ZOË ELLEN BRYANT

Music Writing, Radio/ Shows, DJ Mixes etc

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NASTY WOMEN: DJ SET

1hr45m mix of the bangers I played at Nasty Women (Stour Space, 23.09.2017)

NASTY MIX

Litany Pinkshinyultrablast Shura Dilly Dally Sia Chvrches Estrons Christine and the Queens Roseau Leyya Cocteau Twins Wilsen Susanne Sundfør Oh Land Holly Herndon The Sundays Siouxsie and the Banshees Maggie Rogers Spice Girls Tirzah Krista Papista Dream Wife Sharon Van Etten Marika Hackman Wye Oak Lykke Li

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AMAZING RADIO: First Show!

Sunday 10th September 2017, 7-9pm!

Listen HERE

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: FEMALE VOCALS AT THE GREAT ESCAPE

SO hard to choose, but here are eight acts I’m excited to see at The Great (and Alternative) Escape…

Aldous Harding New Zealander Harding channels all kinds of weird and wonderful things whilst performing. Don’t miss these rare UK shows. TGE: Thursday 23:15 Paganini Ballroom & Friday 15:15 One Church

Bryde Angsty 90s Grunge-Rock with a Celtic twang. For Fans Of Nadine Shah, PJ Harvey and Wye Oak. TAE: Friday 19:35 The Hub TGE: Saturday 13:45 Komedia

Dahlia Sleeps Brooding Synth-Pop four-piece. FFO London Grammar and Shura. TAE: Friday 21:40 North Laine Brewhouse

Dream Wife Björk meets Life Without Buildings (plus a bit of Spice Girls). TAE: Thursday 17:50 The Castle Street Gymnasium TGE: Friday 23:00 Wagner Hall & Sat 21:30 Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar

Lowly This Danish music school-formed five-piece avoid categorisation with their “restlessly inventive” sound. TAE: Thursday 14:40 Marlborough Theatre TGE: Saturday 19:30 Sallis Benny Theatre

Marika Hackman Check out a grungier and less self-concious Marika at TGE. She’s “unhinged, uninhibited and shamelessly free.” TGE: Thursday Paganini Ballroom 20:15

Our Girl Brighton-formed Shoegazers fronted by The Big Moon’s Soph Nathan. TAE: Thursday 17:10 The Castle Street Gymnasium TGE: Saturday 20:00 Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar

The Hundredth Anniversary Brighton-based “Pastoral Slowcore” three-piece. Bright guitar lines, rigorous percussion and clear, honest vocals. TAE: Thursday 15:10 The Castle Street Gymnasium TAE: Saturday 18:10 St Mary’s Church (Kemp Town)

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: KRISTA PAPISTA ‘AMAN AMAN’ VIDEO

Krista Papista‘s brand new video for ‘AMAN AMAN’ gives us a glimpse into the life of a fictional girl gang that has migrated – from Greece, Cyprus and Afghanistan – to London. They are a hedonistic, modern and sexually-liberated Neo-Nationalistic group, and ‘AMAN AMAN’ is their national anthem – their “Greek Punk prayer”. We welcome Krista back to Spindle (a year since we featured her Horror soundtrack-like ‘I Wish I Had Blue Eyes‘) to tell us more about the song and video.

Welcome back Krista! Tell us how the song came about, and what ‘AMAN AMAN’ actually means? It’s a Greek slang expressions for ‘Oh God!’, and the idea for the song came last summer while I was watching videos about Golden Dawn, the Greek Neo-Nazi political party. I wanted to confront and ridicule those types of nationalistic parties, that are decadent to the point of being farcical. The song tells you how to live your life if you don’t know what you’re doing. There’s no direct story, but within the lyrics are religious lines Mediterraneans say to each other, as well as phrases Greek and Cypriot politicians have used.

