interview : lucy rose

Last night I went to see the extremely talented Lucy Rose, at Kazimier in Liverpool. It was such a lovely evening - she was superb as I expected, and I got the chance to ask her a couple of questions before the show! (I was so nervous.. I hope I didn't come across as too much of a fool!)

On numerous occasions she said she couldn't believe how many people had come out to see her, but I wasn't surprised in the slightest that the venue was jam-packed! She interacted so well with the audience, taking the time to talk to people in between songs.

I must also praise her fantastic support act Pete Roe, he was really great - if you're going to a Lucy Rose show then definitely make the effort to go along early and see him. Unfortunately, I didn't have any money on me to buy his EP which is only available at shows.

On with the questions..! 

First of all I wanted to say thankyou for having me, and congratulations on the album!

Thankyou!

I saw you open for Noah and the Whale, do you think having a support slot on that tour helped you to be recognised as a solo artist?

I think its's a combination of different things which is how people find out about your music, and Bombay Bicycle Club was a big one for me.. But when I got offered the Noah and the Whale one it felt really good like you say.

Cause normally I'd support Bombay and then sing with them, and with Noah and the Whale I'd never met them before.. it was just a call out of the blue. Normally supports go to friends or people the record company want to put on your support slot, or favours for people. It was a really big thing for me that a band like them would just come up to me.. and it was at a time when we were just starting to record the album really. 

I think it definitely helped my confidence in a big way to think that other bands wanted me to support them and that's probably one of the biggest supports we've done. You never know if people are liking it or not because they're there to see somebody else, but over the last few tours I've met people who are like 'we saw you with Noah and the Whale and then we came to another show', so then you really see the impact it can have.

Yeah that's what I love about gigs, I love watching the supports because it's such a great opportunity to discover new bands and artists.. I have to say I've been to a couple of gigs just to see the support acts!

I do that! Years ago I went to see Bon Iver supporting Iron and Wine, it was his first ever gig in London.. I left before Iron and Wine! Well, after a bit I was like 'I'm bored..'

Had you always wanted to do music as a career or was it just a hobby?

Yeah it was just a hobby, it was something I enjoyed a lot. I think when I was growing up I just didn't think that would be an option. I always enjoyed music and I always thought 'I'd absolutely love to do that' but I just didn't know how I would do it or anything. It was only when I started playing the guitar.. I taught myself the guitar when I was about 15, I bought one and taught myself, and I was really bad but that's the time I started writing little things. It was only as my writing developed and I was really enjoying the songwriting part that I felt like it was something I should try pursuing really. 

That was actually one of my questions, did you ever have any music lessons?

No I never had a singing lesson or guitar lesson. A singing teacher came to our gig the other day and he came up and bought like 3 CDs for his pupils and he asked me to sign them and I asked him what he taught and he said singing, so I was like 'I need some help!' and he was like 'no you don't!'. That was the biggest compliment! I got a gold star from this vocal coach, when I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

What's the most surreal moment or experience that you've had?

Reading Festival was a really surreal day as a whole. It was just  mad. I did an NME signing tent in the morning thinking no one was going to come, then I had all these kids come wanting me to sign their wellies.. it was like an hour of signing I think!

Then I did my show and there were like 2000 people or more squashed into this tent, and again I didn't think anyone was going to come! 

I hadn't sung with Bombay Bicycle Club for a few months, I'd left and then I re-joined them at Reading and sang some songs. I did that thing in the tree house at the end of the day after their set on the Main Stage, with Fearne Cotton and Greg James and I went to bed that evening thinking 'this has been the most surreal day of my entire life!'. It was really special, like the whole thing was special.

Bands and artists that you're liking at the moment?

I love Feist's album so much, Metals, it's my favourite album of the year nearly. Then there's The Maccabees 'Given to the Wild'.. um, Grizzly Bears' new album is something I'm listening to a lot. *to the band* What else do we listen to in the van? We listen to Kurt Vile.. We've been given the new Pete Roe album, he's our support, his album sounds amazing.

Lucy Rose is on tour until the end of the month. You can find dates and tickets here.