Nina Smith

July 2011

I’LL be performing at an event in Leicestershire tonight where there’ll be acrobats, planes, fireworks and all sorts. I’m opening for a Pink Floyd tribute band. I don’t sound very Pink Floyd. My music is more soul pop.

And I’m performing again tomorrow at Nottinghamshire Pride with a beatboxer called Motormouf.

I normally play with my band, who are Robert Harris (guitar), Dick Fontain (bass) and Phil McGough (Cahon box drum) but this time it’ll just me, my guitar and Motormouf. It’ll be stripped down, more raw than usual. We’ll be playing I Won’t Forget You, which is the lead track on my new EP, Lonely Heart Club.

I don’t just perform at weekends. It can be during the week. In the past month I’ve done shows around the country, supporting (Nottingham beatboxer) The Petebox.

I work a lot at the weekend. I’m a service centre assistant, responding to people trapped in lifts. We cover the whole country. If you’re stuck in a lift and you press the service button for help it will come through to us. I’d say 90 per cent of them are distressed. To calm them we keep them talking, ask them what they do for a living, their family...

I’m actually scared of lifts.

And airplanes. Which is why I only go abroad every ten years. I’m also scared of bees and spiders... everything really.

If I’m not at work then I’ll be working on my music, either writing or rehearsing with my band. So I get very little free time.

Last weekend I was at Splendour, which I love because it’s very family orientated and they support a lot of Nottinghamshire music there. I have played it before but this time I was just there to enjoy the music, all the Nottingham acts like Harleighblu, Royal Gala, Swimming and Jake Bugg.

The only thing I’ve watched on the TV recently is Sirens, which is a black comedy about paramedics.

It’s the same with the cinema. The last film I saw was Inception. In fact, I saw it twice. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I don’t read a great deal. If I do it’ll be music biographies.

And I don’t make any effort to keep fit. I stay in shape because I’m busy. I’m always on the move. And I eat a lot of fruit. I do eat junk food the more excited I am. If I’ve had a really good gig I’ll go to the chippy without even thinking about it.

The sort of music I listen to at home is a lot like the music I write: Zero 7, George Michael, Justin Timberlake, Lewis Taylor... and I like the Spice Girls.

On a perfect weekend, for starters I wouldn’t be at work. There’s nothing special I’d want to do, it would just be a case of spending time with friends and playing music.

Nina Smith appears at Nottinghamshire Pride at the Forest Recreation Ground tomorrow on the Acoustic Stage at 5pm – see page 7.

Her debut EP, Lonely Heart Club, is available at gigs, from Mimm Clothes Shop in Hockley and from iTunes.