More on: Patrick Wolf

Having released one of the most raved about albums so far this year, Patrick Wolf is set to release title track 'The Magic Position' as a single on 9th April.

When we meet up with Patrick for a chat, gone is the shock of bright red hair we've been used to during the last few months. Now with shorter black hair, he claims it's being recognised after his appearance on the Charlotte Church show that drove him to it. Whilst we talk impending fame, and who the real Patrick Wolf is, we discover that may not be the only reason.

You've just finished touring with Arcade Fire - how did that go?
Support tours are always very strange - it's almost like being a politician in a way. You've got to sell your ideas, and that can be quite exhausting artistically, because you're out to impress. It was well worth the effort.

I would've thought Arcade Fire fans would respond quite well to you.
I supported Bloc Party before, and I think perhaps the Arcade Fire audience were more responsive to my instrumentation and my band.

Were the tracks on 'Magic Position' solely inspired by your life at the time, or did you have tracks already there when you came to work on your next album?
It's a bit of both really. I write a lot of songs - I'm constantly writing, and some are fictional, and some are inspired by real events. So when it comes to making an album I kind of start gathering songs together. So a real event might inspire me to remember a song I wrote two years ago that is quite similar, and that creates a theme. That's what happened with 'Magic Position'. This particular relationship inspired me to go back to my old laptops and find demos of old songs that related to the experience I was going through at the time.

It's quite a poppy album, and could be your most accessible yet. Are you ready to be popular?
I'm not really doing this to be a celebrity at all. I don't want to be a celebrity and I don't want to be famous. I want my music to be heard by lots of people, and I wish there was a different way of doing it. Also, my best friend was saying he can't relate me in real life to what he sees on stage, because it's almost like theatre and seeing an actor playing a role. I don't really see it as playing a role though, as it's got a very emotional core. But I guess I'm just trying to promote music, and it's the vehicle for my music.

Do you feel comfortable talking about yourself in interviews?
Yeah, I am - my problem is that I'm too open! I have no barriers, and I'm not sure where to stop and where to start.

Are there any misconceptions about you that you'd like to put right?
I think the idea that I'm quite a confused, or ambiguous, or a shy person. I'm really not - I'm a bit of a monster! I'm really confident, and I've worked really hard in the last six years. I don't like being portrayed as a victim, or someone who was always on the outside, or crazy or kooky. Yeah, I'm as screwed up as everyone else, but I'm also human!

You seemed destined to be a star from your childhood - do you ever fantasise about normal jobs, or think I could've done this instead?
Yeah, all the time! It's like an emergency button, and I think I'm going to go and work in the Tate in St Ives, Cornwall, just so I can get a cottage, and just make coffee and live by the sea. Then my Mum says I said I always wanted to be a marine biologist when I was younger - I have a fascination with seafood and crustaceans. So I could've been a marine biologist!

You play many instruments - which one do you feel conveys your music more than any other?
I think the piano has most options, as a composer, as it evolved from so many different instruments to be something that has this much scale. It has enough scope for me to express myself. I don't have a grand piano, but one day...

Would you ever hand your work over to be produced by someone else, or be performed by someone else?
Performed I would, definitely, but not produced. I like to be producer of my own work. I've been having an email conversation recently with Alec Empire from Atari Teenage Riot, who's a big hero of mine. I think collaborations are different to asking someone to produce your songs. I feel like if I got someone to produce my songs, it would be like going into a beauty salon and saying can you make me look normal! I'd rather just be myself and sound the way I want to.

I was going to ask about your many hair colours and what is making you a redhead now, but that's redundant! How do you feel when you're changing your hair colour, as I know how tied in to our personalities it is?
I think I am an actual redhead at heart! When I was 11 the first hair colour I chose was red, and it was always red. But when I'm going through a severe phase I go black! This is my time when I'm being a bit of a... I don't know, because with all my albums, when the album comes out I'm really excited, and if you throw love at people, or you throw bright colours, and sometimes people... I've had moments in the last two months where there's been quite small-minded or negative feedback, and it makes me want to be a fighter, and be quite tough, and want to keep on giving. So I'm maybe going through a bit of a tough period right now.

Your album's had amazing reviews though.
Definitely, but it's more in an everyday context, to be Patrick Wolf, in the everyday world.

What are your fanbase like?
I love my fanbase so much. It's amazing - it's like kaleidoscopic. It's what I really intended when I was 15, you know, to reach out to people. People add me on MySpace, but when I do it, I look through the people, and you get people in Alabama, in Scandinavia, a 12 year old, a 40 year old mother. I'm not really speaking to anyone in particular, and it touched loads of different people and it's really exciting!

Becky Reed

Patrick Wolf Official Site