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Women In Music Series Part 1: An Interview with an Inspirational Young Artist - Claudia Vega

Photo: Claudia Vega and her band playing live on board Tamesis Dock, London 6/3/18

Hello and welcome back to the Vinyl Loving Luddites blog! Katie and I have been away for a while but we are back with a bang - in this post we interview the wonderfully talented Claudia Vega. Claudia is an artist to watch out for and is one of the leading lights on the burgeoning Spanish music scene along with the likes of Hinds, Los Nastys and The Parrots. Claudia is hoping to release her debut album very soon but for now she has a number of songs available online, most notably the emotional “Mom” and recent single “All of My Freedom” - check out the beautiful video here.....

Katie and I first saw Claudia supporting Hinds at the Sebright Arms in London on 29th January 2018 and we were both enrapt by her performance. We saw her again on Tamesis Dock in March and a couple of weeks before that in February we got a chance to chat with her about her influences, her writing, her views on women in music, social media and much much more.....

Photo: Claudia at Sebright Arms, London 29th January 2018

Claudia on her creative process…

 Dan: Hello there, Claudia! Welcome to the Vinyl Loving Luddites! 

Claudia: Hello!

Katie: Thank you so much for being with us today! First question: who was your biggest artistic influence growing up?

Claudia: I mean, it’s a very easy question because I was such a Bob Dylan fan. I knew all of his songs by heart, even though I didn’t understand the lyrics. That’s also how I kind of started to learn English. As soon as I heard him I was very much into him. Neil Young, James Taylor, Carole King, Karen Dalton, and some Spanish music as well. Flamenco is crucial in my development as a musician, although that came later. But yeah, I would say that the biggest, biggest influence was Bob Dylan. The importance he gave to the lyrics it really resonated with the kind of music I wanted to make. It felt like I could relate to him, in so many senses. I would have to say him. Later, I started listening to a lot more music, so I have plenty of influences, it’s really hard to say but Bob Dylan remains the most important.

Katie: We could hear that in your gig last week (Sebright Arms, Hackney London), just the chord changes...

Dan: Just the style, absolutely...

Claudia: He really helped me, I also really like literature and poetry, I read quite a lot, so to see Bob Dylan integrate such complex imagery into his music so naturally, that really resonated with me.

Dan: It’s a very interesting era that, as well, all the creativity in the 60’s and the early 70’s, like you mentioned with Neil Young, so much was happening at that time.

Claudia: Absolutely. For me, I felt the need to search for new ways of communicating my emotions. I did this in a very visceral way, I just really wanted to say the things that I had to say. And all those musicians didn’t just say them but claimed them - that’s what I wanted. From there, I started to develop my own kind of music.

Katie: I noticed that with your song about your mum, (”Mom”), that it’s so visceral, so from the heart and unadulterated, like there’s nothing sugar coated. I also love how you write with different languages. I noticed some French in there, some Spanish and English, and those very bared emotions: I feel like you’re carving out your own space and style.

Claudia: Yeah, I write many songs crying. At least five of my songs, I wrote them crying and it takes me sometimes hours of just singing and crying with my guitar. I feel like if I can’t feel the song, I can’t make people feel. So sometimes I have to wait a lot, it’s not like songs happen. I mean, sometimes, yeah, but other times you need to work hard in order to find the song. Sometimes it’s like you’re waiting and suddenly it’s like things come together and you start feeling the song really deeply- it may not lead to a great song, but it’s the most magical experience. Or, you can be really feeling a sentence, and from that sentence you develop the whole song. The fact that I write in three languages is mainly because my life happens in three languages. Like, I don’t speak any language very well... 

Katie: Your English is better than my English... 

Claudia: Well, with my boyfriend I speak in French because I’ve always studied in French and I’ve grown surrounded by French culture. Also, my family is Moroccan so they all speak French, like we always mix French and Spanish. With my parents, my brother, I speak in Spanish. And I’ve been living here (the UK) for four years, so with my friends, the music I listen to, everything is in English. So, it just feels more honest singing in three languages- if it wasn’t more honest, I wouldn’t do it. But I feel like, the things that I want to talk about happen in different languages, so if I want to convey the meaning fully, then it has to be in different languages. Sometimes not, sometimes it’s just English because sometimes it’s easier to write in English and it comes lightly and that’s sometimes what I need. 

Claudia on her emotional process…

 Katie: It seems like your process can sometimes be very frustrating when you’re like ‘Come on! I want to write a song this side of Christmas’ but then it also seems very therapeutic. Would you say it’s a purging of emotions for you?

Claudia: I think at the beginning, for sure. When I started it was about getting out what I had inside, but right now...it’s a more delicate process than just a cathartic purge of emotions. That doesn’t mean that I don’t put a big input of emotion into the songs, it’s just that it becomes more about the story behind and that makes that I am able to speak about a lot more things. It’s not only introspective anymore, which I like better. I feel like I have more control now. The lyrics, for instance, can be more interesting, I put more thought into them. How I write now, is definitely better than before. But I still have that kind of... (laughs) writing, I don’t know why, it just breaks me, it just breaks me into tears, I don’t know why!

Dan: So I get the impression that the lyrics come to you first and the music afterwards, am I right?

