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Q&A with ‘Don’t Darken My Door’ singer Becky Bowe

With multiple television appearances and performances with world-renowned musicians, UK musician Becky Bowe has just released her new single ‘Don’t Darken My Door’ via Two Bridge Recordings. She is the winner of BBC’s Pitch Battle 2017 and has performed with famous acts such as Will Young and Kelis. Her previous single ‘That’s How Love Works’ reached number 9 on the UK iTunes Singer-Songwriter chart. This songstress is making waves all before her upcoming EP release. We find out more about this rising star in this interview. 

 

What are some of your earliest memories of music?

My earliest memories of music came from my Nana’s piano. She used to play all sorts of nursery rhymes, the most memorable song was ‘Puff the magic dragon’ that was always playing somewhere in her house. Other than that, my parents had a varied music taste so I was always surrounded by different genres of music.

How do you fill your downtime? Do you still play the keyboard?

I play piano/keyboard at least everyday for a couple of hours because of my work, but don’t necessarily use it for downtime. For downtime, I really enjoy colouring, watching movies, listening to new music anything that keeps my mind relaxed.

Take us through your songwriting process. Are there any particular steps you take when putting music together?

My songwriting process can vary. Sometimes I will be feeling like I just want to play some chords on piano and then I’ll just start humming some melodies, but sometimes it’s the other way round. If I’ve had a really rubbish day lyrics will most likely come first. Then I try to figure out some sort of melody. My best songs have always come from the most relaxed situation, so when I’m doing jobs, when I’m sitting watching TV…everyday activities as my brain is then most relaxed.

Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, which do you prefer?

OOOOOO this is a tough one. The studio and creation is always so much fun but can be quite tedious especially with the amount of repetition involved so it takes a lot of patience to really get the correct sound and vibe you want but it’s so much fun experimenting with the different ideas, sounds, instruments, but I think I’d go with performing and interacting. I’ve always been a chatterbox, so on stage if people are interacting with me while I’m singing and performing it’s the best feeling, as it’s just like having a good chin wag with my friends.

What is the most memorable response you have had to your music?

The most memorable response was when I released my first proper single in 2018. I can remember the amount of love that people showed the song and how well it was received where I lived, that’s what really kept me going. There are so many memorable moments probably many I’ve forgotten but the important thing to me is the love that’s shown towards my music.

If you could put together a radio show, what kind of music would you play?

GREAT QUESTION!!!! The music I’d play would be very varied but within the same vibe that I like. It would be a mixture of RnB, Pop, Soul, Blues, Jazz, Rap the works. I have so many favourite artists and songs within this sort of realm.

Name five artists and their albums who would appear on your radio show

Emily King – Sides (Acoustic Album) 

PJ Morton – Gumbo 

Daniel Ceaser – Freudian 

Lizzo – Cuz I Love You 

Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color

What would you like to achieve with your music? What does success look like to you?

I would love my music to just be enjoyed and loved as much as possible. Success to me is people listening to my music to escape or feel better…just to be able for them to feel any sort of emotion. Music is a gift and to be able to write and sing my own music, and put it out in the world is leaps and bounds better than I ever thought I would have been able to do. Either way, I feel I’ve achieved what I want in my music, I just hope people listen to it and love it!

Does your single ‘Don’t Darken My Door’ set the tone of your upcoming EP release? 

Don’t darken my door I feel captures my new vibe I wanted to create. My EP represents growth and I feel this song really shows the growth within my music. My other songs play with some of my older styles mixed with this new vibe so I feel this new single really helps set the correct tone.

One last thought to leave your fans with?

Keep listening to new music and supporting new artists. Any support is good support! P.s I hope you like my new single and enjoy my new music coming out!! Eeeee

 

Follow Becky Bowe:

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Q&A with singer and composer Valeska Rautenberg

Berlin-based singer and composer Valeska Rautenberg has worked as a musician, producer, teacher, composer and voice-over actress for many years now and has started releasing her own music again in 2017, after taking a few years off for her private life.

She paints with sounds. Her voice creates colours. Images come alive in your mind, you wander through them, discover them, feel them. Valeska Rautenberg takes you with her – she doesn’t give you a choice other than to follow her into her cosmos of music.

See our exclusive interview with her below:

What are some of your earliest memories of music?

Ha! Me going crazy to ‘Jump’ by Van Halen in the living room after kindergarten. It was awesome, I loved that song! I guess, I must have been around 4 – 5 years old.

Take us through your songwriting process. Are there any particular steps you take when putting music together?

Not at all. Each song has its own life and it is my task to accept that and to nourish its growth. The music I’m releasing at the moment is instrumental – neoclassical, ambient piano music – like the first single‚ ’Twilight’, off the upcoming EP‚ “Into The Still White – Songs For Piano, Wind & Water”.

My piano pieces usually start with a melody that suddenly comes popping up from my subconscious, which sparks a certain mood. Then I’ll go from there and see what happens. Or if I’m somewhere outside and I hear a sound that interests me, I’ll record it on my phone and use that field-recording as the base and play along to it on the piano.

My vocal music lives more in the realm of Trip Hop, Downbeat, and Indietronica. The starting point for me is mostly with the voice or a lyrical theme, and from there I’ll start to develop the song further. Sometimes it’s the other way around and I’ll build the beat first and let that inspire me. I guess there are no rules and no “right way”. Whatever works for you is the best way. Your job is to accept that there are a million different ways and to be open to letting the song come to you ;-).

Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, which do you prefer?

I used to be on stages a lot and loved it … it’s exhausting as well, but back in the day, it was totally my thing. These days I’m more of a sound nerd. I love composing and creating sounds. It has become my language. Maybe one day I’ll be drawn back to the stage but for now, I’m geeking out over my newest plug-ins and love to create music, whether it be with the piano, my voice or any instrument under the sun.

