Ladyhawke

So much about Ladyhawke recalls the 1980s. A little bit of Kim Wilde with equal parts Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham rolled into one, New Zealand-bred, London-based Pip Brown writes and performs synth-infused pop informed by what she calls the “happy-sad sound” of the spandex decade. Ladyhawke, her hugely entertaining debut album, is so uncannily reminiscent of the '80s that if it had been released back then, she'd be an instant pop star; Martha Quinn would be interviewing her, and teenagers would be saving their allowance to buy her album at the mall.

It's a testament to Brown's talent that her music, despite its vintage influences, feels astonishingly fresh. Not surprisingly, the well-deserved buzz surrounding Ladyhawke is surpassing the glowing praise heaped on her previous bands, Teenager and Two Lane Blacktop.

Recently, Brown had a week off, part of which she used to play Batman on her Nintendo Wii (“It's so good!”) and participate in a free-form interview with eMusic, touching on everything from zombie-slaying to why she prefers to wear men's clothes.

Here's Pip Brown, in her own words.

She won't read her press, but not for the reason you think.

I don't like knowing that more than just my close personal friends and family know who I am. [Laughs] It kind of freaks me out. There's a lot of stuff that comes with being written about, like people reading about you and making up their mind about you before they even know you. That's something that really bothers me, so I try and completely stay away from it and pretend like it's not there.

She likes toys. A lot.

That sounds so geeky. Nothing I say is going to sound cool. I really like toys, and I like collecting quirky things. Over the years, I've collected heaps of stuff. I've got a whole room full of crap — toys and games and weird little books and ornaments and stuff. I've just moved into a place in East London, and already it's becoming like a shrine to toys. I found this awesome old toy store in Scotland. It was half vintage toys and half kind of new toys that were paying a homage to the old toys — you know what I mean? I found these puzzle blocks. It's nine blocks, and they're all these different colors. And basically, you rotate the blocks so that they make a Space Invader — every different kind of Space Invader you can think of.

She's got a thing for zombies —

I've been obsessed with zombies ever since I was little. I always I have dreams where the zombies come to earth, and I'm trying to save the world. And I'm running around with machine guns, like, killing zombies. [Laughs]

— and she knows the proper way to kill them.

You have to shoot it in the head or completely remove its head. Pretty gruesome. [Laughs]

If she could bring any band intact from the 1980s to the present and tour with them, she would choose Fleetwood Mac.

They were the most crazy, party-hard folk band ever. All the crazy stuff that went on with them — that would be so cool to see.

She's “boring” onstage.

I'm sort of quite shy on the stage. I'm trying really hard to get over that. I'll go to see bands, and I'll be so excited by how enthusiastic the lead singer is, and I'll feel all bummed out, like, why aren't I like that? I just kind of play the songs and do my thing. I never really speak. I want to [talk to the audience], but every time I do, it comes out wrong. I don't like the fact that everyone's looking at me.

Brown, who is 5 foot 10, shops in the men's department because women's clothes “look stupid on me.”

Ever since I had my growth spurt, when I was like 15, I find that girl's stuff [like T-shirts] is just too short. I hate that. I kind of like the idea of being able to maintain a bit of femininity but also being completely conscious of wearing men's clothes. Men's jeans quite often have a really long crotch, but I wear Cheap Monday jeans. It's a Swedish brand. Their jeans are all unisex.

There was no chance she was going to name her solo project Pip.

“There's something about being Pip. It's like, 'And it's — Pip.' It just kind of feels like there should be a waa, waa, waa at the end.”[Laughs]