The Thames, they are a-changin'

At a forgettable point on the Metropolitan tube line in London lies a just-more-than-nondescript town called Harrow, which boasts a school, Elton John and, er, the drummer from Cream.

Now it’s famous because that’s where a young Kate Nash went to her local cinema, fell on the stairs and broke her foot. House-bound, her dad and Dublin-born mother bought her a guitar to keep her occupied. And a year later, she’s number two in the UK singles chart.
Given the surprise success, it’s understandable that she’s far from throwing hissy fits backstage at Oxegen.
“Can you see any bits of food in my teeth? I’ve just had lunch,” is her opening gambit. She has an absent-minded feel around before baring her choppers to your Hot Press reporter. Luckily for both of us, all the traces of spinach/pepper/broccoli are gone. So are the mean questions I had about her ripping off Lily Allen and Regina Spektor shamelessly – she’s my mate now; I saw her teeth up close.
The incessant comparisons, particularly between Lily and herself, have all but marred her eventful year. Yet the chart-topping single at hand, ‘Foundations’ undeniably carries Lily-esque lyrics, such as the classic “You said I must eat so many lemons/‘Cause I am so bitter/I said I’d rather be with your friends, mate/‘Cause they are much fitter.” Picking up on this, an anonymous rapper (Just Jack anyone?) uploaded a song on MySpace entitled ‘LDN Is A Victim’, which grafted Lily's 'LDN' onto Nash's ‘Caroline Is A Victim’. Ouch!
“I like her music, so I don’t mind the comparisons,” she shrugs. “Though it’s been annoying for both of us because women are quickly boxed into categories, while there’s always room for boybands or another indie guitar band. That makes it harder for a woman to be considered an artist in her own right, which is what everyone’s essentially trying to do. And what I’m trying to do. But once the album comes out, it'll be fine because people will be able to see how different we are.”
The as-yet-untitled LP has been moved forward five weeks to mid-August – might as well strike while the iron’s hot. For a suburban girl who a year ago was waitressing at Portuguese restaurant Nandos, opted for the “pound-a-pint night at The Junction” on nights out, and arrives in Oxegen in £8 New Look plimsolls, did she find the recording experience – with elite producer Paul Epworth no less – bizarre?
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life because you’re so emotionally connected to the music,” she answers. “I think it should be difficult. If it’s not, you don’t care enough about it.”
And already being a famed lyricist, what is her favourite coupling on the album, I ask.
“It’s from a song called ‘Mariella’: “Sometimes I wish I was like Mariella/She got some Pritt Stick and she glued her lips together”. She was based on a character half-made up and half-inspired by Tim Burton’s short film Vincent, which is about a boy who wants to be like Vincent Price and live this gloomy life. It was also whenMemoirs Of A Geisha came out, and I was getting annoyed with myself because I can be quite rash and I wanted to be a mysterious character instead. So I wrote it about a girl who was never going to speak to anyone again. I wish I could just shut up sometimes.”
Any Bridget Jones-esque moments that stand out?
“I couldn’t even pick for you. I’m very loud all the time, I fall over and I’m clumsy. I’m not aware of it half the time, so it’s the people who I’m with that I feel sorry for. I say whatever I’m thinking, like ‘Oh my god! Look at that bird!’,” she screams, oblivious to the unwritten law of restrained cool in the hospitality area.
Seriously Kate – don’t go changing.b