Claudia: Well, I don’t think I’m a very good writer if I have no music to write upon. I think it’s a very different thing to write upon silence. When you’re confronted to a blank page, you know, you can feel lonely… but when you write upon music, it’s like there’s someone accompanying you all throughout the process. You’re generally talking about yourself when you write, so having music is like having another person speaking to you. I wouldn’t be able to write without the music, so I feel like it comes together. But for sure, if I don’t have good lyrics, I don’t like the song. I think I have less of an ear for the musical structure, whereas for the lyrics and the melodic structure I feel more comfortable. I think it’s important to think about the lyrics, they are enriching, they have so much power.

Claudia on Aha moments…

Dan: Wow, you know your process so well. The next question is, did you ever have an ‘aha!’ moment that made you want to become a professional musician?

Claudia: For sure, for sure... I remember that when I started uni, in the back of my mind I thought ‘you can always be a musician’, which is strange because people think ‘I want to be a musician, but I’ll do uni first as a sort of security’. I think for me it was more like I liked (and still do) so many things, but my security was music. I think about how I want to be a musician every second of my life so...I just didn’t have any doubts. Like art in general, but music was always like...my thing.

Katie: So what did you study, out of interest?

Claudia: Arts and sciences. It’s an interdisciplinary degree, where you choose a major and a minor, it’s great because you can choose every single module, it’s a lot more organic, you’re interests as a person change and your degree adapts to that. No two people study the same. I would recommend that degree to everyone.

Dan: Wow, that’s amazing that you can choose all the way through…

Katie: Which uni was that at?

Claudia: UCL.

Katie: Wow! I don’t think I would’ve gotten into UCL in the first place!

Claudia: I have no idea of how I got in, either!

Dan: It was my first choice and I missed the grade by one mark, so I went to Westminster uni and did law there, right round the corner...but well done you!

Claudia: I managed to fake it, I don’t know how! I didn’t even speak English.

Katie: That’s so cool! But it’s so interesting that music was your security first…

Claudia: Well I didn’t even sing well. I mean, I sang really, really badly. I had a terrible ear (I still do). But I had a sense that I could write music, even more than being a good musician, or something, it was about the writing process, or the composition process. I had a sense that, I could do that very naturally. You know when have a sense for something? It just felt like that for me.

Katie: So, from when you were a teenager?

Claudia: Yeah, since I was twelve.

Katie: Wow, so that was your ‘aha’ moment; as well…

Claudia: I fought for my guitar so much, I was asking to my parents every day for a guitar and because I wasn’t good at piano, they were like ‘no guitars in this house’ and then eventually I got it and everything started from there.

 Photo: Claudia at Sebright Arms, London 29th January 2018

Claudia on Hinds…

Dan: So when you were younger, did Ana (from Hinds) goad you on? You mentioned you were friends growing up…

Claudia: We met in a theatre group, we did drama together...our stories were similar growing up. I mean, she’s a little older than me, so I was like her little sister… and now she’s much more than my friend, she’s really my sister. It wasn’t like she was goading me towards music, I already wrote music when Hinds started. I like being an aspect of her life that isn’t very closely related to Hinds; we are a safe space for each other. That also makes it more beautiful whenever our paths musically cross, because it’s more special, and we can have perspective on each other’s work. When she started with Hinds, I was her biggest fan! But it’s as if she starts anything else in her life, I will always be her biggest fan because I just feel I understand where she’s going and she understands where I am. It’s just about trusting everything she’ll do will be worth it. I think it’s the same from her side. I wanted to do music but just independently from everything, and when she started with Hinds, of course, I saw that it was possible and they are, of course, such a big inspiration...that you can actually make it, even if you are from Spain. I will be inspired by anything she does at any point in her life.

Katie: You mentioned before we started the tape, the director Pedro Almodovar and the movement, I’m going to pronounce it wrong, La Movida, and about that being a big explosion of activity, how would you say that inspired you?

Claudia: I think everybody that is into music, especially rock music in Spain, is in a way inspired by La Movida because it was after the dictatorship of Franco. Many bands and just creative moves started to emerge in Madrid. I think it was a liberating time, fighting for freedom and finding new means of expression. I think interesting musical forms and bands were created at that time and my uncles were one of the most emblematic bands of the movement. I really grew up in a musical environment. My parents love music and they got to meet so many musicians as teenagers, it’s crazy: Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, The Ramones, Brian Ferry, Jam, Flaming Groovies etc. and of course they introduced me to their music since very early on. My mum is a photographer, she took many pictures of that time and she has just published a book of unreleased pictures of Nacha Pop (my uncles’ band) and they’re amazing! She’s also taken most of my pictures, shot with me my music videos, etc.

Dan: Those bands back then, a lot of the music doesn’t sound dated at all. You can see today, that people are digging for inspiration...which is really interesting. I think our parents’ generation didn’t have that much to go back on, but for us there’s so much more.

Claudia: I mean, we’re so lucky now that we can access so much music, it’s just so easy, so I feel like it’s ingrained in us, in everyone, right? Everyone that has liked music since an early age has in a way fed from those bands.

 Claudia on scenes…

Katie: Actually, one of the questions is, and I might skip to it just because it fits in with this, but the question of scenes, and how do you find the London scene? It gets mixed reviews! I’ll hand it over!

Claudia: For me, I find that it’s so big, that it’s almost impossible for me to have a sense of what the London scene is. I go to so many gigs in London, World music, rock bands,... It’s incredible, it’s, no doubt one of the best things of my time London, being able to go to all those gigs. At the same time, I miss having a sense of what is going on, I always feel like I’m missing out. I don’t know if we can speak of a scene, maybe there is one and I just don’t know about it! But sometimes you can get lost in the amount of different music there is. It’s fantastic, you get to see different things and it encourages new musical forms and emerging musicians. I think every country should respect music as much as the UK; including Spain! If you don’t have an LP out, in Spain, it’s really hard to play gigs, or simply to get help from promoters. Here, I remember, the day I decided I wanted to play a gig, I played a gig.

