6th November 2023
Listen
Listen
I sat down with Liverpool-born, Leeds-based artist Rhiannon Hope to discuss starting out, getting used to the gig circuit, and, of course, motorway service stations. This is how it went.
R: Yes, I am really excited, although it’s just very surreal too.
L: I can imagine, yeah.
R: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been thinking about releasing music for like years and years. So now that it’s actually happened, it’s just like, oh! But it’s also like, it’s obviously really, really exciting.
L: Yeah, a bit nerve-wracking as well, I can imagine.
R: Yeah, quite nerve-wracking. ‘Cause now there’s like, a concrete thing that’s on the internet forever and ever that everyone can just see all the time. I mean I’m proud of it and I like it so yeah.
R: I’ve actually been listening to a lot of new music recently. Well, new music for me. And usually I’m a bit like, you know, when you just you’ve been listening to the same stuff for months and you just can’t seem to get out. You just feel sick of your music. I have that all the time.
But recently I’ve been listening a lot to Daisy Rickman, who is like, she’s Cornish and she’s very like folky, Celtic kind of vibes. I saw her at ‘End of the Road’ in August. It was so good. I’ve also been listening to Allegra Krieger, particularly the album ‘Precious Thing’. She’s just a great songwriter, she writes songs that like begin like a normal song, but then like it just goes off, if you know what I mean? I’ve been listening to this album by Djavan, D-J-A-V-A-N. It’s just like a bossa nova funk disco. Really cool. I love it. So yeah, that’s what I’ve been listening to.
L: Yeah I can imagine like as a rising artist, maybe like a part of your job is actually like finding new music and new inspirations all the time.
R: Hmm, that’s a good question. Maybe, but I think the music that I’m listening to more affects the writing, rather than the progression of the songs. I can’t name like a specific way in which the music I’m listening to would affect the progression, because they just kind of progress naturally and also like the songs progress because of the band, like how we all play together. So it wouldn’t just be from my influence. I guess it’s from what everyone is listening to. And then obviously, like everyone writes their own parts. So it’s just like a mix of everyone’s inspirations.
R: I wouldn’t call it compromise, but you can call it that if you like. Yeah I mean, I write the songs, like the words and the chords and my guitar part. But every other instrument you hear has been written by, I mean, the songs where Nelson, plays violin and piano. Or I’ve said like, oh, can you play something like this? Or, you know, I like hum a melody and then he has to try and, you know, recreate it. But everyone writes their own parts. Like, for example, Ludo, our drummer, they also play banjo and when we were like figuring out BB they were like ‘oh I can play banjo on this?’ and I was like ‘why not’ but I never had the idea that banjo could be on it so that was definitely influence and I love that banjo part.
R: Yeah, I mean, I would say that it does, the outro does have a bit of a more wobbly feel to the rest of the song, the rest of the song feels quite fairly structured and also just like a bit more, but it just sounds nicer altogether. Yeah, like harmonically, whereas the outro is a bit more. And then obviously, like the final chord is, it’s not just like that’s the first chord that’s played in the song. I like that, I like to not try and think like ‘oh I need to do this now’ and ‘I need to finish the song in this way because the other songs that I’ve listened to have done this’ I just, yeah I just like the feeling of sinking into the end.
R: Yeah I really like I mean it’s lucky for me because I don’t have to drive! I really like being on the motorway and like going to a service station. I know that sounds so stupid but I don’t know. I just really like in service stations and also because it’s like a place of transience. But anyway, no, I like the traveling aspect. I like getting to a new city. If we have enough time to actually explore a new city. What else? I like seeing the other acts as well, because like I get to see acts that I would never have, or very not likely that I would have seen before in different cities. Also, I like going to different venues. I just like every aspect of it apparently.
L: I wish you were playing in Liverpool.
R: I know, I know. Well, we did play in Liverpool when we went on tour in June. We played in Kazimier Gardens, which is my favorite. Yeah, my favorite venue in Liverpool because I’m from Liverpool. I don’t know if you can tell. but that was really nice and also we got to stay in my house which is nice because it’s free and also I get to sleep on my own bed.
L: It’s always a benefit yeah!
R: Hmm. For me personally, no. I’m quite, not saying like, oh, it’s easy! That’s not what I’m saying. But I mean, I don’t find it uncomfortable because I’ve been performing for a long time. And whenever I perform, I kind of just forget that the audience is there. I don’t know, I guess the one aspect that I struggle with in live performance is like doing like stage chat. I find it very unnatural. Like, I’m not the type of person who can, like, put on a spectacle and be like, ‘How’s everyone feeling tonight?’ Because it just doesn’t feel right.
