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In Conversation with: Tom Bright

Singer-songwriter Tom Bright might be one of the busiest men in the music industry. Not content with releasing a stunning debut album ‘Self-service Checkout’ which received immense critical acclaim and garnered him over 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, he has also written a book and set up a radio station – Islington Radio.

Emma Harrison spoke to Tom about how he used lockdown to create some of his most revealing work, what he misses most about performing live and how he really doesn’t mind those comparisons to Rod Stewart.

House of Coco

I think you must be one of the hardest working people I know. In 2020, when most people were just chilling in their pyjamas watching Netflix, you were incredibly busy. You released your debut album Self-service Checkout, you have written a book, performed on Radio X and at Blenheim Palace as well as setting up a brand-new radio station – Islington Radio.

So, talk me through 2020 for you. How was it for you?

Tom Bright

When the shit hit the fan in March, I left London just before the first album came out, going right into making a success of that album campaign which was great. I then wrote the book and got the book out.

I manage two guys as well so have been doing lots of stuff with them. I am also a big part of the Joe Strummer Foundation as well, I’m an ambassador with those guys and I have curated a couple of festivals in the last couple of years. In August, I moved back to London into a new flat and I set up Islington Radio which just exploded.

Before I moved back to London, I wrote album number two and got that mastered at Abbey Road. Yeah, it was mad!

House of Coco

What do you do in your downtime? Do you have downtime? Do you have your lunch via intravenous drip? I feel like you’re very busy!

Tom Bright

Well! Something else I am doing at the moment is a six-week coaching course, because I do music therapy workshops as well. I need to teach myself how to take the foot off the gas sometimes. Because ultimately when you do go at it at a million miles per hour – you do risk burning out. I’m now learning to let go a little bit, take time off as we all need.

House of Coco

I am totally with you on this. The hardest thing is learning to do nothing sometimes. Have you ever tried meditation?

Tom Bright

I meditate every day!

House of Coco

Me too! It’s vital. You’ve had such a high level of success in 2020. One element of that was the live sessions on Radio X. How was that for you and how did that come about?

Tom Bright

John Kennedy at Radio X got behind me from the first single from the first album, ‘Bless Our Generation’. It was on rotation on Radio X for a long time and since then he has been a big, big support.

I did a live session during the first lockdown and he also has got behind the first single from the next album as well. It’s a really good pat on the back when you get reputable guys like him who really like your music and get behind you. Yeah, it’s nice!

House of Coco

Music always been such a big passion. When did you think this is what I want to do as a job? Or has it always been ingrained in you?

Tom Bright

No, not at all. I had a bit of a different background compared to other people. I was a pub landlord, and I was actually the youngest pub landlord in the UK. Me and my mum and my brother took over a pub in Derbyshire and we were very busy with that place until about 2012 which is when I got a guitar for the first time.

So, I was a late starter! After five years in the pub game, we sold up and I actually got a one-way ticket to Australia. I got a guitar for fifty dollars and started working several jobs and busted my music basically.

I formed a band and did some gigs and eventually was working in a restaurant in Tasmania. Long story short, I moved to London to focus on the music. It was the usual drill, working in cafes and restaurants and the universe kind of shifts a few plates and I ended up working with Mick Jones from The Clash and we ended up doing some good things together.

I have been doing this now for a few years full time – it’s interesting!

House of Coco

What a journey so far! So, Legacy your second album was completed during lockdown. When is this out?

Tom Bright

‘Legacy’ the album will be released at the end of this year. There’s a really long campaign. Legacy is the first single and then the next single will be ‘How Young We Were’ which is coming out on the 9th of April. Then there is a single in June which is ‘The Man Who Knows (That What He Knows Is Nowt’) – it’s a bit of a tongue twister!

Then there’s a couple more singles in the lead up to the album coming out around October/November but it is to be confirmed. The reason for it being a drawn-out campaign this time is to do with the current climate. It would be nice to be able to tour this album.

House of Coco

Absolutely! Are you looking ahead at touring opportunities? I know some of the people I speak to tell me ‘Well, we’d be speaking to this festival and this venue, but no one’s really committing’ because I suppose nobody knows what the hell’s going on.

Tom Bright

It’s such a tough one, you know, the gigs and the tours that were cancelled from last year, I was supposed to be supporting Jesse Malin on tour. I was meant to be playing Glastonbury and all these kinds of things. And then that was going to happen this year. And then already, you know, it starts to look very difficult. I don’t think that we’re going to be doing proper gigs until at least September.

House of Coco

I have to agree. I went to one socially distanced gig last year in October. It’s a very tricky thing for venues. It’s a different vibe than we are used to. It was still so good to go to a live gig, but man it was a very different experience to what we are all used to.

Tom Bright

I know! The problem is with doing social distanced things and I did manage to do a few of those around kind of August, September, October time, but it’s difficult for the venue, it’s difficult for everyone involved, probably mostly the venue in terms of you know, they are struggling to stay alive as it is.

So, it’s only got 20 people there due to distancing rules – it’s tough, but I am quietly confident that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We’re gonna get there by the summer. I am looking to get a tour together for around October time.

House of Coco

That would be amazing. I would love to see you live. So, Legacy the album isn’t out until October, it’s been produced by Ed Harcourt. Talk me through the process of how you wrote the songs. All but two of the songs were written solely by you. What’s your approach to song writing and how did you approach this album?

Tom Bright

With this record, I wrote most of it in the shed in Derbyshire around April, May time last year, just as the first album was coming out. There’s songs on there like that, ‘Let Bygones be Bygones and stuff where it’s almost philosophical, the single ‘The Man Who Knows (That What He Knows is Nowt’), which is going to come out after that. It is actually, loosely based on Socrates, because I was reading Socrates Defence by Plato at the time.

So, it’s quite a philosophical record. Observing as I always do, but its more personal than the first album, because the first album is a lot more about a character and their story. But, with this one it’s more self-reflective and a little bit more heartfelt. There is a little bit more thinking about the state of life – where we go from here? Do we change our mentality? Yeah, it’s a reflective philosophical record and ‘Legacy’ which has obviously just come out is a desperate cry of let me crack on with it and try to leave a legacy here.

I think we can all relate.

House of Coco

I completely agree, so when you are approaching a song, what comes first? Is it the melody? Is it the lyrics? Does it really depend? Where do you find your inspiration from?

Tom Bright

Every process differs. In a way I’m always writing because I write words down all the time, whether it be on my phone or in my diary. I sit on a lot of different chord progressions, and then I’ll have something written, or sometimes it all comes out in one go in twenty minutes. ‘Storm in a Teacup’ from the first album was like that. That was literally a twenty-minute song that just kind of came out of nowhere.

Sometimes, you know, you can actually write an album and you can hit a brick wall with it and then probably go back to it in a few months with fresh ideas.

House of Coco

Are there any songs that didn’t quite make the first album or the forthcoming album that you have on the back burner? Do you tend to just park them, or do you think this could work for album three, but I might just rejig it?

Tom Bright

So, the forthcoming second album has two songs that are gonna be on there, which I actually wrote quite a long time ago, about five years ago. We arranged it a bit and tweaked it– there’s a song called ‘Berlin’ and a song called ‘Down the Line’ They were two of the first songs I ever wrote. They didn’t make album one because they just didn’t fit with what the story was about. The two co-writes on the upcoming album are ‘Ropes’ which I wrote with my good friend, Sam Brookes. We wrote that a couple of years ago together, and then ‘Chip Off the Old Block’ me and Ed Harcourt wrote that together when we were recording the album.

I was on my way to Oxfordshire to start recording the album and I just started writing this first verse with this chord progression in mind. We were having a bit of a breather in the back garden and I started playing and asked him how you would like to write something’. It’s kind of an imagined father’s/son conversation. So, we did! Everything else has been written by me in a shed in Derbyshire.

House of Coco

Being in the shed is where it’s at – a lot of musicians I speak to are recording in sheds. It’s wonderful. Segueing from sheds to palaces (as you do!) you played a gig at Blenheim Palace last year.

Tom Bright

It was awesome. It really was. It was just after we finished recording this album. Ed was doing a headline show in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. It was an outdoors, socially distanced gig – the chance came up to jump on it so obviously I took the opportunity. It was spectacular. Like, it was unreal. Being on the stage, looking at the palace, I hadn’t done a gig for seven months after gigging every week and it was an amazing, amazing night.

House of Coco

What do you love most about playing live?

Tom Bright

It’s the interactiveness – I am very much a people person and just getting the energy of a group of people in a room when you’re all in it together. Having craic, feeling the nerves, the euphoria, seeing the enjoyment of people singing along to the songs that you’ve written. It’s everything and I think I got in a routine of taking it all for granted.

House of Coco

I think we all did really, but I don’t think we will again. Do you have a favourite song that you either love to play live (when you can) or a song that means the most to you?

Tom Bright

In terms of playing live, with the next album I have not had the chance to play it live, but I love playing ‘Bless Our Generation’ live. Everyone knows the words, and everyone sings along.

One of my best memories is seeing 1000 people sing the chorus back to me. It was mental! So, Self-service Checkout is definitely one of my picks to get the crowd involved. With the song that means the most to me, I think my personal favourite is ‘Blood & Water’ it’s a story which talks about the fragility of life – a breakdown of the closest connection imaginable. You know, there’s a start, a middle, and then a heart-breaking end. It’s one that everyone kind of goes to and that’s the one that means the most. It took a long time to write actually.

House of Coco

Really? Was it one that you picked up and you put it down again, you just kept coming back to the and it was something that you just couldn’t throw away?

Tom Bright

Yeah! It took a few months, where I got the idea down, I got the first verse and then went back and then the story emerged. It’s a story about twin brothers and they go through their whole life where they are not talking to each other and then one of them is lying on his deathbed. So, it’s a bit of a moving one.

House of Coco

Yeah, definitely. I think it’ll resonate with so many people because there are so many estranged families, friends and lovers out there and this will certainly strike a chord.

Lyrically, this definitely reinforces that life is too short.

You released your first book last year which was another platform for your fantastic story telling. This is a collection of stories and poems. How did you approach it creatively? It’s a different approach to song writing as there’s no music, it’s just about the words. What made you do it?

Tom Bright

I wanted to do it for a long time. I always write short poems and they might turn out to be songs and they might just sit on my phone forever and do nothing. I was sitting in the garden during the first lockdown, and I started observing the birds and I thought I am going to write a poem about the garden.

Then I started writing a short story about this bloke in the village. He just goes to the local shop and tries to adjust to all the new rules. I thought it was interesting being in a small village in Derbyshire and observing of all life’s changes.

There’s five short stories and poems, it’s inspired by a couple of similar short collections that John Lennon did in the sixties. I actually wanted to illustrate it too, but my drawing is pathetic!

