Speaker 1: Well, the first time I put a record out was
Speaker 1: when the collapse of music happened, and we worked up
Speaker 1: from there.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Midnight Chats, a podcast of laid back conversations
Speaker 2: with leading names in music. In keeping with these informal interviews,
Speaker 2: each new one is published weekly at midnight. This week's
Speaker 2: episode is hosted by me Greg cochrane from Loud and
Speaker 2: Quiet magazine. Thanks for joining me on Midnight Chats Tonight.
Speaker 2: My guest is tour Maries, better known as the artist
Speaker 2: Billy Nomades. Despite the pandemic turning the world on its
Speaker 2: head in twenty twenty, it was still a breakout year
Speaker 2: for Billy Nomades, who released her self titled debut album
Speaker 2: last August. She followed that up with a brilliant EP,
Speaker 2: Emergency Telephone, that came out in March of this year,
Speaker 2: signed to Invader Records, the label co founded and run
Speaker 2: by Jeff Barrow from Porter said, Billy Nomates was speaking
Speaker 2: to me a couple of weeks ago from Invader HQ
Speaker 2: in Bristol, where she spent the last couple of months
Speaker 2: writing and demoing and recording material for a new album.
Speaker 2: I've really felt for all musicians and the wider music
Speaker 2: community the past eighteen months of everything going on, but
Speaker 2: particularly newer artists, the situation has taken away a lot
Speaker 2: of opportunities for them getting in front of real life
Speaker 2: crowds being the obvious one. But we talk a bit
Speaker 2: about that great to hear that she wants to reclaim
Speaker 2: the experience of her debut album before moving on to
Speaker 2: what comes next. So thank you again to Billy Nomates
Speaker 2: for taking the time out and what was a very
Speaker 2: hot day to record this episode and enjoy some chat
Speaker 2: about everything from relearning basic social skills again as society
Speaker 2: opens back up like we all are doing right through
Speaker 2: to Iggy Pop and his fandom of Billy Nomates. So
Speaker 2: let's get in to it. This is Midnight Chat's number
Speaker 2: one hundred and ten where my guest is Billy Nomads.
Speaker 2: I kind of feel bad about sort of dragging you
Speaker 2: away to speak on our podcast on the day where
Speaker 2: it's like sweltering hot, but I feel I don't feel
Speaker 2: awful because I can see that where I'm speaking to
Speaker 2: you from is in the studio. So you are hard
Speaker 2: at work, You're you're you're in the den, You're not
Speaker 2: out there in the sunshine.
Speaker 1: Today right, I'm shielding from it. Yeah, no, it's really
Speaker 1: I'm not invader studios where I'm writing, and it's very
Speaker 1: nice and cool in here. I'm trying to I don't
Speaker 1: know if they've got an AC system, but it's like
Speaker 1: the air is conditioned. Like I said, you could put
Speaker 1: you could put a jacket on and you'd be all right,
Speaker 1: which is I guess on the mean streets. It's not
Speaker 1: that way right exactly.
Speaker 2: There's too true. What are you like in the heat generally?
Speaker 2: Do you do you run away from it? Or are
Speaker 2: you I actually like it?
Speaker 1: I actually quite like it hot. I do actually prefer
Speaker 1: a hot climate. But there's something about being in a
Speaker 1: city and being in the UK where it's just disgusting,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: I think it's the proximity to other people, isn't it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that makes it a whole lot worse.
Speaker 1: When it's like a hot pavement outside Poundland, you just
Speaker 1: go get me out of this hell. But if you're like,
Speaker 1: if you're abroad and it's like thirty degrees, it's fine,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I must admit one thing that I really
Speaker 2: haven't missed. I know, the start of the pandemic. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is this is really sort of clutching its straws,
Speaker 2: given just how serious the whole situation has been. I
Speaker 2: didn't miss those like really sweaty train journeys or bust
Speaker 2: journeys where you've got no choice, where you're just kind
Speaker 2: of you just close your eyes because you're so close
Speaker 2: to something that you don't know that it's just oh,
Speaker 2: you know, everybody's sweating profusely on a day like this.
Speaker 1: Typically, Oh, to begin with, that was the thing. I
Speaker 1: was just like, this is great. I didn't like people
Speaker 1: next to me or anywhere near me, and now it's like,
Speaker 1: oh great. And then it kind of went along time
Speaker 1: and I was like, Rambo, when here you're just sweat
Speaker 1: next to you, did you.
Speaker 2: Get nostalgic and sweaty strangers?
Speaker 1: Yeah, a little bit. I think we were. I think
Speaker 1: if we were being honest, we all did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true. Yeah, in a gig context, definitely. Like
Speaker 2: I would have given anything at points to just be
Speaker 2: in a crowd at a gig. But on on the
Speaker 2: sort of number one seventy five bus from there from
Speaker 2: will from so Central to Chingford at half us five
Speaker 2: on the Tuesday, I still don't miss it.
