Comfortable heels, affectionate serpents, goats and protein shakes: these are the things that make Brit goth mommy Harpy happy.
When we sat down with Brit goth queen Harpy and asked her to tell us all about the stuff that makes her tick, we weren't surprised by some of it. Snakes, you say? You? Colour us shocked. But the mistress of the dark also had a couple of curveballs – namely a desire for a health food hook-up, and the need for comfort while looking fabulous.
In the run-up to her VII EP, in which she examines the seven deadly sins, here she guides us through her five favourite things…
“Clothes are huge for me. Like really, really massive. People are starting to recognise that that is a very big part of the show. But, yeah, I just love expressing myself with fashion and jewellery and all of that kind of stuff. I’m really into crosses as well, I have crosses everywhere. I’ve been wearing some new rosary beads, which are very cool, and I’ve got a cross tattooed on the inside of my sternum. I really like religious iconography, and I was part of the church at one point. That's probably why I've ended up writing the record that I have.”
“I love my goat tattoo. It was on my tattooist's flash sheet, and as soon as I saw it I went, ‘I have to have it!’ Does he have a name? I feel like he should be called Gunther. Gunther The Goat. I got him for no reason other than he looks sick as fuck. He's got an evil vibe. I do like a slightly evil vibe a lot of the time. There's one in most things that I do and wear and watch. I'm into horror, I like scary podcasts, all that stuff.”
“It’s kind of a boring one, but I'm really obsessed with my Huel drinks at the moment. I know that's really dull and not rock’n’roll, but I don't have to think about it, and I can just drink it. I like the vanilla one, and I recently tried a cinnamon swirl. That's really good. I'm a big cinnamon fan. I'll put cinnamon on just about anything. I’ve got a friend who actually has a Huel endorsement, and I'm gunning for her endorsement. They sent her a fridge and everything to keep it all in. I want that!”
“My partner has one. I don’t actually know what kind it is – a white one. But I'm really obsessed. I have always wanted to have one myself, but I'm here, there and everywhere all the time. I can't have a human baby, let alone an animal baby. I was gonna say fur baby, but they're definitely not very furry. They’re actually more friendly than you expect. They're really inquisitive, and quite docile creatures, as long as you don't piss them off. They’re quite hard to piss off, though, because you don't want to poke them anyway, and they can't hear what you're saying. That's probably why the snake likes me so much, because it can't hear me singing and wailing. Any other animal would be like, ‘God, Harpy, shut up!’ I do love cats, though. Everybody says I've got black cat energy, and I'm okay with that.”
“They’re my favourite thing at the moment. They're keeping me on my feet. I love shoes very much, and without insoles I probably wouldn't be able to walk very fast. I reckon I was the first person to wear stilettos at Download. And not just onstage, because that's easy level – I was walking around backstage and in the press area in them as well. Was it a good idea? It looked cool, at least…”
VII is released on November 7. Harpy plays London’s Oslo Hackney on December 1.
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