House of Coco

I’m sure it’s not that bad. With any kind of creative process, it’s important to be revealing and that involves giving some of your heart away. Do you find it quite easy to be quite vulnerable?

Tom Bright

It’s hard not to get attached to songs and there is an art to having to learn to let go. I have managed to not be too personally involved with the songs I have written. As a writer, you then close the book and get it out and you think ‘it’s not mine anymore’

House of Coco

Yeah, you’re almost putting it out to the world. Who inspires you musically? And who are you listening to at the moment?

Tom Bright

Musically I have got such an eclectic taste. I love Rod Stewart, I love Sam Cooke, I love Bobby Darin. I love Elvis – the King! Then I also love Blur, Oasis, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The Beatles of course!

There’s lots of different things in there that influence me, but I like to put a twist on it.

I know that the song ‘Legacy’ had lots of Rod Stewart mentions which is cool as we did have ‘Ooh La La’ in mind when we were producing it.

House of Coco

I love that song! Such great story telling. Your voice is incredible, you’ve got such a unique tone and you’re very distinctive, as well. I’m sure most people have told you that already.

Tom Bright

I certainly sound like myself and it’s always funny when people ask you that question ‘Who do you sound like’? I don’t think I sound like anyone which I guess is a good thing. I have got a distinctive voice which everyone highlights, so it must be true!

House of Coco

It’s so important to be distinctive, if you listen to certain artists on the radio you know instantly within two notes who that person is. I think that’s such a good quality to have.

Talking of radio, you set up a radio station last year – Islington Radio. Tell me a bit more about that process and how it came about?

Tom Bright

So, the seed for Islington Radio started to get planted last year around August, as I was moving back to London. A good friend of mine, Terry – we’ve been friends for a long time said how would you like to set up a radio station?

I was like, Yeah, I think that’s a bloody idea. So, I took the reins and quickly got some really interesting people on board like James Walsh and Ed Harcourt. We have just finished recording my album, and I said, ‘have you ever thought about being a radio DJ?’ Then I got Paul Gallagher involved and other people. It just started to develop, and it has been developing at a very rapid pace for the last few weeks and months. We’ve actually just landed a café, so the Islington cafe is going to be opening as soon as we’re able to do so.

So realistically, it’ll be in the summer and there’s going to be a shop in there selling t shirts.

House of Coco

I love it! That’s so cool.

Tom Bright

To be honest, it’s just been really organic. Interesting, great personalities and just building from nothing outwards on mixcloud only. Whilst everyone’s had no schedule, everyone just digests things on demand. So, we’re just going to go on and not put pressure on. It’s a positive thing and there’s some exciting things coming up. We are planning an Islington Radio festival in September, so that would be an amazing way to get some late summer live music enjoyment for people.

House of Coco

So, what else is in store for you in 2021? You have your album out and hopefully some live performances. What else can we expect from Tom Bright?

Tom Bright

Lots of singles, in the run up to the album. The album, Islington Radio which is just growing and growing. I am hoping to write another book and I am writing a comedy podcast at the moment as well, which is quite different. All incredibly positive things and Islington Radio has some really exciting things going on.

House of Coco

You’ve got so many things going on as well. Is there anything that you want to bring in that isn’t on the radar at the moment, or do you have any other ambitions?

Tom Bright

So, there’s something else that I am looking at doing and it kind of relates to coaching stuff I’m doing now. So, there’s a lot of people when you talk, artists in particular who lack a bit of self-confidence and direction or struggle with organisation. It’s about breaking it down – maybe it’s just needing some advice that could help people. We’ll see!

Tom’s next single ‘How Young We Were’ is out on 9th April. His album ‘Legacy’ is out in the autumn. Follow Tom on his Instagram for further

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In Conversation with: Embrace

In Conversation with: Embrace

From playing the main stage at Glastonbury to their debut album ‘The Good Will Out’ becoming one of the fastest-ever-selling debut albums by a British artist, Embrace are no strangers to both success and critical acclaim in equal measure and have cemented their place as one of the UK’s most consummate and respected rock bands.

Embrace have been particularly busy of late, preparing for their forthcoming live streamed gig ‘Embrace: Best of (Live From The Cellar Of Dreams) which takes place this Saturday 27th February with the live performance subsequently being released on vinyl.

Intriguingly, the band have thrown out the curation of the set list to the fans who have voted in their droves to have a chance to hear their favourite tracks.

Music Editor Emma Harrison spoke to bassist Steve Firth from the band to find out more.

House of Coco

I am very much looking forward to the live streamed gig which is going to be amazing. It’s your second live streamed gig which follows on from the first one which took place in October 2020.

However, on this occasion, you are allowing the fans to curate the setlist. The voting has now closed. Can you tell me anything about how the set list is shaping up? Or is it all a bit of a secret?

Embrace

There’s a few oddballs that have been asked for in the set list, but not many people have asked for these songs which are B sides. So, there’s some stuff that have never been played or that we haven’t played live in over 20 years.

It’s going to be a very interesting set to be honest, it’s going to be better than what we normally do I think, as it’s easy to play it safe and just do a ‘greatest hits’ package. I think it’s going to be a lot harder than what we normally play as some of the songs are a bit more technical so to say.

House of Coco

Amazing! So, whose idea was it to throw out to the fans and say ‘You have control’. Was this a collaborative decision?

House of Coco

We were thinking of interesting things to do – to keep ourselves busy and to keep fans interested. We wanted to keep ourselves busy and keep working as there’s currently no gigs or festivals planned at this moment in time.

So, we’re just gonna keep trying finding things to do and continue to be quite creative. As a band, we speak all the time. I don’t know if you know about Patreon?

House of Coco

Yeah! I do! I did an interview with KT Tunstall last autumn and she was really waxing lyrical about Patreon – she swears by it.

Embrace

We started it last summer and one of the good things that we have been doing over the years is filming everything that we do. We discovered hundreds of tapes, a lot of old VHS tapes from back in the day. I have been working my way through them and found some wonderful ten-minute videos of band trips to places like Thailand, footage from Glastonbury and all this sort of stuff.

House of Coco

That’s so cool!

Embrace

The guys are really loving them, and I am loving working my way through them. It’s nice looking back.

House of Coco

It’s a total treasure trove! It’s been almost 24 years now. I think what’s really interesting is the band still has the same line up. That is pretty rare and there are not many examples of other bands who have accomplished the exact same thing. What’s the secret to the relationship that you have got as a group?

Embrace

It’s worked out. We have never had any fights or any massive fall outs. We are all quite chilled really. We’ve never come to blows; everyone knows their place which is good.

House of Coco

That’s good to know! Are you excited for the gig? It’s on Saturday the 27th of February so not long to go now!

Embrace

Yeah! We are getting stuck into rehearsals. It’s in a studio in Bradford. It’s sat there doing nothing. We are all having Covid tests so we can continue to rehearse together and we are all being really careful. We are also releasing the gig on vinyl as I am such a vinyl addict.

House of Coco

Me too! I got so much vinyl during lockdown – all three of them!

Embrace

It’s all about getting drunk and getting on eBay and buying records!

House of Coco

You have pretty much described my lockdown experience so far! LD1 through to LD3 – drinking a shitload of wine and buying vinyl!

What vinyl have you buying recently?

Embrace

The new Sleaford Mods album is good.

House of Coco

I love that album – one of my albums of the year so far and we are only in February!

What are you most looking forward to when it comes to the gig? It’s going be a little bit different from a standard Embrace gig as you don’t have the crowd which is great energetically.

How will you approach it? And how can you replicate the energy that you would normally get from the audience without them being there?

Embrace

We’ve done it before and you don’t think that you will get nervous, but when you press play, and it goes out live to the internet – you do get nervous. You don’t want to fuck up and you don’t want to let anyone down. It’s going out live so people can hear if you can mess up. Yeah, there’s pressure on and this performance is going to be recorded so it’s got to be spot on. Plus, it’s a two-hour gig.

House of Coco

I can imagine! So is it just going to be two hours of you performing solidly or will you be chatting and sharing anecdotes from the last 24 years of being in the band as well?

Embrace

Well, last time we chatted a bit but I don’t know. We’ll see what happens. It’s just a shame we can’t have a few beers and relax and share stories.

House of Coco

What do you love most about playing live?

Embrace

I love that it’s the five of us together and that have been together after twenty odd years. I’m proud of us sometimes when we have done a really good gig like at the Millennium Stadium. You think ‘Bloody hell, I never thought I would do that!’.

House of Coco

And in terms of your gigs that you have attended? What’s your favourite one that you’ve ever been to?

Embrace

Oh I don’t know! You think about it afterwards when a band makes it big – you were there at the start. I remember seeing Joy Division and the Buzzcocks back in the day and in my head that has become a bigger thing that what it was. At the time, I liked them but didn’t love them.

With the history of Joy Division, they are one of my favourite bands. So, in my head, that is one of the best gigs I have ever been to.

House of Coco

It sounds good!

Embrace

I don’t know if you like Pink Floyd?

House of Coco

(gets very animated) I love Pink Floyd!

Embrace

I went to see Roger Waters a few years ago at the Manchester Arena and it was the most expensive gig that I had ever been to. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it and it was one of the best things I had seen in my life. I came out thinking ‘that was amazing!’

House of Coco

I was listening to ‘Wish You Were Here’ about half an hour ago.

Embrace

I was just listening to Animals last week.

House of Coco

I love that album! You took part in Tim Burgess Twitter listing party for the album ‘Out Of Nothing last year which coincided with the release of the album on vinyl. How was that because so many are people taking part in the listening party now. Tim has done an amazing job.

Embrace

At first, I thought it was a strange idea but I really really enjoyed it. I thought it was fantastic. You really have to listen to it as you’ve heard the songs a million times before. It’s like you are listening to it for the first time and it was brilliant. I would do it again and again and again! It’s a great idea!

House of Coco

I love it! Are you planning to have another collaboration with Tim on any of the other albums? And if so, which album would you pick?

Embrace

I’d like to do them all to be honest!

House of Coco

Tim would probably be up for it actually.

Embrace

We have met all the Charlatans – they are really nice guys.

House of Coco

He’s such a nice guy and has had some amazing acts on like Paul McCartney. But he’s also championing smaller up and coming bands too, which is great.

So as a band, you have been around since the early 90s. You have released seventh studio albums, one singles album as well as an album of B sides. It’s such a phenomenal collection of work.

The Good Will Out is now almost 24 years old. It has so much critical acclaim but also so much commercial success.

When releasing it did you envisage how successful and how huge it was going to be. I think it’s the one of the fastest selling debut albums by British artists. So, it did brilliantly!

