Anne Savage Gets Personal
Author: Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
Monday, November 3, 2003
But it's actually going to be the first time I'll have been there when it's hot, so I'm not sure how I'll handle it. I'm not a sun seeker at all, I'd much rather wrap up and go skiing."
Growing up in the distinctly chilly Northern hill town of Burnley, hard house queen Anne Savage got her first big DJing break in the off-piste night spots of Italian ski resort Val Gardena (Italy), quitting a short-lived hairdresser career for a life of music, DJing and clubs. Ten years down the line, her DJing has taken her to the British Embassy in Canada ('one of the most bizarre days of my life'), and transformed herself into one of the biggest name attractions of hard house, a genre she remains firmly committed to.
"I've been playing hard house for ten years, it's a passion of mine and I still love it," she told Jonty Skrufff this week.
"The scene's still doing really well, hard dance on the whole is prospering. Lots of the young DJs coming through are all playing hard dance, so I'd say there's a good future in it. And all the places I play at are also still busy."
Super-polite and super-friendly, she's happy to describe herself as an ambassador for dance music, though, opening up on her teenage years, admitted her initial exuberance meant she took fighting for what she believed in just that little bit too literally.
Skrufff: You recently confessed to DJ magazine about physically fighting a girl over a boyfriend when you were a teenager, what exactly happened-
Anne Savage: "I used to go out with this guy called Woody and basically he was seeing this girl behind my back and I didn't realise. He used to play in a band and he was really my first love. Bizarrely, the other girl and me both happened to be on the same train one day, going to see him performing and she was sat a couple of seats in front of me. I was drinking white wine, out of a flask, and my friend was egging me on, so when we go off the train I ended up having a pop at her, just outside the train station. All the cab drivers there started clapping when we were fighting, it was like a scene out of a film. She was about a foot taller than me but eventually she ran off crying and all the cabbies stood there laughing and cheering. It was terrible."
Skrufff: And you were 16 at the time. . -
Anne Savage: "I was 15. I then went to see the gig and Woody made me apologise to the girl, it was all very emotional and horrible."
Skrufff: Did you really bang her head against a wall-
Anne Savage: "You can't ask me about that . . ! Yeah, I did. I remember I was wearing a leather jacket with loads of tassles on, it was during my Gothic phase and I remember being furious when she tore some of the tassles off my jacket."
Skrufff: What happened with Woody after that-
Anne Savage: "He dumped me immediately, that was it. It was all very sad."
Skrufff: Didn't you feel like attacking him rather than her-
Anne Savage: "No, I was too in love with him. He was about 22, though, which is a bit sick if I think about it now. Though I haven't seen him for years and I must say I'd love to know what he's doing with his life, it'd be so funny to see him again. I think he had an album out with his band but I can't remember what they're called now. I went out with quite a few boys in bands. In fact, I went out with one poor guy who'd been seeing a girl for 8 years, and I made him dump his girlfriend for me, because he was supporting New Order, so I could get into the gig. And then I dumped him."
Skrufff: Have you ever checked out Friends Reunited-
Anne Savage: "Oh yes, I have. I've been out for drinks with a couple of them and contacted some of the others by email. It's weird because I went to an all girls school where< Tags