After three years of London life, the New Zealand-born singer is bringing her unique stylings back for the summer festivals. She talks video games, crazy fans and Kiwi slang.

Do you like living in London?
Yeah, it’s cool. It’s good because I’m busy when I’m there, there’s always something to do. I’m living in Whitechapel – record territory.

Excited about the festival season?
Yeah, really looking forward to it. I’ve just been rehearsing with my band for the last two weeks, we’re going to play some new stuff.

Prefer the small shows or the festivals?
I do love a small, sweaty venue because it feels more personal and sometimes at a festival, especially if it’s an afternoon gig, it’s kind of hard to connect with the crowd. But they both have their pluses, there’s nothing like playing a festival, you get the adrenalin pumping.

Have any weird backstage requests?
We have a couple of joke ones just to see if anyone actually reads the rider. I think we’ve got like a giant tub of lube on there and it’s never turned up. Maybe one day…

Drink of choice?
Probably just beer, I’m a big lager drinker.

I read that you’re into video games?
I tweet about video games quite a lot. I just finished Uncharted 3. I love video games.

How do you play on the road?
Well I travel with my PS3, but it depends. Sometimes we’ll get a van that has a flat screen TV mounted up on the wall. Quite often the ones in America will have a Playstation or an Xbox built in, so I just bring my games along and play.

You’ve teamed up with Peaches in the past, what’s she like?
We’ve sort of been friends for quite a while and I asked her if she wanted to work with me and she said yes. She’s really cool, people always think that she’s going to be really crazy and talk about sex all the time but she’s actually quite different. She’s just this really intelligent and onto it person. She’s really funny too.

You said you had some new stuff, will there be an album soon?
Yeah, the album is already finished but it looks like it will be released next March and the first single will be released around January.

Have you had any run-ins with crazed fans over the years?
Oh, I had this guy that would turn up at every show in the UK and he would wait at sound-check with a hand-written letter and a toy stuffed pig. He was really quiet, creepy and he would just wait there and he would always want a hug and a kiss. So I have like a box of these stuffed pigs, I just can’t throw them away.

What did you grow up listening to?
I was from quite a small town and we only had one record store and it only sold top 40 stuff. I remember discovering music through friends and mixed tapes. A lot of my friends were put onto good music through their older siblings but I never had that. I remember my friend giving me Red Hot Chili Peppers when I was in Form One. and I remember thinking it was the coolest. The same friend gave me Queen’s Greatest Hits. I mostly listened to rock but I loved poppy rock.

People don’t make mix tapes anymore do they, such a shame…
No, I know. I was thinking about that the other day, someone reminded me, it was so cool. I’d love to find all of those tapes.

Can you give me some Kiwi slang?
Choice? I can’t think what else. I think you just have to say “ay” at the end of every sentence. Or “primo”. I don’t think I’ve ever used the word primo but I have heard a lot of Kiwis use it.

Describe your fashion style?
I guess I just wear a lot of big vintage T-shirts and cardigans and I have this thing with boots. I love boots. I don’t wear any girl’s clothes, I hate the way girl clothes look on me.

Tell me about your tattoos…
I have a few. One on my wrist, on the underside. It’s the logo for a Gibson Firebird which was one of my first ever guitars. I also have a biker tattoo of an eagle and a cross which I love. And then I have some homemade tattoos on my feet, which Sarah, who does all of my artwork, did with a needle and some ink. A space invader, little pine trees, a stick figure being beamed up by a UFO. Oh, and I also have “KC” because I lived in Kings Cross in Sydney for ages.

Ladyhawke plays Homebake Festival, Saturday, December 3. She also plays gigs in Sydney (Nov 23) and Melbourne (Dec 7). Homebake is in The Domain, Sydney. Check out http://www.homebake.com.au/[homebake.com.au] and http://www.ladyhawkemusic.com/[ladyhawkemusic.com]