Joan as Police Woman live at Village Underground. Photography by Zoran Veselinovic/Retna. How do you introduce Joan Wasser? A few minutes ago she was up on the Village Underground stage alternating between keyboards, guitars and a gold violin (which she also played as a guitar). She and her band members even managed something of a barbershop quartet moment at the end. Now here she is offstage, still dressed in a gold lamé halterneck and footwear that can really only be described as electric blue space cowboy boots.Prior to Joan as Police Woman, Joan Wasser was noted for her collaborations and associations, including Rufus Wainwright, Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons), Lou Reed, the Scissor Sisters and many others. It’s fair to say it took a little time to come into her own. Originally describing her sound as 'punk rock R&B', things have evolved further on the latest album 'The Classic'. And from the sound of it all there’s more to come - including her mysterious new 2001 project with Benjamin Lazar Davis. What was clear from tonight's gig is that Joan – either in her guise as Policewoman, or as herself – is just getting going...I stole 5 minutes at the end of the show, just as the drums were being packed away...

Emily Shipp: So how’s the tour been so far?

Joan Wasser: The tour has been my favourite tour of all time.

ES: What's made it that way?

JW: Everyone really likes each other, no one's fighting, we have so much fun on stage, we have an incredible sound man…

ES: Have there been fights on tours before then?

JW: Ohhhh.... not really fights. ...Actually, yeah, there've been fights ...I have not been involved in them. But there has been, you know, a discrepancy in thought patterns....

ES: How did that turn out?

JW: Really uncomfortable and not very fun because you're pretty much living on top of each other … and that wouldn't happen, even if we tried to fight with each other (now). Right Alastair...? (she leans over to check with her tour manager).

ES: So how's it been performing the new songs?

JW: It's been awesome. We like rehearsed a lot, making new arrangements for them. It's really fun to play them every night, develop them, you know, and they're at a place right now that's just - no thinking involved, just playing.

ES: And for people who haven't heard your music, what are your influences for your new sound and your new album?

JW: Ohhh God... I really can't answer that very well because I wasn't listening to anything in particular when I was making the record, and I really.... I feel like I like good music, genre-less. You know, I love so many different kinds of music. A lot of people have talked about the Motown and Soul influences – yes, I love that music! I feel like that came out more on this record than before, I think because I just feel more confident and I feel less afraid about making music that sounds like that. I think in the past I felt like: ‘Oh, I'm not worthy...’.

ES: Really?

JW: Yeah! You know when you're song-writing it's like... it's like playing a game with yourself, just with anything, you know, anything creative: “Oh I can't really, oh I'm not, oh I can't pull that off…” or something. And then it's like: “Wait a minute, it's your fourth record, you can do whatever the fuck you want!”

ES: You talked about music influences like Motown and Soul – outside of that, what do you most enjoy, what's the best kind of gig you've been to lately?

JW: Um, I saw James Blake this year and that was, like, mindblowing just because he had his shit so together, sonically, on stage. And there was only three of them. That was really great. I'm gonna leave it there, 'cos I'm braindead.

ES: What do you do to keep yourself alert and going for that whole set?

JW: Ohhhh, you don't really have to work to keep up. There's like tons of people there and like, you're playing music – even if I hadn't slept for a week I'd be.... yeah. Once you hit the stage – adrenaline – you're there.

ES: And if you could play anywhere, where would you want to play?

JW: Ummm, in Africa somewhere. In Ethiopia. Because I love the music that they make there and I would just wanna play for them.

ES: We'll see what happens.

JW: Right on, right on.

Joan as Police Woman will be on stage again tonight (16th April) at Village Underground in Shoreditch before continuing her European tour. You can see more of Zoran's photos from the London shows here.