Embrace

It’s mad, you are talking to American radio, press and all that you don’t really appreciate it at the time. It’s only really so much later down the line that you think ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that!’ And the other thing is when you have had a hit you want the next one to do better. So, when the next one doesn’t do as well you are suddenly disappointed and are like ‘Oh it’s only gone to number ten!’ whereas two years earlier you would have bitten someone’s hand off to have a number ten. You get very used to it very quickly!

House of Coco

Are you planning to release any new material? The last studio album was 2018 wasn’t it? Are you guys writing at the moment or just focusing on the up-and-coming gig?

Embrace

We are all constantly writing. I have about 20 ideas and the others have the same. We have about enough for two thirds of an album, so if we can get together this year it will be a fantastic opportunity to do another album and get it ready for when we can gig again. We ideally need to be in the studio to get it done.

House of Coco

When it comes to song writing, it seems that you all come up with different ideas. How does that work within the band? It seems like everyone can come to the table with an idea. What’s the process?

Embrace

Most commonly, Danny will come with the melody and then we play around with it for an hour and try and make it into something good. He might have a verse and then we try another two chords, and we add that in and we are trying to build songs that way. We might do 10 of them a day or it might be two weeks without doing this. We have hundreds of little bits that we sit down with a pad and paper and all vote for our favourite bits and put them into another list.

We got list crazy! Once we have the feeling right, we finish the lyrics but not until the last minute. That’s the way it works best, I think.

House of Coco

Do you have a particular track that you are most proud of? Whether it is your favourite to perform or the most memorable?

Embrace

I think it varies as sometimes it’s nice to give tracks a rest sometimes. I think the track that we have played throughout all these years and have never got bored of is ‘All You Good Good People’ I think when we wrote that we knew we had something a bit different.

We thought we had got something special and that song has stood the test of time.

House of Coco

I love that song! You must have so many memories, it’s going to be so interesting seeing all with this footage.

Embrace

There’s some fantastic stuff such as being on Fox News in America at 7am in the morning talking with the next segment being about two dogs! It’s weird!

It’s stuff that fans are going to be interested in.

House of Coco

Do you have any standout memories that you just think this is what represents my Embrace experience?

Embrace

It was my favourite ever gig but also the most terrifying gig we ever did. Glastonbury main stage we went on before David Bowie and just after the Happy Mondays. I absolutely loved the Happy Mondays and was a massive fan. I could not believe we were playing after them. I loved Bowie too and we were playing before Bowie. All day long I was absolutely shitting bricks!

House of Coco

I bet you were! How do you calm your nerves before a live performance like that?

Embrace

Sometimes before live gigs you are not nervous at all. Other times you can do smaller gigs and be really nervous. It’s hard to control really. It gets easier the more you do it. You get a song out of the way and you totally relax and start enjoying it. I remember that gig and it was televised as well. That adds a whole new dimension you sometimes think your fingers are turning into sausages and you think ‘Shit, why am I doing this?!’

House of Coco

How long have you been playing for?

Embrace

I started playing guitar badly as a 15-year-old and started playing bass in my twenties. I wanted to be in a band and was never going to be a guitar player. I think my fingers are too fat to be honest!

House of Coco

No!

Embrace

Compared to the others, they do it both ways. I think you gravitate to something and you don’t want it to become too ‘Spinal Tap’

House of Coco

I love Spinal Tap! I rewatched that in lockdown and The Rutles!

Embrace

I was just talking about The Rutles the other day to my friend!

House of Coco

No way! I watch it mainly for Mick Jaggers impressive smirkting (smirking and acting) it’s a thing of beauty!

It’s on YouTube, I will ping you over the link. I might rewatch it again myself.

Is there anything else that you want our readers to know about the gig which is on this Saturday? Other than just buy a ticket?

Embrace

It’s going to be a great show and we are looking forward to it.

Embrace: Best Of (Live From The Cellar Of Dreams) takes place on Saturday 27th February.

Tickets are just £15 and can be purchased here.

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In Conversation with: Naipia

In Conversation with: Naipia

We all have regrets, but it takes courage to highlight your previous choices and turn this into art. However, when it comes to the band Naipia, this has produced one of their best songs to date ‘Bluestown’.

Following on from previous releases, Bluestown will resonate with most of us – how the decisions we make define us and how we then learn from this.

Hailing from East Sussex, NAIPIA fuses indie and pop genres taking unforgettable melodies and addictive hooks that will have you singing along in no time. A common theme that occurs within their material is self-reflection with the message that ‘it’s ok to not be ok’.

Having signed to Golden Robot Records in 2020, NAIPIA has had string of successful releases, leading them to perform in the acclaimed BBC Introducing Live Lounge. They are back with their first release for 2021, ‘Bluestown’ – an anthemic tune that poetically highlights lead singer George’s past struggles.

Music Editor Emma Harrison spoke to singer and guitarist George to find out more.

House of Coco

Congratulations on the new single ‘Bluestown’ which is out right now. This song is about your own personal experience about how it’s best not to get too drawn into people’s lives if and when they are making the wrong decisions. Tell me a bit more about the song and what it means to you.

Naipia

When I was much younger, I think it was common to reflect on how the world is bigger than the town that you grew up with. It’s also learning about the relationships that you have with people in those times. You understand how significant it is.

House of Coco

It’s all about looking into the big wide world, isn’t it but also looking beyond it too as well? It’s also about disengaging with people who live their lives a bit too close to the edge from a self-preservation perspective.

Naipia

Bluestown is about looking into the way I would pair myself with someone who was willing to walk the “knife’s edge” and make mistakes with me.

Essentially, I was subconsciously going out of my way to create relationships where their own pasts and habits which would feed into mine, leading to a downward spiral eventually for both of us.

This song for me was a note to myself that I recognise that person in me, isn’t me. I won’t be deluded by the glamorisation of drugs with the thought of them making me feel free and I won’t ever put someone else in situations to feed that part of me that I recognise.

House of Coco

It’s a great song. For our readers that haven’t had the opportunity to listen to your music, how would you describe your music style? I would describe you guys as indie, but I also hear influences of rock and pop in there too.

Naipia

Indie pop predominantly, we always pride ourselves on big melodies and big chords and that naturally has led us down this indie pop kind of avenue. I don’t know if it’s bad advice, but we’ve never concentrated too much on genre. We just purely kind of followed our heart, which has led us into the indie pop sector. But it’s meant that when writing, we can be a little bit free, and we just follow what we’re loving. I think we’ve now been playing together for years and I think we could definitely put ourselves in that indie pop box and we love it.

House of Coco

Before we officially started doing the interview, we talked about The Jam which is one of my favourite bands of all time and how they have shaped your music. Who else would you consider to be a musical influence? I’m guessing there’s quite a lot.

Naipia

There’s a hell of a lot there. All three of us have different inspirations from Catfish and The Bottlemen to Sam Fender. It’s all about the big melodies and the big chords.

House of Coco

I love Sam Fender – good choice! So Naipia, the name is a variation of a name of a town that you were lost in when travelling around New Zealand. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

Naipia

I was living in Brighton and I guess you could say I had a bit of a breakdown one day. I said, ‘I’m going to sell everything’ and I travelled to New Zealand, where I quite literally got lost, and ended up in this town called Napier with no money.

I had an iPad to my name and three weeks into the journey, I felt the need to buy a guitar. So, I sold my iPad, which was my only communication with family back and bought this little guitar, which is sitting over there still (shows me his guitar).

And that was it. I literally stayed there for months, and I worked on fruit fields, but every day I’d get home, go down to the beach and I would sit down I’d write songs and that that really was the story behind the name of the band.

House of Coco

Naipia is made up of yourself, Tom who plays drums and Harry who plays bass – it’s a real family affair and it seems like such a special dynamic.

Naipia

We’ve grown up loving music, very passionately, as cousins, at family gatherings, we go down to the music room and that’s where we spend our time and we’re absolutely loving it.

House of Coco

You definitely can!

I would imagine one of the highlights for the band so far is being played on BBC Introducing?

Naipia

Yeah, we’ve had great support from BBC introducing especially Melita. Yeah, she’s absolutely amazing. She’s one of those just special people who is truly passionate about the music industry. She’s given us some great advice and she has had a lot of time for us, which just means the world. She’s played most of our tracks, which is very, very lucky to have had.

House of Coco

One of my favourite Naipia tracks is ‘Lonely’ which you released last year during lockdown. It’s a beautiful song and is incredibly endearing.

Naipia

I actually wrote that song on Valentine’s Day, the year before. We quickly realised this is an opportunity for us to write something quite positive about loneliness and how we feel about spending time on your own. That’s what where that song came from and it actually ended up having a really positive outcome. It was written about a year before lockdown and it came in and out of the practice room. One day, it just clicked and to be honest, it was a stroke of luck.

House of Coco

I really love it and I was listening to it again this morning. It’s really uplifting, and I think it’ll be like an amazing crowd pleaser at a festival or gig. I feel like that is one of your anthems now.

Naipia

We love festivals – it’s our favourite thing as a band ever. It’s like one of our main reasons for getting out there and playing the music.

We absolutely love the opportunity to play on something like the BBC Introducing stage or Reading / Leeds. I think we kind of definitely see ourselves there. Yeah, that would be awesome!

House of Coco

The live music scene (at the time of interview) is looking rather precarious for 2021, do you have any kind of festivals/gigs committed at this stage or is it still up in the air?

Naipia

We are in a bit of a difficult situation in that sense, but we’re just staying as positive as we can. We are big believers in the universe and if the universe has put this in front of us we will use this time to the best of our ability, with that main goal of getting onto a festival stage.

When you’ve worked your hardest, and you’re doing the things that make you happy. I think that’s when the universe works.

House of Coco

When it comes to song writing? Are you the main songwriter? Or is it more of a collaborative effort?

Naipia

Oh, yeah, I’m definitely the main songwriter, I guess the best way of describing it when it comes to song writing, I sketch out the song and then we colour it in together. I definitely spend the most time at a piano playing new stuff, and then I’ll bring the boys the melody and then we go from there.

House of Coco

I have had the pleasure of seeing you play live twice, and you were amazing. What do you miss the most about gigging? Is the interaction with the crowd or is it just the physicality of playing live?

Naipia

It’s the people. A massive hundred percent – it’s the people that watche you play 40 minutes on stage.

It’s the reason we get out and do what we do. It’s the most magic feeling in the world.

It’s also the other people interactions we have – it’s meeting the other bands. We really pride ourselves in just interacting with as many musicians; fellow musicians as possible.

That’s what we miss the most. You know, it’s always that thing towards the end of the show where you catch up with people. Yeah, I miss it dearly.

