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A few words with Elly (from Elly’s Band). Elly sings and plays bass guitar. Also in the band are Jim (acoustic guitar), Nathan (drums), Tom
(keyboards), Tim (electric guitar) and Dave (mandolin and violin).
Leicester Bangs: Tell us a little about yourself, and your band.
Elly: I started out as a singer-songwriter duo with Jim but we steadily began to attract other talented and experienced musicians around us (Nathan, Tom, Tim, then Dave). Over the last couple of years Elly’s Band has become really
accomplished. Throughout the period, our focus has always remained on my
unadulterated, intimate vocal and the band enhancing it with sensitive
arrangement and musicianship. We are a folk pop band and have just recorded our debut album, First Light.
We all live near Oxford, UK but I am from Glasgow originally. Jim is also a Glaswegian and hence likes to swear a lot. Tim and Tom are Banbury boys, Nathan is a village boy who is scared of people and cities. Dave is, as we affectionately refer to him, our ‘Canadian hippy.’ We are all a great team.
LB: How did you start out making music?
Elly: I was a shy child so I can’t profess to being born to entertain. However, it
does mean that there are no embarrassing home videos of me kicking round! I’ve always been into singing and writing poetry and I learned various instruments from a young age (piano, cello, saxophone). However, I didn’t marry the two together until I started learning the guitar later on, after I left University. Suddenly everything felt like it just fell into place. I had this incredible outlet that let me sing to my heart’s content, accompany my vocal with music and give my poetry a purpose, instead of just being folded up on scraps of paper at the back of a drawer. My confidence grew and so I hooked up with another local musician to start performing and developing the songwriting further. That was the beginning.
Since then I have torn down my garage in the back garden, stolen some recording studio blue prints from the internet and then built a custom recording studio in its place. Now the band and I have a little musical haven to write and record our songs.
LB: Who did you grow up listening to and how do they influence what you’re doing now?
Elly: Sometimes I wish I had a cooler answer than this but I grew up listening to Disney soundtracks and musicals. Bear with me and I'll explain why! I was never particularly mainstream and into the latest cool bands and singers. For me music has always had a powerful emotive effect. It is not just the music that is magnetic but the story behind it, the lyrics and the visual image that plays out in my head. In fact the lyrics are probably most important to me. This is why I love artists like Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Patty Griffin, Eva Cassidy and Allison Krauss.
For me, a song starts with a story and a feeling then the lyrics take shape. Then I wrap it up in a beautiful expressive melody with my vocal and the right arrangement. The arrangement is the more technical part that I am less experienced in. I am learning so much from Richard Niles, who produced my album, First Light. He has taught me how to make each song unique and special to make it interesting, catchy and to add dimension to the story telling.
LB: Tell us about your latest release.
Elly: First Light is my debut album and we are all immensely proud of it. It is so easy and pleasing to listen to from start to finish. Each song is a little gem
with a genius arrangement. We even threw in a little Joni Mitchell cover for fun. We have a good balance of quirky up tempo songs and ballads that give my vocal space to breath.
The album was produced by the famous producer Richard Niles, who has worked with amazing artists including Ray Charles, Paul McCartney and Kylie Minogue. We were also lucky enough to have guest performances from Richard Cottle (keyboards - Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger) and Maartin Allcock (mandolin - Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull).
LB: Do you get out and play your music live, and if so, what can an audience expect at one of your shows?
Elly: If you come to see us play live expect to hear music like it sounds on the
album, maybe better. We are obsessed with getting amazing sound so have the best equipment we can afford and have learned to use it properly. Obviously you get the added benefit of seeing our ‘concentration faces’ when we play live, which consist of an array of grimaces, vacant, thoughtful and gormless looks. And also smiling, too.
We aim to do, on average, one or two gigs a month and to grow our gig area as we build up our fan base. We are based in Oxfordshire at the moment and we have played at some great venues including The 100 Club, London, The O2 Academy Oxford and The Jam House, Birmingham. We are trying to be a bit selective about where we play now so that we don’t overplay any one area but are also growing a loyal fan base at the same time. We will travel to wherever we have fans so if anyone would like us to come to their town, please let us know via our website!
I am also dying to play some gigs in Scotland because that’s where I’m from.
LB: What aspects of playing and recording music do you most enjoy?
Elly: I love making an emotional connection with an audience or listeners through my voice and my lyrics. That is just the biggest buzz in the world. When you are on the edge and totally exposed and people connect with that, it is an amazing feeling. I also love the energy of playing music live. The chemistry of the band on stage in incredible and makes me so happy. A good gig makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Recording is completely different from playing live because the subtleties of a
performance are much clearer. For my kind of singing that really suits me. The sound in my headphones when I’m recording takes me away to a completely different place. Like a dream. I could happily record every day.
LB: Where can people find (and buy) your music?
Elly: You can hear my music on Reverbnation and our MySpace page, and you can buy the album from our website and CDBaby (links below).
The album is also available from all other major online stores, including itunes, and you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook - look for ellysband.
www.revernation.com/ellysband
www.myspace.com/ellysband
www.ellysband.com
www.cdbaby.com/cd/ellysband
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