Culture

Dunedin’s own Girl in Stilettos is in town next week and playing at Sammy’s on her national tour. Annah Mac will perform on April 28 as part of the tour to promote her single, as well as her album released in September last year. I caught up with her to find out all about her bowls skills, and how she’s feeling about her first national tour.

Annah went to school in Dunedin, and coming back is exciting because “everyone that supported me there hasn’t seen the work I’ve been doing for the last three or four years now … the last time I was there I was just a girl with my guitar, playing in cafés and things like that, and now I’ve got a full band, and an album, and I’m really excited to share that with everybody.”

Her national tour kicked off on April 20 in Auckland, and features gigs in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill – a pretty big deal for a 20-year-old small town Kiwi girl. Speaking from Auckland, she said she’s “really excited, a little bit nervous, but everything’s going to plan so that’s cool. No last minute [issues], and the band’s all here and ready!”

The “Girl in Stilettos Tour” is named after her hit single, which reached number two in the New Zealand Top 40 charts. The video clip features Annah at Hillsborough Bowls Club – an idea that came from video director Florence Noble who Annah describes as “very clever … when we met with her she sort of pitched the idea, and I thought ‘this is really great, it’s really awesome, it’s going to be really funny’ … and we kind of just went with that.”

And as for her bowls ability? Many of us have grown up playing bowls in some form or another, and Annah is no exception. “I have at school, a couple of times, but I didn’t know very much until I got there that day. All the people in the video clip apart from two of the men were actually Hillsborough Bowls Club members … and they were very excited to teach me as well, so I sorta had a whole day of training during the video clip.”

The song’s unprecedented success in the New Zealand charts has opened a lot of doors for Annah – she released her debut album Little Stranger in September 2011 and her time in the top ten has enabled this tour, as well as another single. Her successes are “pretty incredible … it’s been pretty amazing for myself and also for the team that’s been working with me. It’s a pretty exciting time.”

And just like many New Zealand artists, Annah writes her own songs – yet another trait that proves her mad skills as a musician. So what inspires Annah Mac? “Everything you know, I’m constantly drawing inspiration from other artists, and my family and friends and situations that they’re going through, so everything really. Life.”

You can see Annah play live on April 28 at Sammy’s, and tickets are available from the venue beforehand or on the door for $26 – all ages.