House of Coco

So, the most recent time I saw you play live was right here in Bournemouth supporting The Hoosiers. How was that for you and how did this gig come about?

Naipia

Well, we’re just extremely lucky to have an amazing team around us. We’ve got Harrison and Rachel from HP Music working alongside us as our managers. Rachel, like us is just emailing people all the time. The gig came about when Leighton, the bass player from Hoosiers dropped in on one of our studio sessions and then before we know it, we were up till three in the morning making bass sounds and we just really hit it off and it kind of just started from there.

House of Coco

You have built up quite a loyal fan base which is really lovely…

Naipia

Yes, yes. Wow! So much support for all the tracks. It’s been unbelievable, actually and in such a quick space of time. So yeah, really, really grateful for that. We are really fortunate to have been added to a few playlists too which is amazing. Actually, there’s no word for me to describe them. I’m not used to this level of support at all. You have to pinch yourself sometimes. Just because I think we solely made music for ourselves, our hearts and we always went into this with no expectation and yet the support we’re being shown is immense.

House of Coco

When it comes to the song writing process, you told me that you do part of it, and then the rest of the guys will colour it and that this works as a collaborative process for you.

As a main songwriter, what comes first? Is it the music or is it the lyrics?

Naipia

It really depends. I think for me, it’s probably the music. I think I heard someone say to me, that Noel Gallagher said ‘You’ve got to go fishing every day as a songwriter, and you don’t catch it every day. But one day, you’ll get a huge catch.

So, I am a big believer in setting up my instrument every day. And sometimes I’ll get a set of chords out of nowhere, and that will flow.

With one song, I woke up one night and had the melody for the chorus and that was the chords that were written. That was quite a new thing for me. I then take it to the band and we then create the song together.

House of Coco

Do you feel like your sound has evolved within the last four years?

Naipia

Definitely! I mean, we really were wanting to develop. We’re always open if it feels right. We’re always open to trying something new whilst at the same time holding on to our main values. We spent a year in rehearsals, and I think a lot of our development in our sound happened in our first year. Therefore, I think our core values musically will always stay the same.

House of Coco

What’s next for you as a band? Are you planning to release some more material?

Naipia

We’re sitting on an EP at the moment. We took the chance with the pandemic going on to try and just get as much content as we can under our belts. We had the tracks finished before we went into lockdown and we have Harrison Perks is our producer.

He’s an absolute wizard – if anyone needs some recording, you need to get yourself to HP Music as this guy is a wizard.

We have been working remotely which was just a beautiful process. It sounds like it should have been a nightmare, but it wasn’t. We really, really believe in our lessons here – we’re on a learning journey with music production and we just feel very fortunate to have had Harrison and Rachel alongside us for that.

Naipia’s latest single ‘Bluestown’ is out now.

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In Conversation with: Cerys Matthews

In Conversation with: Cerys Matthews

House of Coco’s Music Editor Emma Harrison spoke to musician, song writer, best-selling author and award-winning BBC 6 Music DJ , Cerys Matthews about her new groundbreaking spoken word album ‘We Come From The Sun’.

Collaborating with Hidden Orchestra (the solo project of Joe Acheson) and some of the UK’s most eminent poets with music composed by Cerys set to 10 spoken word tracks written and performed by the likes of Cia Mangat, Kim Moore, Kayo Chingonyi and more, the album explores a ‘sound journey’ of poetry about Genesis – birth, heritage and our journeys through life.

Emma spoke to Cerys about recording at the iconic Abbey Road studios, the process for composing for spoken word artists and why truth in art is so important.

House of Coco

Congratulations on your recent single ‘Christmas Eve’ which you have composed and collaborated with eminent poet Liz Berry. I watched the video of the single today in preparation for the interview and loved it.

It’s just so different and life affirming in equal measure. How did the collaboration come about?

Cerys Matthews

I’ve been a huge fan of Liz’s work since I first read her poetry and I’ve been involved in a lot of literary prizes and award ceremonies and whatnot for years now. I love reading – I’m a huge fan of literature and writers whether that’s song writing, or you know, prose, poetry, novels. I just loved literature and writing in general.

So, I came across Liz’s work as part of being a judge on the Foreword Prizes for poetry. The first collection is called ‘Black Country’. It’s just standout. I mean, literally, her writing is just so precise, and so full of light. And of course, it sticks out from the crowd because she writes in her natural Black Country dialect.

I wasn’t really familiar with the nuance of the Black Country dialect and I thought it was, you know, like many people it’s just like that but it’s got its own regional variations.

And it’s so soft. I just fell in love head over heels in love with her voice – her writing voice. Yeah!

House of Coco

When you listen to her, it’s almost like getting this warm hug. She kind of just radiates this lovely energy, doesn’t she? It’s so nice. I could just listen to her all day.

Cerys

Yeah! I think I that there’s a huge sort of prejudice against the word poetry and against the definition of the word poetry.

If we can just chuck that away and just accept that poetry is just communication.

What is poetry? It’s communication. It can communicate motivational things, political things, enlightening things, maddening things, entertaining things, or things full of love. Old memories. I mean, the first thing you do, for many people, anyway in huge events in life whether it’s births, marriages, funerals, poetry, you know is to select poetry.

In songs as well, and nursery rhymes, it’s all poetry, but the word poetry has become stained and tainted by the idea that it is epic and it can be hard to understand ‘epic’.

It’s like that language on the top shelf – dusty shelves and only academics or the elites can really truly understand them.

You know, poetry comes in all spectrums and in my culture, it’s for all men, I mean, as human beings.

It’s been written and enjoyed and made and consumed and shared by everybody, from miners and farmers to rugby fans on the terraces and graffiti artists on the streets.

House of Coco

I completely agree. You’re a huge advocate of making poetry more accessible to people who perhaps felt they wouldn’t necessarily engage with it. But, as you said, poetry is just a definition of one thing that comes in many different ways, which I think is really lovely.

You’ve got an amazing selection of poets and spoken word artists on the new album ‘We Come From the Sun’, which is due out January 15th. You’ve got lots of different collaborations which includes the likes of Adam Horovitz, Lemn Sissay, MA.MOYO and Imtiaz Dharker.

How did you find them? Is it similar to what you did with Liz, you just really admired their work and how did you pick just ten?

Cerys

It was hard to pick just ten! So, the other poets basically was a massive undertaking. I’ve been enjoying the recordings of people like Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Langston Hughes and W.B Yeats and you know, a whole host of writers.

I enjoyed going into the BBC archives and the archive of Decca. Then Decca asked me to get involved and I said ‘Well, why don’t we make an album with the current crop of great writers’ – to keep filling the archives, you know, because especially now when we’ve had like crisis upon crisis, with Brexit and climate change, now the pandemic, and it’s one massive thing after another.

There’s a lot to process and a lot to respond to, and a lot of writers are doing that, and I thought it would be really wonderful if we could record them for posterity. So, this is the first in a series of releases.

So, we will begin at the beginning, which is in my mind, the emergence of a new being, a story about a journey about speaking. So, it’s genesis – all the poems have to be hopeful, wide eyed – this sort of emergence of a new being, so we’ve got ‘Connemara’ by Liz Berry on there as well as ‘Christmas Eve’ and ‘Connemara’ is all about becoming a mum for the first time.

In all of this, I have never read a description of the physicality of giving birth in such a close way to the actuality.

She describes it as raw as a butcher’s shop and that’s pretty much it – you can smell the blood!

House of Coco

It’s very visceral, isn’t it?!

Cerys

Yes, so visceral and then you have ‘Flame Lily’ which kicks off the album, which is by MA. MOYO. It’s so strident and powerful. It’s about identity – the identity of an individual.

But it also absolutely celebrates the fact that not one individual comes out of a vacuum, that we are here on the shoulders of our ancestors and over the layers of humans that have come before us.

So, it was a brilliant way of kicking off this first album to do that to say, ‘here I stand. But I am coming off the back of these guys behind’. Kim Moore has a brilliant one on the album called ‘And The Soul’ – it’s about the inner self. Who are you?

Wow, that was a poem that needed nothing more than just a thought.

We take the listener on a journey. And it can be sort of countryside sounds in the world of nature, the suburbs. You go into the city and you are right in the middle of traffic.

We also go inside the body and there’s lots of sounds of the body fluids and the heartbeat. I love that one!

House of Coco

That’s an incredible thing. Did the poems already exist in their own entity and did you then compose the music to them?

Or were they specifically written for this album?

Cerys

That’s a good question. I had such a solid idea for the concepts and the theme.

I went through my collections and picked the poems I wanted to use for it because I wanted it to work not just as individual poems, but for each poem to lead on from the other one, like it was a journey and a whole – so they are works, but they are a journey and they cross reference.

It was really important to do that. So, I hit the points I wanted to use with that in mind, then I approached the poets. And the poets happily said yes.

But I think that was because of recording at Abbey Road!

House of Coco

I am sure it was both Abbey Road and you!

Cerys

I would have said yes to Abbey Road! Even if it was just juggling!

House of Coco

It’s 2021 – let’s make it a thing!

Cerys

Yeah!

With the poems, I picked two and then I asked the poets themselves to pick one. I thought if we were in Abbey Road, behind the mic, we might as well record three each.

There were curveballs you know. Most of them when recording I’d hoped to achieve my early sketches, but there were curveballs when the poet went into the vocal booths like Belinda AKA MA. MOMO when she went in she just floored me with ‘Flame Lily’ the track that kicks off the album.

And I thought ‘Holy Shit!’ That’s gotta be the first track. I didn’t see that one coming. And that was one of her choices.

So it was an absolute dream to collaborate with these guys. You know, when I always think of somebody who’s working in music, if the lyrics are standout, you can almost do anything.

House of Coco

That’s so true!

Cerys

If the rhythm section is great and if you’ve got the best groove in the world, you can almost sing anything on top.

It works both ways. My aim was always to worst case scenario to step back a bit and not suffocate a great piece of writing and suffocate the poem.

I had to let the poems lead. Their reading of it really led the way to what sounds Joe and I put on the poem and that’s how it has to be.

House of Coco

Exactly, so you just taking an amazing body of work and then just elevating it with your compositions.

You’ve done a lot of song writing for yourself. When you are just composing the music to other people’s words, do you take more of a different approach to normal song writing?

Cerys

It is actually! I think the pressures off in a sense, because personally, I find writing music a lot easier than writing consistently great lyrics across the whole song.

So, the idea that somebody presents you and will let you choose a whole body of work that already exists – it already works!

You know that the joy is to almost add a pair of wings, so it just can get a bit further than it’s already going.