Tell us about the video – we hear it features a former Miss Greece? Yes – Eleni Miariti, who won Miss Greece in 2011, plays the leader of the gang. The video also features costumes by Steven Noble (T2 Trainspotting, Under The Skin, 24 Hour Party People) and cinematography by Lorena Pages, who illuminated my vision perfectly. The girls in the video think of themselves as heroines – others could say they are delusional. After writing the song, I went on holiday to Mykonos and kept having visions of a red Greek flag, which then became the symbol for the project.

And there have been a few remixes of the track already? Yes – Easter, Lokier and JD Samson have all remixed ‘AMAN AMAN’. All here on my Soundcloud.

Great, so what’s next? I’m playing May 30th at The Finsbury, supporting IOSONOUNCANE. Other than that, I’ll be walking around London and drinking too much coffee. And writing my second album.

Awesome, thanks Krista. Good luck with the writing!

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: BRYDE - ‘LESS’ LIVE SESSION PREMIERE

Bryde is used to being compared to certain Alt. Rock acts of the nineties – namely, PJ Harvey and Smashing Pumpkins. So, with that in mind – and to accompany the live session of her Grunge-y new single ‘Less’ – Spindle caught up with her to discuss the acts that influenced her formative years as a songwriter – the acts, she says, you NEED to acquaint yourself with (if you’re too young to have known them the first time around).

Hi Bryde! Happy International Women’s Day! So tell us who’s at the top of your Ten Women of the 90s playlist? PJ Harvey! ‘Rid of Me’ is what I’ve aspired to ever since I first heard it – it’s so visceral. Also check out ‘Dress’, ‘Down By the Water’, ’50 Ft Queenie’, ‘Joe’ and ‘Sheela-Na-Gig’.

One of my favourites next – tell us how you discovered Tori Amos.. I bought a cassette of her third album, Boys for Pele, during my school French exchange, and it literally changed my life! Then I discovered ‘Crucify’ – the first track from her debut album..

That’s my favourite Tori song too! Alongside ‘Northern Lad’.. But tell us about L7 – ‘Pretend We’re Dead’.. Well, if you haven’t heard about the time Donita Sparks pulled out a used tampon and threw it into the crowd at Reading Festival (in 1992), you have now. Enough said.

Nice! ..Some Riot grrrl next? Yeah, Bikini Kill! Before Dream Wife, there was Kathleen Hanna. But if, like me, you were too young to fully embrace the Riot grrrl movement at the time, dive into a Bikini Kill album immediately. ‘Double Dare Ya’.

En Vogue. Classic. Why ‘Don’t Let Go (Love)’? I can’t help but sing my heart out every time I hear it! Before Destiny’s Child, and before Spice Girls, there was En Vogue.

Over halfway through – which brings us to Alanis – ‘Forgiven’.. If you need to ask why Alanis is on this list, go and watch her sing ‘You Oughta Know‘ (Hyde Park, 1996) with Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins on drums! When I was much younger, I thought I’d never be a singer because I couldn’t sing as high as Alanis. So every time my parents went out, I’d try and sing along to Jagged Little Pill – I think it was quite painful for the neighbours!

Four left – who’s next? Hole – ‘Doll Parts’. I remember jumping on my bed to it! I thought Courtney Love was so cool, because she went to fancy LA parties with chipped nail varnish! My first-ever band learnt ‘Celebrity Skin’ and played it three times at one gig.

Number eight? The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. I loved that album. ‘Ex-Factor’ will always be a classic.

And next, ‘Stupid Girl’ (not you).. Ha ha. Yeah, Garbage. Shirley Manson was a HUGE icon for aspiring female musicians. I was SO close to seeing them for the first time last year, but I guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer..

And finally, Miss Guðmundsdóttir herself! Ah, Björk! She’s a genius, in my opinion. Not only is she one of the world’s best producers, but she captures human emotion like no one else. And she’s been making music for over forty years. I bought the CD single of ‘Hyperballad’ and listened to it a million times. Vespertine (2001) is one of my top five albums of all time.

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 6th October 2016.