Katie: I think the pace can change quite quickly in London, so if you know a little group or a certain cohort of people that’s great, but as a musician, if you duck out of the scene for a couple of years, you can come back and they’ve all moved on. For me, London recycles itself quite quickly, that’s why I was interested to ask the question…

 Claudia on women in music…

Dan: This is one we’re both really interested in: how do you see the music industry changing in terms of its approach to women?

Claudia: I don’t think I am part of the music industry, at least not yet. I am unsigned, I don’t feel like I can speak about the industry much. But I’ve seen it a lot with Hinds and with a lot of female musicians. One thing I get a lot after the gigs, I don’t know why, is the question: “who writes the songs?”, everyone thinks women are not able to write music. We are able to perform, we are able to sing; but the music, we have to sing the music that guys write for us. And to that question I really wonder: “have you listened for a second to my lyrics? Because they’re extremely personal, like it’s impossible to ask me that question! No man in the world could write the lyrics that I’ve written”. The way women are introduced into the music industry is sexist in itself, everything is. I think women need to stay true to themselves, do whatever the fuck they want to do, because otherwise nothing will change… There are so many ideals of femininity imposed on women: either being too feminine is not being a feminist, or being non-feminine, is not being a new-wave feminist and when you are on stage you are more vulnerable to that. I think women should make as much music as possible, find our own language, one that does not copy a long tradition of man-made discourse, but one that truly speaks to us. It took me a lot to consider that I could write music being a woman. I was always a groupie of my boyfriends; even though, I played better and spent a lot more time writing songs, but I was always on the other side of the stage. I know so many women and teenagers that have a lot to say; I think everyone should have the same opportunity to express themselves. 

Katie: Amen, amen! It pisses me off so much! I repeat, it pisses me off. 

Dan: It pisses us all off! 

Katie: Like, I would play a gig and a guy would come up to me in all sincerity and say ‘do you know what, you’re great! You can sing and play at the same time!’ Because most women can either sing, or they need a guy to play the guitar for them. Or they’d say ‘who’s song was that?’ and I’d say ‘my song’. But they actually think they’re complimenting you, and I’m like, are you on meth? What are you smoking? How can my ovaries get in the way of these strings? It pisses me off because it’s a space, isn’t it. It’s a masculine space. Dan’s exempt because he’s a feminist, but it’s like manspreading on a train, but with music and art. If my ovaries don’t stop me playing the cello, or if they don’t stop me playing piano then why would they stop me playing in bands? What pisses me off the most is that the rationale doesn’t need to have a rationale. It doesn’t need to be rational because that’s just the status quo. 

Claudia: Yeah, yeah. But it’s a different way of writing music, like women have different rhythms, we just create different music, imagine how enriching it would be to finally listen to all the voices that have been silenced. I want every woman that is making music now to be listened...it’s just going to be so enriching! It’s gonna be great! 

Katie: We’re gonna take over! 

Dan: It’s interesting to me, as I think most of the bands which we tend to like are either female-fronted or female singers, and it’s the fact that, very much with Hinds as well, like ‘here we are! We’re gonna play our music, we are who we are’ and that’s how everybody should be, whether they’re a guy or a girl, really, at the end of the day. But I’ve seen a lot more female artists come through from electronic music recently, like Shura, Kelly Lee Owens, so hopefully we’ll see more female fronted bands. 

Katie: Well yeah, I love how new movements are coming about. Like a few weeks ago, we saw you support Hinds at the Sebright Arms, and a few months before that, we saw the band Dream Nails at the Dalston Victoria, who are linked with Sisters Uncut, the political movement to end the Tory government’s ruthless cuts to women’s services, so it feel like at the moment, with all this bullshit in the world, there are pockets of resistance sprouting, so it should be a really exciting time to be a woman in music. 

Claudia: We can totally point out the bullshit, it’s so visible. I mean, I mentioned so many male influences when I was growing up, but I feel like now, most of the bands I listen to are female, or female fronted.   

Katie: This is our one year anniversary of seeing Tegan and Sara! They played the Roundhouse this day today last year, Galentine’s day… 

Claudia: I love how you guys keep track of your gigs! You are like, ‘it’s been ten days since we saw Hinds’ 

Katie: Seriously, we have the same brain. I think we’re a little bit on the spectrum, aren’t we? 

Dan: Yeah, yeah. 

Photo: Claudia on board Tamesis Dock, London 6th March 2018

Claudia on multi-lingual artists… 

Katie: We love it. You mentioned that there’s so much to go and see...but is there something that you’re excited for? Your gigs, or anyone else’s? 

Claudia: I’m going to see Ibeyi at the end of the month, they are incredible. They are twins, half Cuban, half French and they sing in Yoruba, Spanish and English, and they’re amazing. And then, well I have a couple of gigs: on the 6th March I am playing on a boat! I’m so excited! You can’t imagine!  

Katie: That’s very cool! How are your sea legs? 

Claudia: I throw up as soon as I get on a boat (laughs)! But I think it’s steady… I’m really excited for that gig because I’m playing with my band, which is, well, I usually play alone. When I play in Spain, I always play alone, but this gig is in London so they’re here! I also haven’t played in London for a while, so I’m really, really excited. 

