Talia was hoping to save all this information for her acceptance speech, to be delivered on the night she wins the Rock Journalist of the Year award. But we mercilessly pressganged her until she admitted she feels as though she's already won.
She has written for many cool music publications, musicOMH.com pre-eminent amongst a batch that also includes NYRock, NME and Rock Mag. She gets to interview the world's biggest rock egos as a full-time job for Metro's French edition. ("Yeah, I have to write in French, how yucky for an Anglophone," says Talia down a crackly line. "But, shhh! I sometimes cheat and write in English, then translate!")
All this starry hob-nobbing began as a silly teenage fantasy. Growing up in Los Angeles, Talia devoured CREEM, Rolling Stone and Trouser Press plus all the import Brit music mags she could get her hands (and dollars) on. She also admits to buying the occasional teen magazine. ("They had better photos of Duran Duran, OK?!" splutters our heroine.) Never did she think she'd be travelling to Miami to see U2 one day, New York City to interview The Strokes, London to chat with Pink...
So why does she do it? "I actually believed I had a bigger chance of becoming - don't laugh - a rock star," muses the lady in pink. Laughter was duly heard. But she considers this job to be even better. She gets to make fun of all those towering rock egos, criticise them and, above all, make herself indispensable to them (she thinks). And did she mention the free CDs, DVDs and concert tickets? "Yup, this is the coolest job in the world," grins Talia. And so say all of us.
