Watch Kim Gordon Talk Childhood, Mentally Ill Brother at U.K. Event
Kim Gordon has hosted a massive tour for her memoir Girl in a Band, which has featured candid conversations the Sonic Youth founding member has had with journalists and artists. Her March talk with British journalist Miranda Sawyer is now one of the intimate live interviews available for fans to view.
Filmed in London at the Cecil Sharp House, Sawyer probed Gordon about her early life and writing process. “It was daunting committing to ‘This is who I am,'” Gordon told Sawyer and the packed audience.
Gordon hadn’t written any long articles or essays in a while before writing Girl in a Band, having chosen to focus on shorter projects. With her memoir, sitting down and establishing her identity turned out to be the hardest task. “I’ve spent so much of my career not wanting to be labeled,” Gordon says. “That was the most difficult thing.”
Sawyer also asked Gordon to expound on her childhood in Los Angeles and relationship with her brother. On the latter, Gordon credited her older brother Keller with helping her shape her own personality. The musician felt that she had to mold herself into having as strong a personality as the extroverted Keller. “I was always reacting to him,” she said. Her reactions turned into a sense of protection as she grew older and realized that he was mentally ill. Sawyer connects Gordon’s relationship with her brother to the “cool and detached” persona often used to describe the Body/Head member.