Aimee Gillingwater
We spoke to model, musician and skater girl Aimee Gillingwater who lives and works in London. Aimee has been singing from a young age but has more recently decided to express her musical abilities via her Instagram. She plans to release her first single towards the end of this year. In terms of skateboarding, Aimee has been practicing as a skater since she was 15 as a way for her to escape her daily life. It also opened doors for her modelling career, Aimee is now signed to the modelling agency Anti-Agency.
You are a model, skater and musician - how did you initially get into these disciplines?
So I started singing from very very early on. It’s like my earliest memories, I’ve always been singing. Skateboarding I really discovered when I was 15, and I just really fell in love with it. It gave me away to kind of escape my daily life and do what I wanted to do. Also it felt quite free as a girl in London. It let me travel without too much worry. Modelling however, that came through skateboarding and it’s really given me a chance to learn how to love myself and express myself in other ways than just music and skateboarding.
What do love so much about skateboarding?
I love skateboarding because it’s given me my closest friends in life, it’s given me a real family and it really boasted my confidence and let me develop into the woman that I wanted to become regardless of the situations that I faced in my life. I always had something that I could turn to, to destress or feel good again.
How do you find practicing as a female skater in such a male dominated sport?
It used to be a lot harder being a female skater in a male dominated industry I guess but now all these dudes are my friends. I don’t feel particularly weird about it in any way, in fact I just grow and learn of them, and just have fun with them. It’s different from when I was a kid I guess. When I was like 16 I definitely found it more intimidating, but it makes a big difference when you actually go up and say hi to the people at the park that are freaking you out.
You are signed to the modelling agency ‘Anti-Agency’ who are well known for individuality - can you tell us more about the opportunities and experiences you have gained from being signed to them?
I was always someone who struggled quite a lot with self esteem in terms of loving myself and the way I look. I think modelling really helped open up new ideas in my head about how I can perceive myself, how to love myself and also how to express myself in a unique way. Through that is now something I take into my music and the rest of the art that I do in my life.
You are based in London - how does the city influence and open doors for you in terms of your practices?
I am so influenced by London, I have been my whole life. I grew up in West London but spent most of my time hanging out in Camden as a teenager which really influenced me into punk music, reggae, other genres that I probably wouldn’t of come across so easily. The streets as well that we used to skate are so specific and unique in London that it really pushes you to think about things in a new perspective. So I think without London both my music and my skateboarding would have been so different.
Can you tell us a bit more about your work as a musician?
Like I said I’ve always played music but it wasn’t until about a year and a half ago I felt ready musically to be putting my music out there and start my journey as a professional musician. Now I I’ve had the pleasure over the last six months writing with different producers, really honing in on the sound that I am trying to create, and hopefully in the nest few months you guys will get to hear my single that I am unbelievably excited about. There’s a few different genres that influence me in my music, everything really from soul to punk to everything in between so I am very excited to share what I have been doing with the world.
What projects and and new things do you have coming up in the near future?
Hopefully the first single will be dropping like August time. Otherwise the EP is on it’s way, maybe by the beginning of next year, we’ll see how it pans out. I’ve got a lot of music projects coming up and also some skateboarding projects trying to film and get some more stuff done so keep your eyes peeled.
interview GABY MAWSON
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