Speaker 1: No, you're right, it's a different dynamic, that's true.
Speaker 2: So hey, I can see that obviously you're in the studio.
Speaker 2: Like around you, I can see like mic stands and
Speaker 2: leads and everything else. Like, presumably you are hard at
Speaker 2: work writing new music. What's going on at the moment?
Speaker 2: Are you? Are you sort of doing you know, full
Speaker 2: shifts in the studio writing new material. What's what's happening
Speaker 2: right now?
Speaker 1: It's Jeff kind of just giving me a space really,
Speaker 1: which has been very kind of him. They're kind of
Speaker 1: hard at work working on soundtrack stuff and in the
Speaker 1: big control room, and and then behind me you might
Speaker 1: be able to see, but for the purpose of the podcast,
Speaker 1: behind me, there's a drum booth where I've kind of
Speaker 1: set up my drum machines and my guitars and bits
Speaker 1: and pieces, and I've kind of just been coming in
Speaker 1: every day in the evenings and just chipping away at
Speaker 1: basically the new album, which has been amazing. And I'm
Speaker 1: incredibly grateful for the space because normally I'd just write
Speaker 1: an album in a cupboard.
Speaker 2: Well, it's going to say say in the past, you've
Speaker 2: I mean, the first record was written at your sister's
Speaker 2: kitchen table. Is that right?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Pretty much?
Speaker 2: Yeah, And then the second one was written in the
Speaker 2: sort of family bedroom living with your dad, Is that right?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: So you're used to basically looking around you and going, right, well,
Speaker 2: this is this is where I'm going to be working what.
Speaker 1: I've I got, And yeah, I know it was, and
Speaker 1: Jeff kind of said, sort of April time, it is like,
Speaker 1: well there's no one really they're doing some sessions, but
Speaker 1: it's like there's no one really here. You could you
Speaker 1: can hide away and do that. So it's incredible. I mean,
Speaker 1: the only the only kind of thing is is that
Speaker 1: you just feel like you need to be super productive
Speaker 1: because now it's like, well I've been given this amazing space,
Speaker 1: so you better write, you better write your best work.
Speaker 1: So but I've got over that. I mean, that's how
Speaker 1: I felt to begin with, and now I'm really over that.
Speaker 1: I'm really not thinking that way anymore. I've been here
Speaker 1: long enough to just go. You turn up, you see
Speaker 1: what happens, maybe you go home, maybe you come back later.
Speaker 1: That's it now, and it feels and you feel at home,
Speaker 1: like to begin with, it's always whenever I used to
Speaker 1: come here. I was always a little bit intimidated because
Speaker 1: it's a fancy.
Speaker 2: Studio and like, great records have been made there, Jeff
Speaker 2: and Jeff and the Invader Labels history is obviously, you know, notable,
Speaker 2: and so there's just a whole sort of aura that
Speaker 2: goes with that.
Speaker 1: Right, totally. Yeah. And I've always feel it the first,
Speaker 1: you know, the first few weeks I'm here. I always
Speaker 1: feel that, and then you kind of start slipping into
Speaker 1: it and you go, oh, hang on, no, it's cool, relax,
Speaker 1: like you're here doing stuff and you know you're you're
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be here. Oh, absolutely, yeah, because it
Speaker 1: takes a minute. You know, I'm constantly like, why am
Speaker 1: I here? Why a me? You know?
Speaker 2: Do you do you feel like you still have a
Speaker 2: sort of a certain amount of sort of well, it's
Speaker 2: sort of imposter syndrome, almost, isn't it. That's what people
Speaker 2: call it when they don't feel like they're in the
Speaker 2: situation that you know that they don't feel you know
Speaker 2: that they should be there for some reason, but like
Speaker 2: you absolutely do, like of course you deserve to be
Speaker 2: there writing new music, like, but yeah, you can't help that.
Speaker 2: Its a little voice in the back of your head sometimes,
Speaker 2: isn't it.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I think it's everything. Everyone must have it
Speaker 1: to a degree. And maybe it's weird if you come
Speaker 1: in and you go, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is my leather chair.
Speaker 1: I'm captain of this ship. You know, you don't you
Speaker 1: just come in and you go, shit, here we go
Speaker 1: and yeah, but yeah, I've kind of you know, I've
Speaker 1: been here for about seven or eight weeks now, and
Speaker 1: you just learn that you have good days and bad days,
Speaker 1: and some days just don't work at all. And sometimes
Speaker 1: you need to come in late at night. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: need to come in first thing in the morning, and
Speaker 1: that's just the nature of it. Yeah, and then it's
Speaker 1: okay to feel a bit impostery, like yeah, I think
Speaker 1: if I felt ultra confident like, it wouldn't be good,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, it wouldn't It would be like, Oh,
Speaker 1: hang on, Billy or whatever your name is.
