Rooted in Madrid’s gritty but vibrant underground scene, AmyJo Doherty and her band, AmyJo Doh & The Spangles, have carved out an irresistible sound since their first EP in 2013. The band resonate a sense of positive anarchy that echoes the punk sounds of the late seventies and eighties – for those looking to fight, dance and love.
You’ve got a new album coming out. Can you tell us a bit about it?
It’s called SpangleLandia, and it’s due out on November 7th. The album is sort of a collection of stories and sounds that represent our journey so far. It’s a mix of previously released EPs and some new tracks, with contributions from various musicians we’ve worked with along the way. True to the Spangles’ style, it’s a mix of genres and stories.
I know you’re inspired by artists like The Clash and Blondie, and I even hear a bit of The Specials in there. What draws you to this music?
I’m glad you said that I love ska – the 45th anniversary of The Specials’ first album just passed, actually, I reposted it on Instagram. ‘A Message to You Rudy‘ is one of my favourite songs of all time, I just love the fact that it’s so bouncy, so happy and yet at the same time most of the lyrics are actually very profound and it has quite a dark message.
I think I do that in my songwriting too, some of my lyrics are quite ironic on the surface and not very profound, but I think if you’re really listening they’re deeper than they appear.
Your song Back on the Road touches on escaping “survival mode.” Can you tell us more about that?
Amy Jo: I think a lot of us go through life not fully living, just trying to keep up with the rat-race. I’ve been doing a lot of self-work, therapy, and just trying to become more myself. That song is about that feeling of starting to live more fully, letting go of expectations and just being who I am. It’s very personal, and the collaboration with my bandmates made it even more powerful – we all felt that message deeply while creating it.
My guitarist, David, was also going through his own struggles when we wrote it, and it was like this cathartic release for both of us. There’s a long instrumental section at the end because it just felt right – we needed that space to really let it all out.
Have you faced any discrimination for being an older musician in the industry?
It’s interesting because I think it’s one of those things that your mind can definitely take on board and paranoia and self-doubt can play a part in creating those kind of thoughts…
I didn’t really start performing until I was well in my 30s I can’t remember how old I was with the first album but I was well into my 30s. A journalist once asked me, “Don’t you think you’re a bit old to be putting out your first album?” I responded in Spanish, which sounded a bit ruder, but I told him, “Don’t you think you’re a bit of a dick to ask someone a question like that?” [Laughs]
I mean, I’ve got a friend in his 50s who says, “If you think you’re too old for rock and roll, then you probably are.” There’s this wave of people now embracing age and saying, “You’re not too old!” For me, I feel like I’m just starting my life – and my music – as who I really am.
Before you started making music, what were you doing in your 20s and early 30s?
I was a primary school teacher. I actually became a teacher because I love kids – I still work with them through music and even write songs for children. I taught in several places, including London, South Korea, and El Salvador. Teaching was incredibly rewarding but also intense. I’d lie awake at night thinking about what I could have done better for my students; you feel this huge responsibility with kids. It’s not just the teaching – it’s mental, emotional, everything. Eventually, though, I realized I was living for the weekends and holidays. I’d get this high on Fridays and then dread Sunday nights. I thought, “Is this really what life is?” That’s when I decided to re-evaulate things.
And how did that decision lead you to Madrid?
Well, I was doing supply teaching in London, which was basically crowd control [laughs]. There was a job here in Madrid that included a Spanish course, and I thought, “Great, I’ll work here for six months and then go to Mexico.” But I ended up staying at the school for two and a half years, and now it’s been 20 years in Madrid! My life changed completely here – it feels a bit like traveling without ever leaving. I never did make it to Mexico, but Madrid has become home.
Has living traveling around so much influenced your music and creativity?
Absolutely. My Spanish is pretty good, though I have a strong British accent. I write songs in Spanish for my solo shows and basically kill two languages at once. My dad was in the army so I grew up mostly in Germany but we moved around every few years because of that, so that sort of shaped who I am.
This little apartment in Madrid is the longest I’ve lived anywhere – no windows, just one door [pans camera around the room]. The housing crisis here has made it hard to find something better, so now I’m just hoping they don’t kick me out. I love it here.
You explore themes of mortality in Take a Stand. Was there a specific reason that led you to address this in your music?
I think lockdown had a lot to do with it, actually. Being confined gave me time to think about what it means to live authentically and make choices I’m proud of when I look back. Take a Stand is sort of a call to stand up and and stop accepting situations you’re unhappy with – it could be about your own personal demons and your own personal experiences. When we performed it recently, I related to it to what’s going on in Palestine; I’ve been looking at some terrible images today and I think people are scared to speak out.