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: ANNA MEREDITH INTERVIEW

The theme for this issue is ‘dreams’ - have you had any memorable dreams you’d like to share with us, and have any of them been the inspiration for any of your music? All my dreams seem to be really stressful and administrative at the moment - probably because I’m juggling a lot of stuff. So, there’s late tax returns, missed birthdays, and a lot of tedious mundanity like phones running out of battery, lost tenners - that kind of thing. I miss the elaborate weirdness of the dreams I used to have. You should really ask my drummer, Sam, though, who has consistently amazing and bonkers dreams that he writes down!

You recently led a residency for young female artists - can you tell us about that? The residency was organised by Manchester’s Brighter Sound, who run an annual residency for young musicians, led by a different musician each time. This year the residency ran in partnership with the Museum of Science and Industry, and focused on their new exhibition, Wonder Materials: Graphene & Beyond. I took my sister (visual artist Eleanor Meredith) and workshop leader Jack Ross, and we worked with eight young female musicians and four young visual artists to create a half-hour show of new pieces of music and art inspired by the exhibition. It went really well - everyone worked their arse off, and I was so impressed and proud of what these young women produced in just three-and-a-half days! Worth checking out if you can!

Have you much experience in leading residencies of this sort? Did you learn anything by leading and guiding other artists in this environment? Yup - I’ve done quite a lot of residencies and different kinds of teaching. I enjoy these multidisciplinary ones the best. Working under time constraints helps everyone (including me!) to really focus on what’s important - you can’t really worry too much if things are ‘right’ for you or fit your aesthetic etc. You just have to get on with it!

Tell us about Anno - the commissioned juxtaposition of your own work with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons! Where can we see and/or hear it!? This was a really interesting project to be a part of! The amazing Scottish Ensemble (the UK’s only professional string orchestra) commissioned me to make a single 60-minute piece that was half my own music, and half extracts from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons - pretty tricky to integrate something so well known! I worked with my sister again, so that the piece had accompanying visuals, and it was performed so that electronics, performers and visuals surrounded the audience. The premiere was at Oval Space back in June, but we’ll be doing the Scottish premieres on the 10th and 11th November, at Tramway in Glasgow, and on the 13th at The Hub in Edinburgh. Hopefully more to come after that too!

Your sister, Eleanor, was one of your collaborators for the residency - she also does your album artwork. Have you always collaborated? Yeah - I’m really lucky to be related to someone so talented, who I can coerce into working with me! We’ve both got our own projects and other collaborations going on, but we’ve been lucky enough to work together on certain projects too. We’re pretty similar in lots of ways, so I think we’re a good match.

In your electronic music, your voice first features fully on the final track of Jet Black Raider, ALR (your cover of Erasure’s A Little Respect) - were you nervous about incorporating your voice, having previously focused on orchestral work? And what prompted the shift? I don’t really see it as a shift, as I’m still writing a lot of Orchestral and Classical work. I just wanted to expand the range of what I do, to include performing my music as well as other people playing it! I’ve started to use myself as both a vocalist and clarinetist more and more, which feels like the right thing to do - even if it is exposing! Ultimately, it’s about presenting yourself, and all the things that you are and do!

Who are your early musical inspirations? Probably a heady mix of Shostakovich, Nirvana, Blur and Queen!

And who are you favourite female vocalists, of all time and currently Probably Björk in both those categories. She’s consistently inspiring and surprising!

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LATEST FEMALE VOCALS DISCOVERIES PLAYLIST!

July-October 2016

Feat. Agnes Obel, Aldous Harding, BLKKATHY, Cherry Glazerr, Deap Vally, Holly Macve, Julia Jacklin, Leyya, Little Scream, Lucy Dacus, MarthaGunn, Mere Child, Miya Folick and Weyes Blood. 

