When a talented New York Cabaret performer is preparing to hit WA with her outrageous and colourful performances, I learnt to expect about the same energy down the phone when conducting an interview. Meow Meow is a vivacious spiralling ball of fun that seems to lead just as much a deranged yet glamorous life off the stage as she does on it.

I got on the phone to the elaborate woman expecting a stock standard fifteen minute interview, but instead got a half hour packed with her views on David Bowie, what it’s like to be Meow, and why she thinks Australian gays have it  a touch easier than their US counter parts. I also spoke to the performer about her previous tours, her upcoming tours, and everything else in between.

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When asked where her Cabaret journey started, Meow offers a roundabout reply – ‘My origins are lost to a martini glass, I’m a very passionate person, I guess music is always a driving force and a big talker. I just couldn’t be bothered with the mundane, I live in a very heightened way on stage and off stage and it sort of makes much more sense to me I think’.

Since starting off, Meow has taken her larger than life performances around the world; stages she’s hit include the Sydney Opera House, London’s West End, and all the hottest spots in New York. Despite gracing such incredible stages, Meow couldn’t pick her favourite – ‘I do really just love performing, I love it, the only time I don’t like performing is when it’s some bad corporate thing and they’re not paying me enough attention basically. The Sydney Opera House is pretty fantastic’.

Meow spoke of performing alongside Ricky Gervais and Amy Winehouse for David Bowie’s High Line Festival in New York – ‘We were all in different theatres, I did meet David Bowie, but of course you speak to his people you don’t speak to him, that was a pretty epic gig actually’.

The dedicated performer swears that nothing can keep her off the stage, especially physical ailments – ‘briefly I did injure myself very seriously in a ballet class in New York. I just did the whole show with crutches and a leg brace then I added a neck brace because it just looked funnier. For my show I turned up fabulous and did a slow reveal of the extraordinary damage that I had incurred. I did pretend a little bit that my Olympic dream had been dashed’.

Following up her Australian Tour Meow will be hitting London again; she spoke of the difference between the Australian and the British crowd – ‘I don’t know if the London crowd are harder critics but they are definitely harsh, I’ve had a fantastically blessed run so I’m just going to knock on wood, [knocks on wood] did you hear that?

‘You know I do understand performers who just never read the press because they can be so scathing, it’s terrifying because you want a good intelligent, rigorous review, you don’t want flippant and nasty’.

The conversation quickly turned to the state of gay rights in places she’s visited working in a theatrical environment. Meow seemed fervently in favour of LGBT populous and their rights – ‘You are humans, so I get such a shock when I’m reminded that actually a great deal of America is extremely right wing and terrifying, and that Christian rights are really ferocious and non thinking. I’m very conscious when I perform in New York because it’s so different from performing in Australia… where you know that some people have had a terrible journey coming out. You know it’s so common in the States that you meet people that have been really isolated by their families, shamed by their communities; they’ve come to New York or San Francisco in a major act of bravery’.

Meow’s energy started to build when discussing her visit to Perth; I asked the performer how she thought Perth would receive her? ‘With open arms! Literally. I have never performed in the Astor but I’ve seen it and it’s absolutely gorgeous, there’s something really beautiful about that art deco building. I’ll try not to speak too quickly [laughs], that’s a silly thing to say! My experience with the Perth audience is that they have extremely good taste. I think I taste a little bit delicious’.

So should any of you watch out for any surprises throughout Meow’s performance? Absolutely not!

‘No surprises, it will all be absolutely dull as dish water, it will just be a complete disaster. The surprise will be that I will probably sit on the floor and just sing, not really, it will be exotic.’

Meow Meow will be performing at The Astor Theatre on November 16, grab your tickets from

www.liveattheastor.com.au

Nadine Walker