Slow Moving Millie Interview

It has become tradition that you can’t begin to feel the excitement of the festive season until you’ve seen the infamous coca-cola train commercial. However, John Lewis – a British co-operative retailer, is quickly becoming a strong contender for the number one spot of most anticipated Christmas ad due to their soundtracks.

Last year, Ellie Goulding’s cover of Your Song shot to the number two spot in the UK and is her biggest hit to date after being featured on the 2010 John Lewis Christmas advert.

This year, Slow Moving Millie is hoping for similar success with her rendition of The Smiths – Please, please, please let me get what I want.

What inspired the name ‘Slow Moving Millie’?

I don’t really know how it came about. It was more of a nickname or something my friends used to say as I was the last person to come around to song writing.

You previously worked as an actress, why the move into music?

I started acting when I was quite young and I’ve always written music and a couple of years ago I though it was time to move from acting to music. Acting wasn’t the right thing for me.

Given that song writing is a passion, what made you release a number of cover songs?

I have been spending a lot of time playing with demos and experimenting with covers. I took songs that are from the eighties and was inspired by the lyrics. My favourite was Bananarama – Love in the first degree, because on first listen the production is fast and it sounds like a happy song but when you listen to the words it evokes sadness. A lot of these songs have a depth and meaning that people often miss at first.

Why did you decide to cover the smiths? How did the John Lewis advert come about?

This particular cover was a suggestion by my manager but I really enjoy the song and it is a perfect fit for the advert.

I heard that you choose to go to university, even though you have been involved in acting since you were young?

I started studying History of Art at Goldsmiths but unfortunately I had to leave once I started to get more involved with music. I really regret that because I did really enjoy my time there but I just couldn’t give it enough of my time. I want to return back to university later in life but right now I’m going to concentrate on my music.

What advice would you give to students looking to go into the music industry?

Experiment as much as you can with programmes like Logic express. Being able to create demos in the safety of your own home is how you create some of the best pieces of music.

Slow Moving Millie is due to release her first studio album ‘renditions’ on Monday 12 December.