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: FEMALE VOCALS AT MIRRORS FESTIVAL

The full line-up for Hackney’s multi-venue music event MIRRORS 2016 has finally been announced! So here’s a quick intro to the female vocalists playing this year, following in the footsteps of Nadine Shah and Dream Wife, who both played the inaugural MIRRORS last year:

Bat For Lashes – AKA Baroque Pop-ess Natasha Khan. Also sings in the Kraut/Psych-Rock band Sexwitch.

Holly Macve – 20 years old, signed to the awesome Bella Union label and adored by John Grant.

Cherry Glazerr – LA-based Fuzz-Pop trio, named after KCRW host Chery Glaser.

Babeheaven – West London five-piece, fronted by Nancy Andersen.

Martha – Queer, vegan anarchists from from Pity Me (a real place!) in County Durham. Winners of this year’s Neptune Prize.

Miya Folick – Buddhist ex-basketballer who met her band on Tinder.

Anna Straker – Years & Years / Rudimental singer gone solo Synth Pop-er.

Liv Dawson – Just 17, with over a million Spotify listens to her first single Tapestry. Elton John’s a fan.

MarthaGunn – Named after Brighton’s most famous bathing machine operator, The Venerable Priestess of the Bath!

MIRRORS takes place on Saturday 29th October, at six of Hackney’s finest music venues! Tickets here.

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 6th October 2016.

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MUSIC SUPERVISION: HOOTEN & THE LADY (SKY 1)

Since February, I’ve been assisting Music Supervisor, Pete Saville with Sky 1′s Hooten & The Lady - an "adrenaline-filled, eight-part drama that follows the adventures of American adventurer Hooten (Michael Landes) and Lady Alexandra (Ophelia Lovibond) as they travel the world (from the Vatican to the Himalayas, the Amazon to Egypt) in their quest to save the world's lost treasures”.

Check out our Blues Rock choices for the show: Hooten & The Lady Playlist

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: FEMALE VOCALS AT VISIONS FESTIVAL

A quick guide to the female vocalists that you (in my opinion) should check out at this Saturday’s VISIONS Festival!

Aldous Harding – Stop Your Tears

Anna Calvi – I’m The Man, That Will Find You

Bleached – Wednesday Night Melody

Cate Le Bon – Wonderful

Dream Wife – Hey Heartbreaker

Let’s Eat Grandma – Sink

Pumarosa – Cecile

The Japanese House – Sugar Pill

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 3rd August 2016. 

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: FLOCK OF DIMES

Flock of Dimes is the solo project of Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner (A.K.A. the writer of my FAVOURITE SONG EVER, Civilian). I’m a HUGE fan, and so, it seems, are Reverend Guitars, who have recently introduced the Jenn Wasner Signature JW-1 guitar! Pretty cool.

Jenn began releasing music under the Flock of Dimes moniker back in 2012 (from her native Baltimore) which is when I first discovered the hypnotic Prison Bride. Having since moved to North Carolina for a quieter life, Jenn is set to release debut Flock of Dimes album If You See Me, Say Yes via Partisan Records on September 23rd.

The first release from the album is Semaphore - a funky little number about “communication over great distances, and the infinite space that exists between even the closest of people”. Enjoy it, and keep your fingers crossed for some U.K. dates soon!

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 27th July 2016.

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: ROSEAU INTERVIEW

Roseau released her debut album, Salt, last year. She’s supported both Lianne La Havas and Shura, and releases a new EP this summer! Catch her at Borderless Festival on September 20th.

Hi Roseau! So, who are your favourite female vocalists (of all time, and currently)? My favourite female vocalist at the moment is Héloïse Letissier of Christine and the Queens. I also love Sylvan Esso, Blue Hawaii, tUnE-yArDs and Lianne La Havas – but my all-time favourites are Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Holliday, Deniece Williams, Ani DiFranco and Joni Mitchell.

How old were you when you wrote your first song, and what was it about? Haha! I was eight years old, and wrote a song about a coral ornament with googly eyes that I’d bought at a school fête. I had a terrible habit of buying old junk as a kid (I still do). Anyway, it lost one of its eyes and I was devastated, so I wrote a song about it and dragged my sister in to sing harmonies with me.

