19 Feb 2023

Gin Wigmore on life, music, dogs and therapy

From Sunday Morning, 10:06 am on 19 February 2023

New Zealand singer-songwriter Gin Wigmore is based in Los Angeles, where she lives with musician and activist husband Jason and their two young children, Pascal and Izaiah. Wigmore, 36, is currently working on her fifth studio album. She's returning to Aotearoa in March for a five-date regional tour.

Gin Wigmore

Photo: Livenation

I'm deep in therapy mode at the moment 
“I'm at that time in life where I'm really having a look at myself and going inward. And I think this new record really reflects that sort of raw and vulnerable state of the mind. 
“You sort of have these patterns that keep you safe as a child and you carry them into your adulthood. And I'm trying to figure out which ones I need to keep and which ones I need to let go of, to be a better parent, to be a better partner, to be a better friend, all of these things. It’s quite the adventure I’m on at the moment.”

My rebellious side is part of the fabric and foundation of who I am
“When everyone sort of says, ‘well, this is the way it is, we work work work, we get money, and money brings us happiness’, and all this kind of junk, I rebel from that so much. There has to be another way of doing this to make you happy, and content. If I can bring smiles to people's faces by walking their dogs or helping out at the shelter or delivering flowers or doing something, that's time well-spent, that’s money in the bank for me, that’s happiness, that’s contentment, that’s nourishing my soul.” 

I don’t know if I like the way the world is going
“There's a lot of this real sort of ‘out for yourself’ feeling in the States. You know, we're in one of the biggest cities in the world, so it's tough.
“The wealthy are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and it's bleeding into the streets. It's bleeding into just about everything. Everyone's tired. Everyone's burnt out. And it's not so pretty.”

My dog Indiana changed my whole way of thinking
I think anyone that has a pet or has any sort of relationship on that deeper level can understand how life-changing something like that can be. I was just so grateful that I got her in my life and that we got to spend time together. She meant the world. She really started me on this path of animal advocacy and animal rights and becoming vegetarian.
“We’re always getting rescues [dogs]... We go to the shelter every month or so, and grab another pup and show it that life can be beautiful again. Right now we’ve just got one, but he’s massive. He takes up the space of like three dogs, he’s a Great Dane Mastiff.

Billie Holliday has been such a massive influence in my life
"If anything gets stressful, if anything feels out of balance or out of whack, Billie is the only singer on this planet who can ease that. She melts everything, brings my whole temperature down, she's got this incredible calming effect. Her music is just so calming and wonderful. And she never got the shine, I don’t think, that she deserved in her life when she was alive. She was so courageous and brave, doing the things she did and what she sang about. She's my favorite of all time."

There's more to life than music
“I love music, don't get me wrong, but I like to do lots of other things to feed into music and that experience is what makes my music interesting for me.

“If I didn't create music, I would be probably locked up in a loony bin somewhere. Music just spews out. It’s going to be made, regardless. If everyone hates it, I'll still keep making it. If everyone loves it. I'll still keep making it. It's just my purpose.”