She didn’t believe her luck, until it ran out

It’s Q magazines 300th issue (was it really 12 years ago that Shirley was on the cover of issue #150?) and they’ve been interviewing former interviewees. They reprinted a thumbnail of Shirley’s Cash For Questions interview from April 2000, which Shirley did to promote the B-sides album (which didn’t come out……) and like the other 15 or so interviews in the special landmark issue, they’ve been asking how those rockstars look back on the time that they were interviewed.

Shirley Manson: She didn’t believe her luck, until it ran out

How were you in 2000?
Oh God, I can certainly remember the Q photoshoot; some dodgy lentil soup gave me food poisoning and we had to cancel shows. Believe me, after the glamour of that shoot, it was a pretty seedy scene in my room next morning. More generally, we just couldn’t believe our luck.

You went from the dole queue to being super famous….
I know. I’d never been a writer and then to have people coming to my shows and buying my songs and singing aliong was really empowering, absolutely life-changing. But it was tough to tour all the time and still make interesting records since a song about staying in the Cologne Hilton isn’t going to be great. Being bombarded by internacionally vicious press was hard to stomach too, but I grew into a much more confident person.

What’s you relationship with Q? And the rest of the press
Amazing overall, despite what I’ve just said. I didn’t fuck about; you asked a question, you got an honest answer.

Garbage split in mid-2005 during a tour. That’s bonkers
I love the Garbage guys but I just couldn’t do it anymore. We were touring Australia, which is hardly exhausting; staying in near paradise and I couldn’t work out why I wanted to kill myself.

Why did your solo album get shelved?
The record company said it was too dark – have they heard any of my records? – there were no radio hits and they saw me as the Annie Lennox of my generation. I went home, burst into tears, and went “fuck it” and became an actress.

Why are Garbage back?
My view of the world changed when my mother died, aqs did a little boy of a good friend. I sang at his funeral and realised that while nothing could take away his parents’ pain, music can give succour like nothing else and I was squandering my gift. Butch Vig was at that funeral and he understood instantly. I might not be the greatest singer or writer, but I’m great live. I remember going to the Coachella festival and shouting at every band to get off because I knew I was better. During success I thought I didn’t deserve it, but now I know I’m as good as anyone. The new record sounds like all the things we love. We’ve found the excitement again. It’s time.

Happy?
The happiest I’ve been. I’ve had to dig deep these past few years, but I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve found and I’ve got plenty left.

Any regrets?
No. That’s not my style.

What would the Shirley of 2011 say to the Shirley of 2000? Would she like her?
I wouldn’t say anything to her, but I’d be a bit jealous because Rankin made her look incredible. I had spirit and spunk and I told the truth. Right now you can count girls who tell the truth with one hand.

Thanks to Silent G from Trash Talk :)