What new stuff are you listening to? My current playlist: D.D Dumbo, Christine and the Queens, Litany, Cornelia and Mr Twin Sister.

You’ve supported both Shura and Lianne La Havas – who would you pick to support YOU? Wow! tough Question… I’ll pick Litany! I think that line-up would work quite well.

Did leaving London help with the ‘coming-together’ of Salt? Totally – I’d stopped being creative in London and it wasn’t making me happy. I needed less distractions, time on my own and quiet time to think.

The warehouse where you recorded your ‘sound palette’ for Salt is now gone – have you got your eye on another abandoned building for album two? I’m not going to chose another warehouse for my second album – I want to try something totally different. I have it all planned out already but I don’t want to give too much away yet. It does involve Croatia and the sea though…

When can we expect to hear your PledgeMusic-funded EP? Can you tell us anything about it – what it’s about maybe? There’s no central theme to this EP, but it tackles a whole bunch of things, including family illness, depression, the breakdown of relationships. You can expect to hear it very soon – this summer. Just about to start mixing!

What shows do you have coming up? Tramlines Festival, Farmfest, an amazing little show at Battersea Arts Centre (as part of Borderless Festival) and one of my favourite festivals, In The Woods.

Thanks Roseau – excited to hear the EP!

Follow Roseau on Twitter, and listen to Salt here.

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 20th July 2016.

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: NIGHT FLOWERS

This Friday, Dream Pop five-piece Night Flowers launch their new single at The Victoria in Dalston. The track – Glow In The Dark – will also be physically released as a glow-in-the-dark 7″!

Based in London (“via USA and Humberside”, according to the band’s Twitter), Night Flowers recently returned from their first Japanese tour – a trip they were saving up for when I last saw them.

The track’s video (above) was shot during the tour, in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, and stars lead singer Sophie Petitt.

Check out previous releases Night Flowers and Sleep here.

Come along on Friday, for free! Or, if you can’t, Night Flowers play London again, at The Social, on August 17th.

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 13th July 2016.

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: BECCA STEVENS INTERVIEW

Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Becca Stevens has been chosen by Lauren Laverne to be one of her ‘Wonder Women’ at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on Monday 18th July. And early next year, Becca releases her Queen Elizabeth I-inspired album Regina. I had a quick Skype with her to find out more..

Hi Becca! So, first of all, who are your favourite female vocalists? At the moment I’m really into Nai Palm of Hiatus Kaiyote, but my all-time favourites would be Bjork, Joni Mitchell, Gillian Welch.. I could go on – I could give you 20 names, or I could stop there!

Tell us about the Wonder Women event that Lauren Laverne is curating – how did you get to be involved in it? I was very honoured that she chose me for the series. I’m not sure how she discovered me, but I’m super psyched about it! I’ve never played at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, and I’m a huge Shakespeare fan, so that aspect of it is very exciting to me – and the whole candlelit theatre thing.. I think it’s going to be just beautiful!

How did you first get into songwriting? I know that your parents were musical.. When my dad first handed me a guitar, and started teaching me finger patterns, I immediately gravitated towards coming up with my own patterns – it was just the way my brain worked. I’ve always been creative, so it was natural for me, given a vehicle for creating things, that I would be pulled in that direction.

I’ve read that you “fearlessly mix genres” – from Pop and Jazz, through to Appalachian Folk – can you elaborate on that? I’m always drawn to music that sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard before – I think that’s part of my mission, as a musician, to bring absolute authenticity to music, as opposed to attempting to recreate something that’s already been done. Although, having said that, the truth is that everything is derivative in some way, because everything we know, we learnt from somewhere. Ultimately it’s about different ratios – some things are so derivative that it doesn’t sound authentic, and other things are derivative but also sounds like the person’s story, and that’s more what I’m drawn to.