Dan: Wow, we’ll come along!  

Katie: My sea legs are rubbish, but I’ll make sure I stand close to the side. 

Dan: Yeah! The next question is, if you could go back in time and give your fifteen year old self some advice, what would it be? 

Claudia: I guess it would have to be about how... you can actually make it. Big plans always feel too ambitious, but I think the biggest they sound the more you should go for it, because you will, for sure, learn more on the way than expected. Everyone scares us, saying it’s too risky, but then we never learn about ourselves if we don’t take risks. Katie: That’s brilliant advice.  Claudia: I think, just trusting and staying true, which is really hard sometimes. Listening to yourself and not getting bombarded by so much information or jealousy, wanting to be someone else, or wanting to be things that you’re not. You should always stay true to yourself and make the most of it because then you’re going to be truly happy. Also playing music a lot, because it’s a really good feeling. Like, thank God it exists! Music is the best thing in the world. Listening to a lot of music, just absorbing, listening to other people. Stealing from other people’s point of view (laughs)!  

Katie: ‘Steal Like an Artist’, by Austin Kleon 

Claudia: I think Picasso said something like that… 

Claudia on developing self-trust… 

Katie: What’s your top tip to keep on trusting yourself? Because self-doubt… everyone has it, but particularly artists. The little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. Do you have a top tip on how to not listen to the doubts?

Claudia: I listen to my doubts so much (laughs)! I always do, like one moment I feel great and empowered about my music (like when I’m on stage); but then all of a sudden I break. Especially because I do everything alone: I play alone, I write alone, so, you just keep going. I doubt myself a lot: I always angrily ask myself: ‘why do you think you are different?’. On stage I generally feel great: I love it, I’m very receptive to the audience, even if it’s a small gig I like bringing the people close to me and I feel like speak truly when I’m on stage, so when it comes out of my mouth, I don’t doubt it. I’m happy and I trust what I do.  

Dan: I think we got that impression very much so when we saw you at the Sebright a few weeks ago, you very much drew us in and really playing close attention to the lyrics and the sound and the vibe. 

Claudia: I could see your faces so clearly! 

Katie: Your music was so beautiful and so captivating! It was kind of like a massage! A massage for the soul, like when you’re a kid and there’s someone tracing shapes on your back in assembly and you just drift off… 

Dan: That’s just the power of music, which has amazed me since I was very little, it could be any genre and something will hit you and you don’t necessarily know why but you want to listen to these songs again and again and again, because they give you comfort, or they give you inspiration, or help you relax, or empower you. You can hear what’s influencing them and you go on a musical journey, as well. 

Katie: We went on a musical journey as well...we’re really lucky, because we always get there early because we’re always coming from work, so we always see the support. Like the other week when we saw you at the Sebright – one of the things that really surprised me was that all the acts were really thanking us, for being there! But I was like, ‘do you guys realise that these tickets are the hottest tickets?’ Everyone that didn’t get one is really pissed off! You don’t have to thank us, we have to thank you! It’s an interesting dynamic…  

Claudia: But I think a very important part of being an artist is to be thankful. Without you guys, things don’t happen, you also give it more meaning – audiences make you discover a lot more about your music. It’s as important to have people supporting music as to have people creating. I think you should be thanked individually, for going to the gigs, for listening to music in your house. To see yourself reflected in someone else is the biggest thing you can imagine. 

Claudia on social media… 

Dan: I’ve got a question which isn’t on the list but which kind of links into it – one of the ways over the last few years which I’ve connected with artists is definitely through social media, and the fact that you have that relationship between the artist and the fan-base, I feel you can interact, it’s like ‘yeah, I’m really connecting with you guys as well’. From the artist’s point of view, how does this seem to you? 

Claudia: That’s a good question – I feel really connected to many people that follow me on social media, I don’t have many followers but I get a lot of feedback and messages! I get many opportunities from social media as well. Photographers, or just people coming to the gigs. Social media can be very dangerous and absorb you. You compare yourself all the time and very easily; but it’s just a number and then it’s like, ‘oh my God, I’m so small compared to this other person that plays the guitar!’ But at the same, it’s great because you can connect with so many people, it’s like with you! If I hadn’t met you at the gig, you lose contact, you know? I think it’s important to keep it as a safe space, and just to keep people informed of what you’re doing – if they follow you, you should give something in exchange. And I think that’s valuable. 

Katie: Like we say, Dan and I are ‘Luddites’, as in we only like vinyl and things that have got one button, and it’s really interesting for us having been to uni in the 90’s/early Noughties ~showing our age a bit, here~ but you didn’t even use a computer for your essays, you could type them if you wanted, but you handed them in, and I remember the introduction of facebook, then I remember Myspace, and then that died, then everything else sort of… 

Dan: Twitter, Instagram… 

Katie: Yeah, and I nearly just said ‘my generation’ which makes me sound like such an old woman, but people who are pre-Millenial, people like me, a part of me really struggled! I remember when Twitter first came out & I was like ‘ahhh man! What’s this? Why do I need one of these?’ 

Claudia: It’s crazy, no? To think about it when you haven’t grown up with it… 

Katie: Exactly, and all my friends who were about ten years younger than me were saying, ‘well, that’s where people will expect to find you! You have to have that, and you have to have a facebook page and invite people to like you’, and I felt a bit uncomfortable. I don’t mind if people like it of their own accord, that’s cool! And I don’t know if it’s something about our generation or what, but asking for stuff? I was dying a bit inside my soul...but then it’s really important for promotion… 

Claudia: It does really feel you don’t exist if you don’t have it. You’ve got to keep it going, like all the time.