Speaker 2: What's the experienced like the last what's supposed to have been
Speaker 2: a couple of years since you've got to know Jeff
Speaker 2: and the Invader team, Like, are they is there like
Speaker 2: a kindred spirit? How do you get on? I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously they were admirers of your music to work with
Speaker 2: you and you know, release through the label, But how
Speaker 2: do you get on with them as people? It sounds
Speaker 2: like they're giving you, like the time and space to
Speaker 2: do your thing in the studio. At the moment outside
Speaker 2: of that, you know, when you go for a drink
Speaker 2: or something, was it like.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's great. Like I just consider Jeff and ste
Speaker 1: and everyone. I just consider everyone friends. As much as
Speaker 1: I work with them, I just like them as people
Speaker 1: and hopefully it's vice versa. But yeah, they're just cool.
Speaker 1: They're just maybe there's a kindred spirit thing going on.
Speaker 1: I'll just chat with them about anything and everything. And
Speaker 1: it's getting to that point now, especially after the last
Speaker 1: year where and especially coming in every day being like, hi,
Speaker 1: I'm here.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I let myself in, isn't it?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Pretty much there? Now?
Speaker 2: Does anybody want an ice cream? I'm going to the shop.
Speaker 1: That's pretty much where we're at, actually, Jeff, Jeff, pretty good.
Speaker 1: Buy buy sushi for me actually, which is wicked.
Speaker 2: That's excellent. Yeah, it's been a good place there.
Speaker 1: It feels good. Nah, it's cool, you know. I just yeah,
Speaker 1: they're wicked and I really like them and I really
Speaker 1: like that. Jeff's just like he's just one of them people.
Speaker 1: He's just given me the space and he's just what
Speaker 1: he's doing is basically nurturing what I'm doing, and that
Speaker 1: just feels incredibly special and rare. Yeah, I think I'd
Speaker 1: probably be eternally grateful for the way that he's approached
Speaker 1: what I'm doing and sort of trusting me and stepping
Speaker 1: back and then stepping in occasionally and just yeah, and
Speaker 1: you go through the last year, it's like it's been
Speaker 1: pretty hectic and weird and shit, So you kind of
Speaker 1: go through enough stuff that you go, well, you've seen
Speaker 1: me at my absolute worst. We've all had explosive arguments
Speaker 1: in WhatsApp groups, and now it's like now it's pretty
Speaker 1: Now it can sort of sit and have a pint
Speaker 1: and talk about stuff, and yeah, it's cool. You just build,
Speaker 1: you build something and it's a different dynamic and then
Speaker 1: it's it's still working, it's still everything else. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great. It's I wouldn't really want for anything else.
Speaker 2: As you're writing new material, do you always just keep
Speaker 2: it to yourself until you consider that it's final and
Speaker 2: it's done, or are you learning to kind of enjoy
Speaker 2: having like an extra ear just to say, hey, can
Speaker 2: you just check this? What do you think of this?
Speaker 2: And I mean when you were making the first record,
Speaker 2: for example, I don't know whether that was there or not,
Speaker 2: whether you were working on that on your own, but
Speaker 2: is it a slightly different dynamic to be able to
Speaker 2: just sort of bounce ideas off somebody checking them with somebody,
Speaker 2: just ask what they think or are you still very
Speaker 2: much like when it's done, I'll share it with somebody,
Speaker 2: But right now this is my thing.
Speaker 1: I'm a bit of both with this one. I've shared
Speaker 1: spits and pieces. I've got lots on the go, the
Speaker 1: ones that I'm thinking I could see that making it.
Speaker 1: It's not quite there, but I could see it making it.
Speaker 1: I'll demo them and send them to Jeff or sometimes Claire,
Speaker 1: my management, and just go, what do you reckon to that?
Speaker 1: What's she got instinct on this? And it will just
Speaker 1: be a little MP three and it won't be it'll
Speaker 1: be nothing spectacular about. It would just be the bare
Speaker 1: bones of it. And that's normally a good gauge because
Speaker 1: with Jeff it will be like a one word and
Speaker 1: so like great.
Speaker 2: Feedback.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, good track. Yeah, and that's when and
Speaker 1: I'll take that absolutely face value, because he's got no
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like you could go not
Speaker 1: sure you know what I mean, and I would take
Speaker 1: that as exactly as it is as well. And Claire's
Speaker 1: good as well. You know, she'll say, oh, I like this,
Speaker 1: or this is good or this has got a good fit.
Speaker 1: I remember, like I've woke up, I remembered that that's
Speaker 1: a good one. I think sometimes you share it. Sometimes
Speaker 1: she has to for my sister, and she'll be like
Speaker 1: I woke up with that in my head, and I'd
Speaker 1: be like, oh, that's good. But yeah, I'm getting I'm
Speaker 1: getting better at it. I don't know. But then there's
Speaker 1: some stuff that I do feel solid on, but I'm like, not.