Your fourth album, Regina, was inspired by Queen Elizabeth I – tell us about that.. Well, I knew that having a theme would help me focus, away from my own brooding emotions. I’ve always loved Shakespeare, and was late-night perusing the Elizabethan era one time, and got sucked into this rabbit hole of Queen Elizabeth I and the mystery surrounding her life – her love affair with Robert Dudley, why she never married or bore children, stories about her father and her lineage. I went deep into her life – she was so strong, at a time when it wasn’t customary for a woman to have such power. So it all started with her, but it’s transformed and blossomed into something much more nuanced. ‘Regina’ has almost become like an alter-ego – she helped me get through the process.

So is it normal for you to set a theme for your albums? No, not at all. Normally I’ve used music to express feelings I couldn’t express with words. It wasn’t really until Perfect Animal - but more Regina - that I realised how much it helps me to have a theme. It also helps me not write the same song over and over again! It’s quite a new thing for me.

Well thank you so much for chatting to me! We look forward to seeing you over here in July!

Becca Stevens plays the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on Monday 18thJuly as part of Lauren Laverne’s ‘Wonder Women’ series of summer gigs with The Globe.

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 29th June 2016.

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: FEMALE VOCALS AT THE GREAT ESCAPE - THE BIG MOON INTERVIEW

So, who have you seen so far at TGE, and who do you want to see? We saw Chastity Belt last night. And played an all-dayer at Bleach yesterday, run by our friends echochamp – a Brighton label/collective. So we just stayed at Bleach all day. Abattoir Blues were amazing – also Pixx and The Magic Gang too. Tonight we’ll watch Mystery Jets, who are on after us.

Who are your favourite female vocalists? Current, or old-school.. Annie Clark (St. Vincent) is a big one. Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs is amazing. Marika Hackman – huge fans. We loved all the Riot grrrl stuff when we were younger – The Raincoats, Bikini Kill, Joan Jett etc. Also, Electrelane, Portishead, Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads) and Frances McKee (The Vaselines).

In terms of writing The Big Moon stuff – how does it all come together? Jules writes the songs, and then we make them louder altogether. Normally she writes our parts for us, but now that we know how we all play together, she knows the kind of thing that we would put in, and we know the kind of thing she might want. Like, she’ll say “do a little Soph noodle”. So that’s how we knock ‘em out.

So what about the name? Where did that come from? So, we were The Moon, but then some fights were brewing with other bands..

Oh, what other ‘moon’ bands are there? So many! Moon Duo, Moon Gangs, The Moons, M.O.O.N., Moon. So we just tried variations on ‘the moon’ and decided that The Big Moon was the one! So here we are – the biggest moon. We went through so many ridiculous names though – we were just naming things we could see, like ‘The Table Gang’, ‘Mint Sauce’ ‘Mustard’, ‘Windowsill’.

Any of them would’ve worked though.. Yeah, that’s the thing – once you have a band name, you just get used to it. You’ve just got to go with it. In the end, Fern, our drummer, was like “I just don’t care – let’s just choose one and it’ll be ours”.

So is there an album plan? Yes, we’re recording it this summer. It’s all written and ready to go – we just have to choose which songs to not have on it really. We can’t wait to start – we’re really looking forward to spending the summer in an airless room, making noises! Genuinely. You feel like you’re doing a real job when you’re recording.

What about other plans this summer – any festivals? End Of The Road – we’re so excited about that one. It’s the best – a good mixture of family and party. And a great line-up this year too. Also, Latitude, Truck Festival, Kendall Calling, LeeFest, Blissfields and Springtide – quite a few!

Anything else to share? We have the Mystery Jets tour!

Ooh, yes – exciting! Well, thank you so much for chatting to me! No worries – thanks for all the support!

See all The Big Moon’s upcoming gig dates here!

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 15th June 2016.

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SPINDLE MAGAZINE: FEMALE VOCALS AT THE GREAT ESCAPE - FRANKIE COSMOS INTERVIEW

Just before her show at The Haunt on the Saturday night of The Great Escape, I had a quick chat with Greta Kline of Frankie Cosmos. Greta’s boyfriend is Aaron Maine from the band Porches, and her parents are Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates (from Gremlins)!

