Interviews
April 2004
Since our last interview, Ainslie has set up studio in his bedroom. He told me: "I’ve bought a load of equipment myself and I’m just kind of hacked up in my bedroom at the moment, writing songs on my own. It’s quite fun."
Sadly there are no immediate plans for any gigs. I asked if he would like to get a band together…
"Yes. Well, I was in a band for seven years or something before Fame Academy, from when I was in high school right up till about eight months before Fame Academy. Then that was ten weeks of my life that I was a solo musician on my own in that show, and that’s how everybody knows me but it’s really not how I’m most comfortable," he replied. "I’d love to be in a band again. It’s totally where I feel I belong, I love it."
The last time we spoke Ains was about to meet Mark and Saul, did anything come of that?
"Apart from the album we’ve got a pile of songs that we finished as well, that I really love that we just work on. I think we finished another song last time we were together."
Next I asked if he was a bit surprised that he won the Ultimate Fame Academy competition as voted by the members of Fame Academy Friends…
"Yeah, it’s a bit weird. Who was second?" he asked. I told him that I wasn’t sure what order the other two came in, but the final three were Ainslie, Alex and Sinéad…
"Alex and Sinéad? Great! That’s quite interesting. It’s amazing, in fact, cos I thought it would be all people from the second series."
On the subject of Fame Academy 2, I asked who was his favourite. He told me that he didn’t really watch it but Alex was his favourite, adding: "I think she deserved to win it."
Ains thinks it’s cool that Phoebe aka .:CoNvErSe:. won a guitar from the Fame Academy 1 bursary awards, and was interested to hear about her being in a band, The Quirky Blend, along with fellow site (AO) regular Lozzy. I told him that I thought it was great that some of the money we spent voting for him went towards getting Phoebe’s guitar…
"Aye, that is good. If she actually gets it," he said. "Tell her to get on and poke someone, make sure she does. The BBC don’t deserve all that money."
Has Ainslie watched any other reality TV programmes since he left Fame Academy?
"The only one I watched is the one with the two fat families. I don’t remember what it was called but it’s these two families and both families are like obesely fat. It was brilliant, absolutely, I loved it, it was totally great. They all got weighed together, that was the best bit, all of them together, it was like, ‘The Simpson family, between you, you weigh a ton and a half!’ It was just fucking amazing!
"And they all had to train with Daly Thompson. It’s great! I think they only showed it for about three weeks and then there’s gonna be a big break and then it’s gonna come on again and hopefully they’ll all have lost loads of weight and stuff. I can’t wait, it’s gonna be brilliant!"
Continuing the TV theme, I asked what his favourite TV programme is…
"The Office. It’s the best TV show that’s been on in years. It really is, it’s genius, absolute fucking genius. I’m so sad that it’s finished. Aw, he could have done another series surely and got away with it."
What else does he watch?
"Jonathan Ross. He’s really good, he’s the best interviewer around, I think. He’s brilliant, he’s such a funny, funny, guy. He interviewed me on Radio 2," he said. I told him that I was a bit disappointed in that interview cos I thought it was going to be so much better and he didn’t really let Ainslie finish answering the questions….
"Yeah. No he didn’t, but he’s so funny, I didn’t really mind. I just kind of sat and laughed while he talked in that interview but you know, fair play, he’s a very, very funny man."
Next I asked what he’s been listening to since the last interview…
"I’ve got a couple of Nick Drake albums that I’ve kind of fallen in love with. I’ve got ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ from the Cure. I just got that recently cos I didn’t have it, I’m loving that. That’s about the only two new albums that I’ve got."
And has he been to any gigs?
"I went to see Keane. It was good, it was really, really pretty. It’s really easy on the ear and it’s really sweet. It was nice, I enjoyed it, I enjoyed seeing Keane." Other than Keane, he’s just been going to the Dublin Castle and stuff but said he hadn’t seen anybody that really impressed him.
Ainslie is delighted to have got tickets for the Morrissey gig in Manchester in May…
"It’s amazing, I’m so excited about seeing Morrissey, it’ll be great."
He doesn’t have immediate plans to go to any other gigs but thinks he might be going to T in the Park in July.
On the subject of gigs, I asked what was the first gig he went to…
"Oh god. The first gig I went to was Kylie Minogue when I was about 10," he said, laughing. "I saw Kylie when I was 10 at the Playhouse in Edinburgh."
When and where was his first gig?
"Our first ever gig was in the Denholm Village hall, in our local village hall and we got a load of those wooden crates that they carry things in warehouses, and we piled them all up to make a stage and then put carpet over the top.