Speaker 2: Chat dready yet for your ears.
Speaker 1: It's weird. I think it's because I just want I
Speaker 1: almost want to present it. I'm getting to that point
Speaker 1: now where I want to present it as the finished
Speaker 1: article almost or like almost the finished article. So I
Speaker 1: just think because I just want the best reactions, so
Speaker 1: I kind of go ah, which is which is good
Speaker 1: and bad because it means that you throw less demos around.
Speaker 1: But I just get protective and hopefully, hopefully what's I mean?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but hopefully what's happening is that the
Speaker 1: standard of things is going up, hopefully the way I
Speaker 1: approach songwriting and the way I want to do it. Hopefully,
Speaker 1: I'm learning and things are getting slightly better. So maybe
Speaker 1: there's an element of that as well, where I'm getting
Speaker 1: a bit more conscious of what I show people because
Speaker 1: of that. I don't know.
Speaker 2: You mentioned it earlier, like the last eighteen months have
Speaker 2: been weird and shit and bizarre and any number of
Speaker 2: words on those lines. Effectively, you were kind of on
Speaker 2: the eve you were getting everything ready to release a
Speaker 2: debut album in sort of spring twenty twenty. The album
Speaker 2: then come out in the summer. But what are your
Speaker 2: reflections now? Like it must have it must feel slightly
Speaker 2: surreal thinking of the last eighteen months. I mean, what, Yeah,
Speaker 2: how do you think you'll reflect on this period?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think surreal is the word. Really. I think
Speaker 1: it felt slightly surreal for everyone's So it will always
Speaker 1: be a weird one or it will be memorable. I'd
Speaker 1: be like, Well, the first time I put a record
Speaker 1: out was when the collapse of music happened and we
Speaker 1: worked up from there, you know, like the worst moment
Speaker 1: in musical history is when we arrived, you know. So
Speaker 1: it's memorable. Yeah, it is surreal, and it's a mix. Really,
Speaker 1: what I'm looking forward to Fingers Crossed and Touchwood and
Speaker 1: all the rest of it. That tours will happen later
Speaker 1: in the year, and I want to reclaim that first
Speaker 1: album back because if I'm being honest right now, I
Speaker 1: feel very sad about it still, because it's it's amazing
Speaker 1: that it got out and we did what we did
Speaker 1: and all the rest of it. But it happened without me,
Speaker 1: is what I felt like. And I want to reclaim
Speaker 1: it and perform it and feel it and live it
Speaker 1: like every artist kind of needed to with their work.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think any artists that put out a
Speaker 1: record last year and had intention of touring it or whatever,
Speaker 1: I think we all feel the same. We all feel
Speaker 1: a bit like that was the lost thing that you know,
Speaker 1: and the feedback loop wasn't there really. I Mean, you
Speaker 1: had things like six music and radio and socials where
Speaker 1: it was amazing because there was a real lifeline you
Speaker 1: could you would get DJ's playing stuff, You'd I'd hear
Speaker 1: iggy pop playing songs back to back or Mark Riley
Speaker 1: or Laura la Verne or you know, and you'd go, shit,
Speaker 1: it's doing well, Like I know the world's falling apart,
Speaker 1: but my record's doing okay. And that's just such a strange.
Speaker 2: One I can imagine for some people, like you're saying
Speaker 2: that you felt a little bit sort of almost robbed
Speaker 2: of that moment, because it's less those things you just
Speaker 2: mentioned are great, but they're not as tangible as basically
Speaker 2: playing a gig in March to a certain amount of
Speaker 2: people and then knowing that your album has been so
Speaker 2: well received that you're playing to ten times that amount
Speaker 2: of people in November of that year or whatever. And
Speaker 2: that's a real thing and the energy that that gives
Speaker 2: you in terms of getting in front of people. So
Speaker 2: it's great to hear that you you kind of haven't
Speaker 2: entirely moved on from that, because I'm sure some of
Speaker 2: those artists that went through the same experience as you
Speaker 2: did last year perhaps just a saying Okay, well it's gone.
Speaker 2: That moment's gone, like I'll just move on or whatever.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm glad to hear that you still want
Speaker 2: to kind of get some of that energy out there.
Speaker 1: I think I totally understand if the artists that have
Speaker 1: gone that album didn't happen, therefore we're just pulling it
Speaker 1: up by the roots and going for another thing. I
Speaker 1: completely respect and understand that, and there's maybe a little
Speaker 1: part of me that would like to do that. I guess,
Speaker 1: being like at the studio today and I'm working on
Speaker 1: the next album, I'm kind of kind of doing it
Speaker 1: in my own way. But also I just sort of
Speaker 1: feel sad. Yeah, I would feel sad if I did
Speaker 1: that in a way because I go, but then my
Speaker 1: lasting memory but my debut is just this kind of
Speaker 1: sad oh feeling, and I just want to go, oh
Speaker 1: fuck that, No, no, I want I want to reclaim it.
