

Readers of Not Many Experts  really should have bought The Crown Jewels EP already, which was released on the infallible Neon Gold Records – was it an easy decision to release the EP with such a pioneering but relatively unknown record label, and who is your favourite artist on Neon Gold? (You are not allowed to choose yourself!) 

Myself. Sorry – must tell truth at all times else nose will grow and will become unsightly.

It was easy in the respect that I knew Derek and Lizzy would do a good job and I wasn’t ready to release anything on my major label yet. I just wanted something to bridge the gap between Obsessions and ‘the first single proper’. And I think I achieved that.

You recently played Wakestock festival in Abersoch (Abersock? Who knows…) – I’ve got this perception of the festival as the preserve of rich 15 year olds who aren’t really interested in music, are you able to confirm this? 

I cannot confirm this. The crowd were young though and UP 4 IT.

Your blog is really well written; can I safely assume from your particular writing style that you are a loyal reader of "the best blog on the super information highway" hipsterrunoff.com y’all??? 

Thanks y’all. I am actually not a loyal reader of hipsterrunoff! I just take the p*ss out of Neon Gold and his ‘y’alls’. I nicked it off Derek if anything.

"Obsessions" is a ridonkulously fantastic song. I’ve noticed recently that solo artists who get hyped a lot are then rushed into record contracts and forced to hammer out an album as quickly as possible, leading to poor results; cases in point – Dan Black’s best song is still "HYPNTZ" and his album is going to be so average, and La Roux still hasn’t written anything better than "Fascination". The same case could be made for Little Boots. You said on your blog that you are taking your time writing your album – but do you feel the pressure of living up to the expectations everybody has for you? 

I cant comment on the above artists but regarding other peoples expectations for me? BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Seriously, blah. Give me a break. It’s not as if the world will crumble if artist x, y or z releases their album 6 months later to ensure that is actually-worth-releasing.

You mentioned that you would like to have a hit, but wouldn’t be too devastated if you didn’t. If you had to choose one of your current songs that had the most potential to be huge – which would it be? 

On a commercial front- “Shampain”.

On a Marina front- “Robot” or a song called “Guilty”.

We will be catching you at Camp Bestival & Leeds; what can we (and everyone else – hopefully we won’t be the only people there) expect from a Marina & The Diamonds show? 

Oh you know, ventriloquists, robots, fairies, butterflies etc etc. All the stuff that will make me into a star and make me great and just one of those memorable, unforgettable live artists, you know?

With a couple of releases and a lot of exposure under your belt, what are your plans for the future music-wise? 

To be good . To ensure my songs are realised, musically, through production. To be less energetic on stage so that I have enough breath to sing. To work my butt off.

A few weeks ago, upon opening the NME, I was (pleasantly) shocked to be confronted with a massive picture of you and the Aspirins For My Children Remix of "I Am Not A Robot" at #1 in some sort of NME-ish chart. How did you feel about this?

I’ve read NME for about 4 years. I have no problem with them. I actually think they’re really good music publication.  Was getting bit fed up with the indie, rock n roll vibes but they have proven that they appreciate all types of music by supporting a lot of artists that they would never have supported in the Libertines era etc.

Many thanks to Marina & Karen, Holly & Merlin @ Radar Maker Publicity.

Here are a couple of the best “I Am Not A Robot” remixes to pass by our ears – especially the Starsmith beast! And we can’t really disagree with the NME over the Aspirins For My Children Remix either.

Marina & The Diamonds – I Am Not A Robot (Starsmith Remix)

Marina & The Diamonds – I Am Not A Robot (The Aspirins For My Children Remix)