Dan: It’s really interesting as well, because I can see a lot of the artists that are a little bit older than us now, like Nerina Pallot, have a love-hate relationship with social media, but quite often she comes on she’s really interactive. Also, the guy from XTC, Andy Partridge, I tweeted that I’d watched this really interesting documentary and that I was getting into his music now on vinyl, listening in order, and he said ‘Cheers Daniel, thanks for that! I hope you enjoy the journey!’ So it’s really nice that even people who are much older, in some cases like our parents’ age are getting into it now.

Claudia: Yeah! Everyone is on some kind of social media now, it’s crazy.

 Claudia on starting out…

 Dan: This is kind of linking back to the previous question as well – what advice would you give to someone starting out now?

Claudia: I think it’s so hard that you need to be obsessed with it! It takes a lot of work and interest in music, but also knowing the environment...the times you’re living in. You can be very successful not being a great musician. There are many examples of incredibly successful musicians who aren’t great musicians, but they just know the people...they know the times they are living in. I think you should just be aware that sometimes it’s not that beautiful. Sometimes you just like music and you just like making music because you love music, and that can be ruined when it becomes an obligation. You just need to want to do it, despite the risk of losing a part of the magic, for gaining magic in another sense.

Katie: Magic exchange! It seems like in the 90’s it was completely different, you needed to have an A&R person, you needed to do so many gigs as a support act. Now it’s so much more digital and you also need to know how to market yourself, so...you kind of need to be an expert in branding, as well…which for me is a little frightening, but that’s okay...

Claudia: Totally, you need to be an expert in marketing.

 Claudia on the big questions…

 Dan: So, we’ve got two more questions for you now, so no biggie, but what’s the key to conquering the world? What needs to change right now?

Claudia: I think it’s not wanting to conquer the world; most approaches to leadership are completely bullshit from my point of view. It’s about finding your own path, not doing what everyone does. I think it’s more interesting to conquer your world, than the world..., it’s a lot more real, just harder ;) You need to fight for your own truth.

Katie: I guess if you create your own path, you can decide on the limits of it. You can dictate the pace… And how to cure the world, as well, which I didn’t write down because I thought ‘No, that’s too big!’

Dan: But at the same time, I think the state of the world sparks a lot of creativity as well...All this really bad stuff happens, but at the same time people are doing their own thing in order to go against the status quo of what’s happening at the moment, trying to find a way forward for the future, and that’s reflected in the music...and it kind of comes back to that post-punk scene, of late Seventies/early Eighties, of people trying to find their way out to rebel against what was going on...and finding your own space to do your own thing. That’s reflected in bands like Hinds as well: ‘this is us – take us as we are, this is what we want to do’. So it’s interesting to see how, not necessarily the music industry, but bands and artists are reflecting that…

Claudia: Yeah, I think it’s also important that bands that aren’t English-speaking bands feel like they can conquer a sort of music scene. There is a lot of people in the world doing incredible things in other languages. So I think there should be a shift, as well, in that sense.

Katie: I feel like since I’ve discovered Spanish-speaking bands, I feel it’s shifting already, but maybe that’s just my little bubble of London…and it’s such a welcome change because honestly, English has such a monopoly, and that’s such a shame that it dominates the mainstream, and that so many people are told to compromise and sing in English and I think it’s really powerful when they don’t.

Claudia: If it’s shifting for you then that means something. I’m going to see a band that sing in Yoruba which is a religion in Cuba, that derives from a religion in Nigeria and it takes many shapes in South America, and it’s a very ancient language and it sounds beautiful. It sounds really beautiful.

 Claudia on ambition & pressing to red vinyl…

 Katie: I should have put this as the main ambition, do you just want to keep going for the moment or do you have a plan like, ‘in ten years’ time, I want to have achieved X,Y or Z’?

Claudia: I want to be able to write music forever. I want to keep evolving as a musician, as much as I can. I want to go as far as possible, but for now, I really want to release the album I’ve recorded because it’s beautiful, so I think that’s going to be a big stepping stone…because I just have one song released, and it’s already taken me pretty far.

Katie: Wow! Will there be an album launch party?

Claudia: For sure! Always a party! For everything a party! I’ll invite everyone!

Dan: It’s so exciting, to hear all of this, it’s like you’re on the cusp of releasing all this music and you appear super excited, even from your gig at the Sebright, we were entranced by your music, so count us in…

Katie: Do you want to press to vinyl?

Claudia: Of course! And have a colour!

Katie: Do we get to know?

Claudia: A nice red.

Katie: We love a bit of red vinyl...it’s all about the vinyl now. Do you love vinyl yourself?

Claudia: I love vinyl!

Dan: What’s your favourite one from your collection?

 Claudia on her favourite vinyl…

Claudia: Well, I have ‘On the Beach’ by Neil Young, which is a really hard one to get, I struggled a lot to get that one, and I have many, many oldies that I have been getting in Spain and in London. London is such a treasure trove.

Katie: I love it when you land one! My favourite one is David Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold the World’, I managed to find that and I was like ‘woooooah’…all your Christmases or something. How about you, Dan? What’s your favourite?

