The singer-songwriter tells FIRST about the paranormal experience that turned her into the person she is today.

First favourite song

“The main one was Marianne Faithfull, ‘Broken English’. That whole album actually was my brother’s and my divorce album. Not our divorce, but our parents’ divorce, and we just cranked it. It was so hardcore. She was so badass.”

First paranormal experience

“I used to go into my closet when I felt sad. I was quite young, like maybe, I don’t know, seven or eight or something, maybe nine. I was really down and I’d sit in there. [One time] I heard this voice and it said to me: ‘music will be your gift’. And I really took that on board! Sometimes I think that maybe it was me from the future, talking to myself back then. I’ve often reflected on that, but I heard something. I also had the man from Poltergeist with the brim hat come into my room, that also could have been me in the future… or Finn Andrews. He looked a lot like that guy.”

First fashion icon

“I’d have to say I sort of morphed Cyndi Lauper and Madonna into one and my outfits really reflected that. I’d be like 11 or 12 and I’d have on some sort of slightly ripped stocking, short skirt, and sparkly top. I loved the lace bow, that bow at the top with the teased hair, which kind of morphed into my first hairstyle: a spiral perm.”

First big injury

“I was sitting in the back of my dad’s bicycle. I was probably about two years old and he put the kickstand down and I just went, I was like strapped in, I just went clonk onto my head. Which is kind of full circle when I think about the concussion that I just had recently. I’m hoping that just means I’m all back to normal.”

First pet

“My first pet was Tinkerbell, the lamb. And that officially makes my porn name… Tinkerbell Tintern.”

Reb Fountain’s new album IRIS is out now. Find tickets for the New Zealand tour in July and August here.

This episode of FIRST was made with the support of NZ On Air.