You know, you’re just adding to its engine! You know, as I said, the worst thing would be to get in the way of its engine. But if you can just soup it up a little tiny bit, so it gets into corners that might surprise people. That’s what I wanted to do. It’s inspired by things like the Beat Generation, Allen Ginsberg, they all mix music, you know, jazz and Langston Hughes? This is nothing new.

I’m a huge fan of music like The Beatles!

House of Coco

I’m repping The Beatles today (shows Cerys her Beatles t shirt)

Cerys

Oh, you love The Beatles?! I mean, they’re poets in a sense, you know, and this is what I’m saying about poetry that those lines stay with you for your whole life. You know ‘I want to hold your hand’ – it’s simple, but it says so much. So, it means so much to you.

House of Coco

Exactly! So, the spoken word part was recorded at Abbey Road Studios which so iconic, but you did a lot of the music production working remotely with Joe – how was that process?

Cerys

So, the thing is working remotely was something that was happening even before COVID.

So that musicians across the world could collaborate together without having to get on a plane. So, we knew it was technically possible.

The irony is that it almost focused that project even more. It almost became more magical in certain factors.

As our horizons were shrinking into each of our four walls, so our aural adventure, this journey through the countryside or through someone’s body became more real and more of an escape, and more magical. So, it actually worked in a strange way, to our favour. But to this day, I’ve not met Joe in the flesh!

House of Coco

Are you planning a bit of a reunion with the poets at some point when life gets back to normal?

Cerys

We are hoping that we can take this on the roads because it kind of belongs on the road. I’d love to meet the musicians across the world that we worked with like when we needed a specific sound like from snow melting in Nepal to pigeons in the Black Country.

We had a whole network of musicians and it would be lovely to say thank you in the flesh.

House of Coco

What’s the plan for the album – would you do a live performance of it? Would you take it on the road? If obviously we can do so in 2021? Would that be something on the agenda?

Cerys

Yeah, I would love to do that as present it as a journey – an entity and do visuals as well. Have live musicians play and Joe as well obviously.

All the poets in their own right are very, very active on the live scene. It shouldn’t be relegated to a two dimensional black and white visual. It’s a living thing like Dylan Thomas – he took his poetry on tour throughout America. So, I mean this shouldn’t be radical or shocking. It’s not novel. It’s how poetry was always done from the beginning, the aural tradition. It lives, it echoes, it resonates and evolves. It makes mistakes. I want to do that live.

God! To be out and about would be just absolutely brilliant after this long, so let’s hope! I think it’s going to be a fair few months though yet isn’t it?

House of Coco

Yeah, I think so sadly. When it happens, I think it will be an incredibly immersive experience for those attending. I think people would come away feeling elevated.

What would you want people to take away from having either listened to the album or from seeing it as a show?

What would you think would be the key takeaways for people?

Cerys

To give people a bloody good time while also resonating and going a bit deeper. The best pieces of work will echo and ripple and resonate and will come back and disappear. You won’t forget them.

Any artists, whether it’s visual, or audio or writing will say the same thing. It’s about having an effect, that’s it – it’s as simple as that.

House of Coco

I think it definitely is and I can’t wait to hear the album. Do you have a track that you think ‘I wish I’d written this’? Or is it too hard to choose?

Cerys

All of them!

I know, going back to Dylan Thomas, he would get so angry when people would say, ‘Well, he can turn on the tap and all this work just pours out with him’

They were trying to compliment him and say he was a natural. But as he and so many other poets or writers that I wrote about, he said, you know, if you’ve written great things, part of that means it looks effortless, but it’s like the swan – it’s so much effort going into it.

Whether it’s as a musician, or whether it’s sort of like crossing out and revisiting it in like 10, 15, 20 or 30 years, build up the writing into that particular piece of work.

Dylan Thomas would describe himself as a carpenter, you know, like keep on carving this particular piece of wood until it’s the right shape.

You know, so, I forgotten what the question was!

House of Coco

So, basically you don’t have a favourite track that you wish you had written!

Cerys

I really appreciate the work and the imagination that goes into these, because that’s the thing with poetry.

You know, poetry at its best, is when a few words say great things I should say. Then you will get the revelation in a single coupling or a comparison like the one I mentioned, Liz Berry.

You’re a brand new mom and you feel like you’re your own flesh has been like a butcher’s shelf, you know? And when you when you hit them a truth like that in a line, that is great poetry that you will not forget.

You know, ‘I wondered lonely as a cloud’. Yeah. Why do people remember that line is because that’s how one feels lonely?

That hits upon a truth that we identify with or recognise.

Now, that’s what makes it great and what makes a great poem.

It’s not even just the structural aspects of this. It’s the sort of the putting things together that one normally doesn’t put together and the association and the comparison that nails it on the head. Exactly!

House of Coco

You said earlier that this is going be a series of work. Will it be like a constantly evolving thing – can you could see several albums?

Cerys

Yeah, I didn’t want to put any limitation on it, it’ll just be as long as it needs to be as good as writing is at the moment.

It might be going on for a long time – somebody else might have to take over, you know! The whole essence is kind of like, in all of its complexities? They are some pretty major ideas, aren’t they?!

House of Coco

Definitely! What would you tell people who hadn’t considered a spoken word album before?

Cerys

If you hate poetry, have a listen. I hope it brings makes you smile because it’s got such a variety of sounds in it.

Let me know if it takes you away and if we manage to do that as in – take people for a walk virtually then my job’s done!

‘We Come From The Sun’ by Cerys Matthews, Hidden Orchestra and 10 poets is out on the 15th January.

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The Music Lovers Gift Guide

Not finished your Christmas shopping yet? There’s still time to get the music fan in your life the gift that keeps on giving with our round up of our favourite music-related gifts for the holiday season and beyond.

Adorn your wall

Artist ‘The Seasick Sailor’ takes iconic bands and musicians like David Bowie, Blondie and The Who and creates achingly cool film-style poster prints that will take centre stage on any music fans wall.

From £17.34

www.theseasicksailor.co.uk

A real page turner

Not only is The Moons Andy Crofts an amazing singer and multi-instrumentalist, he is also a very talented photographer too. As bass player for Mr Weller himself, Andy has garnered a collection of unique photographs of Paul which is showcased in this stunning book and is ideal for anyone who loves music and/or photography.

£39.99

https://thisdayinmusicbooks.com/product/paul-weller/

Playtime

If you are looking to pick up a guitar for the first time, consider a Gretsch – it is ideal for players who would like something between a Gubson and a Fender. The Gretsch Professional Collection G6120T Limited Edition ’59 Nashville in Dark Cherry Stain takes first class engineering and fuses it with some of the most loved Gretsch attributes which includes the slim neck, vintage frets and clear, jangly Gretsch pickups. You get the true vintage Gretsch tone meets modern playability and performance with this limited and fine Dark Cherry Stain guitar.

£2499

https://www.andertons.co.uk/gretsch-professional-collection-g6120t-limited-edition-59-nashville-in-dark-cherry-stain

Cosy toes

Keep your feet toasty this winter with this super cool David Bowie socks from Chatty Feet. With over 40 designs to choose from, you are certain to find a design that you love.

£8

https://www.chattyfeet.com/products

Graphic Jam

You can’t beat a classic band tee, jeans and biker boots for a laidback classic look and this Led Zeppelin teeshirt from Truffle Shuffle certainly ticks all the right boxes. If you were lucky enough to see Led Zeppelin performing at the Wembley Empire Pool during their 1971 tour, you would have been treated to a five-hour show including bizarre vaudeville circus acts such as plate spinners, trapeze artists and performing pigs dressed as policemen. Known as the Electric Magic shows, demand was pretty crazy. This Led Zeppelin tee features the show’s poster, sold at the time for 30p and now a much-coveted collectable. Why not treat yourself to this iconic, psychedelic design, for a little slice of the action.

£19.99

https://www.truffleshuffle.co.uk/

Hear me now

WeSC True Wireless Earbuds keeps you connected at all times without the hassle of tangled cables. Recharge and go out all day, fully charged it will play your favorite playlists for up to 20 hours. The Earbuds are iPX6 rated, so it will hold up against elements like heavy rainfall and high pressure water.

£64.95

https://www.wesc.com/

You spin me right round baby, right round…

The Crosley Dansette Bermuda Vinyl Record Player is a vintage-inspired turntable from Crosley paired with a matching stand for the ultimate hi-fi look that brings ‘60s-inspired style to modern listening. With dynamic full-range stereo sound, this portable record player plays 33 1/3 and 45 RPM LPs and is complete with an auxiliary input. Simply add a stellar collection of vinyl and get ready for music bliss.

£250

https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/en-gb/shop/crosley-dansette-bermuda-vinyl-record-player

Words by Emma Harrison, Music Editor

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In Conversation with: Two Weeks in Nashville

In Conversation with: Two Weeks in Nashville

House of Coco’s Music Editor Emma Harrison spoke to up-and-coming band ‘Two Weeks in Nashville’ about social distancing gigs, songwriting, dealing with social media trolls and their musical influences.

House of Coco

Tell our readers who you are, your age, where you are from and what you play on the band.

Two Weeks In Nashville (TWIN)

We are Two Weeks In Nashville. I am lead singer and guitarist, Billy LeRiff, aged 21 from Lingfield. Yo, I’m Jonny Faires, also 21 and from Smallfield. Bonjour, I am Marc De Luca and for you I am 23 and from France. Hey I am Ian Wilson, age 22 and from Romsey.

House of Coco

Loving the introductions! Tell me, how did the band come together?

TWIN

Ian and I [Billy] actually met a few years ago whilst studying music at ACM, then I met Jonny through a producer. We were all in different bands at the time, but I wanted to start a group with likeminded guys.

We were all into the same 60s/70s rock music and as soon as we started jamming something like that came out! It wasn’t until late last year that we found Marc whilst looking for a guitarist online. He had only just moved to the UK from France with the dream to be a chef. After a tasty three courses and one rehearsal we knew the band was born… think it was the meal that did it!

House of Coco

That sounds amazing! I have heard about some of the dishes that Marc has prepared and I am very impressed!

Your bands name is after spending time recording in Nashville. How special was it to be recording in such an iconic place?

TWIN

It was really special! We had heard so much about it that going there was really living in a dream. If you haven’t been, we couldn’t recommend it enough. There’s such buzz, it was full of welcoming people with a passion for life and in most cases music! It is Music City, and now not just country music.

Just heading to the studio in the morning in a big American truck and driving down the wide highways was so exciting. It was hard for it not to influence our playing and our music. We owe Nashville a lot! We really found the beginnings of our sound there and our band name!

House of Coco

Talk to us about the process of songwriting? Is it a collaborative approach or do certain band members take the lead on this?

TWIN

The songwriting process is always different for each track.

It’s been a collaborative process for us, between the four of us and close friends.

