I think I was probably a cowboy in a past life.
I listened to John Denver and Simon & Garfunkel. Edith Piaf was a huge favourite. Then I discovered musicals - I loved 'Les Miserables' - and, at about 14, I started listening to David Gray.
Writing music is such a freeing exercise, and it's really nice to play in that world of being confident, vengeful - getting back at all the bad boyfriends.
I got down to business and started writing furiously. I wore my fingers down to a callous state writing with every Tom, Dick and Harry around the world, including a chap named Charlie who plays for a man named Bob, to wrestle my emotions and bring out the raw grit hiding in my tightly guarded sub-conscious.
I'd say the key thing is to remain true to what originally got you into music. When I wrote 'Hallelujah,' it ignited me to do music because of the love and joy that I got from writing that song. Down the road, you get all of these opinions from people; just remember what got you started in the first place.
I want a long career in music, so you've gotta keep trying things out; it's gotta get progressively better.
I've got a very short attention span, and this has been part of the reason I'm so kind of dumbfounded at the fact that I've still stayed with music. Nothing has ever stuck for me, and music's the only thing that's managed to stick out for a long period of time.
I remember when I wrote songs when I was about 16, they all sounded the same because I didn't know anything. And all the subject matter was all the same because I hadn't actually done much.
I don't think I'm a good-enough songwriter.
I'm very open with people, very warm, when I meet them. My fans in particular find that strange and refreshing.
People might think I'm a bit more intimidating than I am.
You can't go round looking like a rag.
You just feel better when you look nice.
I've got some real diehards down in New Zealand; I look after them and make sure they always get tickets.
When you're young, you need to be silly and be stupid and not be trying to do that when you're 40 in a red sports car.
I was in a band in Auckland, and I remember they all hated me. They had a big intervention. They said, basically, 'Gin, we think you suck.' I was miserable. I cried and cried. But looking back, that taught me about social skills and how to communicate with musicians.
When I went to Memphis and Mississippi and Nashville, I learnt the blues is a whole way of life. I don't really have the blues, but I can appreciate the honesty and the simplicity of it.
You break up, and you say something pathetic, or you don't even speak at all when someone's telling you they don't love you anymore. But then you think about it five minutes later, and you have all these great comebacks!
That's the great thing about songwriting: You have that time to have perspective and look back and think about all the things you'd want to say.
I've lived a lot since I was 16, so I've got more things to write about. I've started playing around the world and met some great people along the way who've taught me lots of things.