So, which bands do you want to see while you’re at The Great Escape? Well, I’m only here until tomorrow morning, but I’m excited to see Porches tonight!

What do you think of Brighton? It’s nice! We had all day yesterday and today to just chill. But actually, it was kind of exhausting as there’s so much to do! So we took a nap on the beach.

What made you change your name from Ingrid Superstar to Frankie Cosmos? And has the music changed? I found out that Ingrid Superstar was already a person – one of Andy Warhol’s superstars in the 80s. And Frankie Cosmos is a name that Aaron made up, when we were first dating. I think the music changed a little bit because I was in love – Ingrid Superstar was a lot more sad.

Who are your favourite female vocalists? Ooh, so many! One of my favourites is Connie Converse – a weird, reclusive musician, who was really ahead of her time, I think. She’s from the 60s, but her recordings just got discovered in the last five years. Also, Joanna Newsom, who’s playing End of the Road (which is the coolest thing ever, as we’re playing too!)! And, a British band called Kero Kero Bonito, who I basically stalked into being my friends.

What made you choose the music route, rather than being an actress? I never had any interest in acting at all, and music was something that I really cared about. Easy decision!

Frankie Cosmos play Tufnell Park’s The Dome on September 8th!

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 1st June 2016.

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FEMALE VOCALS AT THE GREAT ESCAPE: INTERVIEW WITH LET’S EAT GRANDMA

Teenage “Psychedelic Sludge Pop” duo Let’s Eat Grandma have today shared the above video for latest track Eat Shittake Mushrooms. Having just played Brighton’s The Great Escape at the weekend, they are also set to play Islington’s Electrowerkz on June 1st, ahead of the release of debut album I, Gemini on June 17th. They kindly agreed to answer a few questions for Spindle – about The Great Escape, musical inspirations, songwriting, and punctuation!

Who did you most enjoy at The Great Escape? We discovered a pretty rad new band that go by the name of The Noisy Pots. They were on the street corner playing synths, but also a collection of pots, pans and cans – plus a drum kit made out of buckets! It was their cover of Missy Elliot’s ‘Get Ur Freak On’ that really got us. Other than that, Songhoy Blues were incredible!

Favourite Brighton discovery? We found a 100% vegan restaurant, where Jenny demolished a “beef”, “bacon”, “cheese”, hash brown, lettuce, fried banana and peanut butter burger.

Inspirational female vocalists? Our grandmothers, who are opera singers.

Have you made music together since you became best friends at age four? We’ve always sung duets together on SingStar… We thought we’d nailed ‘Shut Up’ by The Black Eyed Peas, but we almost always got rated either “Wannabe” or “Tone Deaf”, so getting to this stage in our careers in quite an achievement, I suppose.

How do your songs come together? And who does what? It depends on the song – we definitely haven’t got a formula. The writing process is a complete joint effort though, and sometimes the part we’re playing live might have been written by the other person, or played by the other person in the recording.

Do you produce your own music? Will Twynham produced ‘I, Gemini’. We wouldn’t know how to begin with production at this stage, but it’s something we’d like to learn and have more input in in the future.

How did you go from making music together to having a record deal with Transgressive, at such a young age? We played a lot of gigs in Norwich, and Kiran Leonard (legend btw) noticed our band name on a poster and thought “what is THAT!?” so checked us out online, then put us in touch with our previous management, who got us our record deal.

Are you doing A-Levels? If, so which ones? Well we’re at music college, but we’re a bit worried as we have to go in for a meeting with our course manager next week, regarding matters related to our attendance…

Are you both excellent at punctuation? (see link) We wouldn’t go that far! Rosa still has no clue what a semi-colon is; or how to use it.

Let’s Eat Grandma are also playing at Field Day and Visions Festival.

* Originally published in Spindle Magazine, 27th May 2016.