It’s a sunny but cool afternoon in early March and I’m sitting at my desk at home in London (read: kitchen worktop). In front of me is a notepad and pen, an almost full cup of coffee and my phone on loudspeaker. The warm, northern accent on the other end? That’s Bang Bang Romeo’s lead vocalist Anastasia “Stars” Walker coming in live from “Donny” Doncaster in South Yorkshire.
We’d arranged this call just a week earlier – before coronavirus had really taken a hold in the UK. We were going to talk about the band’s upcoming Pride gigs and headline tour, the (now poignantly named) Beautiful World Tour – since postponed until October 2020. Instead, as the world has changed so much in just a few short days, our conversation turns to the healing power of music, the increased importance of community, and of keeping on keeping on, even when the going gets tough – really, really tough.