Bay Harbour: August 10, 2016

Wednesday August 10 2016
BAY HARBOUR
PAGE 11
the world at her feet
And you travelled a bit from
there?
I’m really spontaneous so I
decided to do a busking tour
around Europe. So I contacted
Interrail and Eurail to see if it
was something they were interested
in – they bought it. So they
gave us a 12-day rail pass and we
went from London to Stockholm
to Copenhagen down to Warsaw
in Poland and then to Prague
then Munich, Salzburg, Venice,
Asti, Monte Carlo, Nice and
then Amsterdam all in 12 days
with my best friend who’s a New
Zealand windsurfer. While this
was happening I was only 17. I
have about 50,000 fans online so
I’d post each day were I was and
I’d have all these people turn up
– I didn’t really expect it at all. I
made about €200 (euro) busking
in each city.
So tell me about your
music and your new album
Psychedelic Rock which you
recently released?
The music I’ve established as
my brand is more electronic.
This album is influenced by
the 60s and 70s Americana,
Woodstock and that whole
hippy movement. I love the
era. I watched Jim Carroll’s The
Basketball Diaries and read a
novel he wrote . . . it’s really raw.
This album draws a lot from that.
This album is a concept album
I’ve written myself. It goes from
dark to light as I have this thing
called synaesthesia where I see
music and colour so it helps a
lot with my writing, it’s a bit of
a blessing. I wrote the album’s
track names before I wrote the
songs. I’ve written a novel to
go along with the album and
eventually I want to make it into
a short film. People can interpret
my music any way they want.
They’re not pop songs – it’s a
lot more than that. I don’t just
sit back and let other people
do things for me, I’m a really
involved person in my career so
I do a lot of promoting myself,
I keep up my social media
following and I edit my own
videos.
Do you have any influences
that you draw on when creating
your sound?
I listen to Lana del Rey, The xx,
Haim, Taylor Swift, Marina and
the Diamonds, Fleetwood Mac,
PERFORMING: Asti-Loren’s new album Psychedelic Rose was released on Saturday.
The Zombies, Dire Straits and
Pink Floyd – a real variety really.
I’ve taken different influences
from the greats of each genre and
incorporated them into my work
– whether it’s lyrically, musically
or the way I present myself.
Tell me a bit about growing
up – what’s you’re family like?
I grew up in a house on the top
of Scarborough Hill. I went to
Selwyn House and then St Andrew’s
College. My mother owns
a salon Yazu Hair Salon. She’s
incredibly talented. She’s been
on the L’Oreal creative team and
a part of New Zealand Fashion
Week. She was actually teaching
hairdressing in Asia while
she was eight months pregnant
with me which was pretty crazy.
She’s heavily driven . . . I think
that’s where I get it from. My
mum and my dad met at 15 and
started the business together. He
was going to be a mechanic, but
he’s technically a hairdresser by
trade. They separated when I was
nine so he went to the Caribbean
to buy a boat and sailed it
back to New Zealand to set up a
charter business. So, when I was
younger, I grew up in a boat. I
lived on it in Diamond Harbour
and the Lyttelton marina. I used
to go to school in a dingy. We
had five dalmatian dogs and we’d
be in a five-metre dingy with one
of our dogs at the front and my
brother and I in our posh private
school uniforms. We’d sail from
Diamond Harbour to Lyttelton
and we’d arrive at school soaked.
My little brother Lucca is 16 and
he’s the total opposite of me. He’s
blue-eyed, blonde and tall, while
I’m 1.49m and brunette. We were
both named after towns in Italy.
He’s really into skiing, inventing
and downhill mountain biking.
He made a flame thrower the
other day. I have a weird family.
It sounds like you’ve had an
insanely interesting upbringing!
What else do you love
outside of music?
I love going to the beach and I
love skiing. I did ski racing from
about seven-years-old at Mt
Hutt. We used to go skiing every
single weekend in winter from
when I was seven to 12. I did it
competitively and placed third
in the South Island when I was
younger.
Where to next for you? Where
do you want to end up?
I’m going to the US to film
a music video for my album
next month, then London for
a month, Ho Chi Minh City in
Vietnam after that, and then Bali
all before the end of the year.
Eventually I want to be able to
tour with my albums. I’ve
started on my second album
which is going to be completely
different with a different vibe. To
be a musician as a full time job
is the goal. I’m always aiming
for the top, I’m just that kind of
person. I’ve always written for
bigger things because if you don’t
think you’re going to be big or
don’t have that in your mind,
how are you ever going to get
there?
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