Speaker 1: It's like a bad relationship where you have to like
Speaker 1: go visit the places that you used to go together.
Speaker 2: You know, Oh god, this is sounding dramatic.
Speaker 1: You used to go like this nice place together, and
Speaker 1: then it's like a year after the breakup and you go, no,
Speaker 1: I must go back and have a good time because fucking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. You just mentioned a few of the the
Speaker 2: people that picked up your music and played it and
Speaker 2: shared it and loved it. Iggy pop. For example, what
Speaker 2: a thrill to hear Iggy Pop talking about your music?
Speaker 2: I imagine what was that like?
Speaker 1: Oh man, just surreal, and it's like surreal in a
Speaker 1: very good way. Yeah. Yeah, it's wicked. Just I mean,
Speaker 1: it's Iggy fucking pop, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Like, Yeah, I'd just be clipping. I'd take that clip
Speaker 2: and I'd have it on the desktop of my computer
Speaker 2: every morning when I opened it up to work on
Speaker 2: new music. I'd be like, I'm just gonna give myself
Speaker 2: a little boost of just Iggy tell me how great
Speaker 2: I am.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh no, It's incredible, and it feels very genuine
Speaker 1: as well, because you kind of go, well, this is
Speaker 1: someone who ain't gonna play what they don't want to play,
Speaker 1: or isn't gonna talk, you know what I mean. They've
Speaker 1: got nothing to gain from getting behind an artist like
Speaker 1: me if he didn't want to. So it feels incredibly
Speaker 1: genuine and incredibly just yeah, well cool, very cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm imagining Iggy Pop the first time he's heard
Speaker 2: your music. This is me just pure imagining Iggy Pop.
Speaker 2: Hears Billy No Mates for the first time. He's on
Speaker 2: his Miami beach front. The wind, the doors are open
Speaker 2: to the beach, he's got his top off, he's shimming
Speaker 2: across his living room floor as he's listening to your music.
Speaker 2: That's what That's what I reckon happened.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that's factual and that will go down
Speaker 1: as fact.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, that's what happened. That's definitely what happened. When
Speaker 2: it comes to the live thing, I mean, you've got
Speaker 2: some brilliant shows books later in the year that's fingers
Speaker 2: crossed do happen things like and the the Road Festival
Speaker 2: and Visions Festival, Manchester Psych Fest, like some great stuff.
Speaker 2: The time in between when you haven't been able to
Speaker 2: go out and play that album and your music generally,
Speaker 2: is it offered you a chance to do a bit
Speaker 2: of a reset on thinking what you want to do
Speaker 2: when it comes to performing, or where you continue with
Speaker 2: kind of plan as say to speak.
Speaker 1: It's weird because I feel like the answer, I feel
Speaker 1: like I should say yes, I've really thought about it
Speaker 1: and it's going to be a bonanza. Except the thing
Speaker 1: is I kind of haven't because the format that it
Speaker 1: was supposed to be is still what it's supposed to be.
Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean, it's still supposed to
Speaker 1: be a contemporary take on performance, and I didn't want
Speaker 1: to overthink that or think, you know, I get it
Speaker 1: a few times where people be like, have you got
Speaker 1: a bandjet? You've got a bandjet, You're going to get
Speaker 1: drumm at least, you're going to get a live drum at least.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, no, And you wouldn't say that to
Speaker 1: an R and B or hip hop artist, you know
Speaker 1: you wouldn't. And it's a weird realm because I understand
Speaker 1: the confusion of like or I'm hearing a guitar but
Speaker 1: there's not a guitarist, and it's like, yeah, I still
Speaker 1: kind of want to do that.
Speaker 2: Where do you think that comes from people thinking like
Speaker 2: that success means adding more people to the formula. Do
Speaker 2: you think that's kind of just a perception thing.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I suppose it's just I think sometimes
Speaker 1: I might be wrong. But the feeling I get is
Speaker 1: like it's not real. It's not real music because the
Speaker 1: musicians aren't there. But it's like, well it's but it's
Speaker 1: all real. It's all real. It's all most of it
Speaker 1: played by me, it's all written by me. It's all
Speaker 1: it's and I don't know, you know, it's a weird one.
Speaker 1: It's I don't know.
Speaker 2: Nobody was saying about Nobody was saying that about Kenya
Speaker 2: west of Glaston Brien. He just did it on his own. Ready, No.
Speaker 1: And there's something about as well, like I don't know,
Speaker 1: I kind of like that. I mean, I refer to
Speaker 1: them all the time. But you know, the first time
Speaker 1: I saw the Sleep of Mods and I was going, oh, well,
Speaker 1: this is samples of real instruments, which is what hip
Speaker 1: hop has on forever, but just in a different context.
