‘It changed my life completely’: The iconic ’90s album that spawned St Vincent’s music career

Annie Clark aka St Vincent is a musician best known for her Grammy-winning album, Daddy’s Home. Here, the 42-year-old shares how her stepdad supported her music endeavour, the theatre teacher who introduced her to the stage and how she became good friends with Dave Grohl.

Those supermodels didn’t look like LA girls who could afford nose jobs – they looked like aliens. I was like, “Wow! That’s a person?”Credit: Alex Da Corte

My maternal grandfather was born in Texas and died when my mom was 20. She pretty much raised herself after that as she also lost her mother at this time. I didn’t know much about him, but through my mom learned that my grandfather played the clarinet and could play the piano with his feet as a party trick.

My stepdad Roy played a pivotal role in my life. Mom married him when I was seven, and he moved in with us with I was eight. Roy worked as an engineer and then became an accountant. He didn’t know anything about music really, but was supportive of my decision to pursue it. He could see I was obsessed and drove me to the local guitar store when I was 12 to buy my first instrument.

My dad [who split from her mother when Annie was three] is the one who introduced me to Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, the Rolling Stones and Steely Dan – all the music of his youth. He was, and still is, into physical fitness. He was an athlete in college. The main things I remember doing with him as a kid was heading to the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma and running up the steps at Skelly Field Stadium for fun.

When I was nine, I had a best friend, Doug. He had a cool older brother with great taste in music. He was a skater and the guy we always tried to make laugh. One day, while we were all trying to skate the half pipe, he put on a tape of Nirvana’s Nevermind album. It changed my life completely – there is a before and after this album for me.

My best friends growing up were always boys. In Tulsa, I lived across the street from my best friend Patrick. He had three older sisters. Patrick and I did everything together – we rode bikes, climbed trees, played video games. I remember making a lot of make-shift weapons out of sticks with him. We were rough and tumble and the kind of sweaty kids that ran around the neighbourhood having lots of fun.

I went to Lake Highlands High School in Dallas. It was here that I met my theatre teacher Tim Johnson, who became a pivotal influence in my life from the ages of 16 to 18. He was part of the local theatre scene and helped run a cool indie company called Kitchen Dog Theater. He was the first openly gay man at my school and made me absolutely fall in love with theatre. He taught us about Russian theatre practitioner Stanislavski, American director Lee Strasberg and actress Stella Adler. He insisted we read The New York Times and the art section of The Sunday Times. He told me to go and see experimental theatre and had a massive impact on my life.

I am queer, so my celebrity crushes growing up weren’t men. I loved Winona Ryder in Reality Bites and also followed the gaggle of ’90s supermodels at the time. I thought they were so cool and admired all of them like Kate Moss, and Amber Valletta who is from Tulsa like me – my cousin’s friend knew her! That was a big deal for us. Others like Shalom Harlow and Christy Turlington were also favourites. That crew of supermodels didn’t look like LA girls who could afford nose jobs, they looked like aliens – and I was like, “Wow that’s a person”. I was drawn to that. I don’t like to reveal too much about my private life, other than to say I am happily in a relationship of many years.

One of my guitar heroes, David Byrne from Talking Heads fame, became one of my collaborators [on their 2012 album Love This Giant]. He is a world treasure. I have learned so much from him. He introduced me to a sense of joy in music that I hadn’t been drawn to or been able to accept before. He taught me about performance – watching how free he was with his creative process was mind-blowing. I think about that all the time. Getting to tour with him and make a record with him was like a masterclass in artistry.

I am good friends with Dave Grohl. I got to know him when I performed at Nirvana’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 10 years ago. We have been buddies ever since. There’s an easy simpatico to our friendship. He is funny, gregarious and totally non-pretentious and is all about getting shit done. Having him play on my latest record [All Born Screaming] was special for me.

St. Vincent is touring in Australia from November 25.

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