Bethany Taylor - Interview

It was a soggy Saturday afternoon in Leicester, but that made an excellent excuse to interview Bethany Taylor, singer / songwriter from Market Harborough in the awesome “Crumblin Cookie", which for added pleasant coincidence, is a venue that she enjoyed playing at recently...

Could you tell us what sort of music you like to perform, and how you got started playing?

Well, I’m a singer song writer who does acoustic pop alternative stuff. I’m a classically trained singer and have enjoyed doing things like musical theatre, and I like to incorporate that into my music. So that’s how I got started, had singing lessons, got involved in doing musicals. I’ve always loved music, and I’m from a very musical family, and then one day I got to a piano, started writing my own songs, and fell in love with doing that. Then I taught myself guitar and bass, and grew from there. I got the opportunity to play a youth music festival in Market Harborough called “Rock on the Rec” and that was so much fun and also kind of the first time I had really played my own stuff live. And after that things started to really kick off for me. I’ve met new people, got more gigs, and really got into it.

How did you find out about “Rock on the Rec”?

I saw an advert in the “Harborough Mail” which is my local newspaper, and it was set up by “Enable Youth”, which was a youth group run by the local council, and they were asking for local artists or photographers, and just wanted young people to come in, and I thought “that would be a really great opportunity, I’ll go for it”.

And what was that experience like for you, playing your own material for the first time in front of an audience?

I remember it being a rainy day, but thankfully that didn’t dampen the atmosphere as we had a great crowd come out. I was playing in the “Acoustic Tent” which was obviously dry! And my friends came out to support me too, and it was a really nice atmosphere.

Any nerves before the show?

Yeah, of course, I mean, I had performed quite a lot before hand but it’s very different when you’re not acting in a role and it’s just you on the stage with a guitar and nothing else. It feels a bit, bare. You can’t hide behind makeup, or a costume. So yes, a few nerves, but it is a great feeling!

Where did you get your singing and guitar lessons from?

Well I’ve had piano lessons for a very long time, I started when I was about 7 or 8 years old as a lot of people do, and singing-wise my dad is actually a music teacher and he’s taught me singing all the way through which is very helpful! It’s really good, he’s brilliant and he’s definitely one of my biggest musical inspirations. I’ve been teaching myself guitar, and a bit of drums as well. I like to dabble in everything, which helps when it comes to recording and writing.

How supportive have your family been as some parents prefer their children not to follow in their footsteps?

They’ve always been very supportive, but they’ve never pushed me into anything. They never said “Right it’s your 7^th birthday so you’re going to have piano lessons NOW”, or forced me into music. They’ve always been really good. They’ve always come to see my performances, listening to my songs, in fact when my first single came out, seriously, my dad bought it four times bless him! But yes, they’ve been really good.

What are you looking to do in the near future, with say University?

Well I’d love to go to University and study music, but I don’t want to let my music go, I want to get more experience. I’m really looking to get more gigs. I’d love to go back into the studio and do more recording like I’ve done recently because that was a great experience. It’s really good to just get my music out there. But I don’t want to go silly and let anything slip / go.

What are your views / opinions on the Leicester / shire music scene?

I’ve only really come across it recently to be honest, last year. But I’ve been introduced to some amazing people, bands, playing gigs at the likes of “The Shed”, “The Musician”, and there are some amazing venues hidden away, and some amazing artists too. Some of the people working behind the scenes are incredible too.

Could you tell us a bit about your first single?

Well it’s called Skylight and I wrote it about January time, and a lot of my songs are based on personal experiences or experiences of friends. I find that’s best to write about because there’s a lot of stuff there to write about! It’s a song about falling in love with a friend, and you don’t want them to know because they’re with someone else, even though you don’t think they’re right for them, biased or not. I sat there one night, came up with these words, found some chords, and it worked really nicely. It’s one of my favourite songs to play live. I have an amazing group of friends, but for my birthday they raised some money for me to go into the studio and record. I found a really nice place in Northampton called “Far Heath”, owned by a guy called Angus. And I went into the studio one day and laid down the tracks for this song. I really liked the finished result and wanted to get it up onto iTunes, and the response has been amazing.

How did you find “Far Heath”?

I just did an internet search for local places, I looked for places in the city as well. Originally I was talking to a guy from a band called “Elliot Minor”, who was looking to do the producing. I’m a really big fan of theirs too! Yeah, it was Alex who wanted to do the producing work, I had sent him some demos, and he said “I’d really like to work with you”, unfortunately nothing really came of it because I think he’s very busy at the minute. So yes, I found “Far Heath” through Google, and I was really impressed. It’s kind of in the middle of the countryside, surrounded by hills. I was in the studio and I think we were mixing, and I looked out the windows and there were sheep staring back at me haha. It was amazing.

How long did that all take to do?

It was one day to do the song, it took about 6 hours in all, most of the day was spent laying down the tracks, playing guitar, piano and bass. The drums were programmed, and it took about an hour and a bit to mix it, and master it.

You’ve got some great supportive friends, one of which did your photography for you?

Yeah she did! She’s a local amateur photographer, and she wants to go on to study it. She was originally a friend of a friend, and her name is Roz. She’s really talented, and one day we went down to Hinckley where she lives and did a photoshoot. We’ve done that once or twice now, and she’s come along to my gigs. She’s starting to find work doing her photography too, it’s really nice to see friends do well for themselves too, and it’s great when they help you out too. In some ways it’s better to work with friends, rather then work with someone you don’t know.

Is there some figure you wish to emulate in some way?

There are some really really great acoustic singer song writers out there. People like Laura Marling and Ellie Goulding, I think are great role models for my sort of music.

Do you think they get pushed out of the battle for media coverage by the likes of X Factor?

I do yes, I think particularly by things like Glee, and the auto tuning, it’s a shame. Sometimes people like Laura Marling who I think is a brilliant singer song writer in her own right, do get pushed aside I feel. I don’t think there’s anything wrong in people liking Glee or Matt Cardle or whatever, but sometimes you know, it is annoying. It’s not quite as natural as with auto-tune added, and when they’re not writing their own material.

To find out more about Bethany you can visit her Facebook page here (complete with tracks to listen to): http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bethany-Taylor/128146990546374

or alternatively you can find her tracks here too: www.reverbnation.com/bethanytaylor