It’s just so frustrating we’re supposed to be a democracy and so little has changed in favour of what people want, but it’s great that people are still out demonstrating. Sometimes you question whether it really serves any purpose and I think it does, at least for our own interior. I think it’s important not to just sit there and be apathetic and assume we can’t change anything because you never know. I’m an optimist really.
You’ve touched on the concept of dissatisfaction in your song Shut Up, where you mention that people often don’t understand what they’re critiquing. There are a numerous issues in the UK such as stagnate wages combined with inflation and decreasing GDP per capita, the increasingly homogenised landscape etc, Do you think some people in Britain have valid reasons for feeling dissatisfied?
You know I could get in trouble for saying things like this because it it sounds like it’s so easy but I think when you know you’re not happy it comes down to ourselves and only we can make that change. I mean we can’t change the world, but what we can do is change our minds and our hearts.
Actually, the perfect example is when I gave up teaching because I was basically unhappy and people would say “well it’s all right for you” because I did private English classes but then I’ve done other things like cleaning houses, I started cleaning for some of my friends just to get a bit of cash, and then people would say “oh well it’s all right for you, you’ve got friends who will pay you to clean.”
I think sometimes it’s very easy to to accept that you’re stuck and become apathetic and I also think it has a lot to do with mental health. When you get into a depression it’s very hard to see a way out and you don’t see your options.
I believe that we’ve all got superpowers and I don’t want that to sound like an airy fairy thing but I really think that we were all given a drop of something special and whatever your journey has been whatever you’ve suffered I think if you really try and go into it – then you could you can find that, even in the darkest depths.
What would you like to accomplish before you die?
[Laughs] I think just live! I’d still love to go to Mexico. I’d love to play my music to as many people as possible, I’d love to travel more and it sounds really corny but like I said I’d like to just…live.
Sometimes, I get these moments of clarity that assure me I’m on the right path, like if I’m flying home and I’m excited to go home or I’m coming back to Madrid and I think if the plane crashes I can honestly feel thankful – and that’s such a beautiful feeling, I do feel blessed.
With so much energy spent on music, how do you switch off?
When I’m at home I like being in complete silence. Walking, reading, and even giving myself a foot massage now and then – anything that helps me unplug and reset. I’ve done the Camino de Santiago (a hike that takes about 30 days to complete) multiple times, and that walking meditation is hugely grounding.
Another thing I’ve gotten into is essential oils. My sister-in-law sent me some during COVID, and one blend, called “thieves,” has an interesting backstory. It was used by a group of robbers during the Black Death to protect themselves from the plague, the King discovered they were stealing and agreed that he wouldn’t chop their heads off if they shared how they had been surviving -and it was down to this mix of herbs. I now use it in a humidifier and massage it on my feet for its antiviral properties. Maybe it’s psychosomatic, but it’s natural, smells wonderful, and I haven’t caught the flu yet.
You have a UK tour coming up. Any particular venues you’re excited for?
We’re hoping to come over to the UK and hoping to play in London, we’re going to be in Germany in February, I think in Cologne and Dortmund. I’d love to to play everywhere – it’s very difficult at this level because we’re unknown and we’re not really a promoter’s dream, no one wants to lose money so it it’s quite hard.
I think the music scene, especially in Spain, it’s you’re either up there and everyone wants to have you or you’re kind of down here and no one wants to take risks. My dream is really to just get a van and travel around and and meet people along the way. I think it’s important to be on the road and and be out there meeting people. We’re all a bit bogged down with social media these days.
What was it like growing up as Peter Doherty’s older sister? Did you feel a sense of responsibility?
There’s 13 months difference between me and Peter, so we’re like soul twins, very much in sync and spiritually in touch. It’s quite funny because even when we were kids we moved schools a lot but I remember when I was 15 and he was 14 and I remember girls in the playground like “ohhh that’s Peter’s sister” because all the girls fancied him and a lot of my friends fancied him and that was before he even picked up a guitar.
I think as we got older I felt more of a responsibility and all the dark days were were very hard – when, you know, everyone just wants a piece of the poet it was awful. You feel responsible in many ways when you can’t save someone. But I know that also Peter feels very protective of me, it’s a thing that happens especially when you’ve got such a close age difference.
It’s an absolute blessing to be to be his sister. He’s an incredible person, just an amazing soul and an amazing light. There have been hard times when I’ve wanted to kill him but I love him so much.
Are we likely to see an Amy and Peter Doherty collaboration in the future?
Peter was actually one of the only people I could ever sing in front of because I was always very embarrassed. We’ve got a lot of old songs that we still remember, we’ll probably make an album one day when we’re were a bit older.