We are inspired by what’s going on around us, some about what we’ve been going through individually and others about what close friends are going through; lyrically that’s what feels true to us and something we want to share we others who might be feeling the same way.

Musically though it could just be a riff or melody that sparks and we know we’ve got something worth working on if we can’t stop jamming it!

House of Coco

You are influenced by the likes of The Rolling Stones and U2 – what is it that you like about this style of music? For me they are iconic and are two of the best bands that I have ever seen live. What do you think you can learn from them and what in your opinion was the best ever gig that you have been to?

TWIN

It’s really the energy and rawness that inspires us from The Stones and U2. With The Stones we love their image and personality of each player that come through both on the record and live. U2 we love for the way they’ve evolved and modernised their sound. They all take risks and I think that’s what’s missing in rock music today. Best gig would have to be The Stones for me, or The Flaming Lips; that was a mental show, they know how to perform!

House of Coco

I agree, U2 and The Rolling Stones for me are up there in terms of putting on a show.

Your latest single ‘Homeward Bound’ is amazing- congratulations! What can we expect from the album?

TWIN

Thank you! I think you can expect more of the same energy from the record. The album was recorded in Nashville last year and is called, ‘Paper Planes and Razor Blades’.

Being heavily influenced by the time we spent there, we’re hoping it brings some hope and positivity to people! I think everyone needs some positivity at the moment. We had such a great time writing and recording it and we hope you can hear that in this record.

House of Coco

You definitely can and having seen you play live too at your recent gig supporting The Hoosiers this definitely translates to live performances too.

As a band, you are working and living together. Can that be too much sometimes?

TWIN

Yes, we’re essentially four best friends living and working together under the same roof. It’s inevitable that at times things could get too much, but I think we manage to get the balance right.

To be honest, we feel very lucky to have been able to live together this year, it has meant we’ve been able to keep working on music and content. It’s all been great practice, so it’s safe to say that we’re pretty ready for touring now too!

House of Coco

You recently played a socially-distanced gig in Bournemouth and you did have one planned in London for later this month, supporting The Hoosiers which has been postponed due to London going into Tier 3 sadly.

How was the Bournemouth gig and did you take a slightly different approach to things with regards to all the socially distanced shenanigans!?

TWIN

The Bournemouth Hoosiers show was a surreal one. It was at a super cool venue, Madding Crowd, and was an all a new experience to live music, very Covid safe with plastic shielding around each of us on stage!

Safety was no accident that night. Can’t quite believe we’re playing with them again (rescheduled for 11th February). That’s gonna be a wicked show!

House of Coco

I will try and pop down and see you play. If you could describe each band member in three words what would those words be?

TWIN

Marc- Vive la révolution

Jonny- Spoons meal deal

Billy- Look, Billy Idol!

Ian- Live laugh love

House of Coco

Laughing so hard at this! Clearly Chef de Luca wouldn’t be a Spoons Meal Deal would he?!

Other meal deals are available (subject to availability)

This is very intriguing indeed!

You create a lot of fun videos on social media such as the ‘bedtime stories’ and learning French the De Luca way.

Who comes up with these ideas and what can we expect moving forwards?

TWIN

We just listen to what the people want! The key is to read between the lines; the inspiration for the bedtime stories was someone leaving the comment “this band suck, only two seconds of listening to them and I want to die” on one of our videos.

Now we could have taken that comment at face value, but we read between the lines: “this band are really good, but I can only manage two seconds of listening to them because I am so damn tired! Someone please help me sleep!!!”.

And obviously we wanted to help, so we recorded them some bedtime stories. Haven’t heard anything back from them so they must be catching up on some much needed rest!

House of Coco

Wow! That’s brutal, but it’s good that you have done something positive and lovely out of it.

Did you always want to be musicians? How long have you been playing?

TWIN

I [Ian] originally wanted to be a surgeon when I was younger, but the years of training twinned with the job insecurity made me chose something a little more reliable. But I know for the other boys it’s been their life’s passion. We all took up our instruments relatively early in life, apart from Marc who’s going to start learning the guitar soon.

House of Coco

Good luck with that Marc!

So, if you weren’t musicians – what would you want to do?

TWIN

Marc would go back to leaving negative reviews on Amazon, Billy would pursue dance, Ian would be a landlord and Jonny would be that guy who isn’t related to your parents but you still call uncle.

House of Coco

Intrigued by the dance? I am thinking interpretative but this is just a punt! Well, if Fatima can do cyber, Jonny can certainly be ‘that guy’. There has to be a grant for that for sure!

OK, so for the readers that haven’t heard of Two Weeks in Nashville – how would you describe your sound?

TWIN

If The Rolling Stones had grown up watching “Come Outside” instead of post war Britain.

House of Coco

I get it! Which musicians (dead or alive) would you most want to collaborate with?

TWIN

Dream touring band:

John Bonham (auxiliary percussion)

Amy Winehouse, Janice Joplin, Seal (backing vocals)

John Lennon, BROOKFIELD and Mozart (organ, synth, piano)

Louis Armstrong, Maceo Parker, Miles Davis (Horn section)

House of Coco

Some strong choices there. Bonzo definitely would be my percussion choice for sure.

As well as sounding great, you have a very strong image and always look great. How important is the aesthetics to you?

TWIN

To be honest we just wear on stage whatever we turn up to the venue in! But thank you, that is a lovely compliment.

House of Coco

You are very welcome!

We have a show on 11th February 2021 supporting The Hoosiers at The Clapham Grand and a rescheduled show in London on 13th January supporting The Touch.

Other than that, there’s talk of some singles, an album and as many live shows as our touring Corsa can handle! Thank you for the interview and we wish you all the best for a much better 2021!

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Canada

In Conversation with: Irwin Sparkes

In Conversation with: Irwin Sparkes

House of Coco’s Music Editor Emma Harrison spoke to Irwin Sparkes about his intriguing album ‘Age of Entitlement’, why his solo project ‘White Tail Falls’ is such a departure from The Hoosiers and why he didn’t set out to make a mainstream record.

House of Coco

You recently did a socially distanced gig in Bournemouth which I attended and loved. How was that for you and how did you approach it differently from a normal gig?

Irwin

Definitely, there’s a change right from the offset. So, in terms of gear, you’ve got to bring your own mics.

That’s the first change and then there’s the plastic guards. I felt like we were sort of half Hannibal Lecter kept behind a shield of Perspex and half like the audience at SeaWorld and we were just going to spray them like Shamu doing a belly flop!

House of Coco

That would make for a great finale, but it’s a reflection of lockdown life isn’t it?

Irwin

I just hope we’re not going be inundated with charts full of songs called like ‘Lockdown Lover’ – everyone’s album is going to be about isolation!

House of Coco

Lockdown Lover sounds like something sing Alan Partridge would release!

Irwin

Yeah, with Phil Collins!

House of Coco

Let’s make it happen!

So White Tail Falls! Irwin, tell me how did the name and indeed the project came about? It was at the back end of 2016 – beginning of 2017 and you were going through a bit of a difficult time?

Irwin

Yeah, I think that catalyst of it was more of a dropping of the gauntlet because I was doing co-writes for other artists to help them write songs to say what they wanted to say. I found it a little frustrating because I realised lyrics are really important to me.

There was this great quote from Eg White who has written for the likes of Will Young and Adele who said when starting to write a song ‘Why bother writing a song? There’s so many written.’

I felt the lyrics were being forced to take a backseat because of the demands of current chart pop writing. There’s nothing wrong with songs that get you on to the dance floor and you can still get great songs, but I realised I wouldn’t want to do that all the time.

It was turning what I considered an art into more of a craft – it was just becoming functional. The artists didn’t seem that interested in what I’m singing and so, I thought, ‘Well, okay, if that’s getting me down, what do I have to say? What do I believe?’ and that kind of forced me to really think about it.

I guess I wrote what I knew, and I think people can relate if you’ve ever found yourself somewhere, and it doesn’t have to be geographical. Such as ‘how did I get here’, ‘why am I here’ I did not see myself at this point in my life at this age, being here. This wasn’t part of the plan and it’s kind of searching for the meaning and answers to those questions.

I also had a bit of a recalibration, or what you would call a ‘wobble crisis’ when The Hoosiers took a year off and it was just a realisation that everything that I’d spent building and thinking was going to go a certain way didn’t.

Even in relationships, I was sort of floundering and I wasn’t sure where everything was going in my life, I suppose. I ended up committing to a couple of years of therapy, and that just massively changed my life and I realised I was quite keen on sort of wanting to talk about those issues with no intention of jumping on a mental health bandwagon.

House of Coco

Definitely, it’s a really emotional and confessional body of work. If you look at ‘Body Weight’, that’s a really beautiful track and it is one of my standouts. Lyrically, it’s very revealing, was it quite cathartic to write that song?

Irwin Sparkes

Yeah, it was very freeing and very cathartic. With ‘Body Weight’, I don’t think I’ve ever been suicidal. I know it sounds very heavy, but the concept was really celebrating the reasons to keep going. I guess I wanted to talk about it being very much an anti-suicide song and finding hope, in your darkest moments of despair. Finding a reason to keep going, and kind of marvelling at the fact that really this human race – like all of us, when you to still sort of know yourself and know, and have experienced such trouble to still go through another day is a huge victory – it’s a real win.

I think I’ve found it tough, it’s, it’s not all just me and I didn’t want to make this entire endeavour about myself, which is why I kind of came up with it the ‘Age of Entitlement as a slight dig as being afforded the luxury to indulge in self exploration and all that nonsense. It’s not nonsense. It takes quite a lot to do. I thought I might be undermining it at times by calling it like, saying ‘Oh, it’s self-indulgent’, because I guess that’s maybe how I felt at times. But I think anyone who sort of takes on that pursuit of trying to get to the issue of why they’re acting the way they are, it’s takes a lot of strength. So yeah, I’ve got to remember that.’

House of Coco

Yeah, you do need to remember that. It’s not self-indulgent at all. It takes a lot to look inside yourself and to be so candid, especially as so many people, particuarly those who are in a similar situation to you can take inspiration from the lyrics as well.

With ‘Age of Entitlement’ how long did it take you to bring this project to life? You mentioned it’s been a few years in the making.

Irwin

Yeah, that’s right. I mean, just because I’m not a producer – it took a few years to just formulate, and I wanted to find a particular sound, and Erland Cooper who is having a real moment himself as a post classical composer really helped me accept all my rough demos. He said that they’ve got something -a bit of integrity and that felt like quite an important part of the puzzle and that the recordings had a degree of honesty. I didn’t want to be lying to the listener. So, you can hear bleeds of a click track or kids kicking the ball against the fence and there’s planes flying overhead because most of its recorded either in hotel rooms or my shed which is pretty basic.

