The Questionnaire

What are you plugging right now?

I was back in New Zealand late last year doing a church tour with Hammond Gamble, Shona Laing and Debbie Harwood, which was good fun. To be honest, I had no idea these churches seated so many. I thought we might be in tiny places playing to 20 people! I’m also featured in a musical memorabilia show called Volume that’s on at Auckland Museum. I managed to dredge up the outfit that Maxine wore in my song of the same name, all those years ago. It’s such a skinny little outfit! They’re displaying that, and some of those songs play as you walk around.

Tell us a bit about what you’re doing in Australia these days.

‘I spend a lot of time writing songs at home in Sydney, and I’m also what I call a ‘weddings, parties, anything’ girl. I just love playing live, so I often find myself on the bill with a lot of acts from the 80s, playing songs like

and its way into a few of his songs. I love reading factual books, rather than fiction, and books on musicians are fascinating because we have some shared experiences. A lot of these people had record companies derailing the momentum of their careers, and I had that myself, too, during the 80s . It’s comforting to read these things and go, ‘ah, jeez, I’m not the only one’.

Which living person do you most admire?

My partner Alan. We’ve been together a long time, and he’s still my best friend, and a great musician, too. He balances me somehow. He has a great eye for detail. And he makes great pasta. I love him to death. He’s great! And the fact that we write songs together is just an added bonus.

Words Paradise.’ Maxine, Asian

What job would you do other than your own and why?