Anna Hillen
Lead Singer, Super Villain
Exclusive interview with Anna Hillen
from
Runaway Grooms
Escape with me, the fourth
album from Runaway Grooms. Vocalist/guitarist Anna Hillen, finally agreed to
an exclusive interview with us about their new album and so much more.
Anna Hillen (left), the
lead singer of Runaway Grooms, who have just
released their new highly
anticipated album ‘Escape with me’. Its taken over a year to produce but my god
its worth it . All four of them are from
Coventry, where they met at
school, Blue coat c of e music and sixth form college. they started to play
during their lunchtimes and after school. They continued to practice
throughout college. They
were ‘found’ when they were playing a gig at the Griff and Coton pub in
Nuneaton where one audience
member filmed them and put it on Facebook. Within days they hit internet fame.
They are made up of, Anna Hillen lead singer and guitarist, Ken temple who plays the drums, Frankie James who is the bass guitarist, and Jamie Allen who is the
pianist. She was part of
the primary school band, secondary school band and has done 14 years at
stagecoach, A musical theatre school.
Q. One thing about you guys is there aren’t
many pictures of all of you, how come?
A. Well, before we were an actual band we didn’t
really take pictures, the only one I can think of is one of the guys. Now
whenever we take one, one of us, most of the time its me, looks like a right
jackass.
Q. So, we know where, but how did you meet the
rest of Runaway Grooms?
A. Well, in year seven, the entire year had to
do a production of the
musical ‘Joseph’ and I
auditioned to be in it. I got the part of Joseph, my hair pinned back so I
looked like a boy, and the other guys were doing the music for the performance
so we were thrown together then. After that we all became good mates so we
decided to practice together and before we knew it we were writing songs
together.
Q. At Stage coach what shows did you do?
A. Loads. My favorite ones were Billy Elliot,
Oliver, Little Shop Of
Horrors.
Q. When is the next album out?
A. The 15th of April 2017. We haven’t come up with a name for it yet though. It’s got all of our other
songs that were not on this album on and some brand new ones as well.
Q. Where the hell is this tour you guys
promised us?
A. Its all planned. It starts in
Edinburgh on the 21st of March,
and we’re going south not only playing at big arenas but bars and pubs also. We
finish the tour in Birmingham. During the tour we are going to some schools,
primary and secondary, to talk to some students. Tickets will go on sale on the
20th of December. After the tour we are going back to Blue Coat as
students for a week, which
is going be fun. On the Friday we are going to
perform for them and during
the week we are going to help the kids with their fund raising ideas. It’s
going to be really weird being back there.
Q. Have you fallen out with any of the
others?
A. I haven't. But once, it was over a girl in
college. Ken and Frankie both ‘saw her first’. So it was like a contest to see
who could win her over, Frankie being the smooth guy he is did and Ken was
really sour with him. Which he says now he really regrets doing. They’ve made
up now, obviously.
Q. Who is your favorite band/
musician at the moment?
A. I like Scouting for girls. They
produce such great songs .
I really enjoy listening to them when I’m
traveling.
Q. How did you guys come up with your band
name?
A. He’s going to kill me for telling you. Ken
was supposed to get married about two days before our gig at the Griff and
Coton, and he realized that he didn’t love her. She wasn’t the
nicest person in the world
either so he didn’t go to his wedding and broke it off.
Q. Which instruments can you play?
A. We’ve all taught each other how to play
each other’s instruments so I can play guitar, obviously, bass guitar, drums
and piano/ keyboard. We did this so if one of us is ill during the tour we can
do the shows. I’m not going to lie, it was fun to learn from the guys.
That was all the questions
that I was given to ask, so I had plenty of time to ask some of the questions that
you guys sent in during the week. Enjoy!
Q. If you were not part of Runaway Grooms,
what would you do?
A. Well, I really liked to swim, I went 5 days
a week for lessons. I did
competitions and I was
actually good at swimming. I stopped because I was out with my friends and I
managed to tear my calf so I couldn’t go swimming for a while. When I could go
back, wasn’t as good and I felt like I wouldn’t be able to achieve anything in
swimming again, so I stopped going.
Q. What is your favorite film?
A. Labyrinth. It used to scare me when I was a
kid but I watched it again a couple of months ago and I loved it.
Q. What was the first song you learned on the
guitar?
A. The ballad of Davey crocket. Its really simple
and easy to learn.
Q. What got you into singing?
A. My Mum Payed for me to go to Stagecoach in
Sutton Colfield. Stagecoach was a musical theatre school. I went on Friday nights
for 14 years.
Q. What super power would you have and why?
A. Super speed to rob banks. I’d be a
super-villain!
Thank you for reading this
exclusive
interview with James
Hillen from
Runaway Grooms. Don’t
forget to send in your questions for our next
interview with The End Of
Days. Send your questions in via the website.