House of Coco

I think because it is quite raw that it adds to how stunning the record is. So, how was the approach to doing everything by yourself? Obviously, in comparison to having a big team behind you, in the early days of the Hoosiers?

Irwin

Yeah, yeah, that’s a really good question! I’d say it was frightening, because I wouldn’t have anyone else to blame, but that’s also one of the reasons it took so long.

I realised this now that when it comes to being a director or a producer that it’s just decision making. Every time you play a chord you ask, ‘why not that chord’ or ‘why not this note?’

So, when it comes to being able to kind of pick and decide what you want it to sound like, I found myself throwing away chords that I felt would be too hooky. Or if I was trying to manipulate the listener, which is probably not what the record label Physical Education want to hear. Because, you know, it would have been a lot easier to get the songs on radio and so on if they were a bit more ear wormy.

But. I’m really happy with how the album came across because I felt like there’s some integrity there and it’s more indicative of the music that I listen to which is more North American alternative folk type stuff.

House of Coco

That definitely comes across. Did you play other instruments (as well as the guitar which you are amazing at) or did get people to remote in?

Irwin

I am going to have stop you there and correct you! I am a guitarist but not amazing! I’ve just been playing for longer than Jimi Hendrix was alive.

I play some bass on it. There’s even a track on the album – Devout where I am even playing a phone app! On the really cute little robot – I will show it to you! (Irwin shows me this funky app)

It’s just pretty cool and it’s really cute and it requires very little talent. So, it was right up my alley!

House of Coco

You’re very self-deprecating.

Irwin

Sorry. Yeah, I guess that creeps in every now and again. But I’ve got to say I love my album and I’m really happy with it.

I like the idea of it being quite organic and I wanted to think about being just a guitarist and singer. I thought how I could make a record and not just sound like another singer-songwriter type thing.

So I tried to limit myself to a couple of options, so that there’s these sounds that you hear throughout the record like a little toy synth recorder which is a kid’s toy from the 80s and it has a voice sampler. It uses your breath and makes a synth sound. So, I would work that in and layer it up and have as much fun with harmonies as I could possibly fathom.

House of Coco

In terms of your approach to song writing – what’s your process and where do you get your inspiration from?

Irwin

I’m always writing notes, and always keeping ideas. As I have written I’ve got a stronger sense of the identity of White Tail Falls and what I want to say. In fact, I’ll answer your other question from way back, even down to the name because I like the idea of the name being a sort of colour noun, verb, and also being that idea of, that it’s a place I believe in the Pacific Northwest of America that I’ve never been to. And I like the idea that it can exist in your mind and it’s a place that you’ve never witnessed.

So, it could be anything! I like that idea of a project I wanted it to be taken as something people didn’t know about it and there’s an idea of history that can be anything. And I like the sound of the words together if that helps. Now I have forgotten your actual question!

House of Coco

About your inspiration and the process of song writing. Do you find it quite easy? Does it just flow off the page or can it be quite hard sometimes?

Irwin

Yeah. I feel it’s like doing the mental equivalent of a spinning Zumba class! Then there’s a little breakthrough.

For me anyway, you know there are times when in an interesting way that it’s a very humbling way to write music. Often, it’s some chords that surprised me, or it’s a certain pattern or progression. And I think, oh, I don’t even know what I’m playing. I don’t know what this chord is. But it’s just, it’s nice. And you’re using your ears to write with.

I like that way of being led that way, rather than theoretically. And so often, you know, I might have a piece of music and I really liked how it sounds. And that will then evoke a mood. You kind of let the song write itself. So, you go what does it want to be about? Is there something foreboding about it or is there some kind of suspense to it? What’s the story trying to tell what you’re trying to reveal?

House of Coco

Declan O’Rourke told me that when he heard a certain phrase in a conversation that ‘all his alarm bells went off’ and he knew it had to be used in a song. Have you ever had an alarm bell moment when it comes to lyrics?

Irwin

There are certain lyrics that stand out and one of which is ‘Other Kind of Guy’ and it’s this idea of comparing yourself with someone being found wanting. So, I was looking for examples for doing that which I hadn’t heard being done. As Lennon said, ‘there’s nothing you can do that hasn’t been done’

But there was this idea of a lyric ‘I want to be like him. I want to do the right thing, but it won’t compute. On the same day I give blood, I spent 37 minutes with a prostitute’.

House of Coco

I was going to come on to that lyric!

Irwin

Yeah, I can imagine I could be asked very unsettling questions from this lyric, but I kind of thought it’s not standing in the way of writing the song. And for me, I just thought that’s it, that makes me pick my ears up. And it makes me uncomfortable to sing. And to put myself in that and I had to look at it and go ‘No, it is something that I felt needed to be said’ in terms of a song and not hearing that being expressed in a song and what that meant.

I was intrigued by the lyric and the idea of it, and that felt like it just sort of came together. And really then for me, it was having the courage to actually go through with it and to commit to it.

I know as well, it will turn a lot of people off, it isn’t for everyone and I’m okay with that. I kind of didn’t set out to make a mainstream record. I’ve been really fortunate that I think the people who have connected with it get it. When it’s released, it’s for everyone. And that’s not to undo everything I’ve just said. I mean, not everyone will like it, but it’s not your possession. It’s surrendered.

House of Coco

I think there is merit in being a bit disruptive. I think, now that if there was ever a time to not play it safe, I think it’s now. So, I think it’s ballsy, but I think you have to be ballsy and be true to yourself as well.

Being authentic is everything and the album’s very authentic which I love. One of my favourite tracks is ‘Fake News’, this is all about lies, false promises and mismanaged expectations isn’t it?

Irwin

Definitely! It’s what to believe and how some people can hear something that I do not believe but for them it’s complete gospel and it’s almost their ability to turn a blind eyes to facts, or in any other way to not be curious about other sides of story. And I find that in a way almost impressive that people are that willing to go along with something because the uncertainty (and there’s a lot of that in life) can be harrowing. To make your peace with that and to throw your weight behind a cause or something can be quite a binary sense.

House of Coco

Do you have a favourite song from the album? I’m guessing that each song touches you in its own way, but do you have a standout?

Irwin

For me, I am still getting choked with the idea of playing it live. I’ve only probably done that less than 10 times – before lockdown, obviously. But ‘Body Weight’ I think, for me is the one I am perhaps the proudest of with how the music reflects the nature of what’s been said.

I like to think of songs in have they are successfully set out what they were saying out to do? That one feels like it’s been quite a journey, so I am really happy with that one.

When I’m in that mood, something like ‘Only Getting Easier’ and with anyone who has made mistakes, and it’s, I guess, it’s a truism. You feel like, ‘Oh, wow, I’ve really discovered something about myself. And it only gets easier to make the same mistake.

You know, it’s that those lyrics for me feel very on the nose. And I can certainly relate, you know, after too many drinks, I will make idiotic decisions. It’s elements of like staring yourself in the mirror and realising what you’re made of. It’s not all pretty, but we’re still here.

House of Coco

We are all still here. So, if you had to sum up that album and White Tail Falls music for the House of Coco readers who may or may not have heard of you, how would you describe it?

Irwin

It’s rooted in melancholy, but it’s always looking for something uplifting around the edges. It’s probably at that point of darkness before the dawn. It’s kind of for that liminal moment or just perhaps pre liminal moment? I think it’s a sound of being, maybe something I’ve said, it’s like the sound of pieces being put back together. So, there’s this real sadness, but there’s this joy there as well.

House of Coco

So where will the next album take you? You’re already writing it – what can we expect from it?

Irwin

Well, I’d love to say that we could play with the London Philharmonic, but they’re not getting out much and neither am I! So, I think I’m going to use what I’ve got!

I’m always drawn to writing melancholy music. I feel very fortunate and with The Hoosiers, we make upbeat, uplifting music. So that scratches that itch. And I think we’re all free with multiple sides to us. And so, this will always be exploring something a bit more waiting.

House of Coco

You mentioned you had few more albums in the pipeline for The Hoosiers. What are your plans for this?

Irwin

It’s really early days but one of them is pretty much done. Two of them are collaborative and are incredibly different. We are doing our first studio album in five years. I think we have got some of the best music we’ve written since the first album.

I am really genuinely excited and I’m having trouble sleeping at the moment and the songs are just going through my head.

House of Coco

That’s good that you have that level of excitement. If you think about ‘Trick To Life’ which came out in 2007 so it’s 13 years old. I re-listened to the album today and it’s still as fresh with some great tracks on there. Such as ‘Everything Goes Dark’, ‘Worst Case Scenario’ which are two of my favourite Hoosiers songs. I think if you were to re-release this album it would still be well-received. It went platinum didn’t it?

Irwin

Double platinum, but who’s counting!

House of Coco

Who’s counting indeed?! Is that and getting awards important to you? I know you don’t create music to get awards, but it’s a nice thing to have.

Irwin

Why, do you have one?! I’ll have it!

House of Coco

You can have this from Morocco! (reaches for first random available thing on her desk and holds up a metallic water bottle)

Irwin

I’ll have it!

House of Coco

I will need an acceptance speech though!

Irwin

I always have one planned, I have just never had the opportunity to do it.

I would say that is an absolutely brilliant and layered question because you know, you can give an offhand remark that came up recently with Al (our drummer) the other day. We were talking about how there was a point when we sort of became like, ‘Oh, this is how we could do commercially well’, and that was a bit seductive. It was like getting the needle in your arm and you wanted more. Because I think we’re quite competitive as people and music, it’s an interesting one because it’s art or it should be.

So how do you gauge how well you’re doing? How do you gauge your success? Because you’ve made music? Congrats, it’s a success! That’s it really. It’s an awkward crossover where art meets commerce, but someone tells you that ‘Oh, that’s not successful because it only went to number two or whatever it was.’

So, I remember Peter Robinson saying, Oh, your second album failed because it only got to number ten’

I said, ‘Well Crazy Frog went to number one, so that means everything that doesn’t get to number one isn’t as good as Crazy frog?!’

House of Coco

Exactly!

Irwin

How do you gauge success in music? Awards – all that stuff is very flattering, but it’s also nonsense because it’s supposed to be art, but it took a while to remind ourselves of that and to not get swept up in it all.

House of Coco

What’s your earliest musical memory? Is it a record that you bought or a song that you heard? Do you remember?

Irwin

I do remember! I still got it actually – it’s this 1980s spaceship. It has these really annoying effects on it that I just used to not stop pressing. I realised that it’s that joy of making noise which is just so primal. You know I just think that banging anything was just such a thrill.

There was a point of when I never felt good enough at music – I’m not the most musical person, but I I just loved it and I still do.

Irwin’s solo album ‘Age of Entitlement’ is out now.