Dan: That’s a pretty tricky question! Yeah...I find it quite hard to pick one, um…

Katie: Sorry, I put you on the spot! You’d need another glass of wine…

Dan: I mean, that XTC one ‘English Settlement’, I was looking for the original but I could only find the reissue and then I found it in Sister Ray back in November. And I really love Joni Mitchell’s ‘Hejira’ album is one of my favourites...I love the artwork. I’ve had to buy more storage at the moment. I love discovering old stuff and new stuff at the same time.

Claudia: I’ll send you guys mine when I get it!

Dan: Thank you so much!

Katie: Cheers! That’s awesome and that’s a wrap! Thank you so much.

Claudia: You’re welcome, thank you for your interest!

Wow - what an amazing talent! We hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed interviewing Claudia - and please check out her music! https://claudiavegamusic.bandcamp.com

[vinyllovingluddites-blog]

We Love (epic) Shows

Welcome back vinyl lovers! It’s February, which means it’s embarrassingly way too late to say ‘happy new year’ and whatnot but I’m gonna say it anyway and push the boat out...I hope you’re having a happy new year thus far, and long may the awesomeness continue! Christmas was upon us very quickly last year, it seemed, and so without further adieu, I shall hop back in time for Kal Lavelle’s marvellous pre-Christmas ‘We Love Shows’ gig, just in time for her next awesome shindig coming up on March 18th.

To give a bit of context, St Giles in the Field is a very beautiful church and I must say, lining up outside it in such a substantially massive queue made me realise exactly how far Kal Lavelle’s shows have come. From the early beginnings of the ‘We Love Sundays’ gigs – incidentally always hosted in Finsbury Park and always requiring singer-songwriter, organiser and compere Kal to tell overly-enthusiastic Arsenal fans to ‘shut the f*ck up’ – this fabulous platform for independent musicians has matured into its current ‘We Love Shows’ incarnation. These are gigs that draw huge crowds, in beautiful spaces, whilst always showcasing artists who are blazing their own unique trails into the industry, without compromising on artistry. A few familiarities remained, however, most notably in the form of huge quantities of sugar. Kal always used to place Haribo packets on each of the tables in The World’s End pub in Finsbury, and if memory serves, lollies and Gummy Bears were supplied as well.  Actually, so were roast potatoes, Yorkshires and gravy. Dayum. We really got fed well! So, December 11th brought sugar in the form of chocolate mainly, as this was a Christmas gig, and in addition I noticed lots of familiar faces, plus lots of mulled wine, I have to say the combination of which was particularly lovely. Over the years, Kal Lavelle has forged her own community of people who love her shows and her music. Sitting down in one of the pews, I spied my friend Jon (Jedi Jon) and smiled. Yes! No longer Nobby Nomates! (But you’re never Nobby Nomates at one of these shows, even if you pitch up alone. You’ll always go away with new friends. It’s true, I met Jon at We Love Sundays, back in the day!) (All photographs courtesy of Darren Hodder)

Returning back to the queue, just briefly, I had overheard mutterings of an artist who’d recently been doing ‘something amazing with an electric guitar’. From the line-up, I guessed that this might be Bryde (of Paper Aeroplanes fame), as I know from experience that Fiona Bevan plays the ukulele and Kal plays the acoustic guitar mostly, so I was intrigued to see what this ‘something’ was that Bryde was mysteriously doing with her electric. As it turned out, rocking-the-place-out-to-a-jaw-dropped-awe-struck-instantly-in-love-with-her audience was what she was doing. I had never seen her before, but from the very first lyric of the very first song, I was converted. I was an immediate fan. The silence she garnered was of a revered, pin-drop nature, like the feeling you get when watching your favourite old movie at your favourite old cinema, and you can hear the rustlings of other people’s popcorn packets and the anticipation of everyone’s favourite nostalgic catchphrase looming in the air. ‘Atmospheric’ is a term that naturally sprung to mind. I felt like a gazelle who’d recently spotted a tiger. I sat there motionless, honestly, because I loved the sound of her guitar so much, and when she sang, she sang with such a smoky, gorgeous texture. Very much an old soul in a young woman’s body. She reminded me of Laura Veirs, her voice simultaneously whispery and powerful. In terms of her presence, she reminded me almost of a female Jeff Buckley. I can imagine her taking Glastonbury’s park stage by storm, and she has a slight Seattle vibe about her, too.

Her performance is as live as it gets, and yet somehow, she manages to maintain that precision and clarity of a studio recording. ‘Here’s another sad song’ she would joke in between introductions, but I begged to differ. Lyrics such as “I find myself in pieces of you” and “I won’t be your protector if you can’t handle the impact of your ways” really resonated with me and smacked only of self-awareness, not sadness. It seemed she was dealing with the Universal desire to stand in your own power. I didn’t think that was sad: I thought that was awesome. Bryde is simply enchanting and if you get the chance to catch her songs ‘Wait’ or ‘Nectar’ on the radio (Radio 1 no less), then my advice is to whack them up to 11!

