Swings And Roundabouts - Emmy The Great

Hong Kong-born wordsmith Emmy The Great on schlong-based bands, damaged siblings and why ‘the great’ once referred to her weight.

My most memorable trip
“When I was eight, my dad took me on holiday to Vancouver. I lived three glorious weeks without discipline, eating ice-cream for meals, doing anything I wanted. I say memorable because when I got back I was fat for four years.”

The worst song I ever wrote
“When my band was last in New York, I made friends with a DJ in a bar and at 3am we formed a band called Penis Penis Penis Antelope. That night we also wrote the first song, ‘Empire State Building Penis’, and named our first album, ‘You Should See Him At Brunch’.”

The coolest person I ever met
“My old flatmate was so cool-looking he actually got hired by a computer games company to play their computer game in their office so that people coming in for meetings could see him. He had a real array of non-jobs while we lived together - he got hired to write a one-word book review, and when he was interning at Loaded they made him take a snake to the pub.”

The most disagreeable celebrity I ever met
“I don’t know if this counts but Robert Downey Jr. was insufferable to me in my dream last night.”

The biggest turning point
“When I realised it’s okay to enjoy things.”

My most shameful moment
“I dropped my brother on his head when he was three and blamed it on the French kids next door. When I came clean last year, my mum was so surprised that I felt a surge of pride at the excellence of my lying.”

The best advice I can give
“A Joan Didion quote: information is control.”

The album ‘Virtue’ is out now.