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Argentina

Ibiza Unplugged: the ultimate off-season island guide

If you know me, it’s no secret that I love Ibiza. As soon as I land on the island, I feel an instant rush of calm and excitement in equal measures. I lose all track of time, ignore my phone at all costs (unless, of course, it’s to take a snap or two) and fully embrace the bohemian way of life for a week or two.

My favourite time to visit is in the quieter autumn, winter and early spring months. The air is crisp but the sun is still warm. And it’s during these times that the real Ibiza emerges and a different sort of hedonism can be explored.

Experience the epitome of Ibiza luxury living with exclusive villas, stunning waterfront views, and unparalleled amenities, making your off-season stay truly unforgettable.

And if like me, it looks like you’ll be working from home for the foreseeable and you fancy a change of scene – most preferably in sunnier climes – I’ve pulled together a list below of my favourite things to do and spots to visit; that are best experienced away from the madding summer crowds.

Sensational Sunsets
And while no day is likely ever the same on an island where anything is possible, sunsets are a guaranteed spectacle to behold and their high-season is in the low-season when the celestial light shows take on richer colours of pink, yellow, orange and deep reds.

Such is the fortuitous setting of Hostal La Torre – another Ibiza restaurant-cum-hotel (more on that below) – it makes my list twice. It’s perfectly positioned to see the sunset – centred directly in line with the sun. But you don’t have to pay to drink or dine at La Torre to catch the last rays of the day. Next door, there is a lookout point with a few benches and picnic tables for the general public, so be sure to pack wine, nibbles and maybe a blanket, if you might prefer to edge closer and sit on the rocky cliff edges.

Another favourite sunset spot, and roughly about 40 minutes north from La Torre is Benirass. On Sunday’s the beach comes alive with drummers and musicians performing an eclectic sunset ritual. Part of Ibiza’s charm, the event is marked by the attendance of people from all walks of life gathering to enjoy the show.

Es Vedra, off Cala D’hort beach (also included in my list of best beaches) sits on the south coast of Ibiza and while geologists disagree, it has been said to be the third most magnetic point in the world. Legend also has it, that it has healing powers and that it’s the ancient site of the lost city of Atlantis. What is unquestionable is its beauty at sunset. One of my favourite places to go to is the deserted pirate lookout tower, Torre de Savinar or there is also a great lookout point which is often used by locals to meditate or practice yoga at sunset. Friend and local yoga instructor, Pixie Rath, is renowned for taking some of her yoga classes at the lookout point, a few snaps from her Insta below.

@PixieRath

Best beaches

S’Estanyol
In the south of Es Cubells, this unspoiled beach was built around a wooden jetty. It’s a bit of a hike to get to once you’ve parked but it’s totally worth it. Just be sure to pack a pair of trainers for the journey down.

Cala D’Hort, Sant Josep
Although a busy spot in the summer due to its fortuitous setting overlooking the magnificent Es Vedra and neighbouring buzzing Cala D’Hort restaurant, this is one of my favourite places to visit and while away the day reading a book and swimming.

Cala Xuclar
The north east of the island offers some of the most beautiful and lesser-known beaches – there are plenty to be found and explored which is why renting a car is essential. Cala Xuclar is a tiny horseshoe-shaped bay surrounded by old fishing huts and crystal clear water. It is never overcrowded and we often have it to ourselves if we go early enough.

Cala Mastella
Still relatively untouched and unspoiled, this beach has retained its special bohemian-like status. This is another gem in the north east of the island and I would advise getting there early (and bring beach shoes as the sea bed is very stony).

A few of my favourite lesser-known beaches Cala Mastella, S’Estanyol and Cala D’Hort

Activities
The island has been long-loved by sporting enthusiasts as the terrain is a challenging mix of rocky flat and hilly trails offering some of the best cycling and hiking trails in Spain. In the summer, most would struggle as temperatures soar but in the off-season, the cooler weather offers much-needed respite to help tackle the steep climbs.

If walking is more your thing, Walking Ibiza offers guided and private walks for travellers looking to explore the beautiful island in detail. Runners can join running groups – there are a few on Instagram and Facebook – that are open to anyone. Running Ibiza, for example, offers Ibiza Town running tours, trail runs and (very helpfully) offers training for beginners as part of their Couch to 5K experience, so no need to feel intimidated if you’re a running novice like myself. Active Ibiza is another favourite of mine. They collaborate with an array of fitness instructors who provide guided programs and equipment.

SUP (Stand-Up Paddle) boarding is a must. The waters are calm and easily manageable for all levels of experience. It’s also a great way to explore the different coves and a lot of people have attempted the island in its entirety (a friend of mine included) stopping off at different places to camp for the night. There are plenty of rental places on the island, so best to find one that is near to where you’re staying.

While I’m there, I often try and book a few sessions at my favourite reformer pilates spot on the island, Energii Ibiza in Ibiza Town, which hails from Denmark. It truly is the “ultimate workout” but the helpful and friendly instructors make it a not-so daunting experience for beginners (like me). Classes start from approximately £17 per person.

Under-the-radar restaurants
A lot of great restaurants stay open on the island throughout the year. And while it’s not hard to stumble upon great places to dine, drink and dance, below is a list of my firm favourites and definitely worth exploring next time you’re in town.

La Finca Can Sul Dat
A former farmhouse hidden well off-the-beaten track on the road to Es Canar, it’s one of my favourite places to visit on the island and was introduced to me by a close friend who lives locally. The Swiss owner, Peter – possibly Ibiza’s answer to Hugh Hefner – is one-of-a-kind and always equipped with colourful stories to regale his guests with. He has often joined us for a drink or a shot of his famous home-made rocket fuel limoncello. The decor throughout is boho chic and his bedroom is actually in the middle of the restaurant complete with red velvet rope and curtains. The spot is equally famous for its live music and it’s not unknown for the evenings to carry on well into the wee hours of the next morning. The food menu is small but tasty. I highly recommend the entrecote for two to share.

Shamarkanda
Nestled in a beautiful olive grove near San Juan, in the north of the island, this magical spot – named after a city in Central Asia – offers a blend of cultures and flavours in its dishes. This year was my first time going at the recommendation of a friend and we opted to dine outside under the stars which had a magical Secret Garden Party feel, complete with glowing lanterns and draped light bulbs surrounded by trees. We tried their incredible bao buns, bursting with flavour (and it’s definitely worth ordering one of each). We also ordered the California rolls topped with salmon which was flambéed at the table, adding a touch of drama to the experience. The cocktail and wine list is also extensive and offers a nice mix of international and local flavours.

New favourite: Shamarkanda, San Juan

Hostal La Torre
Although no longer much of a hidden gem, there is no way I could write about Ibiza and not include Hostal La Torre. The latest offering from the Anadon family – owners of the infamous Cafe Mambo along with a few other outposts on the island – the restaurant-cum-boutique hotel not only serves up incredible food and spectacular views, but it also falls under the category of boutique listening joint. Be transported there NOW, listen here to Hostal La Torre Volume 1 and 2, selected by DJ’s Pete Gooding and fellow resident Mark Barrott.

It’s open all year and it is a must when on the island. It’s also extremely affordable to stay on site, with room nights starting from £40 per night in low-season.

Insider’s Tip: Other venues offering a heavy dose of eclectic Ibiza spirit includes Petit Pereyra on Talamanca Beach, Nightmares on Wax’s Wax Da Jam and Acid Sundays, both held at the old hippy market Las Dalias (more on that below).

Can Berri Vell
Exuding total charm and authenticity, this small and intimate outdoor-indoor restaurant is one of the most romantic restaurants in Ibiza in the heart of the town Sant Agusti des Vedra. Overlooking a typically Ibizan architecture church, it sits atop a small mountain, seamlessly blending into the rolling hills. The food is traditional Spanish grub with a modern-European twist.

Babylon Beach
Although it’s certainly grown in popularity since the first time I went, Babylon Beach is a great place to grab brunch and layout in the sun on the deck chairs provided. It’s still relatively low-key, especially during low-season; and don’t forget to try their insanely good pancakes!

Gare du Nord
I was blown away by this unexpected hole in the wall in San Juan, North Ibiza. The small entrance featuring an outdoor seating area and long bar leading into a sprawling yet intimate leafy courtyard. The food is a mix of classic European dishes using locally sourced produce. The wine list is elegant and yet adventurous. It’s also here that I discovered one of my new favourite wines, Black Nose, which is made in Ibiza. Gard du Nord also offers quirky yet modern rooms with prices starting from £50 per night in the low-season.

@GareduNord

Culture trip
Artists and craftsmen have flocked to Ibiza over the centuries, so it’s only natural that the island offers the opportunity to get close to some pretty incredible art and crafts to take home.

Hippy Market Las Dalias
Every Saturday locals descend upon the world-famous hippy market to uncover the latest trinkets and treasures on display by local craftsmen, artists, food artisans, to the tune of live performances by local musicians and DJs. The market began in 1954 and was the brainchild of farmer and carpenter, Joan Mari. The market is one of my absolute favorites and I go every time I am there. This year, as part of an island-wide initiative to encourage out-of-season travel to Ibiza, the market is staying open throughout winter and early spring, to help encourage trade on the island and make up for lost time and earnings, as a result of the first lockdown earlier this year.

La Nave Salinas in Las Salinas Beach
Arguably one of my favourite art spaces in the world, La Nave Salinas launched last year as a space dedicated to “art in all senses”. The space is an old salt warehouse by the neighbouring salt lakes Ibiza is also known for. To date they’ve hosted several big name contemporary artists, including Kaws. The space is open and currently exhibiting works by the artist Albert Pinya, painter and cartoonist including ceramics, animation shorts, sculptures and ephemeral murals.

La Maison D’Éléphant
This design concept store is hard to miss, fronted by enormous sculptures of robots, pink elephants and silver skulls making it hard to miss. Inside, visitors can explore five floors of outrageously quirky and contemporary design. Among the incredible art you are able to find and buy decorations, antiques, unique furniture, and even clothing. The founder, Bruno Reymond, is interior stylist to many infamous buildings on the island, including Ushuaia and the Pacha Hotel.

Sluiz.
Although it doesn’t stock one-of-a-kind, handmade crafts and art, it does offer a huge collective of outdoor, indoor furniture, cool lighting, clothing and accessories from around the world. Founded by a Dutch couple, the sprawling warehouse-like store, also has a bar and restaurant featuring low-hanging ornate crystal chandeliers and plush armchairs. I often go and spend a few hours there indulging in all of the good food, cocktails and shopping.

@LaNaveSalinas

Please note, all of the aforementioned businesses were still open and operating at the time of writing this article. This might have changed as the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve around the world.

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