There’s nothing more boring than reading an interview from a tired old music hack asking questions like: “So who would you say are your major influences?” That’s why we asked lady-of-leisure Emily Freud to start dating for us. Emily doesn’t care about trivial things like grime, or nu rave. She cares about high minded stuff like literature, nice restaurants and hot boys. Emily doesn’t do interviews, she does dates. This issue she dates Rowdy Superstar.

I am normally an extremely punctual person, but this particular evening I was running late. I had had one of those evenings where a simple task like finding my stripy open toe heels ends up with me screaming around the house with frustration, tripping over about five times and shouting at anyone in a rage - similar to that seen in 28 Days Later (but with better hair).

By the time I got to the restaurant the whole shoe incident took on a far more annoying turn as the rain happily dripped onto my exposed toes and completely ruined the satin fabric. I arrived at the Gay Hussar restaurant in Soho, explained my tardiness to Rowdy Superstar and he had nothing but sympathy for my plight.

“Your jacket is AH-mazing,” I said fingering the heavily embroidered, sequined jacket in awe.

“I made it myself,” he proudly announced.

“Shut up!” I looked down at my own sequin-embellished beddie and exclaimed: “It must be fate.”

Looking a bit like sequined superheroes we made it over to our table. The contrast between our dazzling outfits and the old school Hungarian décor caused a bit of a stir with the regulars but once they realised we were not going to start attacking their clothes with a needle and a bag of glitter they relaxed.

“So did you study fashion?” I asked in an attempt to find some common ground as I studied design at university.

“No I just sometimes make my own clothes. I left school at fifteen.”

“Really? How come?”

“I am a very fast paced person. I don’t have the patience to worry about wearing the right uniform or following rules when all I think is important is that you are learning. I just wanted to get working straight away, which I did when I left home at 17.”

“So you have always been very independent?”

“Yeah, I mean even now I live on my own. So I can do what I want when I want.”

“And you like shocking people?”

“Yeah, definitely. When I was 13 I bleached my pubes and dyed them pink.”

I was very impressed… the waiter who showed up at this point seemed less so. To ease the embarrassing moment he immediately suggested we try their mixed hors d’oeuvre; I took the lead and agreed without asking what it involved. When it arrived, Rowdy looked apprehensive

“I can’t eat pork.” He told me.

“Are you Jewish?”

“No, my dad was a Rasta so I was just brought up not eating pork.”

So, although very tasty, the first course was a bit of a no no for Rowdy. The second was better received. He had the pan-fried salmon and I had the roast duck with red cabbage and apple sauce Brassói Érmék. Both were delicious. When the meal was finished we looked down at two large red chillies teasing us from the plate.

“Want to do one?” he challenged.

“Do you want to do one?”

“If you do.”

“OK then.”

“1, 2, 3!" we said in unison as we bit down into the agreed amount.

The searing flavours escaped into my mouth and my eyes became teary instantly. I looked over to Rowdy.

“Is my mouth actually bleeding?” he asked, showing me his tongue. I shook my head, unable to respond. He picked up a halved lemon from his plate and sucked on it.

Rowdy knows the pig is a dirty animal. Emily, however, knows it's good eatings.

Once we had recovered I asked Rowdy if I could listen to some of his music so he got his iPod out and we sat snugly in the booth listening to a song about a cheating girlfriend called Learn. It was very good. I think he gets his feelings across rather well.

“So where do you get your motivation from to write your songs?”

“It is just what makes me passionate. I think false involvement is awful. Take Madonna for example; people used to respect her for taking risks, now it just looks forced. If you don’t have anything to say anymore you should just stop.”

“Where do you think your confidence comes from?”

“Well I have been through some things in my life. Not to say others haven’t. In everyone there is a superstar. I have found mine but my mission is to try to get people to find theirs. You don’t need drugs to be confident. You need to have it inside you.”

Sitting there giggling together it became obvious that Rowdy and I will never be more than good friends.

“Want to go to a gig round the corner?” I ask.

“Yeah sure.”

We get to the entrance and I turn to the woman in the booth.

“I believe I’m on Julian Velard's list.”

Is it bad etiquette to take a new date to an old dates gig?

I am slightly peeved Rowdy wouldn’t let me keep his jacket (I did try and make a run for it). This aside he and I had a great evening together. I do hope we will get a chance to swap fashion tips again soon. Check him out (and his Bad Ass Hype Bitches) at: www.myspace.com/rowdysuperstar