Next on the impressive line-up was the outstanding Fiona Bevan. Two things struck me about her: her wonderfully approachable sense of humanity (she introduced her album ‘Talk to Strangers’ with the very true adage “we were all outsiders before we walked in here”) and secondly, the gorgeous way she held her tiny guitar so high up on her frame. The combination of soft nylon strings and exquisite vocals were once again quintessentially her, along with her tangible warmth, wit and beautiful smile. I had seen Fiona perform before, at one of Kal’s ‘We Love Sundays’ gigs a few years prior, and I knew I was going to be inevitably gobsmacked once again. This time however, Fiona surprised the audience with a version of a particular crowd favourite that she partially sang in French (having recently toured Canada). She informed us that this French edition had fallen foul of the Canadian censors, having been given a Parental Advisory stamp, “so I might have done the translation a bit wrong”. Even when being humorous, she still managed to single-handedly encapsulate the raw emotion of what felt like an entire choir. ‘Slo Mo Tiger Glo’ was one example, along with her ‘Song for Nicky’, which both faded out into almost whispers; a brave move I thought, from someone who understood completely the importance of special, lingering moments within songs. Fiona Bevan’s melodies are peppered with such touching beautiful observations (“winter is not so cold with someone to hold”).  I was utterly soothed from start to finish and could happily have stayed in that church all night, listening to these songs, each of which carried the smile that she sang with.

My ears pricked up when Ms Bevan played ‘Rebel without a cause’, as this is a personal favourite of mine! Such rebellion without causation, she explained, was a love song born out of the 2011 riots in London (“making trouble just because”) and I loved so much how this tied in with her underlying theme of discovery. That is, discovering that we’re all in this together. If you have ever felt like an outsider, so has absolutely everybody else in the entire world, at some point or other. Such unifying energies continued throughout her set, which blessed us even further with a new song about escaping, called ‘Explorers’ (“feel the fear and do it anyway”). Wonderful, beautiful, charming and enlightening, this song reminded me of a certain Bon Iver. To finish her gig, she played the ‘Peace song’, and then ‘Silent Night’ which was audience participatory! My favourite thing ever! Poignant and touching, we all sang, to commemorate the fallen from World War I, which coincidentally had its centenary on that very day. It reminded me, on a personal level now, of the futility of war. Fiona said that the Germans and the Allies had stopped fighting at that time, and had chosen instead to play football and sing together. It brought a tear to my eye to think of all the young souls who had just wanted to play, and who should never have been sent out there in the first place. A very powerful performance from a very brilliant woman. Fiona Bevan is the business! Check her album out if you haven’t already, it’s on vinyl!

So, after some drinks, choccies, chats, boogies and toilet visits (get in the queue early at St Giles’ people, there is only the one facility...just putting it out there) we were treated to the glorious vocals of Kal Lavelle herself! To kick off the set, Kal played one of her very first songs, something she wrote at the tender age of sixteen, named ‘Blue Lagoon’. I loved this song, particularly the lyric “Everyone has their own private lagoon, yours is blue, mine is you”. Another theme was emerging here, that of falling in love with your friend and of wanting for that special someone to stay and not leave (ever). Hence the song ‘I fell in love with my friend’, a Kal classic that got the crowd singing along once more. In fact, this particular We Love Show(s) turned out to be a proper sing-along-athon!

Next up was the beautiful ‘Berlin’, another singalong tune and another massive festival crowd pleaser, I thought. Such bright futures these three impresarios have! My personal favourite was the song ‘Shivers’, partly because it wasn’t mic-ed and Kal walked down the aisle in amongst the audience to perform it, and partly because it’s about sex. Yep, sex. Need I say more! I felt that this whole night celebrated humanity in all its glory and humans in all our loveliness/complexity/wobbliness. Ms Lavelle went on to sing the very moving ‘Closer’, in contrast, a song about unnecessary human loss and the pain of losing someone close. I liked that for ‘Saddest Song’, she brought Fiona and Bryde back up onto the stage. Three-part harmonies are always gorgeous in my opinion, and this song, another new one no less, really pulled on the heart strings. Of course, to close out an EPIC night of beautiful, female empowered, independent and remarkable music, Kal played ‘Get out of my head!’, her anthem for the broken-hearted-who-are-over-it-now-and-can’t-be-arsed-to-be-broken-hearted-anymore (which on this night was absolutely everyone), and which received the loudest singalong of the night. Yes! Imagine Suzanne Vega on a protest march and you’ll get an emotional slice of this song.

I left St Giles in the Field with a warm and glowing heart. Once again, I had made new friends and hugged old ones tight. Get along to one of Kal Lavelle’s shows! She always gets epic people, who are always doing their own independent epic thing, and she’ll feed you up, which is also epic! Thank you Kal, thank you Bryde, thank you Fiona (and special thanks also to Darren Hodder for the amazing photos). This night was very powerful and I felt blessed to have been there to witness its wonder. The next ‘We Love Shows’ gig is scheduled for March 18th at the stunning St Giles’ and here is the link: https://billetto.co.uk/welovespring2016  (see also @WeLoveShows).

Bosh.

Love, more love and then some vinyl-loving-love, Katie

[vinyllovingluddites-blog]

Two great talents to look out for live and on record!

Allison Weiss live at The Borderline, February 2014 (c) Daniel Rissen 2014

Kimberly Anne on stage at The Scala, September 2015 (C) Daniel Rissen 2015

Beautiful blue vinyl from Allison Weiss!

Kimberly Anne rocking the Barfly October 6th 2015 (C) Daniel Rissen 2015

[vinyllovingluddites-blog]

Nerina Pallot - A True Artist

Pictures (C) Daniel Rissen September 2015

[vinyllovingluddites-blog]

Welcome to the world of the Vinyl Loving Luddites

I’m Daniel, I was born in 1979 and I’m a vinyl loving luddite. Let me clarify that – I’m not averse to new technology as far as music is concerned. I remember when I first heard about the iPod – I was incredibly excited to have all my music saved on one portable device – a mini jukebox! However, in recent years I have reverted to my first love, that of listening to albums in full on vinyl. Why is this?