Speaker 1: And it was like, well, it's just it's just that
Speaker 1: again in a way. And there's just something about having
Speaker 1: the space. And I mean, I have started. I've just
Speaker 1: started rehearsing. Actually I've probably a bit late off the mark,
Speaker 1: but I've been very cautious because I've had periods of
Speaker 1: time where I've really gone for it and then it's
Speaker 1: all been canceled. So I'm a bit a bit scarred
Speaker 1: by it. So I've been a bit cautious about where
Speaker 1: I put my energy because I want the energy to
Speaker 1: go on the record as well. So I've been a
Speaker 1: bit but I have started and I'm trying not to
Speaker 1: overthink it. I think there's simplicity of it still works
Speaker 1: and still stands, and there may be a time where
Speaker 1: that changes, but it hasn't kind of lived this life
Speaker 1: out yet, so I'm kind of like, well, no, because
Speaker 1: I felt like it was doing something a little bit
Speaker 1: different and so it needs to still do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and yeah, and the people that it trips up like good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. There's plenty of time to get a
Speaker 2: gospel choiring, isn't there.
Speaker 1: Oh, of course that is absolutely happening.
Speaker 2: Album four. Yeah, you did still manage to do a
Speaker 2: few things that the past eighteen months that were really
Speaker 2: great in terms of live Like before we chat today,
Speaker 2: I was watching back your performance for Jenny Betham Savage's
Speaker 2: works on a TV show called Echoes that some listeners
Speaker 2: might be aware of, but has amazing performances because it
Speaker 2: gives a great space to artists to be able to
Speaker 2: share their music much more kind of long form and
Speaker 2: interesting in a lot of British music television. And you
Speaker 2: were invited to go onto that and your whole performances
Speaker 2: on YouTube. People should go and check it out. What
Speaker 2: was the experience like of going to record that TV show.
Speaker 1: It was great again. It was a little bit surreal
Speaker 1: because it was just as the lockdown had sort of
Speaker 1: lifted at the end of the summer, nipped on the
Speaker 1: Your Star over to Paris, and it was all bit
Speaker 1: masks and no audience and cruising masks and a bit
Speaker 1: a bit tense because those environments are they have been
Speaker 1: and it's intense anyway, because for me it's like quite
Speaker 1: a big thing, like these things are still kind of
Speaker 1: new to me and quite massive throwing like you know,
Speaker 1: the whole Corona thing on top. It's like, oh, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: I can imagine how sort of anxiety inducing that is.
Speaker 1: Oh it's insane, Like you kind of are just holding
Speaker 1: it together and then thinking about your performance. That's how
Speaker 1: I felt that all aside. Once it's kind of up
Speaker 1: and rolling, it's incredible. I mean it's like it's Jenny
Speaker 1: Beth and I think she's absolutely ace, Like I love
Speaker 1: what she does and what she stands for. To be
Speaker 1: invited and to go and do it it felt very,
Speaker 1: very cool and very although it was weird because I
Speaker 1: remember coming back and telling everyone being like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: haven't seen anyone for like about six or seven months.
Speaker 1: At this point, and the first time I go and
Speaker 1: see people go and sit under some lights and have
Speaker 1: a conversation with Jenny bear Fontaine's DC and Emmel He's
Speaker 1: an amazing singer songwriter, and it's filmed. So I felt
Speaker 1: like I come across so bad because you know when
Speaker 1: you like when we first came out and we're all
Speaker 1: like learning to speak.
Speaker 2: Again, yeah, and social contact and.
Speaker 1: Basic conversations like are just still a little bit hard
Speaker 1: to begin with. And then so the first experience of
Speaker 1: that is for me was like that. So I'm a
Speaker 1: bit like, OHI guys, do you know. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: tried to come in and be on badass, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: it's just really nice to be out.
Speaker 2: Like, the only person I'm spoking to in eight months
Speaker 2: is a local shopkeeper.
Speaker 1: Literally, it's been me and that person down the post
Speaker 1: office for a long time. And now this is what's this?
Speaker 2: It was good, This is new, This is real life,
Speaker 2: nuanced discussion, And like I thought that that's a thing
Speaker 2: from the olden times, isn't it. We've got We've got
Speaker 2: Twitter now and TikTok. We don't need that.
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, we're talking about art and poetry and
Speaker 1: art history, and I'm just sat there like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what happened?
Speaker 2: How am I here? Sounds amazing though, what a great
Speaker 2: experience it was.
Speaker 1: I really really enjoyed myself, and I'm so so thrilled
Speaker 1: that they asked me to go. It was amazing.
Speaker 2: I don't normally look at the YouTube comments on videos,
Speaker 2: but I was. I was watching a performance from Echoes
Speaker 2: and couldn't help but notice that somebody had said that
Speaker 2: they were loving it, but that they said that they
Speaker 2: worked on a crane, and I just thought that was great,
Speaker 2: because I just I love the idea of somebody watching
Speaker 2: you on YouTube whilst being on a giant crane doing
Speaker 2: some kind of like construction project. A little bit dangerous,
Speaker 2: but I love the idea of that.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be honest, I do not endorse.