What is the most memorable response you have had to your music?

Oh, I was fortunate to have had a few memorable responses so far and it always warms my heart. To hear people say how much a song touched them or how they could identify with the lyrics, or how one of my songs inspired them to be creative themselves is such an enriching and powerful experience. Getting a message from a stranger from the other side of the globe letting you know they enjoy your music honours me.

One very memorable moment was when one of my songs was compared to the feeling of the cherry blossom scene at the end of the Last Samurai movie … that was quite something. 

If you could put together a radio show, what kind of music would you play?

It’d span a lot of genres – from Tori Amos, A Perfect Circle, and Hozier, to Godspeed You! Black Emperor … music has to touch me, make me feel, be meaningful … no matter the genre.

Name five artists and their albums who would appear on your radio show

Only five? Oh, dear …

Fiona Apple – Tidal

Pj Harvey – Rid of me

Tool – Ænima

Radiohead – Amnesiac

Portishead –  Dummy

What would you like to achieve with your music? What does success look like to you?

Of course, every musician wants their music to be heard … and I want that, too. I just don’t want to compromise or to step down from my musical convictions in the process.

I love being an indie artist these days  … it’s a crazy jungle but it enables you to do everything by yourself, which is a lot of work, but you get to do everything the way you want to do it. That’s amazing.

Success to me is being able to create the music I want to create. 

I make my living with music, I get to write my music on my own terms, and have a couple of thousand monthly listeners – that to me is already a success and I’m very grateful for that. If I were able to reach and maybe touch even more people, that would, of course, be wonderful. But in the end, success to me is simply to be happy.

One last thought to leave your fans with?

Love what you do and do what you love and support indie musicians 😉 That’s where the passion is. And thanks to everyone who’s shared, supported or bought a song from an indie artist.

Follow Valeska Rautenberg online 

Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | SoundCloud

Q&A with Singer Uma Bloo

Chicago-based singer Uma Bloo had started a multi-faceted project in 2016. Focusing on emotive music and character performance, Molly Madden invented an otherworldly, immersive artistic experience. 

At each event, an interactive set is built so as to bring the audience into Uma’s world for a night. Uma’s lyrics have been described as “mediations on vulnerability.” While often compared to Nico, Angel Olsen, and Florence and the Machine, Uma Bloo’s music defies traditional genre while enticing crowds into reckoning with their past.

See our exclusive interview with her below:

What are some of your earliest memories of music?

Dinah Washington’s ‘Blue Gardenia’ was on a soundtrack my parents used to play around the house. That’s the first song I remember singing along with, I wanted to be able to sing just like her. I still think her voice is one of the most singular I’ve ever heard. In the latter half of the song she sings “memories” like it’s two different worlds, or like the second half of the word sent her different from where she started. It was just such a surprise in the melody… the entire song is so special. I still listen to it whenever I need to be shaken up a bit.

Take us through your songwriting process. Are there any particular steps you take when putting music together?

I don’t know if there are any specific steps I take when I’m writing. When I sit down with an instrument most of the time I just start exploring different shapes and chords to see what I can find. From there I try to find some semblance of a structure and sing over it until whatever I needed to express has been expressed. There’s no real trick to it.

Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, which do you prefer?

It’s not necessarily a preference but I think I enjoy the performance the most. At that point, the tediousness of the work leading up to a show can be let go and whatever happens, happens. It’s the exhale of it all.

What is the most memorable response you have had to your music?

I think once someone described my music as an exorcism which I guess sounds intense but I like that sentiment, haha.

If you could put together a radio show, what kind of music would you play?

I’d like to have the kind of freedom to play whatever was calling to me at that moment.

Name five artists and their albums who would appear on your radio show

Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits, Megan the Stallion’s Tina Snow, Pixel Grip’s Heavy Handed, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Show Your Bones, Lana Del Rey’s NFR!

What would you like to achieve with your music? What does success look like to you?

Ideally, I’d make something I could live off of, but that seems more a dream than reality these days for most artists. Really the most that I hope for is to consistently put out music I feel passionately about for as long as I can sustain it.

One last thought to leave your fans with?

We just released a single called ‘Marguerite’s Novels’ and will be releasing another one in April called ‘Coming Home’. Keep a lookout!

Follow Uma Bloo online 

Facebook | Twitter | Spotify | Instagram

Challenge yourself to something new with KID BE KID’s latest song

‘Slide’ into the weekend with something unusual from the Germanic KID BE KID. ‘Slide feat. Julia Kadel & Simon Denizart’ was released today via SPRINGSTOFF. Be ready for cascading piano keys as unusual freestyle female beatboxing grabs your attention and keeps it hooked.

It’s an exciting weekend for KID BE KID as Sunday 08 March will see her live at Urban Urtyp, Bochum in Germany. Unable to make that date? We recommend making a plan to see her on one of her upcoming dates as this muso has proved herself worth seeing live. The engergy KID BE KID brings to the stage is unmissable. 

Upcoming Tour Dates:

08 March 2020 – Urban Urtyp, Bochum, Germany

17 March 2020 – L’Aéronef in Lille, France

02 April 2020 – with Becca Stevens in Café de la Danse, Paris, France

25 April 2020 – Kito, Bremen, Germany

26 April 2020 – Mojo Jazz Café, Hamburg, Germany

30 April 2020 – Weimar, Germany

02 May 2020 – Bunker Ulmenwall, Bielefeld, Germany

08 May 2020 – with Ark Noir and Simon Denizart, Jazzclub Tonne in Kurländer Palais, Dresden, Germany

29 May 2020 – with Julia Kadel and Kid be Kid meets Julia Kadel in Schloss Horst, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Follow KID BE KID:
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