My earliest memories are sitting on a sofa in my parents house in North London asking my Mum to change over the side of an album (most probably The Police’s “Zenyatta Mondatta” or Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July”). Even at the age of about 3 I could sense something magical happening from just listening to a record all the way through. I would sit and let my mind wander whilst listening to the lyrics (even if I probably didn’t understand what Sting was singing about).

Skip to the end of the 1980s and I had started a “Pop Club” at school, and was buying my own vinyl records (mainly poppy stuff and the ubiquitous regular NOW compilation). Disaster struck in  1992 – Our Price stopped selling albums on vinyl and I was forced to switch to CD. Though around 1999 I was buying Belle & Sebastian, Garbage and Mercury Rev albums on vinyl. But again it wasn’t long until the record player I used to use broke and my vinyl collection began its hibernation years.

Sometime in 2011 I was having a tidy up and in a moment of nostalgia, I dug out the collection realising there were many items I hadn’t listened to in years. I went out and bought a cheap player which could convert vinyls to mp3 too. However, the more I listened to my old collection, the more I realised I would like to grow it again. I began to realise that I would be much more likely to listen to an artist’s work in full if I bought the album on vinyl. 

Combined with the magical moment of dropping the needle on a record for the first time, these at first nostalgic feelings transformed into something else. I began trawling ebay for second hand rarities and before I knew it, it seemed like many current artists were beginning to offer special vinyl editions of their albums. Discovering the wonderfully named “Empire Records” shop in St Albans in August 2014 was both dangerous and inspiring for me – once again I had become hooked on the vinyl listening experience! What a wonderful shop that has now become a weekly haven for me - well worth a visit….

So as of September 2015 I have come to the conclusion that iPods are great for shuffling music on long car or train journeys but for that “hairs on the back of your neck” feeling whilst listening to music, you have to listen on vinyl! In this blog, Katie & I will be reviewing some classic vinyl albums from the past and some recommendations for the future along with various vinyl anecdotes along the way….

As John Peel once said “Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because they don’t have any surface noise. I said Listen Mate, Life has surface noise.”

Growing up with vinyl, my earliest experience was scratching my sister’s copy of Jon Bon Jovi’s ‘Slippery when wet’, which she wasn’t too happy about at all. It was the mid-80’s and although the double entendres of such leather-clad covers were passing me by, the gravity of this thing called vinyl was beginning to make sense.

I remember from then on being quite scared of the record player. It was a very specific science to know when to put the stylus down. When was ‘too early’?  I used to get my parents to put their records on for me, instead, one of my absolute favourites being the Mamas and the Papas’ Greatest Hits. I fell in love with Mama Cass at first sight and sound. I just loved how strong she was, and how uncompromising. I also fell for John Lennon very early on, too, although looking back, I actually thought Ringo Starr was the best looking Beatle. I was kind of shocked that nobody else ever agreed with me! To be fair, they all look rather chiselled and dreamy on the front cover of ‘Rubber Soul’, so it’s a case of horses for courses. But vinyl truly became important to me when that record became my friend. Now, I am thirty-five and records are still my friends. My name is Katie and I am a vinyl-loving luddite.

Over time, my music tastes haven’t changed, I think they have just expanded. Having an older sister in the 1980’s was a huge advantage, music wise. She actually saw Janet Jackson live on her Rhythm Nation tour. She saw the Bangles. And yes, she went to see Bon Jovi, back in the day when the perms were big and the ‘whooooooa’s were even bigger. (Incidentally, this note is not vinyl-specific, but relevant to modern music nonetheless, as I happen to think that songs these days lack those epically over-cooked and utterly immodest ‘whoa’ moments.) 

Fast forward to the 90’s and my first ever purchase was The Cranberries record ‘No need to argue’. I loved how powerful Dolores O’Riordan looked on the front cover, poised between her bandmates, the only one with good posture on an otherwise rather strapped-for-space sofa. My second was Nirvana’s ‘Unplugged in New York’. However, throughout the 90’s I still loved the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas, and basically Motown in its entirety, I just added to it some personal treasures: Sleeper, Skunk Anansie, Elliott Smith, Tracy Chapman, Alanis Morissette and the irrepressible No Doubt, amongst many, many others.

So, why is vinyl so important to me? Well, because it is so personal. You sit with it and it sits with you. You make time for it. You turn off or ignore other devices. You listen to the grain. It has its own energy and presence. It’s like putting on a favourite film. It’s nostalgic even if it’s new. It is not only special, but the creator and occupier of its own category of special. You may love the artist, but owning the vinyl feels more permanent, somehow. At the beginning, it’s like a relationship starting. It’s more than an acquisition. It’s the planting of a seed as you are about to travel together. It will get battle scars like your guitar. It will become unique to you. For so many reasons, I love vinyl old and new, but I love vintage vinyl because I love the co-ownership that it blesses you with. I love the fact that I have the exact same copy as some tripped-out-teeny-bopper from the 1960’s. We have this shared history and we share this love. Vinyl is like the baton in the most communal relay race, one in which there is no end point, one which doesn’t have to be impressive or fast, and one in which everybody wins.

Thank you for stopping by the Vinyl Loving Luddites blog! Dan and I have so much more vinyl to gush about, to search for, and to fall in love with, so watch this space!