Interview with Annie-Rose Collis from BoysnLove
It’s been a very long two years since we were blessed with a single from the insanely talented BoysnLove but fear not, in case you missed it, the band have recently released “Honeymoon Diver” - a fantastic, and brilliantly written track that takes elements from the true story of Tina Watson - a woman who tragically drowned while on her honeymoon “allegedly” by her husband, while incorporating a lot of feelings of betrayal from experiences in her own life.
We got the chance to ask Vocalist Annie-Rose Collis some questions and you can read them below.
Photo: Cameron Sandercock
Your first single in two years dropped this month - how do you feel? Is the response from the track what you hoped for?
I’m stoked! It’s one of my favourites for sure. I’m really happy that it’s out in the world. It’s been a bit of a slow burn in terms of reception to other songs. But in the words of Kasey Musgraves, I’m alright with a slow burn.
The past two years have been terrible for a lot of people, especially musicians to say the least - Did you spend your lockdown time working on music related things or did you just drop it all completely while riding out the storm?
It has been terrible. It was very uninspiring for me in terms of songwriting, so I didn’t write a lot. I focused on other creative interests of mine, like learning how to carve spoons from wood, and like a million other hobbies. Lock-down also was hard for me in terms of friendships that were far away, or differences in opinions around Covid, so I have written a few more heartbreak songs over lost friendships due to Covid.
“Honeymoon Diver” is based on the true story of the death of Tina Watson which happened in 2003. How did you hear of this tragic story and once you did, was it an instant feeling that you knew you had to write this song?
I heard about it on a podcast called Generation Why - I find true crime really fascinating, as I work in psychotherapy, I can just never get enough of people’s mentalities. I actually took the story to my therapist and talked about how the worst part of the story for me was that there was a betrayal and a lie and a falsehood around everything, and a not knowing and having that dawn on you eventually, it is literally a sinking feeling - the story and my story and feelings just made sense to me. It made me think about all those times I've felt betrayed in a way, realizing people are different to who they appear to be. So, though Tina’s story really struck a chord with me, I wrote the song about my own betrayal. I think when you know the backstory you can hear the song in a lot of different ways.
What was the creative process like when it came to writing the new track?
I sat down and wrote it in 4 minutes. Just flew out. I could rely on the true story to follow along to at first, and filling in my own self-doubt and blame was really easy at the end of the song.
Can you tell us an interesting/ funny fact about the band? It can be as random as you like.
It was supposed to be a joke! It started off as a silly little joke and kind of snowballed, and now it’s something I value so deeply.
What is something that really motivates you to create music?
I can only really write when I'm devastated or angry, I get all my feelings out through songwriting. People often meet me after shows and are shocked that I'm actually really nice!
Where do you hope to see the band in 5 years time?
The band will always change, as everyone I know in the music world changes so much, moves so much, and starts new projects with new ambitions, so it’s really hard to say. I hope I always have a great band behind me because I couldn't do it alone. So, I just want to be creating, being true to myself, using music as a way to connect and share, that’d be enough for me.