Speaker 2: That for health and safety reasons.
Speaker 1: Absolutely not encourage that. Why are you watching me? Why
Speaker 1: you're on a crane? Honest to god, Wait till you
Speaker 1: get home.
Speaker 2: He's got he's probably just waiting for some bricks or something.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just oh, no, like, well, well chuffed you
Speaker 1: watch me? But opera crane? Is it?
Speaker 2: Exactly? Can you please concentrate on what you're doing. I
Speaker 2: don't know whether they were doing it, where they were
Speaker 2: doing it at the same time, or whether they just
Speaker 2: felt like that was just you know, I work, I
Speaker 2: work with cranes. Maybe that was just an imp Maybe
Speaker 2: that's just an important bit of information to add on
Speaker 2: to the fact that they enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: So we don't know whether he's talking about the birds.
Speaker 2: Could well be working in a nature reserve, not a
Speaker 2: not a big housing development, for example.
Speaker 1: He might have just been sat there feeding them, watching it.
Speaker 1: We don't know.
Speaker 2: That's a lot safer. Do you endorse that?
Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, that's got the stuff. That's got my stuff
Speaker 1: for reprieval, get the birds involved.
Speaker 2: In terms of music fandom, you're your own kind of
Speaker 2: love of music. Like I've read and heard in the
Speaker 2: past that you are a big fan of northern soul
Speaker 2: music and like eighties pop and things like that. Ye,
Speaker 2: just tracing things a little bit further back in terms
Speaker 2: of the music that you first fell in love with
Speaker 2: and stuff you still consider to be like your absolute
Speaker 2: kind of center of the record collection, things that are
Speaker 2: just you know, precious to you. What what kind of
Speaker 2: music are we talking about there?
Speaker 1: It's really varied, but yeah, I go back to I
Speaker 1: go back to Northern Soul records because the energy is
Speaker 1: just so captured in them, and I love that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I like some old punk records. I think that does
Speaker 1: the same thing, but Northern Soul, it was kind of
Speaker 1: that melodic energy and I really relate and feel that.
Speaker 1: But also, yeah, like eighties pop and do you know what,
Speaker 1: I was not really cool, but I was listened to
Speaker 1: Greatest Hits Radio through the Park of the day. They
Speaker 1: were doing like the archive of like Simple Minds stuff.
Speaker 1: It's belting, Like I think, I think their album like
Speaker 1: what's the what? I can't remember what their hit were
Speaker 1: real hit one was, but they went through it all
Speaker 1: and I was like every track is wicked. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: just kind of went back and I was like, that's
Speaker 1: bloody good, like it's got a live and I think
Speaker 1: it's got a live and kicking and don't you forget
Speaker 1: about me? And they wrote really really well. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I just you know, yeah, anything kind of really real
Speaker 1: with energy and feeling. But I also have a real
Speaker 1: love for Americana music. That was really central growing up.
Speaker 1: My dad has always listened to Americana records and people
Speaker 1: I hung around with at the time were into Americana stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I remember like, yeah, a lot of James Taylor
Speaker 1: and John Denver. I don't like I mentioned John Denver
Speaker 1: a few times and it's so far removed from brilliant omtes,
Speaker 1: but I do have a love for it though. Yeah.
Speaker 2: We've touched on it a little bit about the plans
Speaker 2: for the rest of the year, which you'll be getting
Speaker 2: out there and playing some gigs, some great stuff booked,
Speaker 2: and obviously you're there in the studio kind of working
Speaker 2: on stuff now. But touch wood, what are your you know,
Speaker 2: without any further setbacks, which we're all hoping that, you know,
Speaker 2: the rest of the year can go without more of those.
Speaker 2: What are're looking forward to? What are your kind of
Speaker 2: hopes in terms of like sharing some of that new
Speaker 2: music that you're working on.
Speaker 1: I'd really hope to finish the record and yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: share it towards the end, share something from it towards
Speaker 1: the end of the year, and have it kind of
Speaker 1: there's no solid dates, but in the ether next year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So that's kind of the broad goal. I say broad
Speaker 1: any artist will know at the moment with the way
Speaker 1: that pressing plants have got cues and stuff. You kind
Speaker 1: of have to narrow it down a bit and go,
Speaker 1: we need to roughly know when because there's quite a yeah,
Speaker 1: it's quite a queue.
