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Just a few weeks before the release of her debut full-length studio album ‘The Family Jewels,’ the Greek-Welsh pop diva, Marina and The Diamonds was named the #2 “One to Watch” on the BBC’s prestigious Sound of 2010 list. The album is full of infectious melodies, bright sounds and fresh, delicious hooks. Marina recently spoke with Spinner about her obsession with becoming a singer, her upcoming visit to SXSW and a whole lot more.

How did you come up with your band name?

It wasn’t really calculated; my surname is Diamandis, which means “Diamonds” in Greek. At the time I didn’t intend “Diamonds” to refer to my fans, but is nice that I can tie my name with my audience. Its nice to open it up and it fits, so after a few years it just stuck to mean my fans. She also explains on her MySpace page “I’m Marina. You are the diamonds.” People think it refers to my band, like Florence’s Machine, but that’s not the case at all.

How did your band form?

I started playing five years ago; the way I got here was actually very calculated. I had planned it from when I was 15 years old, but I had never written a song or anything because I was very nervous about how I sounded. I was obsessed about being a singer even though I wasn’t very good at it. I had a lot of ambition and drive to reach that goal. In the beginning I was really terrible [laughs]. I moved from Greece to London when I was 19 and I did a lot of auditions and the more I began to write my own songs, the more things started to happen for me. I bought a laptop and started producing my own sound with Garageband. People like Daniel Johnston influenced me, so he is the one to blame. He encouraged me to go the DIY way as opposed to the record label way and here we are now.

How would you describe your sound in your own words?

Experimental pop with an alternative sound. Yes, I would describe it as probably experimental pop, I enjoy both sides and I don’t want to commit myself to either one. So I think experimental pop is the right category.

What are your musical influences?

Except for Daniel [Johnston] it would be Fiona Apple, I could relate to her a lot in my upbringing. I grew up in a small village so all we got was commercial music like Madonna and Britney Spears. Oh I love the Distillers, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey. I’m really attracted to people who have a slight DIY tactic, who have a human live imperfection.

What music are you currently obsessed with?

This girl I found, her name is Sheridan, her stuff is really good, she is unobtrusive DIY, I really enjoy it. I’m also listening to Ellie Goulding, Erik Hassle and Metric.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures so much, because each genre and song has a purpose, and if you like it, you like it for some reason. But I guess it would have to be 3 Words by Cheryl Cole feat. Will.i.Am.

Beatles or Stones?

The Beatles, for sure.

Do you have a festival survival kit?

If you are camping, baby wipes and survival food in case you get stuck out in the wild. Girly stuff like mascara, eyeliner, and a mirror because you won’t know what you look like for four days, yea I think that’s it.

What was the last physical CD you purchased?

Oh Jesus! A physical CD? I think it was Juliana Hatfield. Also this is way back but PJ Harvey’s ‘White Chalk.’ I should have bought Lady Gaga’s CD, but I was too lazy, so I just got it on iTunes.

Anything else you’d like to say to Spinner.com’s readers?

Yes! I can’t wait to come to America and… yea that’s about it.

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Finally,  new Hole! And it is Rocking!

The MP3 is free on the Nobody’s Daughter site today only, so go get it while you can. Nobody’s Daughter is the fourth studio album by Hole and is set for release in April 27, 2010.

MP3: Skinny Little Bitch

Listen to the entire album. You can’t skip songs, but why would you?

Album comes out March 8th in the UK, 9th stateside.

Get Busy Committee’s debut album ‘Uzi Does It’ was released for pre-sale download on October 27th on the band’s site and was released to other outlets like iTunes on November 10th. The album is a 100% self-funded and self-released independent record from the groups’ very own record label, Tokyo Sex Whale Records. “Get Busy Committee is gonna be something really f—– crazy,” says group member Apathy. The album has been called “hip hop album of the year” by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and has fans ranging from Rob Dyrdek to Snoop Dogg. Spinner recently spoke with Ryu and Apathy about their group and their first official gig as GBC at this year’s SXSW.

How did you guys form the band?

Get Busy Committee was formed about one year ago in Los Angeles, California by long time friends Ryu, [of Styles of Beyond and Fort Minor], Apathy [of Army of the Pharoahs], and Scoop Deville [producer known recently for producing tracks with Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, and others]. We were just there together all the time, and we wanted to do something different, something completely different, so we came up with the sound, the type of direction that we wanted to do, and it kind of just took it’s own weight and we were making it up as we went along.

How would you describe your sound?

I don’t know, maybe this is a question for somebody else you know what I mean? We do R&B, we do hip hop songs, and we do pop. Is there anybody else that does that? I doubt it! We are a combination of Morrissey with GZA and f—– The New Radicals, that’s our sound! [pauses] Not really!

What are your musical influences?

Our influences come from Eazy-E, Bell Biv DeVoe, Boogie Down Productions. Simple.

How did you choose your group name?

We were shouting out names, and “get busy” is like an old school term, so the whole Get Busy Committee just sounded fresh and we went with it. We wanted something that sounded dope.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

I’m not going to lie right now Lady GaGa, Black Eyed Peas, and The Carpenters.

Have you been to SXSW before? What are you expecting?

This is our first time at SXSW, we were invited, so we were like f— it let’s go. The prime ministers of SXSW emailed us and told us that they were waiting for a group like us to come along, so now that we are here they are pretty excited about it, and that’s how it happened.

Do you have a ritual before going on stage?

We don’t know! We never played as GBC, we’ve done tons and tons of underground and our own shows, and shows with other crews, but we’ve never played together as GBC, we are saving that for primetime at SXSW. We wanted to debut the live portion of our music, but we didn’t know how to do it and SXSW seems perfect for it. So a ritual will happen naturally at SXSW, we’ll bring a little shrine with us, or something.

If you could tour with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?

Sex Pistols, they are a–holes and we are a–holes! We would have a good time with them, they seem to drink a lot, and we’ll get in a fight with them. We either hate them or love them, and they’ll probably hate us.

What was the last physical CD you purchased?

Yesterday I bought Organized Konfusion, ‘Stress: The Extinction Agenda’ and also ‘The Killing Fields: Original Film Soundtrack.’ The last song I bought on iTunes is ‘Blackbird’ by Paul McCartney.

What is on repeat on your iPod?

Jay Electronica, ‘Exhibit C’ — can’t stop listening to it, and also The Beatles ‘A Day In The Life,’ its on constant repeat.

Anything else you’d like to say to Spinner’s readers?

Come check us out ‘cuz you don’t know what you are going to get — it’s going to be a surprise, for all of us! We’ll all be surprised together!

Read more at Spinner.com

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