Metro
22 October 2008

Five questions for…
AIMEE MANN
Perhaps best known for her Grammy-nominated hit Save Me on the Magnolia soundtrack, downbeat, thoughtful rocker Aimee Mann releases new single Thirty One Today next week.

Thirty One Today is taken from your seventh album @#%&*! Smilers. Where did the album title come from?
I know a couple of people who smile all the time, and personally I find that suspicious. It’s what psychologists call flat affect - when you’re always high and cheerful. It reminds me of a sad clown who can’t afford to show any real peaks and valleys.

Would you say your songwriting focuses a lot on sadness?
People always ask me why I don’t write more happy songs. I guess I just don’t want to. Conflict is often more interesting, and the arc of a story normally starts with someone wanting something, hitting an obstacle, then going on a journey to overcome it.

Was turning 31 unsettling for you?
I remember feeling really drifty at that age. Turning 30 is supposed to be a big deal, and by 31 you realise nothing has actually changed. You’re still untethered in your emotional world, with no real template to follow on how to be an adult.

You made your first - and last - film appearance in The Big Lebowski. How did that come about?
By accident. Paul Thomas Anderson’s girlfriend was the casting director, and she recommended me for the part of a German nihilist. She said the role needed flatness and no emotion. I was like: ‘Sign me up!’

Would you say you’ve got a dry sense of humour?
I’d considerate it fairly dry. A lot of my best friends are comedians and I love shows such as Saturday Night Live and The Office.

Tomorrow, The Leadmill, 6 Leadmill Road, Sheffield, 7pm, £19.50 adv. Tel: 0114 221 2828. www.aimeemann.com