Speaker 2: So a lot of listeners won't be aware of this,
Speaker 2: but basically when the pandemic obviously came along and everybody thought,
Speaker 2: hang on, we just want to see what's going on
Speaker 2: with this, like perhaps this record we're going to release,
Speaker 2: we'll just hang on for a minute, just see when
Speaker 2: the picture becomes clearer. And what you've got now is
Speaker 2: this enormous queue of people that want to obviously get
Speaker 2: vineyl made to a company when they release stuff still
Speaker 2: hugely important in terms of getting some income in when
Speaker 2: when you're you know, releasing music, getting a physical product
Speaker 2: out there, but there's a massive backlog. There's basically not
Speaker 2: enough factories, you know, producing vinyl, and so what's the
Speaker 2: waytime like eight nine months or something, isn't it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty crazy, Like I think we found one
Speaker 1: that's saying roughly five or six. But yeah, so once
Speaker 1: you have that in your heads, you go, well, even
Speaker 1: when you're talking about next year, you still have to
Speaker 1: be mindful of when those Masters are done, and yeah,
Speaker 1: so the freedom's kind of taken it. It's not so
Speaker 1: much like I wish I was the artist. It's just
Speaker 1: like it's done when I say it's done, Like, no,
Speaker 1: it's done when you need to get it in, you.
Speaker 2: Know, need to book a slot now, even though it's
Speaker 2: not finished.
Speaker 1: In a weird way, yeah, Like I think everyone's kind
Speaker 1: of gone into massively overplanning a bit because it's kind
Speaker 1: of had to be that way to make to make
Speaker 1: things happen, just because of the way the world.
Speaker 2: Is and in the meantime, and we all just need
Speaker 2: to build like a pop up vinyl factory because they're
Speaker 2: easy to do, Yeah, and just to sort of meet
Speaker 2: the demand in the next eighteen lenths as people start
Speaker 2: releasing music again.
Speaker 1: Absolutely now was weirdly now would probably be the time
Speaker 1: to set up a final factory.
Speaker 2: Yeah, especially in the UK, so you didn't have to
Speaker 2: mess with all of the Brexit hurdles should we call them.
Speaker 1: I don't know the ins and outs, but I know
Speaker 1: it's a bit of a nightmare. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's difficult to get stock back from Europe and
Speaker 2: stuff without you know, obviously having to all the new
Speaker 2: regulations and stuff, but I mean that sounds exciting, and
Speaker 2: then on top of that, hopefully playing some shows before
Speaker 2: the year is then before he's gone, like you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: let's keep our fingers crossed.
Speaker 1: Fingers crossed. There's a UK tour booked, a lot of
Speaker 1: it's sold out as well, which is great. Yeah, from
Speaker 1: October and then maybe doing some appearances elsewhere at the
Speaker 1: end of the year on the kind of exciting things.
Speaker 1: So yeah, just fingers cross things can run because it's
Speaker 1: so tiring when they don't.
Speaker 2: Final question, what would you consider if you know, when
Speaker 2: gigs come back and you can get out there and
Speaker 2: play them, what if you could just have one if
Speaker 2: it was only one gig that got to happen in
Speaker 2: almost like normal life. What's almost like, what's the hometown
Speaker 2: gig or the most similar equivalent that you were just like,
Speaker 2: I just want to play that show because that would
Speaker 2: be amazing. Is there anything like that in your mind?
Speaker 1: I actually can't say the one that I am thinking
Speaker 1: of because it's sort of not announced yet, but there
Speaker 1: is one stadium. It's not Wembley Stadium, but it's it
Speaker 1: would be quite a pinnacle moment. I think, Yeah, you know, like,
Speaker 1: I've got a show sold out showbook to just in
Speaker 1: the back of rough Trade in Bristol, and I just
Speaker 1: feel like that would be great to do because it's
Speaker 1: just especially being here, it's a shopped up you know.
Speaker 1: I walk past it every day now and see people
Speaker 1: in masks and say, alone, the idea of kind of
Speaker 1: just it's just anywhere anywhere on that tour list. Oh,
Speaker 1: I tell you what, it looks interesting. I'm doing a
Speaker 1: matinee show in Huddersfield Library on a Sunday on a
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon down with that. Yeah, Initially I saw it
Speaker 1: and was like, what the hell in all honestly, who's
Speaker 1: done this? And then and then I saw the whole
Speaker 1: loud in library thing and thought, oh no that actually
Speaker 1: this looks dead cool, and actually it is dead cool,
Speaker 1: like they have loads of artists, and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh a library. I like that. I really liked the
Speaker 1: idea of it. So I cut that. I slagged it off.
Speaker 2: I didn't mean it, But now that you're research like,
Speaker 2: I'm thoroughly into this.
Speaker 1: No, now I think it's dead cool. Well, just interesting
Speaker 1: place places where there aren't maybe venues seem pretty interesting
Speaker 1: because especially for what I do. You don't necessarily need
Speaker 1: a venue, you just need a space, So I think
Speaker 1: that makes it kind of interesting.
Speaker 2: To find previous episodes of Midnight Chats, simply search your
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Speaker 2: as they're published every week at midnight. For more information
Speaker 2: on the music magazine that makes this series, visit loudanquiet
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 1: Anyway, goodnight,