"The whole stage was all wobbly, moving around, and we were all wobbling about. That was our first gig."
He thinks he was about 15 at the time and told me Slyde and Suburbia only performed their own material, no covers.
I asked what he thinks is the key to a good performance…
"God, I don’t know. I haven’t performed in so long I don’t feel qualified to answer that. Honesty, I suppose."
If he does a tour in the future, will we get a preview of what’s to come?
"Yes."
As Ainslie was born in Edinburgh, I asked how long he lived there…
"Ah, I didn’t. I lived in Manchester till I was seven though," he explained. "I moved to Denholm with this Manc accent. When Oasis kicked off, I felt like I had to… I’d say [in Manc accent] ‘Yeah well, I lived there until I was seven, you know what I mean, but although I live in Scotland, well I mean mostly really I’m a Manc’!"
In reply to what his favourite places around Denholm were, Ains told me: "There’s a dormant volcano outside Denholm, it’s amazing, it’s like a huge hill called Ruberslaw that I’ve always been fascinated wi’."
What were his favourite toys as a kid?
"Star Wars toys. They were the ones, I had them all. I had a Darth, Millennium Falcon, even one of those big walking dogs that I can’t remember the name of right now, Star Wars fans will be horrified. You know the big walking dogs, that walk in the snow? I had a lifesize one of those. I even had a Rancor monster."
I asked if he still has them and suggested they might be worth a bob or two…
"Aye, they’re up in the attic. They’re not in their packets though, they’re scratched and like all sand in their joints and stuff."
Next I asked what his family think of his rise to fame…
"About my rise and fall? I don’t know, my family aren’t too bothered either way. You know, they know me and they don’t really care either way."
Does Ains get home to Scotland often?
"No, not often enough. I think I’m going up next week though."
He told me about what he was planning doing at University if he’d gone…
"At first, at seventeen, I almost went to drama school. I applied for drama school and then I decided against it and then the year after I considered doing psychology, but thank god I didn’t though! I’m half tempted to go to drama school now. I really, really like the idea of going to drama school."
And if he did some acting what sort of role would he like to play?
"I’d like to do something quite subversive, something like a Roman Polanski film, something quite dark."
Ainslie’s favourite films are: ‘Withnail and I’, ‘Bitter Moon’, ‘Four Rooms’, ‘Honeymoon In Vegas’ and ‘The Big Lebowski’.
What about books… who is his favourite author and does he read a lot?
"Aye, I read quite a lot of books. I’m reading ‘Big Sur’ by Jack Kerouac, but Charles Bukowski’s my favourite. He’s the man."
I asked who is the person he most admires…
"My little brother has such a kind of positive kind of simple, clear philosophy on life and he’s so happy and he’s such a brilliant person and he’s unashamed of who he is and sure of himself. He’s a brilliant person. Oliver."
What was his best holiday ever and where would he like to go on holiday?
"The best holiday ever was probably the one I just had, on my own. And I’d love to go to Japan, I’d love to see Japan."
I asked Ains to describe a typical day…
"I don’t really have a typical day, they’re all over the place. I get up when I want and then lie in bed and wonder what to do and kind of motivate myself and then I get up and have breakfast and I have a cigarette and coffee. I usually do a lot of writing at night time, I usually sit up really late until about 3 o’clock in the morning writing stuff and so once I’ve had my coffee and cigarette, I’ll kind of rifle through everything that I wrote the night before and weed out the good bits and scrub out the bad bits and bring it all together.
"I spend most of the day kind of doing that and then I’ll maybe go for a walk at some point and then it’ll be dinnertime so I’ll make myself something to eat. On a typical day I’ll probably watch a film after dinner and then I’ll go back to writing again, sit up until 3 o’clock in the morning writing, and then it all starts again."
And, finally, what would be a perfect day?
"A perfect day would probably be if I could jump on a plane in London and go back up to Scotland and get my brother to do the same and we’d meet up there and then we’d go and get a tent and then we’d go out. We’d just start walking in the country outside Edinburgh, and keep walking until we find a really nice place to pitch a tent and then we’d gather up all the wood to build a fire ourselves, we’d have like some food in our rucksacks, and we’d build a big fire and then cook food on it, and then we’d just sit there until it got dark.
"That would be a pretty good day. I remember camping when I was young, I haven’t done it for years. I’d love to do it again now, I love it."
Interview by Heather aka 'Secret', 05 April 2004 for Ainslie Online & Ainslie Music