Fiona Jerome

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Fiona Jerome attended her first outdoor concert in 1971 at the age of 5, on the shoulders of a long-suffering cousin who'd been lumbered with looking after her for the afternoon. She can remember rowing on the river Avon and lots of people with long hair, but nothing about the music. Her next outdoor concert was in 2002. A lot of stuff got in the way - studying the 18th century novel, Hollywood musicals, new wave Science Fiction, many years involved in fanzines and amateur press associations, teenage obsessions with Fassbinder and de Sade, a career launching magazines for gardeners, tree-huggers and sick puppies (among others), the need to see a lot of fringe theatre, reading several thousand comic books to contribute to the world's first critical comics guide. She received her first freelance cheque at the age of 13 (for artwork) and started writing about comics and interviewing their creators, which eventually landed her a paying job. She currently runs a brand management company and in the last couple of years has written books on Stonehenge, the Tower of London, poker, wine and classic TV. The most interesting person she ever interviewed was David Cronenberg. While she can claim to have liked Bowie and Bolan as an infant, she must also put her hands up to buying a Wombles cassette, and as a teen started tripping to the then deeply unfashionable Hawkwind before becoming interested in The Velvet Underground and American garage - if a better band than The Velvets has ever existed, she would very much like to hear about them. Recent musical obsessions include The Decemberists, Silver Jews, Carla Bozulich, Slobberbone. Longstanding pulse-quickeners include Jerry Lee Lewis, Morrissey and The Smiths, Would Be Goods, Pulp, XTC, They Might Be Giants, Lloyd Cole (with or without the Commotions), Dexy's Midnight Runners, REM, Jonathan Richman. She cannot hear the opening bars of ‘Another Girl, Another Planet' without wanting to leap up and gyrate. She gets a rush from being caught up in the crowd at an intimate gig, despite being twice the size and twice the age of most of the attendees, but doesn't much care for the rigidity of stadium performances, or venues where you're expected to sit down. She sees most musicals in the west end, and will always turn out for any staging of Jean Genet, Sam Shepherd or Trevor Griffiths' work. She shares a six bedroom house with her husband, overrun by their many thousands of books, comics, videos, DVDs, albums and CDs.