L: It’s almost like, it’s almost like a break in the performance as well, isn’t it?
R: Yeah. Yeah. And it just feels really, like, forced. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with, like, just, like, sitting in silence for a bit and just, like, letting it breathe. Rather than like feeling the need to fill up all, you know, silence with chatter. Also, I just find it really awkward. So that aspect, I guess that’s part of like capturing an audience, but that’s the only bit that I really, really struggle with.
R: Yeah, so, well, technically Sheffield is the first day, which is on Friday, but it’s like a week before like the main body of the tour starts. So I guess the touring Leeds is our first day on the 27th.
R: I don’t know. I’m really looking forward to it because like, it’s just going to be like having lovely friends everywhere. Also, really cool supports, Drury Hill, who are from Nottingham, who are great and have supported us before. And then this really cool band from Manchester called Cat Band Cat, who I actually saw in January supporting Skydaddy. And I remembered them and I was like, oh, they’re really cool. And they just so happen to be supporting us now, which is really nice. But I’m also really– I’m really excited to play Bristol. And then obviously London is a big one. Yeah.
L: Is it the windmill?
R: Yeah.
L: That’s like a huge place for rising artists!
R: I know. And it’s our first London gig, so I feel like we’re like cheating the system or something like that. I don’t know. We’re really, really, really lucky. Yeah, I’m really excited. It’s going to be very surreal.
L: Bands like Black Country New Road, a band that I’m a big fan of, a band called Mary in the junkyard that I saw in May use a violin and a cello which is just incredible. Do you think things are sort of coming full circle and they’re going back around, rising and returning even?
R: I think there’s definitely like folk, not only folk aspects like creeping back into mainstream music, but also just like traditional folk bands, like proper traditional folk acts and groups. When we were at ‘End of the Road’ this year, there seemed to be loads of like proper traditional acts, like Daisy Rickman, we saw this group called Shovel Dance Collective, who were like properly trad folk. We saw Lisa O’Neill, who’s very trad folk, but she’s Irish. And then obviously, like you’ve got like Lancome, there’s loads of folk acts that are becoming more, getting more traction. And then also just like, non traditional four piece instruments. So like violin or cello or I don’t know, clarinet, seen a lot of banjo around. I guess that’s probably a lot of Black Country New Road’s influence too, because they were like one of the original bands in this kind of, I don’t know what to call it, like, you know, group of act music, but they were like one of the first bands to really incorporate. Because I presume they’re classically trained or a lot of them are classically trained. So that classical aspect into like four piece stuff. I like it though. I like it a lot, clearly.
R: Yeah, definitely. I mean, they develop much more? I don’t know. When we play them live, they change all the time, even if it’s just like minute things that no one else would notice apart from us, obviously because we’ve been sitting with the songs for months. It is important to me. It’s also quite nice on a sentimental level because even because we recorded BB and all things rising the track in April. Even since then, I feel like the songs have changed just like minutely and the way we perform them live. And also, like, I think with the type of music, it is just more… I feel like it’s meant to be heard live rather than on through a speaker. Like, obviously, it sounds great, and I’m really happy with how it sounds.
L: It’s great in every medium!
R: But I feel like it came together when we were playing together, and we could give each other feedback and talk to each other as it was happening. I mean, we recorded it live. It was basically a live recording. Uh, so I guess that aspect is carried through. Um, but I’ve forgotten what the original question was now. I’m so sorry. I’ve just been rambling.
L: Should we finish off like a silly one? I don’t know. Oh, sure.
R: Yeah, go on. Hang on.
R: I could do that, yeah. I could do it off the dome right now. ‘Designer’, Aldous Harding. ‘Below a Massive Dark Land’, Naima Bock. Oh, what’s that? The Laura Marling album that came out in 2024. I’m going to look it up quickly. I think it’s called like Patterns or Patterns in Repeat.
Yeah. That sounds familiar.
R: ‘Patterns in Repeat’ by Laura Marling. And I can’t think of the name. I know it, I know it. ‘World of Work’ by Clarissa Connolly.
L: Okay. Lovely. I’ll have to check those out.
R: Yeah, you should. Very cool.
To read more on Music, click here
To listen to Rhiannon’s EP on Spotify, click here
Header image belongs to Noah Lakehal.
For more music, please click here:
